An Explanation for Billy Butler's Power Increase....Sort Of

              In past years, many people have complained about Billy Butler’s lack of power for a DH and about him being a “base-clogger”.  Many people have failed to notice that Billy Butler is the most consistent and best hitter on the team.  Billy has been mostly the same hitter since 2007.  Lots of walks, not a lot of strikeouts, some power (but not enough, apparently), and lots of hits.  Well, that has changed this year.  Butler is on pace for over 30 home runs for the first time in his career; he already bested his previous career high of 21 home runs set in 2009.  What is causing this power increase?  Is it his “Country Breakfast” moniker?  Probably not, so let us delve into some stats!

Sustainable Performance

              Every year, we hear about players who have done something during the offseason or made some kind of change in their game to produce better results.  Sometimes, better performance just happens.  Over a short period of time, lots of things can happen.  The trick is determining whose performance is sustainable over a longer period of time.  We have some tools to predict this sort of thing, and I will now regale you with examples!  Not really.  Just two examples.  Will Smith and Alcides Escobar.  A pitcher and a hitter because I like completeness.

Some Way-too-early Chiefs Impressions

           Because the Chiefs' first preseason game took place Friday, and I was there (for most of it), I am going to offer some thoughts to consider for the season.  Keep in mind that compared to my baseball fandom, my football fandom is ignorant.  I don't understand football at the same level as baseball, but I will try to offer something useful anyway.

The Royals and WAR (Part 2-Position Players)

          Here is part two of the epic two part series "The Royals and WAR".  I know everyone has been clamoring for this like a pack of hungry hyenas, so I tried to get this post out as soon as I could.

          As I mentioned in part 1, it will take roughly 49 WAR for the Royals to produce a contending team, and possibly a division championship.  Divided equally between position players and pitchers, the position players must garner 24.5 WAR in a season to produce a playoff-caliber offense.  Keep in mind that WAR calculations for position players include defense, so it is not purely an offensive statistic.  I am going to look at the 2011 Royals position players as well as 2012.  More after the jump.

The Royals and WAR (Part 1-Pitchers)

           I don't really have a reason for the long hiatus between posts.  Laziness, I suppose.  It's a blog.  I can do what I want.

           Anyway, today I would like to focus on WAR and the Royals.  For those of you who don't know, WAR is one of those new-fangled sabermetric statistics used to capture the all-around performance of a player (offense AND defense are included for a non-pitcher).  WAR stands for "Wins Above Replacement".  Essentially, WAR measures how many wins a player adds to a team's overall record ABOVE some random AAA player.  For reference, someone like Irving Falu, who has had his cup of tea in the majors this season, is considered a "replacement" level player.  If a major league team was composed of 25 replacement level players, that team would be expected to win about 44 games.  This changes from season to season, but 44 games is basic enough.  More information after the jump.