Saturday, May 31, 2014

Friday, May 30, 2014

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Rant Sports.com: 2014 Fantasy Football Profile-New York Jets WR Eric Decker

Check out my latest 2014 fantasy football profile at Rant Sports, taking a closer look at WR Eric Decker upon his offseason signing with the New York Jets.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/fantasy/2014/05/29/2014-fantasy-football-profile-wr-eric-decker/

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Rant Sports.com: 2014 Fantasy Football Profile-San Diego Chargers RB Ryan Mathews

Here's my latest fantasy football post at Rant Sports, as I try to determine the chances San Diego Chargers RB Ryan Mathews has to repeat his 2013 success this coming season.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/fantasy/2014/05/23/2014-fantasy-football-profile-rb-ryan-mathews/

Rant Sports.com: 2014 Fantasy Football Profile-Houston Texans RB Arian Foster

Please check out my latest fantasy football post at Rant Sports, looking at Arian Foster's chances to re-establish himself in 2014.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/fantasy/2014/05/23/2014-fantasy-football-profile-rb-arian-foster/

Monday, May 19, 2014

Rant Sports.com: 2014 Fantasy Football Dynasty Radar-Colt Lyerla

 Here's my latest post at Rant Sports, attempting to pinpoint Colt Lyerla's fantasy football stock if he manages to stick with the Green Bay Packers.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Three True Outcome Percentage: A Sampling of Players

I've layed out the idea of "Three True Outcome Percentage" and focused on a team during this season, and now I have looked into players past and present to try and create a "sample size" and analyze TTOP at a higher level.
Once again,  a reminder of the formula for TTOP:
Strike outs +walks+ home runs÷plate appearances

Kirby Puckett: 965+450+207÷7831
Career TTOP= .207
Ricky Henderson: 1694+2190+297÷13346
Career TTOP= .313
Gary Sheffield: 1171+1475+509÷10947
Career TTOP= .288

Jose Canseco: 1942+906+462÷8129
Career TTOP= .407
Mark McGwire: 1596+1317+583÷7660
Career TTOP= .456
Sammy Sosa: 2306+929+609÷9896
Career TTOP= .388

Cecil Fielder: 1316+693+319÷5939
Career TTOP= .391
Prince Fielder: 1002+751+288÷5787
TTOP= .353

Harmon Killebrew: 1699+1559+573÷9833
Career TTOP= .389
Reggie Jackson: 2597+1375+563÷11418
Career TTOP= .397
Willie Mays: 1526+1464+660÷12496
Career TTOP= .292
Ted Williams: 709+2021+521÷9788
Career TTOP= .332

I've focused on retired players here, and a lot of Hall of Famers. I did find it worthwhile and interesting to compare Prince and Cecil Fielder to each other, and by coincidence they've had a similar number of career plate appearances (Prince through 5/15/14).


Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Rant Sports.com: NFL Rumors-5 Teams That Should Have Interest in Houston Texans WR Andre Johnson

Check out my latest slideshow at Rant Sports, offering five teams that should have interest in Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson if he is available.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/2014/05/14/nfl-rumors-5-teams-that-should-show-interest-in-andre-johnson/#

Three True Outcome Percentage: The Minnesota Twins Edition

Back in April I threw out a theory about baseball's three true outcomes and made an attempt to put them together in a single statistic with Three True Outcome Percentage

In that piece I focused on Adam Dunn and Barry Bonds, in an attempt to give a shining example of a three-true-outcomes hitter in Dunn and how a hitter's three-true-outcomes may change over the course of a career with Bonds.

I'd like to now take it up a notch to teams, starting with the Minnesota Twins, and perhaps look at major league baseball as a whole by season's end in an attempt to determine if Three True Outcome Percentage helps separate good offensive teams from bad.



Without further ado, here are the Three True Outcome Percentages for some of the Twins' most notable hitters so far in 2014.

