I Typically Like Gary Thorne, but He Should Leave the Analysis to Stoney
>> Wednesday
During today's Cardinals-Rockies ESPN afternoon game, the topic of reliever "holds" came up. For those of you not familiar with the "hold," it's a stat acquired by a reliever when he comes into a game in a save situation (leading by no more than three and/or having the tying or winning run in the on deck circle in the 7th inning or later--I know, not at all arbitraty) and preserves the lead but does not record the final out.
The fellas in the booth--Gary Thorne, Steve Phillips (gag), and Steve Stone--were discussing how much more the hold has become acknowledged over the last few years. Phillips, to my utmost shock, made a relatively insightful remark, saying that agents for middle relievers have likely aided the trend by using holds as a bargaining chip. Thorne, however, followed up the point--to my utmost chagrin--by adding "as they should."
Now of all stupid, meaningless, arbitrary, bulldink stats, I can't think of one less telling of a player's performance. Consider how vastly more telling stats like WHIP, ERA, and K/BB are in regard to a pitchers performance. Holds are rarely--if ever--even reported on a percentage basis. Why should it matter that one reliever happened to appear in 55 of these situations last year while another only appeared in 40? Even taken over the course of similar pitchers' careers and reported on a percentage basis, the hold is a flimsy, flimsy stat at best.
So Gary Thorne--just call the action, and leave the adult matters to your genius color guy, Steven Stone.
Posts
2 comments:
Since I kinda like Gary Thorne too, I think what he MAY have meant by that is that agents should bring up the stat because it's their job to finagle the most money out of teams for their mostly generic middle reliever clients.
Again, I'm not totally convinced of that, but I think Gary Thorne deserves the benefit of the doubt. Until he agrees again with something Steve Phillips says. Then, he's out.
Eh, that was kind of my first reaction, but since the conversation had spawned from gushing over Adam Wainwright and the awesomeness of "set-up" guys, I think he meant it from an actual baseball-value perspective. But I definitely get your point, and you may be right.
Post a Comment