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MLB Heavyweight Champion

If MLB champs were decided like boxing: beat the champ, and you're the champ.

The 2008 season started with the Red Sox as champs. They were beaten by the A's, who were beaten back by Boston, who were then swept by Toronto, who lost to Oakland, who lost to Cleveland, and so on, until we reached our current champion.

The Heavyweight of the Year is the team that wins the most title bouts at the end of the season.

Current Champion (as of 8/12):
Milwaukee Brewers

2008 Title Bout Records:

Mets2317
Athletics1313
Red Sox117
Cubs91
Padres86
Rockies714
Angels64
Indians611
Brewers50
Cardinals55
Reds55
Dodgers57
Marlins43
Rangers46
Blue Jays33
Nationals35
Mariners21
Yankees23
Phillies25
Tigers12
Giants03
Orioles03

2007 Heavyweight of the Year:
Seattle Mariners

2006 Heavyweight of the Year:
Oakland Athletics

2005 Heavyweight of the Year:
Oakland Athletics

more info...

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Globe Gloves
2005-10-05 10:36
by Ken Arneson

TangoTiger's 2005 Scouting Report by the Fans for the Fans is now available. Mark Kotsay won a "Globe Glove", and I wrote his summary:

Mark Kotsay makes extraordinary defense look ordinary. His arm is good, but not a cannon. Yet he can unleash a textbook one-hop throw right on the base with uncanny consistency. His speed is good, but not blinding. Yet he seems to get to every fly ball without ever having to leave his feet. Kotsay is a great fielder, but he is not a reliable source of "web gems". With solid fundamentals, perfect positioning and excellent reads off the bat, Mark Kotsay makes even the most difficult of plays look simple and routine.

Compare that to what Aaron Gleeman wrote about Torii Hunter:

Torii Hunter plays center field like a middle linebacker plays a sweep to the outside. He attacks the ball without regard for his own safety and hunts it down. Whether the catch involves scaling the baggy-covered walls in the Metrodome or skidding along the turf face first, he makes the play first and thinks about it later. There is no more spectacular outfielder in baseball, and while the triangle in Fenway Park handed Hunter his first career knockout this season, his overall record against The Wall is second-to-none.

Two utterly different styles of center field play, yet each effective in his own unique way. Ain't baseball great?

* * *

Here is the A's report from Tango's study. Can't say I'd disagree with the results too much, except for Jason Kendall.

Kendall's speed and first-step scores are probably accurate, but those traits aren't very important for a catcher defensively. Overall, his speed helped him reach a score of 52 on a 100 point scale. In my book, any catcher with an arm as bad as Kendall's should not be considered an above-average defensive player. Catchers probably need to be measured differently.

Comments
2005-10-05 13:03:22
1.   Tangotiger
And they will!

These are just an overall "Fielder-neutral" rating. When I get the positional reports done in a few weeks, each position will have its own set of weights.

I'm even going to have a rating for each player for each of the 8 positions, so you can see how a particular player would have performed at each position. We can determine if each player's skillset was properly leveraged.

2005-10-05 15:12:22
2.   Jeremy Reed
Is there such a thing as a sweep up the middle?

Isn't Gleeman an unabashed Twins fan?

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