skyking162

I’m extremely proud to announce that I’m officially a professional baseball writer. (Notice I didn’t say expert baseball writer.)

David Appelman of FanGraphs fame asked me a couple weeks ago to write regularly for his website. I quickly agreed and we’ve finally worked out the details. If you’re not familiar with FanGraphs, it’s an amazing site that provides a bunch of features not found together anywhere else. For example…

• Traditional player stats, plus a bunch of less common batted ball stats, like line drive percentage, homeruns per flyball, and infield hit percentage. Check out Ben Broussard’s stats page.
• Graphs of 10 key stats, presented both as season totals, and 10-game rolling averages from within each season. You can also view the graphs by lefty/right or home/road splits, like Ben Broussard’s isolated power.
• The ability to compare up to three players on the same graph for any of the graph-able stats. You could, for example, compare the OBPs of Ben Broussard, Mark Teixeira, and Travis Hafner over the years. Check out that second graph, where the players’ seasons are lined up according to age.
• Win Probability Added, including TangoTiger’s Leverage Index. That’s right, every game’s Win Probability is graphed, including box scores and individual players’ WPA and LI. On the team page, season stats are compiled. League leaders are coming soon.
• And now, brilliantly written articles by moi. Speed Plots contain quick thoughts about a number of different players, while Daily Graphings (like the first one about my main Man Crush) go more in depth about one player. I may also try my hand at a game of the day column, using WPA.

I’ll still be writing pretty much the same amount at my own blog, since what I’ll be writing for FanGraphs is very player-specific, unlike most of what I’ve been writing about here. So it’s great news for all of you, my loyal fans — you get to read my writing in two locations. Lucky you.

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Actually, the gone should come first, and then the I’m back… nevermind. Starting Friday, I spent five days in New York City, visiting and making new friends. I expected to post a couple times while away, but between going crazy, recovering, and discovering I really like Central Park, it didn’t happen. And while I technically arrived home yesterday, a midnight to 6am travel schedule will throw off even my highly motivated days. Here are some stories, notes, and tips from NYC, a couple of which are even baseball related.

• It’s been confirmed yet again — RAD is the best movie of all time and the soundtrack is timeless. The movie itself is a radical miracle.
• I went to the Mets/National game Monday night expecting to watch a Zambrano/Ortiz slugfest. Instead, the Mets managed to force an error in the bottom of the ninth to eek out a 2-1 win. My annoyance with Jose Reyes increased as he would have scored the winning run earlier in the game had he not been thrown out attempting to stretch a double into a triple. As the night was cold and windy, the extra half-inning and potential for extras was quite depressing.
• That game was my first at Shea Stadium. Decent park — better than Yankee Stadium in every way except for Monument Park, but that’s not saying much. I enjoyed experiencing the Homerun Apple, but it was more pathetic and decrepit than I expected.
• With two outs in the seventh and a runner on first, Frank Robsinson pinch hit for Ramon Ortiz… with Livan Hernandez. The game was tied. The Nationals must have figured out a new brand of smallball — instead of wasting outs to move over runners, why not just completely waste outs for no reason at all? Sure, Livan’s a good hitter for a pitcher, but his career line of .237/.247/.319 isn’t better than using Matt Lecroy, Daryle Ward, or even Marlon Anderson, is it?
• I respect the ability to live so close to two bars that they become nicknamed “downstairs” and “the neighbors” — as in, “Ok, I’m headed downstairs for a minute” or “hey, let’s go say hi to the neighbors.” And when the neighbor’s shows all the Red Sox games, that’s better than being able to borrow a cup of sugar.
• Here’s a little story to back up studes’ issue with Win Probability Added. We played a wiffle ball game in Central Park, complete with a homerun fence separating the grass from the road. In my inning+ of quality relief work I managed to give up a grand slam that turned our one-run lead into a three-run deficit. Big negative WPA. But then, in the bottom of the last inning, I cranked a walk-off grand slam to redeem myself. Big positive WPA. Overall, I was the hero (even though I was told not to be), but I sure had to f$#% things up in order to get there.
• Speaking of WPA, we discovered it’s a great stat for life in general. For example, when you’re driving five hours to make a train, you might give yourself an 80% chance of making it. But then when you pick up your friend late and extend the gas stop to a getting food stop, you’ve racked up -40% of WPA. Make four straight green lights going 65 mph — +15% WPA. Stop for Wendy’s — -25%. Do it fast — +10%. Get stuck behind two slow-ass vans — all hope is lost.
• Peace riots are a great event to take a nap at. Just remember to put on sunblock.
• Wearing an Expos cap to a Mets/Nationals game won’t garner any attention when someone else wears “a screwed up Twins hat” with an FC instead of a TC.
• Yoshi’s Cookie is the best fast-action puzzle game ever, beating out even Dr. Mario. No, my lack of Dr. Mario skill had no bearing in that decision.
• Fruit in NYC is cheap.
• Everything else isn’t.

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