First, a reminder of the formula: Strikeouts+Walks+Home Runs/Plate Appearances= Three True Outcome Percentage

Joe Mauer: .358 (30 strikeouts+21 walks+2 home runs/148 PAs)
Brian Dozier: .394 (34+28+9/180)
Kurt Suzuki: .177 (8+13+1/124)
Jason Kubel: .444 (45+13+1/133)
Josmil Pinto: .414(25+18+5/116)
Chris Colabello: .391 (46+9+4/151)

Trevor Plouffe: .362 (40+18+1/163)
Aaron Hicks: .454 (27+17+1/99)

Pedro Florimon: .338 (18+7+0/74)
Eduardo Escobar: .236 (13+3+1/72)

Total Team TTOP: .359 (339+165+27/1478)

Takeaways/Other Notes:

- Hicks team-leading TTOP is driven by 17 walks, and his is a case where the "eye test" shows he has a long way to go as a major league hitter

-Suzuki's production (.314, 25 RBI) is not reflected in his TTOP, but a mark below .200 may be a sign of looming regression

- Dozier's TTOP is far above his batting average (.236), but serves as a relative median between his on-base percentage (.361) and slugging percentage (.439)

- Colabello's TTOP, along with his other traditional numbers, may continue to drop unless he takes more walks

- I went with a minimum of 60 plate appearances for this list, so Danny Santana, Sam Fuld, Josh Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia don't qualify at this point but may as the season goes on and the plate appearance minimum is adjusted

Now's the time where I solicit feedback from you, the reader(s). Is there a direction you'd like to see me go with Three True Outcome Percentage? Some historical context, comparing past players to each other? Current players or teams compared to each other? Maybe a little of both?

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Monday, May 12, 2014

Rant Sports.com: Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire-Pittsburgh Pirates SP Charlie Morton

Check out my latest at Rant Sports, attempting to give fantasy owners some context to a winless start to the season by Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Charlie Morton.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/fantasy/2014/05/12/fantasy-baseball-is-charlie-morton-worth-adding-immediately/

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Rant Sports.com: 2014 NFL Draft-The Minnesota Vikings Get Defensive on Day 3

Check out my latest post at Rant Sports, taking a closer look at the six players the Minnesota Vikings selected on day three of the 2014 NFL Draft.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/2014/05/10/2014-nfl-draft-day-3-the-minnesota-vikings-get-defensive/

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Rant Sports.com: Fantasy Football Rookie Outlook-Carolina Panthers WR Kelvin Benjamin

My latest post at Rant Sports, taking a look at rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin's fantasy football outlook after landing with the Carolina Panthers.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/fantasy/2014/05/09/2014-fantasy-football-rookie-outlook-carolina-panthers-wr-kelvin-benjamin/

Rant Sports.com: 2014 Fantasy Football Rebound Radar-New England Patriots WR Danny Amendola

My latest post at Rant Sports, taking a look at New England Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola's chances to be a fantasy football stud in 2014.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/fantasy/2014/05/08/2014-fantasy-football-rebound-radar-danny-amendola/

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Rant Sports.com: Green Bay Packers 2014 NFL Draft: TE Eric Ebron Is a Good First Round Option

Check out my latest at Rant Sports, making a case for North Carolina tight end Eric Ebron as the player the Green Bay Packers should be ok with landing in the first round.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/2014/05/07/green-bay-packers-eric-ebron-wouldnt-be-the-worst-first-round-pick/

Rant Sports.com: Minnesota Timberwolves-Should Mark Jackson Be the New Head Coach?

Here's one of my posts from Tuesday at Rant Sports, taking a look at Mark Jackson as a potential candidate to become head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/nba/2014/05/06/minnesota-timberwolves-rumors-is-mark-jackson-now-the-top-option-to-replace-rick-adelman/

Monday, May 5, 2014

Rant Sports.com: Minnesota Vikings Rumors-Could a Trade For Sam Bradford Be Coming?

Check out my latest post at Rant Sports, taking a closer look at the rumor from CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora on Monday suggesting the Minnesota Vikings and St. Louis Rams have talked about a trade involving quarterback Sam Bradford.

Link: http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/2014/05/05/minnesota-vikings-rumors-could-they-trade-for-a-former-no-1-overall-pick/

Sunday, May 4, 2014