RPI Index All Stars - AL and NL

By BostonMac, Section MLB
Posted on Tue Jul 11 2006 at 11:58 PM EST
More on: All-Stars, statistics, MLB (all tags)

By Ryan McGowan

I devised a system of ranking players in each league based on their relative standing within their league in ten offensive categories: batting average, home runs, runs batted in, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, bases on balls, doubles, stolen bases, runs, and hits.  I then looked to the inspiration of the college football and basketball polls for the scoring system; a first-place ranking in any one of the categories gets a player 10 points, a second-place ranking is worth 9, all the way down to 1 point for a tenth place ranking in their league.

(8 comments, 1037 words in story) Full Story

Midseason "Moneyball" All-Stars - American League

By BostonMac, Section MLB
Posted on Tue Jun 27 2006 at 5:43 PM EST
More on: MLB, payroll, All-Stars, Moneyball, Billy Beane (all tags)

By Ryan McGowan

Like my colleague Trevor Freeman, Michael Lewis' Moneyball is one of my favorite books.  For any baseball fan, the inside story of Billy Beane's quest to change traditional thinking and manage a baseball team based entirely on analyzing statistics and turning the conventional wisdom upside down is a fascinating read.  Looking at the 2006 season up to this point, I have chosen a 25-man American League All-Star team that accomplishes the major goals of any team driven by a Moneyball philosophy.

In no particular order, these goals are:

1. Find players who get on base (high on-base percentage, or OBP) and hit for some power (the combination of the two produces a high on-base plus slugging, or OPS, the golden statistic of Moneyball).
2. Pay no attention to fielding statistics.
3. Spend as little money as possible.

(4 comments, 1288 words in story) Full Story