Yet another great observation by Posnanski, this time in his blog entry from Wednesday.
http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/06/16/the-...moneyball-died/
Joe happened to come across a story that was praising A's 1st baseman, Daric Barton, for finally realizing his potential, as evidence by his new-found ability to advance the runner:
".... Daric Barton, the team's first baseman, is leading the league in sacrifice bunts? For the Oakland A's? And he's doing it by moving runners from SECOND TO THIRD with NOBODY OUT? And EVERYBODY IS HAPPY ABOUT IT? (That's Barty," hitting coach Jim Skaalen said. "Team first, a professional in all areas"). What in the hell is going on over there in the Bay Area?Apparently, Barton has been sacrifice bunting on his own… nobody is asking him to do it. Nobody, not even the craziest bunting manager on earth, would ask him to bunt in the situations in which he's been bunting:
April 11: Sacrifice bunted in the first inning to move runner from second to third with nobody out…. Later, in the eighth, did exactly the same thing, bunting runner over to third with nobody out.
April 17: Fifth inning, bunted runner from second to third with nobody out.
April 30: First inning, bunted runner from second to third with nobody out.
May 15: First inning, bunted runner from second to third with nobody out.
May 23: Eighth inning, bunted runner from first to second with A's up 1-0.
May 25: First inning, bunted runner from first to second with nobody out.
May 28: First inning, bunted runner from second to third with nobody out.
June 11: First inning, bunted runner from second to third with nobody out.
Holy $#@$!%. Somebody tell that man to stop doing that immediately. Holy #@!$#@$. Seven of his league-leading nine sacrifice bunts were, just as he said, bunting a runner from second to third with nobody out. This isn't just a waste of an out, it's crumpling an out, stomping on it with disdain, and then purposely not putting it into the recycle bin. Why would you do this? There's no double play in order. A single might score the run. According to the Baseball Prospectus
Run Matrix, bunting a runner from second to third
reduces a team's run expectation level from 1.09 runs to .93 runs."
What a great take. This is great stuff by a writer who gets it, and who uses the "new" stats to revisit old debates. Why is Joe Pos the exception and not the rule? Someone take this article and rub Nick Cafardo's nose in it. Please.