Thursday, May 28, 2009
Win Shares
Posted by Dave StudemanI've had a few people ask if THT will post Win Shares during the season. I wasn't planning to post them for a few reasons:
- Win Shares are available at Bill James Online. True, you have to pay $3 a month to see them, but that's a pittance. And after all, Bill did create Win Shares.
- Bill has changed the Win Shares system to include Loss Shares. This isn't yet reflected in the BJOL stats, but he does write about it frequently. I figure that THT shouldn't publish obsolete work.
- There are very good alternatives available. Fangraphs has both WPA and WAR, for instance. I highly recommend them.
Finally, I just don't have the energy to calculate and upload the Win Shares on a weekly basis. It takes time.
I do still like WSAB and I know some of you folks do, too. So a compromise: I will post them a couple of times during the season in an Excel spreadsheet for those who pre-purchase the THT Annual. That will ensure that they're still available for you and the workload is manageable for me.
Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.