Monday, May 10, 2010

Fun with computer algorithms

I was appalled today to see Nick Punto in the 2 hole with Orlando Hudson on the bench. Sure, the Twins scored 6 runs, so my point doesn't carry as much weight, but generally speaking, you want one of the best hitters on the team in that spot, to either advance the lead off man, or set the table for the big bats behind him. Nick Punto is not a good hitter, despite the two hits he had today.
Baseballmusings has an algorithm that takes the OBP and SLG of a player and compiles the most effective lineup, based on that lineup over the course of a season. I went with the longer statistical model (the other had Justin Morneau leading off). Here is the lineup it came up with, based on the post game stats:
Span
Morneau
Young
Mauer
Cuddyer
Punto (?!)\
Harris
Ramos
Casilla.

The interesting thing is, for the most part, that players are about where they should be. The two most notable changes are Delmon Young moving up and Nick Punto moving down. Perhaps this is what Ron G should have considered? But wow... Punto 6th?

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1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I went to this game on Moms Day with the wife's family. We were lucky enough to have one of the most obnoxious and annoying people I have ever been around, sitting right behind us. This lady was there with her teenage daughter and the whole game did nothing but bad mouth our best players. "Cuddyer sucks, we should trade him, Morneau can't hit anything and should be benched, why is Mauer in there, he's hurt and should not be playing." I think the best one was when Brendan Harris was up and she says "Harris is up, he's garbage so he won't do anything." Harris proceeded to hit a double and then scored on a Casilla double. She then proceeded to explain to her daughter that Nick Punto is the best player the Twins have and should have gotten Mauer's contract. It was all I could do to bite my tongue and not say anything. I really hate people sometimes.

8:55 AM  

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