Reader mail of the day: fielding WAR for DH?  THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

I'm a busy guy, so I don't always read all of the blogs out there that you might think I do.  

Chances
"When the fielder loves his record
     More than victory for his team
Doubtful chances miss his glances
     For his caution is extreme.
Going after every grounder
     Means a slip-up here and there,
And in terror of an error
     He will choose the chances fair.
Spotless records are enticing
     In a ball game as in life,
And the cunning pick their running
     To avoid the stony strife.
Many a mortal swaggers slowly
     Down the years in proud parade,
Boasting to the meek and lowly
     Of the slips he never made.
Well it is that wise commanders,
     When they call for sterling men,
Place the workers o'er the shirkers
     Though they err and err again.
Men who try and fall when trying
     Try again and win at last,
Never brooding, never sighing
     O'er the errors of the past."
                            -- William F. Kirk

Think criticism of fielding percentage is a modern phenomenon, perhaps borne out of hatred for Derek Jeter?

This poem was written in 1917.

(Special hat tip to SABR's Baseball Research Journal for the poem.)

Citing fielding percentage as evidence of the best fielder is like saying the best quarterback is the one with the lowest interception rate, or the best basketball defender is the one with the fewest fouls.

Not making errors has value, but its far from the most important thing you can do as a defender.

(Note: All of the data in this post was obtained from the new Baseball-Reference Fielding Stats.)

Sometimes a player has a season so magnificent that it becomes truly legendary. A batting example would be Babe Ruth's 1920, when he had more home runs by himself than any other team in the American League. For basestealers, Rickey Henderson's 130-steal 1982 campaign has gone down in history as the most prolific in modern history. And for pitchers, you have Pedro Martinez's 2000, when he posted a 1.74 ERA in a league where the average was 4.91. All of these feats have been justifiably lionized over the years for their brilliance, but where's the love for the greatest fielding performance of the postwar era?

(Note: All of the data in this post was obtained from the new Baseball-Reference Fielding Stats.)

A month and a half into the 2010 season, the L.A. Dodgers' defense has been one of the biggest disappointments in baseball. Among NL teams, they current rank a distant last in both Fielding +/- and TotalZone Runs Above Average, and they're quite a bit below average in Defensive Efficiency as well: