As a Giants fan and writer, I just can't get over what Buster Olney said on Bill Simmons' MLB Playoff Podcast, which I listened to yesterday.
Basically, I came away with four things:
1.) The Tampa Bay Rays have the best GM in baseball (probably true).
2.) The Red Sox are hurting in terms of the money they owe to contracts next year (true, but unnecessary considering the Red Sox aren't in the playoffs).
3.) The Mariners made a mistake by taking Justin Smoak from the Rangers instead of Jesus Montero in the Cliff Lee trade (very, very true when you consider Montero's a catcher).
4.) The Giants have no chance against the Phillies because of their offense (true) and defense.
(You can find the BS Report Podcast between Simmons and Olney here.)
The defense part kills me. Olney remarked to Simmons that the Giants had "one of the worst defenses in baseball."
For a baseball writer, and one who likes to follow modern trends (e.g. some sabermetrics), I can't believe Olney would put his foot in his mouth like this.
So, to prove my point over Olney's, let's look and compare the Giants position by position (on UZR and UZR/150 basis) to the Phillies, who apparently are "better" defensively than the Giants.
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