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For the twelvth year in a row, I am once again asking for hardcore baseball fans to participate in the annual Scouting Report project, in which you evaluate the fielding characteristics of players on your team. If you have a few minutes, please drop by and evaluate your team.

http://www.tangotiger.net/scout/



The 2014 Scouting Report, By The Fans, For The Fans | 23 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Magpie - Tuesday, September 09 2014 @ 07:23 AM EDT (#293310) #
The link doesn't work (there's a trick to it.)

Try this: http://www.tangotiger.net/scout/
Mike Green - Tuesday, September 09 2014 @ 08:32 AM EDT (#293311) #
Every year, Toronto fans do themselves proud by responding in numbers to the Scouting Report.  Go to it, Bauxites!

When you complete the survey, you get to see the results so far.  I think we are doing well...

AWeb - Tuesday, September 09 2014 @ 11:22 AM EDT (#293316) #
I left more blank than usual for me - the infielders and new guys that haven't made much of an impression, a catcher that only catches knucklers, etc. Going through it player by player really reinforces how bad the defense is in Toronto compared to a lot of teams. Except pitchers (not on the survey) and most 2B, the Jays have a lot of below average (not necessarily awful) defenders, at least to my eye.  
jerjapan - Tuesday, September 09 2014 @ 11:29 AM EDT (#293317) #
agreed AWeb.  I know it's not a strong team defensively, but that exercise really reinforces that.  more Gose in CF and Goins at second please!

at what point - if any - does reality sink in for the team and Reyes on his diminishing skills at short?  how significant would swapping Goins and Reyes be for overall defense?

92-93 - Tuesday, September 09 2014 @ 02:56 PM EDT (#293335) #
"how significant would swapping Goins and Reyes be for overall defense?"

I'm not convinced it would be significant because I'm not sure Reyes would be any better at 2B. A LF/DH/utility infielder role is probably best for Reyes in terms of defense and keeping him healthy, but of course it's not something the team would consider. Doing so would be an admission of failure on the trade with Marlins. Reyes' D is very clearly a problem, though, and I wish he'd be removed for D with the lead late in games.
greenfrog - Tuesday, September 09 2014 @ 05:20 PM EDT (#293348) #
That's why in the off-season I argued for having an elite defensive SS on the roster (someone akin to an in-his-prime John McDonald). Not only to replace Reyes with a late lead, but also to start some games at short (with Reyes resting, although having him DH would be another option).
PeteMoss - Tuesday, September 09 2014 @ 09:50 PM EDT (#293360) #
I'm sure Sanchez is going to come back out, but here's where I'd consider going with Norris or someone else to save the inning for Sanchez.
TangledUpInBlue - Tuesday, September 09 2014 @ 10:32 PM EDT (#293363) #
... a catcher that only catches knucklers...

Since that's mostly what we have to judge him on, that's what I judged him on. Gave him a five on catching/receiving. He's ... well, I was going to say "remarkably good" but that's the thing -- he's so good we almost never remark upon it.
jerjapan - Wednesday, September 10 2014 @ 09:44 AM EDT (#293383) #
Reyes to third, Goins at short, Lawrie at second?
Hodgie - Wednesday, September 10 2014 @ 03:00 PM EDT (#293398) #
It is interesting to see the fans have Gose as only a slightly stronger defender than Bautista. I wonder how much confirmation bias plays into a fan's ranking? As much as I like Bautista he pales significantly in comparison to Gose in the field.
Richard S.S. - Wednesday, September 10 2014 @ 10:23 PM EDT (#293415) #
Switching Reyes and Lawrie might be a wee bit better than your suggestion but not very much, if any.
Richard S.S. - Wednesday, September 10 2014 @ 10:27 PM EDT (#293418) #
Reyes' issues at SS are range related. His arm, when healthy, is very good. His reactions, when healthy, are very good. The more I think about it, the surer I am that he's better at Third.
Mike Green - Thursday, September 11 2014 @ 10:40 AM EDT (#293435) #
There are some anomalies in the results so far.  Ryan Goins has a higher "sprint speed" score than Jose Reyes.  Um, no.  If you put both of them in centerfield and hit 10 balls into the gaps, you'd notice the difference in sprint speed.  Goins, of course, uses his quickness much more effectively than Reyes in the middle infield, and that is what seems to have confused people. 
Mike Green - Thursday, September 11 2014 @ 10:46 AM EDT (#293436) #
It is interesting to see the fans have Gose as only a slightly stronger defender than Bautista. I wonder how much confirmation bias plays into a fan's ranking? As much as I like Bautista he pales significantly in comparison to Gose in the field.

