SB Nation User Blog: cwyers

What should I write about?

cwyers — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:29:48 -0000

Many of the old-timers around here may recognize me; my name is Colin Wyers and I've written for the Cubs blog Goatriders of the Apocalypse in the past (and I gather they've survived just fine since I've left) and I'm currently a contributor to the Hardball Times. I'm - ahem - rather stats-oriented in my work.

For the third year running, Al has asked me to contribute an article to the Cubs annual he edits. I'll confess - I'm rather blocked as to what I should be writing about this year.

So I'm curious - what would y'all like to see an article about? Post a comment and let me know. I'm not promising to use the most popular idea (I have to figure out how to fit something into my word budget, among other concerns) but I'm open to a lot of idea. Thanks in advance!

Why does Pujols regress to the mean?

cwyers — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:27:40 -0000

Why does Pujols regress to the mean?

Like I promised in the thread about relief pitcher WAR, an article about regression to the mean that addresses the problem faced with regressing players who are only at this point potential major leaguers.

Simple Zone Rating source code

cwyers — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:51:08 -0000

Simple Zone Rating source code

A peek at outfielder ratings in Simple Zone Rating. Oh, and the SQL source code used to generate Retrosheet SZR. Have fun!

Creating A Retrosheet Database, Part I

cwyers — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:54:10 -0000

Creating A Retrosheet Database, Part I

If you thought RJ was dangerous before...

Brewers frontrunner for Sabathia?

cwyers — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:15:22 -0000

Brewers frontrunner for Sabathia?

So sayeth a SF beatwriter, of all people.

2009 Brewers ZiPS Projections

cwyers — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:36:13 -0000

2009 Brewers ZiPS Projections

In case you were curious. I must say, I like Szym's new format.

Marmol injured

cwyers — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:33:22 -0000

Marmol injured

Carlos Marmol injured in a car accident. Doesn't seem too serious, from the text.

Baseball!

cwyers — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:24:37 -0000

Baseball!

I can has sneaky power?

cwyers — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:38:40 -0000

I can has sneaky power?

Question about Bill Hall's defense

cwyers — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:15:08 -0000

This is probably a moot point right now - seeing as Hall is no longer an outfielder - but I was doing some graphing this morning and I had a question.

Here's a graph of Bill Hall in the outfield last year:

Compared to, say, Jim Edmonds:

Color-coding indicates frequency of plays made at that location - blue means a lot of plays, red means fewer plays.

(If you're curious - I'm looking at Edmonds for obvious reasons; Hall had similar RZR/OOZ numbers in a similar amount of opportunities and so I thought it might be an interesting one-on-one comparison.)

The larger number of blue "clusters" in the Hall graph indicates (to me, at least) a larger number of starting positions for Hall than Edmonds. Does that match up well with your experience watching Hall last season?