Sabermetrics for Beginners Part II: The Violent Stats
For those of you who have already listened to Episode 6 of the podcast, yes, I know that konnichiwa means “good afternoon,” and not “thank you for listening to our podcast.” Language has never been Thomas’ strong suit, so please forgive him. We felt a shout out to our Japanese listeners was in order after seeing this, a Japanese language podcast directory listing our podcast, and about 88.8% of our podcast’s total downloads have come from Japan, so I guess there’s nothing I can say except for “ãƒãƒƒãƒ‰ã‚ャストをèžã„ã¦ãã‚Œã¦ã‚ã‚ŠãŒã¨ã†”, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Welcome Back Cody Ross!
Today begins many of the negotiations for arbitration-eligible players, including several of the Giants’ stars: Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, Cody Ross, Jonathon Sanchez and Andres Torres. Mike Fontenot was on the list previously as well, but signed early with the Giants for $1.05 million.
Good news came right away, luckily, as the news broke that Cody Ross and the Giants avoided arbitration by signing a one-year deal worth $6.3 million, assuring fans that we have another year of the goofy, smiley right-fielder and his crazy luck.
Ross is one of the more unpredictable players, as he batted just .265/.316/.405 in 2010 on the Marlins before becoming the Giants starting right fielder and post-season hero. He was arguably the most energizing player in the Giants offense, getting the offense started against the best pitchers in the game -including a home run against Derek Lowe, two homers against Roy “I just won the Cy Young” Halladay – and leading the “inept” Giants offense to a stunning World Series victory!