To Read: A-Rod, Monopoly, and Sperm Races

Derek Jacques at Baseball Prospectus tells us that under a ranking system agreed to by M.L.B. and the player's union in the early 1980's, Alex Rodriguez was not the best infielder in the American League over the past two years:

Rk Player Grade AVG OBP SLG RBI HR Fielding Pct.
1 Michael Young 89.286 .314 .360 .439 197 23 .9768
2 Miguel Tejada 87.500 .315 .370 .473 181 42 .9716
3 Robinson Cano 85.714 .322 .358 .504 175 34 .9843
4 Derek Jeter 85.119 .333 .402 .468 170 26 .9729
5 Mike Lowell 84.857 .305 .359 .488 200 41 .9752
6 Alex Rodriguez 84.000 .302 .407 .584 277 89 .9508

The system's main purpose is to determine whether a team that loses a top ranked player to free agency receives any draft picks. How the rankings are created has never been released by baseball, but, as Jacques shows, they seem to put a little too much weight on field percentage.

Based on a different measure called Win Shares, a complex calculation which assigns each player's contributions to his teams wins, here is a more accurate list of the AL's top infielders over the last two seasons:


Rk  Player          WinShares
1   Alex Rodriguez	64
2   Derek Jeter		57
3   Michael Young	47
4   Carlos Guillen	45
5   Orlando Cabrera	44
6   Mike Lowell		42

How to Win at Monopoly
A reader points us to this neat guide on the optimal strategy for never losing at Monopoly. Here are the basics, but def. read the whole thing if you're a Monopoly fan:

Always buy Railroads; never buy Utilities
For every other property type, only buy them to complete a monopoly or to prevent opponents from completing one. Often this may mean buying as many properties as you can early in the game, but watch your cash reserves.
At the beginning of the game, focus on acquiring a complete C-G (Color Group) in Sides 1+2, even if it means trading away properties on Sides 2+3. After acquiring one of these C-Gs, build 3 houses as quickly as possible: no more houses, no less!
Once your first C-G starts to generate some cash, focus on completing a C-G and building 3 houses in Sides 3+4.
Single properties are the least good investment if you don't build on them.
The only exception to the above rules are when you need to acquire stray properties to prevent your opponents from completing their C-Gs to accomplish the above strategy.

Which Primate Has the Fastest Sperm?
Via New Scientist:

Add Your Comment

Report Abuse

Archive

Categories

Links