I thought smart people write for FanGraphs

[metsguy234]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index...f-tommy-davis/

Apparently not this guy.

[HoustonGM]

Huh? What is so "not smart" about that?

[kenny1234]

Huh? What is so "not smart" about that?

I actually had already read the article and have no idea what he was trying to say. The comparison between Davis and Bay is really weak. Davis was a 23 year-old who had one very big year, followed it with another good year, and descended into mediocrity. In 6 years in the majors, Bay has had 5 seasons with an OPS+ between 130 and 150, with a down year in 2007.

If he was saying that RBIs are a poor measure of ability, fine - but that hasn't been a measure that has been particularly friendly to Bay anyway. If he was trying to suggest that Bay will decline for some unknown reason, then I'm really not sure what his point was.

[dickay]

I actually had already read the article and have no idea what he was trying to say. The comparison between Davis and Bay is really weak. Davis was a 23 year-old who had one very big year, followed it with another good year, and descended into mediocrity. In 6 years in the majors, Bay has had 5 seasons with an OPS+ between 130 and 150, with a down year in 2007.

If he was saying that RBIs are a poor measure of ability, fine - but that hasn't been a measure that has been particularly friendly to Bay anyway. If he was trying to suggest that Bay will decline for some unknown reason, then I'm really not sure what his point was.

agree, the article is kind of all over the place. i have no idea what he's trying to say.

[haveacigar]

The point was said pretty clearly here, I thought:

"stop here if you don’t feel like reading another piece that discusses how RBI totals can fluctuate heavily (and sometimes amusingly) on a year-to-year basis."

And then the article describes that Tommy Davis had one really ridiculous RBI year, and then fell off the table.

I mean, he doesn't really have a particularly insightful or groundbreaking point. It's just of like a "hey Jason Bay reminds me of this one guy who had one great RBI year that no one remembers." It's not that it's wrong or unclear, but it's kinda pointless. But there really isn't much to write about over the winter anyway.

This is kinda like the news story on the 11 oclock broadcast about the old lady that really follows the local sports team and you're like "oh neato I guess."

[kenny1234]

"hey Jason Bay reminds me of this one guy who had one great RBI year that no one remembers."

And that Jason Bay is nothing like. That is what I don't get. Bay is 31, has been a very consistent hitter, with stable numbers for 5 of the last 6 years, with RBI numbers that don't really fluctuate that much. Davis was a 24-year-old who had a very lucky year in his second or third full year in the majors.

I think this is actually a case of a guy wanting to write a story about Tommy Davis and RBI's, but then needing to make it so somebody reads it - so he just throws in a couple of comments about Jason Bay to make it seem relevant.

[haveacigar]

I think this is actually a case of a guy wanting to write a story about Tommy Davis and RBI's, but then needing to make it so somebody reads it - so he just throws in a couple of comments about Jason Bay to make it seem relevant.

That is exactly what he's doing. He's pointing out that Jason Bay has an RBI guy reputation so that he can segue to this guy who had lots of RBIs once.

[kenny1234]

I guess. I don't really think of Bay as having an RBI guy reputation, and the author didn't really support that claim either, so the inclusion didn't make a lot of sense.