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The 2008 Brewers in an alternate universe

Will Carroll had a throwaway line in a blog post a couple of weeks ago that piqued my interest.  He suggested the following:

here's a scary exercise ... take the top PECOTA comparable for each starter on your team, then ask yourself, "Would that team win?"

Of course, I immediately wondered what the comparables would look like for the 2008 Brewers.

Before I list the team, a few words about what this all means.  To varying degrees (the details get complicated), PECOTA projections are based on a group of comparable players.  This is different from things like Bill James's similarity scores, which you can see at Baseball-Reference.  A lot of work has been done to determine which characteristics mean the most when projecting a player (power, yes; earned runs, not so much), and PECOTA focuses on those skills (along with age, body type, and a variety of other things) to determine which players are most alike.

Since PECOTA is based on a large number of comparable players, this isn't some kind of super projection I'm doing right now -- to say that Prince Fielder looks a lot like Boog Powell at the same age doesn't mean you should go look up Boog's numbers for that season and mark Prince down for that.  But what it does do is put a human face on projections, which are a little tougher to get a "gut feeling" about.

What I like most about it is that it forces you to think about your team in a more objective sense.  Those of you who contribute on this site aren't as given to this as others, but all of us have a tendency to overrate our guys.

The other cool thing is that it reminds you of some players who were really good for a while, but didn't stay good long enough to really imprint themselves on your memory.  There are a lot of names like that on this team.  So here goes:

C: [Kendall] Joe Girardi
1B: [Fielder] Boog Powell
2B: [Weeks] Joe Foy
3B: [Hall] Dave Henderson
SS: [Hardy] Kevin Elster
LF: [Braun] Tony Conigliaro (honorable mention: Braun's #2 comp is A-Rod)
CF: [Cameron] Ron Gant
RF: [Hart] Sammy Sosa

SP: [Sheets] Alex Fernandez
SP: [Yo] Jeremy Bonderman
SP: [Suppan] Chris Bosio
SP: [Cappy] Kenny Rogers
SP: [Bush] La Marr Hoyt
SP: [Villy] Steve Dunning
SP: [Vargas] Jason Johnson

CL: [Gagne] Roberto Hernandez
SU: [Riske] Roy Lee Jackson
RP: [Shouse] Buddy Groom
RP: [Torres] Mike Marshall
RP: [Mota] Turk Farrell
RP: [Turnbow] Charlie Hough (huh?!?)
RP: [Parra] Joe Saunders

I'm not enough of a historian (especially with the 70s/early 80s guys) to have a good idea of how that team would fare.  It's especially hard when you've got guys like Tony C., who were really good for a while, but have gone down in memory as disappointments.

I've included the links to each player's baseball-reference page so you can investigate further.  If someone can explain to me how any algorithm would make D-Bow's top comp Charlie Hough, I'd really appreciate it.  

0 recs  |  Comment 12 comments

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Turnbow
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/pitcher-similarity-scores/

Josh Kalk mentioned the Turnbow-Hough oddity in a Hardball Times article.  He doesn't go into detail, but seems to blame it on a heavy reliance on rate stats.

Ichiro, on facing Daisuke Matsuzaka for the first time: "I hope he arouses the fire that's dormant in the innermost recesses of my soul."

by DaleCoop14 on Mar 2, 2008 12:28 PM CST reply actions   0 recs

Prince Fielder
is apparently furious about his 2nd straight contract renewal!

http://mlbfleecefactor.com/2008/03/02/prince-fielder-is-not-happy/

by ET90210 on Mar 2, 2008 2:36 PM CST reply actions   0 recs

**Sigh**
Why not just give all three about $900,000? It isn't like the club is strapped for cash, they money they gave up to get Mota is about $1.5 mil, and that could have been distributed to those three.

I just don't think it's worth it to get Prince angry.

by Jordan M on Mar 2, 2008 2:58 PM CST up reply actions   0 recs

JS blog link
Here's the story on the JS blog.

I'd like to see how many pre-arbitration players are paid above $670,000 on a one-year deal. It'd also be nice to see how much he wanted.

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Mar 2, 2008 4:43 PM CST up reply actions   0 recs

In an earlier blog post
Haudricourt says Boras told him that Prince was looking for about 900K, which is what Ryan Howard was paid last year.

by sheeter on Mar 2, 2008 6:56 PM CST up reply actions   0 recs

That makes sense, I suppose
Of course, there's no real reason for the team to pay above what they did.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Mar 2, 2008 7:23 PM CST up reply actions   0 recs

oops.
guess I should have read this thread before tossing up the belated diary.  Maybe there's a way to delete those suckers...

by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Mar 2, 2008 11:57 PM CST up reply actions   0 recs

Tony C
It's especially hard when you've got guys like Tony C., who were really good for a while, but have gone down in memory as disappointments.

Well, if Ryan Braun gets hit with a pitch in the eye, I think we'll be more worried he's okay than what he does on a baseball diamond.

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on Mar 2, 2008 5:12 PM CST reply actions   0 recs

political correctitude
or so we'd claim...
I'll warm up with you anytime

by ufoboy90 on Mar 2, 2008 9:30 PM CST up reply actions   0 recs

Suppan = Bosio
That's a perfect comparison.

Overall, that's a pretty solid looking team, although I'm saddened with the Weeks/Hardy comparisons.

My non-embarrassing thoughts on the Brewers:
Two Fisted Slopper

by nmc on Mar 2, 2008 7:14 PM CST reply actions   0 recs

That one
was my favorite as well.  
Boston fans over the age of 40 really love them some Tony C.

by molitorfan on Mar 3, 2008 7:54 PM CST up reply actions   0 recs

Hart to Sosa
that is quite the compliment, seeing as PECOTA doesn't know that while Sosa [allegedly] cheating, Corey put up similar numbers by virtue of the power of sunglasses...
I'll warm up with you anytime

by ufoboy90 on Mar 2, 2008 9:32 PM CST reply actions   0 recs

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