Pretty reasonable for an employer to request an employee not bring their kid to work every day. If they allow LaRoche to do it, they have to allow everyone. That means you’ll have dozens of kids running around a clubhouse of grown men all the time. Baseball clubhouses aren’t really a great atmosphere for kids.

You realize that Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb played in a time before the slider was invented? Before pitching-handed specialism was a concept? Before advanced defensive mapping? I’m not saying they weren’t good, but if you took Babe Ruth and teleported him to 2016 and had, let’s say, Jose Fernandez throw him a slider — he’d…

^ there’s a picture of two guys who never had to play against the best competition available. You can’t compare dudes who played in an era when only white guys who worked side-jobs in the off-season were their competitors. Barry Bonds would have fucking demolished in the 20's and 30's. In fact, I could have played…

All of the greats are pompous. How was he a complete jerk to teammates?

Ted Williams may have been a better pure hitter, but Barry Bonds, even before steroids, was the greatest all-around player to ever play the game. Most accounts have him starting using steroids in 1998 - 1999. Prior to that point, he was already the first (and remains the only) 400/400 player ever. He also had 3 MVP’s…

I say this a lot but seriously, do you guys not have editors?

a 3-year deal hasn’t been a “huge” contract in baseball since like, before women could vote.

There actually is a difference between a single and a walk; to state that there isn’t is completely ignorant to the nature of the game.

Ok. The statistic that measures how often a guy gets a hit is totally useless and comparable to team-dependent counting stats. Excellent analysis.

And yet if a guy hits .301, he’s probably a good baseball player. It’s very hard to hit .301 and not get on base at least 35% of the time. I don’t think you’ll find anyone batting .301 and not OPSing at least in the mid-700's.

I have a degree in statistics and have played and watched baseball my entire life. Conflating BA with Wins and Saves is retarded and baseless. I’m not defending the article.

Not all forms of getting on base are equal. Which is why SLG is important. Look, all I’m refuting is the absurd statement comparing BA to Wins and Saves and saying that BA is completely useless. I’m not some old timey baseball idiot. I have a degree in statistics; I am into advanced statistics.

I’MA JUST GO ALL-CAPS ANYWAY

IF I TYPE IN CAPS WILL IT HELP YOUR READING COMPREHENSION?

Those are not even remotely comparable stats. Wins are team-dependent counting stats. Batting average is not. You’re really embarrassing advanced statistics with this non-sense.

It’s a good stat for offensive aptitude... it’s not an all-encompassing stat, but to say it’s not even a good stat for offensive aptitute is absurd.

“Griffun”