Mainstream Media Changing?

by brigstew on Jan 26, 2012 3:43 PM EST

I was listening to the Fan590 on the way to work yesterday, and Jeff Blair was interviewing Shi Davidi about the signing of Cordero. He started listing stats like K%, walk rate, and others. Then he dropped a bombshell, "Yeah, I checked FanGraphs". That is honestly the first time I've heard a MSM personality - rather than an insider or special analyst that works on one sport - quote advanced stats and cite resources like FanGraphs.

So I'm curious what you guys think, if you've noticed other MSM people starting to use advanced stats and resources and if you think they're starting to move away from more traditional stats and mindsets?

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Davidi is relatively young

That’s the big difference to me. It’s somewhat a generational thing, and part of it is the Internet. The older guard didn’t come up on the Internet, the new guard did. You can scarcely follow baseball online without coming across (links to) Fangraphs, B-R, etc. It’s ubiqutous.

by MjwW on Jan 26, 2012 3:55 PM EST reply actions

I did a poor job of clarifying

But it wasn’t Davidi that referenced FanGraphs, it was Blair.

by brigstew on Jan 26, 2012 5:35 PM EST up reply actions

It just means

That in 10 years us bloggers will have to find a new way to criticize the MSM.

by Lutherie on Jan 26, 2012 4:02 PM EST reply actions

No it mean in 10 years we will be the MSM!

thisrighthere!

http://www.facebook.com/Bluebirdbanter

by TonyFernandezSavedMyLife on Jan 26, 2012 4:52 PM EST up reply actions

*means

Heaven help us if I’m right.

thisrighthere!

http://www.facebook.com/Bluebirdbanter

by TonyFernandezSavedMyLife on Jan 26, 2012 5:04 PM EST up reply actions

ESPN does it all the time though

even though they still use stats like RBIs and wins

His 2011 wRC+ is 26

by Pikachu on Jan 26, 2012 4:16 PM EST reply actions

I don't know

But in that Toronto Star article that ripped the Jays (not the Toronto Moon one), the guy referenced WAR and then said Adam Lind would cost the team wins based on his last two seasons in that department. It kind of irked me how he made it sound like he had such a negative impact on the team, when he had a positive (albeit horrible) WAR last season and only a -0.3 WAR combined over the past two seasons. So its not even a win, let alone winS. Yeah he’s been horrible, but I think its a slippery slope when they start making those misleading comments that casual fans will take their word for

by Aidin on Jan 26, 2012 4:24 PM EST reply actions

now I didn't read the article

but Adam Lind DID cost the Jays wins, except he cost us wins relative to many other 1Bs… he didn’t just “cost us wins”

I tweet.

by benk on Jan 26, 2012 4:36 PM EST up reply actions

Ok, but that's totally out of context

Since he said “based on the last two seasons Adam Lind will cost the Jays wins.” That’s a lot different than “Adam Lind cost the Jays wins relative to other first baseman.” Either way that’s misleading, because if it was his intention to say what you said he didn’t make it the least bit clear, which goes back to my point

by Aidin on Jan 26, 2012 6:10 PM EST up reply actions

yeah, agreed

that’s why I put the title disclaimer, because I really had no idea what the context was

I tweet.

by benk on Jan 26, 2012 9:25 PM EST up reply actions

He started listing stats like K%, walk rate, and others. Then he dropped a bombshell, “Yeah, I checked FanGraphs”.

“He” as in Blair, or Davidi?

Follow me @Minor_Leaguer

by Minor Leaguer on Jan 26, 2012 4:40 PM EST reply actions

Blair, that was the shocking part.

by brigstew on Jan 26, 2012 5:34 PM EST up reply actions

Actually...

I’ve heard Blair bring up FG and BBR a couple of times. Among the Toronto sportswriters of his generation I would say he is probably the least neanderthal-ish (along with Brunt) even though I still often disagree with him.

by icemanDan on Jan 27, 2012 1:35 PM EST up reply actions

Davidi is strange. Sometimes he references sabermetrics and seems to know what he’s talking about. Next he’s defending the Michael Young MVP vote this year saying he has a MVP presence in the club house. I can’t figure him out.

by Sean Coleman on Jan 26, 2012 4:52 PM EST reply actions

Davidi deals with teams, organizations and players directly. Which is a different perspective than that of a fan or a non-professional who’s never played or worked in the game extensively.

by dexfarkin on Jan 26, 2012 4:55 PM EST up reply actions

Toronto is (right now) a pretty small group in terms of baseball coverage, and has an oversized and intelligent blogging community. So a lot of the guys that engage fans directly, like Mike Wilner, Jeff Blair or Shi Davidi, are most certainly aware and knowledgeable about advanced stats and that the people who are listening about baseball in the middle of winter are likely going to be as well. The profile of the blogging community, especially recently with ‘traditional’ sports media properties making deals with blogs like the DJF and the Tao to provide content shows that they clearly identify that as a core audience to be served.

At the same point, I doubt analysis will ever get to a Fangraphs point because there’s still plenty of arguments about the veracity of many stats and the conclusions that are drawn from it. There’s also the accessibility for the average fan, whose roots of value are still deep in the long established metrics for performance. So I think you’ll see more of it, but until things like BA and RBIs are replaced as generally accepted measures of value, you won’t see it replace a lot of the existing metrics.

by dexfarkin on Jan 26, 2012 4:53 PM EST reply actions