Most useless baseball stat

[gwayneco]

Yesterday there were no saves in any MLB games. This useless stat is a curse on the game, but I don't think it's quite as bad as W/L for pitchers.

[DonnyMost]

W/L for pitchers is the most useless stat in all of sports. Let alone just baseball.

[The Real Shady]

If W/L were an important stat then Wandy would be the best pitcher on the Astros staff.

[Dr of Dunk]

I swear baseball comes up with some of the zaniest stats. I guess they need filler for the 10 minutes between pitches and jock itches.

"The last time we had a left hander from New Mexico with a last name longer than 8 characters win on a Monday following a day where it rained was back in July of 1943, Joe!"

"Wow Bob! That's great! Here's the 1 and 1... steeerike"

"That reminds me of the last time a fan's grandmother baked some peanut butter cookies for us on the back end of a double header at night. I think that was last June, Joe!"

"Wow Bob! That's great! Here's the 1 and 2... pop foul... watch out over there kiddies, there's a bee headin' your way... wwwwwoooo boy he sent that baby on a rope!"

zzzzzzzzz...

[ChucklesG]

K/BB Ratio.

I can see a runs scored/runs allowed ratio as one offsets the other, but Ks and BBs have no relationship to each other. Kind of like TD/INT ratio in the NFL, it's not as if an INT takes 6 points away from your team.

[BobFinn*]

Pitch count

I wanna see guys like the old days, you know, the ones who threw 300 pitches every other day. There was no bullpen. You finished what you started. Complete Games are a thing of the past. It's a BIG story when someone gets one nowadays.

Today's players are suppsed to be such better athletes than players of yesteryear, baloney. Why are they all getting injured? I'll tell ya why....they dont throw enough. 5 days off between starts is way too long.

Give me Mickey Lolich, Gaylord Perry, Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax....

[A-Train]

I remember one Rockets game a few years ago, Bill Worrell mentioned that the Rockets were #1 in the NBA in free throw percentage defense...I guess all those thundersticks were working that year...

I'm going with time of possession in football as the most useless stat in sports. I can't count the number of times I've seen a team getting their ass kicked because they have six minute drives that end with a field goal. Passing yardage is pretty meaningless, also. A QB throws a screen pass that barely reaches the line of scrimmage , three lineman each throw a great block, the reciever makes two other guys miss, and the QB gets 50 passing yards??

One thing I've never understood about baseball stats is why they count balls and strikes. I know that a ball is a ball, but if a player hits a homerun, that counts as a strike??

[rimrocker]

These days, perhaps Home Runs?

[robbie380]

Originally Posted by ChucklesG K/BB Ratio. I can see a runs scored/runs allowed ratio as one offsets the other, but Ks and BBs have no relationship to each other. Kind of like TD/INT ratio in the NFL, it's not as if an INT takes 6 points away from your team.

for pitchers they generally show how dominant or wild the pitcher is.

for batters they generally show how disciplined the batter is.

i think it's a very important stat when you are trying to evaluate a player. i don't see why you think there is no relationship. i mean you can't use it as well with a pitcher who doesn't strike people out, but for that you just switch to walks per 9 ip.

[meh]

Originally Posted by BobFinn* Pitch count I wanna see guys like the old days, you know, the ones who threw 300 pitches every other day. There was no bullpen. You finished what you started. Complete Games are a thing of the past. It's a BIG story when someone gets one nowadays. Today's players are suppsed to be such better athletes than players of yesteryear, baloney. Why are they all getting injured? I'll tell ya why....they dont throw enough. 5 days off between starts is way too long. Give me Mickey Lolich, Gaylord Perry, Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax....

I don't understand this line of reasoning. Do you think managers WANT to yank starting pitchers out after a certain number of pitches? Do you think Garner doesn't want Oswalt or Clemens to pitch complete games given the state of our bullpen?

It's not as if those pitchers of the past were just magically more capable of throwing more pitches w/o damaging their arms. They can do so because they don't throw as hard for each pitch. Thus, there's less strain on their arms as the game wears on.

I agree that 4 days off between starts could be too long. And I wish a team would at least experiment with a 4-man rotation again. But there's actually quite a bit of data to support the fact that high pitch counts not only raises likelihood of injury, but also the quality of subsequent starts.

I would consider W/L to be the most useless stats, although there are a lot to choose from.

[Buck Turgidson]

There are no useless stats, only useless statheads.

[RocketMan Tex]

Originally Posted by Buck Turgidson There are no useless stats, only useless statheads.

:D :D :D

[Manny Ramirez]

Wins and losses because you could have a terrible record, but a great ERA due to lack of run support and vice-versa. Personally, I like the OPS and WHIP stats - those are 2 stats that tell you, IMO, how dominant a player is.

[gwayneco]

Originally Posted by Buck Turgidson There are no useless stats, only useless statheads.

There are no useless statheads, only useless stathead haters.

[Major Malcontent]

Originally Posted by gwayneco There are no useless statheads, only useless stathead haters.

Now see, you aren't what I think of when I think of a Stathead...cause you actually LIKE to watch actual live baseball from the ball park.

When I think of a useless stathead..I think of somebody who would rather pour over a spreadsheet than watch 9 innings of a 4-3 instant classic.

[Joe Joe]

All-Star Voting numbers.

[Buck Turgidson]

Originally Posted by gwayneco useless statheads, haters.

Wasn't necessarily talking about you.

Both of those groups can be quite annoying.

[Jugdish]

Originally Posted by ChucklesG K/BB Ratio.

This is probably the most important pitching stat. Guys with high strikeout to walk ratios don't allow a lot of base runners.

[DallasThomas]

I voted saves.

Any stat where Brad Lidge is top-ten this year is worse than useless - it's simply wrong.