That's fine, it's a very crude analysis but I imagine the Cubs do something with their version of Carmine they are going to build to analyze how much they are willing to throw at Fielder.
Well, I'm not so sure this is strictly and analytical exercise in terms of statistical correlations. But moreover, they cant look at it in a narrow sense. They also have to consider how much Fielder can accelerate the timeline in helping the franchise be prominent.
I don't think pitches per at bat is an actual stat, at least it's not one that's commonly tracked. The best you can do is to look and see how much a guy walks and make the inference that he sees a lot of pitches, which Prince does.
I don't know how many people have been paying attention to this but plate discipline has already factored itself into the offseason moves to the extent that we're actually dumping players who are clearly poor at it in exchange for players who are better at it.
Another thing that Theo has openly said, and has nothing to do with statistical analysis, is that you're "lucky" if you hit on two of your draf picks in any year. So, there's an open acknowledgment that trying to do this without free agency is an uphill climb. When you combine that with the fact that there is no FA substitute for someone like Prince in the foreseeable future, it becomes extremely difficult to argue against putting a premium on signing Prince, even if you have to pay beyond what your myopic analysis justitifies.
And notice how in none of the above, did I address the aspect of fanbase goodwill. There are a lot of people like Angels who questions the organization and have stopped going to games because they feel there's a lack of commitment or a general feeling that the FO has taken the fanbase for granted. I initially avoided mentioning this because I can't honestly say if Theo is factoring this in.
So basically, there are a lot of things to consider and that's on top of poking holes in the statistical analysis.
Shit happens. Good catch.
