Sabermetrics are Overrated

Sabermetrics are Overrated

Jim Leyland recently spoke out against reporters who suggested Max Scherzer is only doing as well as he is because he is the benefactor of great run support. I am here to say that Leyland is right and all of this advanced stats and sabermetric garbage does more harm to the game than good. Like Leyland, I am a believer in the old school way of thinking. The guys that go out and do their job well are always going to be at or near the top of these statistics anyway so what is it really telling us? Based on advanced stats Derek Jeter is one of the worst fielding shortstops in the game, but let me ask you this; with a runner on third and two out in the bottom of the ninth, is there anyone else you would rather the ball be hit to?

Max Scherzer is the league leader in wins and is in the top 3 in strikeouts and ERA. How exactly is his run support a negative against him? He doesn’t give up runs, so it really doesn’t matter how many his team scores behind him. By every sensible projection there is no doubt Max Scherzer should win the AL Cy Young Award. I don’t care if Chris Sale or Felix Hernandez have comparable numbers on teams that are far worse. Scherzer has been dominant and has given his team a chance to win every time he has taken the mound.

Whenever I hear people talk about BABIP or xFIP I cringe like I’ve just heard Wolverine attack a chalkboard. All these stats do is poke holes in the play of guys who are important parts of their team. In a clutch situation for my team I’m not thinking about a groundball/flyball ratio or batting average on balls in play. Get the hit or the out that’s all that matters. If they don’t, no one will curse their advanced numbers.

So many teams take these numbers in to effect and a lot of the time they just look like idiots because all they are doing is overthinking things. All we ever hear about is how you don’t succeed when you overthink, you just need to let the game come to you, take what you’re given. Why should it be different in the front office? Billy Beane was the man at the forefront of this movement; he had books written about his strategy and movies made about how he was such a genius. Was he really though? What the hell did those Oakland teams really accomplish? A few playoff berths? The Yankees, the polar opposite of this strategy accomplished the same thing as far as playoff berths, and hell they even have a few World Series to show for it too. Baseball in my opinion is not only suffering from steroids scandals but also from this holier than thou attitude on advanced stats. Truth is, the average fan, most of whom are older generation fans, couldn’t care less about all this talk and tune out the game because of it.