For anyone who is new to basic trade talk, sabermetrics, statistics, and anything else baseball-related.
- OPS: On-base plus slugging. Generally considered the best barometer of a hitter’s performance and run-scoring importance. However, because it weighs both OBP and SLG equally, many have turned to newer, more specific sabermetrics.
- Sabermetrics: Named after the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), sabermetrics is the development and analysis of new and improved statistics. These usually involve calculations that are much more involved than traditional statistics. They also rely more heavily on averages and past events than basic statistics (like totals, i.e. x number of home runs)
- 19th-Century Stats: A common nickname for statistics like “batting average,” “ERA” and other old, unaltered measures of performance. Many experts feel that these went by the wayside during baseball’s early years, hence the usage of “19th-Century.”
- Moneyball: Both the name of a book by Michael Lewis and a term used to define a conservative, “sit-and-wait” style of playing the game. In the book, Lewis writes about the Oakland Athletics and their general manager, Billy Beane, chronicling his strategies to create a winning team on a limited budget. The style of play generally consists of rare instances of stolen base attempts, taking a lot of pitches in order to draw walks and stocking the lineup with power hitters. In general, it is more important to avoid making an out than it is to get a base hit.
- WHIP: A statistic measuring a pitcher’s hits and walks allowed per inning, on average. Usually this correlates with a pithcer’s ERA – that is, a low WHIP yields a low ERA, and a high WHIP a high ERA. However, this is not always the case, and some pitchers have consistently shown that they are better at “getting out of jams” and stranding baserunners, which may have led to the skepticism of the ERA statistic itself.
- OPS+ and ERA+: These variations of OPS and ERA simply show a player’s relative standing amongst other players. The values are usually near 100, the league average. Over 100 is above average or better, and under 100 is below average or worse. So, a pitcher with an ERA+ of 125 is a good pitcher, and a hitter with an OPS+ of 125 is a good hitter. High values in both instances are good.
- VORP: Value Over Replacement Player. This is a relatively new sabermetric that is intended to show a replacement player’s (i.e. high-level minor leaguer) likely output should he be thrust into a starting lineup somewhere. These projections are based on an expected amount of contribution compared to the league average at his position, usually in the 70% to 80% range.
- DFA: Designated for Assignment. This means that a player has been asked to go back to the minor leagues. If he refuses, he will be released after ten days. The team has the option of trading him before the ten day period comes to an end. DFA’s usually occur when a team needs to clear a spot on the roster and is not tied directly to poor performance or off-the-field issues.
