Markov: Dusty Baker's lineups aren't half bad

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THT Live: Dusty Baker’s lineups aren’t half bad
Published 4/13/2008 by Dave Studeman at The Hardball Times
Dusty Baker’s lineups aren’t half bad by Dave Studeman April 13, 2008 Justin has put together a detailed analysis of Dusty Baker's lineup choices , compared to some alternatives suggested by Reds fans. His surprising finding is that Baker's lineup is actually tough to beat (despite leading off with Corey Patterson!). This is some great work by Justin, featuring John Beamer's Markov spreadsheet (the right tool to use for the job), and it shows just how tricky lineup analysis can be. Dave is the manager of the ...

jinaz: Markov: Dusty Baker’s lineups aren’t half bad
Published 4/13/2008 at BBTF's Baseball Primer Newsblog
jinaz: Markov: Dusty Baker’s lineups aren’t half bad First I watched “The Star Chamber” last night where a crazed Hal Holbrook kept raving about Dusty Baker...and now I read this! All I can say is “wow.” Dusty’s lineup didn’t come out as #1, but it was darn hard to beat, and only an estimated 5 runs per season behind Bluzer’s top-rated lineup. Think about that. Baker’s lineup violates one of the biggest “rules” for lineup construction that us stat people harp on--his leadoff hitter is projected to have a miserable 0.307 OBP this season. And yet, the ...

Dusty Baker - A lineup genius or just lucky?
Published 4/13/2008 by Bjoern at Mojo Blog
... and (perceived) sabermetrical convential wisdom at the same time. An absolute must-read! You have to wonder whether Dusty Baker and the Reds know all those things or if they are just "lucky" in that it works out so well by chance. One small additional remark: As intriguing as lineup analysis is, it still does not take into account speed (at least as far as I know). Maybe the teams know something here we don’t (yet). Link: Markov: Dusty Baker’s lineups aren’t half bad

Dusty Baker's Lineups Are Actually ... Good?
Published 4/13/2008 by Eamonn Brennan at FanHouse
... or not Alfonso Soriano hits No. 1 in the lineup or No. 3 or whatever; what most don't realize is that while it's probably a better idea to put Kosuke Fukdome in the top spot for his OBP, the overall season difference is going to be less than a few runs. A few runs are important, but not life or death. Anyway, all that equivocation aside, lineups are fun to talk about. Dusty Baker's lineups are especially fun to talk about. And guess what: Dusty's lineups actually aren't all that bad. Reds fans put together a list of preferred ...

Off Day Quick Hits
Published 4/14/2008 by Slyde at Red Reporter: Front Page Posts
... Justin has done some mathy examinations of the Reds lineup.  The results are interesting, though a bit hard to follow (unless you understand Markov Chains).  If you can follow the results, be sure to read the comments as MGL pops in with his own projections.  Generally lineup order does not make a significant difference (as much as who is in the lineup), but it's still fun to see how things might be improved by some fiddling. ...