Is there a comeback of defense?

[dominik]

Of course hitting is still the bigger part of the equation but it seems that there is a slight shift back to defense in both sabermetrics and the game itself.

a couple of years ago the saber guys were all about OBP and OPS+. in the book moneyball they were talking about moving hitters to positions they don't belong to boost offense.

however in the last years defense stats came a lot more into the focus. and then there is the shift thing which seems to revolutionize defense right now (there was always the williams shift but they do that more often even sometimes against righties.

this years world series is also an example of good defense vs sacrifizing defense for hitting (especially the cabrera thing- although I thing he handled the situation fantastically but his range is limited of course)

[Bothrops Atrox]

I think sabermetricians always knew how valuable defense was, but are now more (notice I said "more") able to quantify how much impact it has. I think if writers knew how much impact defense (and position) had, it would change the complexion of HOF voting and MVP/Cy Young voting.

[Jackaroo Dave]

And when there's a name for something, like a save or WAR, it tends to attract more attention, become more real as something worth looking at or paying for.

I think another part of the swing was that moneyball is about acquiring undervalued players. When those behind the curve catch up, "Let's all get slow, high OBA sluggers, because Moneyball says so," then a different set of players becomes undevalued.

[dominik]

BTW I would really love to have the OPS splits for shift vs non shift. we still don't know whether the shift is actually effective or not.