Cardinals news from a Sabermetric point of view

Stats Glossary

Adjusted GPA+: Gross Production Average (see Hardball Times) normalized for the league the player plays in. Formula is GPA/LeagueGPA*100.

Blocked-Pitch Percentage: a measure of a catcher’s defense. It is the total WP+PB divided by the total number of pitches in the dirt.

Gross Bases: The aggregate number of a batter’s total bases, walks and hit-by-pitches.

GPA: Gross Production Average, a variation of OPS, but more accurate and easier to interpret. The exact formula is (OBP*1.8+SLG)/4, and The Hardball Times adjusts it for ballpark factor. The scale of GPA is similar to BA: .200 is lousy, .265 is around average and .300 is a star. A simple formula for converting GPA to runs is PA*1.356*(GPA^1.77). – from The Hardball Times (Want to calculate it?)

FIGS: Fielding-Independent Game Score, using fielding-independent stats — strikeouts, walks and home runs — along with total batters faced (BF) and Outs, the formula is FIGS = 60+2*SO-3*BB-13*HR+Outs-BF.

La Russa Rating: mashup of unimportant statistics that, when put together, reveal the characteristics of what it seems Cardinal manager Tony La Russa looks for in his role players. Players earn points for a) Batting average as percentage of OBP, b) Combination of at least 100 ABs and less than .310 OBP, c) Combination of at least 100 ABs and less than .400 SLG, d) Sacrifice Hits, e) Plate appearances per strikeout, f) Being under 6 feet tall.

PAIN (Penalty Associated with Injury Number)

Quality of Runners Faced (QRF): a measure of a catcher’s defense. Take all of the runners who challenged a catcher, subtract their stolen-base attempts and successes vs. that catcher. Additionally: Of the runners that a catcher allowed to steal a base, determine their QRF — call it the catcher’s SB QRF. And get the QRF for all the runners that the catcher nabbed, and call it his CS QRF.

Sabermetric MVP score: A score for ranking league MVP candidates using Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Win-Probability Added (WPA). The formula is WAR + WPA. Earlier, the formula used Win Shares Above Bench and was (WSAB/3) + WPA.

Sabermetric Triple Crown (for batters): A revised version of the stats triumvirate that have traditionally been used to confer the honorary Triple Crown award. Instead of Home Runs, we use Total Bases; instead of RBIs, we use Runs Created; and instead of Batting Average, we use On-Base Percentage.

Sabermetric Triple Crown (for pitchers): Replaces the traditional pitching triple crown categories of ERA, strikeouts and wins with Sabermetric pitching statistics of DIPS, K/9 and Expected Wins.

Weighted Walk: An adjusted value for a walk based on its win-probability impact. Since not all walks impact a team’s win probability the same, weighted walks are an attempt to gauge how much a pitcher’s walks hurt him in a game. The average weighted walk is about 1.26, so anything less is a "good" walk and anything higher is a "bad" walk. Formula is 1+(10*WPA for walk).

Wildness: Measure of how wild a pitcher is.