Analytics & Bum

[klaiggeb]

I understand a lot of the analytics even though I may not always like them.

Everyone has been degrading Bum recently because those numbers have not been good.

On whole those numbers say he won't get us as much back as he once would have.

However, after making an adjustment to his mechanics these last 2 games, all of that noise should change.

If I'm a GM looking to make a deal, the numbers in the last 2 games are screaming at me to GO GET THAT GUY!

Now to be fair I might want to wait one more start to see for sure...but right now,IMHO, Bum's value has jumped and jumped BIG TIME!

This is the old Bum.

THIS is the MVP Bum we saw vs KC in the World Series.

THIS is the Bum that can carry a good team deep into the playoffs, and after that...?

Well,we've seen what AFTER THAT can mean.

[rog]

Madison has been very good the past two games. Which adjustment or adjustments have you seen him make, Boly or others? He's certainly striking out a lot more batters -- as you say, more like his prime. In the past two games, he's struck out 20 batters while walking just three.

[klaiggeb]

Rodger, go to the my team's app, or go to the giant website where bum talks about his changes. They were mostly mental. Stop using one side of the plate

[rog]

Thanks for the reference. That was indeed the adjustment he made. It's hard to imagine he could get caught using just one side of the plate, but even with a solid game plan, the actual execution can get a little off kilter in the heat of the moment. On the other hand, that is something that could and probably should have been picked up as the game went on. But better late than never.

And it sounds as if it were a trend that had developed over time. That really shouldn't happen. There are charts that show overall pitch location and location by type of pitch. A pitcher should be aware early in the process if such a trend is developing.

I don't know if the Giants provide charts like that for their pitchers, but they should. Correct me if I'm wrong, Boly and Randy, but if you had the information readily available, wouldn't you go back over a game, hitter by hitter and pitch by pitch, to see how you had set guys up and how it worked? Looked at each pitch that wound up a little way from where you wanted it and tried to figure out precisely what you did different mechanically that cause it to go there?

Wouldn't you go over each pitch and see how you could have set the hitter up better?

I'm surprised a pitcher as veteran as Madison wouldn't have realized he was overusing one side of the plate right as that trend was developing, but that is why the analytics are available to make it easy for a pitcher or coach to visualize it.

[klaiggeb]

I am sure he did all of those things.

But like everything in life, sometimes one misses the most obvious thing that is right in front of your face

[rog]

I can't imagine a major leaguer missing the obvious. Not with him, a pitching coach, a bullpen coach and a bullpen catcher. And a former catcher as manager.

Especially when the analytics department should be putting this stuff into very easy to understand pictures. The tools a major league pitcher has to work with these days are simply amazing.

[rog]

The Astros are said to be interested in the Tigers' southpaw Matthew Boyd. Boyd has outpitched Madison this season, although it is the first solid season of his five-year career. He doesn't have anywhere near the career mark of Bumgarner, and of course nothing wildly approaching the postseason success.

But he does have three controllable years beyond just the rest of this season. That is likely why a thinking team such as the Astros are interested in him. The Astros also have a nice rotation already, meaning the expectations for Boyd don't have to be as high as it might be for some contenders. Plus they have had a knack for improving their pitchers once they trade for them, and they may think their methods will work better on a younger (26), less experienced pitcher such as Boyd (although they certainly have worked spectacularly for the much more veteran Justin Verlander, whose career has taken off again since he joined the Astros at the trade deadline last year.

All this Boyd/Astros stuff is fascinating, but the real reason it's important to Giants fans is that the more good starters who hit the trade market, the worse the supply/demand ratio becomes for the Giants.

[rog]

The Pirates say they aren't interested in trading closer Felipe Vazquez, one of the top closers in the game. That improved the supply/demand equation for the Giants in trading Will Smith, in whom the Twins are said to be expressing considerable interest, quite possibly more interest than in Bumgarner, who doesn't have the Twins on his no-trade list.