The 171

Posted by Cubnut at 1/30/2008

The Cub Reporter is listed in February's Chicago Magazine as one of the "171 Best Chicago Web Sites."

"Curse, banter, and sound off about how this might be the year at The Cub Reporter...featuring Cubs-related news, rumors, updates, and commentary from bloggers like 'Arizona Phil,' 'Transmission,' and 'Cubnut.'"

It's unfair and unfortunate that Rob G., the current ringleader at TCR, Christian Ruzich, who started the site years ago, and Cubster, the only one of us who graduated medical school, weren't mentioned--obviously it's a colorful nickname issue--but I know that we're all flattered by the notice. Also, only one other Cub blog, Goat Riders Of The Apocalypse, was cited.

On an unrelated note, SABR (the Society for American Baseball Research) has published its latest Baseball Research Journal. Included is an article by Dan Fox and Neal Williams entitled "The Traffic Directors," which attempts to evaluate the effect that the game's third base coaches had on their respective teams between 2000 and 2006.

I haven't read the article yet, but I did scan one chart and noticed the name of our old third-base-coaching friend and former Cub rally-killer Wendell Kim. All I can report at this point is that Kim had an "Equivalent Hit Advancement Runs" figure of -14.7, which was far and away the worst figure for all 28 of the third-base coaches listed on the page.

Of course, this will mean more to me once I actually read the piece, but given my opinion of Wendell Kim's performance in the third base coach's box at Wrigley Field, I'm already predisposed to think the authors are onto something.

 

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3 Comments:

  1. Dan Agonistes said...
    1/31/2008 7:15 AM  
    Thanks for mentioning the article. In regards to Kim, he doesn't fare the worst as Dale Svuem, Gene Glynn, and Sonny Jackson all have worse absolute numbers. However, when judged in the context of the personnel he had to work with Kim actually comes out better than average from 2000 through 2006. That said, one of the goals of the piece is to see whether there is persistance in the year to year numbers and we find that there really isn't and so we conclude that there is very little discernible skill difference between coaches at the major league level (assuming you accept the assumptions the article lays out).

    Anyway, interested readers can also see an online version http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2007/03/quantifying_coa.php and http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2007/03/quantifying_coa_1.php.
    Cubnut said...
    1/31/2008 8:46 AM  
    Dan,

    Thanks for the thanks. I'm looking forward to reading the article in depth, though I'm still going to refer to Mr. Kim to "Wavin' Wendell" and his position on the Enemy Of The Blog List will remain safe so long as I have a breath in my body.
    Cubnut said...
    1/31/2008 8:47 AM  
    Funny, too, that Sonny Jackson, who, by Dan's figuring, had even worse absolute numbers than Kim, was also part of Dusty Baker's posse.

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