The results reflect an almost even weighting of throwing with getting to and catching balls.  Fans rightly see Gose as much better than Bautista at getting to and catching balls and Bautista as much better at throwing.  It is the weighting that leads to the perception that Gose is overall just a little better than Bautista. 
uglyone - Thursday, September 11 2014 @ 11:07 AM EDT (#293439) #
i'm inclined to trust the uzr when it comes to reyes, which say he's subpar at SS but not awful. his range may be limited but his arm is the great equalizer, and many of those balls he fails to get to wouldn't be converted to outs by many SS with better range but weaker arms anyways.

i was a bit worried in the middle of the year when his arm was letting us down and he was one hopping throws regularly, but that seems to be in the past now.

as for gose-bautista they shouldn't be anywhere remotely close in defensive value, imo, so there's a big problem with the rankings if they are ranked similarly,
Mike Green - Thursday, September 11 2014 @ 12:08 PM EDT (#293443) #
UZR has Reyes as -10/150G over the last 2 seasons; DRS has him at -15/150G over the last 2 seasons.  Either way, that's bad.  For comparison purposes, that's essentially where Derek Jeter, 2010-2012 was on both counts.
PeteMoss - Thursday, September 11 2014 @ 12:25 PM EDT (#293445) #
Gose has a pretty good arm too though. If you were comparing Rasmus to Bautista, the arm difference would be enough to offset the range difference, but I wouldn't say the same about Gose.
hypobole - Thursday, September 11 2014 @ 04:06 PM EDT (#293451) #
Gose's good arm is nowhere near as accurate as Bautista's. In fact Gose is not very accurate at all. Even Melky's throws seem on line more often than Gose's.
uglyone - Thursday, September 11 2014 @ 04:39 PM EDT (#293455) #
he actually made a crazy awesome throw to third after he let that ball get away from him a couple nights ago, it was just way too late of course.
Mike Green - Thursday, September 11 2014 @ 05:24 PM EDT (#293458) #
I guess that it's important to understand that the whole project is "position-neutral".  As a centerfielder, Gose's far superior acceleration and sprint speed would far offset Bautista's better and more accurate arm.  As third basemen, I'd venture a guess that Bautista would be much better with Gose's combination of so-so instincts and first step, and regularly inaccurate throws a major liability. 
TangoTiger - Friday, September 12 2014 @ 08:26 PM EDT (#293509) #
With regards to Gose/Bautista:

1. I should point out that there are 30+ voters, so if you disagree, you are in effect disagreeing with the majority.

2. That said, is there a particular trait of the seven that you disagree with?  If so, which one.

3. If not, then is it just the issue of the overall weighting?  In that case, that's less important.  On the team page, Gose currently has a "62".  That's his position neutral rating.  But in CF, he plays as a 67:
http://www.tangotiger.net/scout/index6.php?prim_fld_cd=8

As for Bautista, he's a 58 as a position-neutral, but in RF, he's a 55:
http://www.tangotiger.net/scout/index6.php?prim_fld_cd=9

Basically, Gose's strengths are being leveraged in CF, so he comes out better.  And Bautista's weaknesses are exposed in RF.

So, that close 62-58 now becomes a much larger gap of 67-55.  It's strictly an issue of the weighting.  The 7 individual traits aren't touched.


Mike Green - Friday, September 12 2014 @ 08:30 PM EDT (#293510) #
Thanks, Tango, for the explanation.
TangoTiger - Sunday, September 14 2014 @ 11:30 AM EDT (#293545) #
Mike, you had pretty much nailed it.  I just added color to your point.
The 2014 Scouting Report, By The Fans, For The Fans | 23 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.