Omar’s Advanced Statistical Analysis

“Mets GM Omar Minaya poses ideas to him, often via email, and Baumer will run the numbers to see if they’re true. He said he’s one of 8 or 10 people who can offer their two cents when a decision is being made, such as a trade or in free agency.”

 Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger is referring to Ben Baumer, the Mets statistical analyst.  We’ve known the Mets use, as do most teams, advanced statistics in evaluations of players for trades and signings and even drafting.   They hinted at it being one of the reasons they chose Jason Bay.  It provided evidence that the free agent pitchers on the market this offseason were not worth it. 

It’s worth noting that despite some criticism, the Mets do in fact use a variety of tools to evaluate players.   I have plenty of issues with some of the popular advanced stats out there, from UZR to WAR to FIP.  I’m working on a post that specifically outlines my concerns, but there is still value to looking at these numbers, especially to reinforce an opinion you might have on a player you haven’t seen that much of. Especially for a general manager of a baseball team.

For all the criticisms of Omar, and those fans that feel he just has to go before this team can win, this article suggests he might not be as clueless as you think.