Brian Brown

@JeffPassan @JohnJHarwood Game 7, 4-4 game, bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, runner on 2nd. Who would you rather have up? The answer is the player with the highest probability of getting the run in - Machado. OBP/OPS are valuable stats, but fail to capture situational hitting which is essential to winning a WS

Great question, John. For most of baseball history, the walk was sneered at -- a lesser form of getting on base compared to the exceptional skill it takes to swing. The analytical revolution in the game changed that. If the objective of the game is to outscore a team, then the likeliest way to score runs is for people to get on base. Post-Moneyball, on-base percentage replaced batting average as more reliable metric for helping produce runs. Batting average was almost a victim of its own popularity, though. Because it does matter. It's just not the first determinant of a baseball player's quality. Sometimes I do fear the pendulum has swung too far in the anti-batting-average direction. Let's take three players as examples, with their batting averages, on-base percentages and slugging percentages: Manny Machado: .302/.361/.507 Juan Soto: .248/.383/.486 Eugenio Suárez: .248/.319/.572 Three totally different hitters. Machado is balanced and batting average-heavy. Soto’s average is deflated but he’s an on-base savant thanks to the highest walk rate in the major leagues. Suárez is a masher whose high slug is his calling card. So who’s the best? Well, if you’re judging by a metric called weighted on-base average, which seeks to be a catch-all offensive number that is park-neutral … they are pretty much identical. It goes to show: Offensively, there are plenty of ways to be really good. A great batting average is never a bad thing. But a poor one, as Soto and Suárez illustrate, does not doom you to mediocrity.

hi @JeffPassan, casual baseball fan here with a question. your exchange with Doug Mientkiewicz raised something i've wondered about: why has batting average become a less-meaningful measure of the caliber of a hitter?

@ForePlayPod @petermillar @RiggsBarstool @jnorton98

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@papiblez Don’t understand the Lindy hate. Incredibly experienced coach that has the locker room and isn’t a hard ass. Team had the greatest point increase over two seasons, franchise record wins, and won the first round against a great team. Idk what more you could ask for after last yr

Ok, ok, I’m emotional but I always thought that if Lindy Ruff could steer the #NJDevils past the Rangers, he would deserve to be brought back as coach in the future. Do I have a lot of issues with Ruff’s decisions? Yes. But he got this team cooking and they rolled to a win.

@CJTDevil Softest call in history other than the Lauko hook in the bruins game last night 😂

He played 4:58 last game and took a penalty. Just so we're clear.

@CJTDevil Doubling Hughes/hischier exposes them to more physicality which isn’t ideal considering they’re already playing 22ish mins a game already. Lazar has filled his role nicely playing aggressive without taking penalties and being sound defensively. Fine with lineup as is

If we're protecting a lead, double shift Nico with the bottom 6. If we're catching up, Luke jumps in to the defensive rotation and Jack double shifts with the bottom 6. McLeod is a more natural 4C anyway, and our 3L wingers are skilled enough to play with Hughes/Nico.

Nobody is questioning lineup decisions for Ruff right now because we're coming off two wins. So naturally that's what I'm gonna do: Luke Hughes should 100% be playing tonight as the 7th D and NJ should go 11/7 and sit Curtis Lazar.

@xab1ball @nicknsno @ChogBogg @Yankees There’s a possibility Houston’s shallow LF played a part in Marwin not making the roster as Carpenter can play a servicable LF while bringing more to the plate than Marwin. It’s likely he’s become expendable since Cabrera effectively plays the same role as Marwin but better

@nicknsno @ChogBogg @Yankees We have locastro for baserunning Peraza and Cabrera at SS and we have two catchers already

Our roster is set for the ALCS 🔒 #RepBX

Loaisiga had a sub 2 era in Aug & Sept he should be the closer. Locastro makes that play in left in the 9th why no defensive substitution. Holmes said he was available and didn’t use him. IKF blunders all season masked by a GG 1B yet “Peraza isn’t ready.” I mean what are we doing

@RyanRuocco should be announcing playoff games. Bob Costas is brutal

This Yankees team is completely unwatchable right now

You can't honestly tell me they're gonna sit down with Judge in the morning and say he's not worth $21 million 😂😂😂

Yankees sitting Rizzo, there best offensive player so far, when there is an off day tomorrow? Yankees refusing to attack the soft schedule again even though this philosophy led to a road wild card game last year?

@YESNetwork Why can’t the Yanks preach contact hitting? The homerun mentality produces high Whiff % and horrible situational hitting. Last I checked #2 made a pretty good career hitting the ball through the right side

Gleyber Torres has put in work to adjust his mechanics at the plate as he hopes for a big season in 2022.

@YankeesSlut Joe Buck is so bad

Hideki Matsui slashed .312/.391/.541 in 56 career postseason games. His .933 postseason OPS ranks 3rd among all Yankees in franchise history- behind Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

A great story coming from a UNH Club Hockey Alum and National Champion Kilian McNamara scoutingtherefs.com/2021/10/32371/…

@TalkinYanks Sign Judge, Rizzo. Dump Gallo for a couple baseballs, Stanton plays LF. Let Florial compete with Hicks for CF. Torres plays 2B, sign SS (seager) DJLM to 3B, dangle Urshela as a trade piece with others for SP, add Ray. Launch Sanchez to the moon and sign any C that can catch

What should the Yankees do to improve their roster of players this offseason?

With three more strikeouts today, Joey Gallo now has 60 K in his first 122 at-bats with the #Yankees.

@BryanCarmon Gallo has been abysmal and a lefty is on the mound. Boone acting like Stanton is not one of the best hitters in the history of the game against lefties

.@Yankees' pitcher Luis Gil has become the first pitcher in MLB history to have a scoreless start in each of his first three career appearances 👏

@JustVids17 @BryanHoch baseball-reference.com/players/f/flor…

Andrew Heaney since joining the #Yankees ... 15 runs, 15 hits, 15 innings. Symmetry.