Henry Schulman: My Least Favorite MLB Sportswriter

by Hawerchuk on Apr 3, 2010 4:18 PM EDT

I'll admit that at my core, I'm a San Francisco Giants fan. So why haven't I watched them play for several years? I can't stand the way the team is run. They hit a real performance peak in 2002, losing in the World Series, and since then, GM Brian Sabean has shown a complete inability to understand what the team needs in order to win. We've been treated to annual free agent spending sprees that usually net aging veteran "leaders" whose actual skills don't benefit the team on the scoreboard.

This week, I had the misfortune of accidentally reading Giants water-carrier and beat writer Henry Schulman's screed entitled:

"Memo to people who keep saying Fred Lewis should start in left field because of his high OBP: ENOUGH!!!!"

You know a column is going to go off the deep end when it starts, as Schulman's did, with "This is going to be an anti-sabermetrics screed." In other words, Henry Schulman is going to write a lot of bad things about Fred Lewis, and he's going to trash any and all statistics that seem to indicate that Lewis is a good player. Oh, and he's going to justify it all by saying that he's seen Lewis play and so he knows better. Let's go through the list:

1. "Lewis had difficulty playing the easiest of the three outfield positions"

Really? By what metric? Fangraphs shows him playing 1628 innings in left field in his career at +11.5 runs. So Lewis, far from being a disaster in LF, is worth one win per season on defense. Even if UZR is way off on this one, it's pretty hard to argue that Fred Lewis' defense is below-average in LF. I'm guessing Schulman thinks Lewis sucks because he made 11 errors over those 1628 innings - he needs to consider the other 400 plays that Lewis did make. Focusing on successes instead of rare mistakes is hardly sabermetrics.

2. "Strikeouts? Oh yeah: 84 of them, probably half of them looking. Let me let you digest this."

Schulman goes on to say that Lewis can't hit outside pitching and admits it and that Lewis walks come from him not bothering to swing at pitches he can't hit. So it's not because Lewis does something well, but because pitchers do something poorly. Sure. But even if that's true, does that mean Lewis is less likely to swing at a pitch in the strike zone or less likely to make contact with it than anybody else? Well, Fred Lewis has a profile that's very similar to Matt Kemp, even if their results aren't particularly similar. I have a feeling that striking out looking is not a danger sign for hitters and costs your team very little - remember, if you strike out, you can't hit into a double play like Bengie Molina does.

3. "given his struggles this spring, it is hard to make the argument for him as a backup."

Fred Lewis has a .775 OPS in 1048 plate appearances, but I think we'll throw that out the door because he hit .231 with four home runs in 39 ABs this spring. You know, Derek Jeter hit .231 with zero home runs in 52 ABs this spring. What does that mean? Cap'n Jetes is finished? When you're a sports reporter looking for a reason to hate on a player, small sample sizes are always convenient. Every player in the majors has hit .231 in a 39-AB stretch in their careers - are they all doomed?

4. "It pains me to see a publication like this look so foolish."

Schulman is talking about Sports Illustrated here, but he should really be a bit more introspective on this one.

Look, I don't think anyone's arguing that Fred Lewis is an All-Star. But he's still cheap and he looks to be a league-average left fielder. A real team would focus on what a guy can do instead of focusing on what he can't. And a real journalist wouldn't just parrot the negative things Giants' GM Brian Sabean thinks about Fred Lewis - he'd put some thought into what he's saying and end up, more often than not, attacking not the players but the GM for his terrible decisions.

Update:

I told Mr. Schulman to "Get a Brain Moran" (in quotes to make it obvious that it's a "quotation"). It went over his head - has any baseball fan seriously not seen this photo?

via z.about.com

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Planning on starting a new website?

Behind the Plate, perhaps?

I am the commenter formerly known as Belligerent Burkie

Follow me on twitter @CoolJ90

by CoolJ90 on Apr 3, 2010 4:48 PM EDT reply actions

‘Behind the Plate’ is actually my blog about the World Glutton Bowl.

by Hawerchuk on Apr 3, 2010 5:56 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

I feel your pain. The Edmonton Oilers’ blend of managerial incompetence and kowtowing local media is the textbook example of the phenomenon. :-(

by Vic Ferrari on Apr 3, 2010 7:41 PM EDT reply actions

Oh come on, you know that spring stats always translate into regular season success. That’s why John Bowker has hit 50+ major league homers the last 5 years.

The thing that baffles me is that Schulman would be making this argument when he should know that the alternatives to Lewis in left are far less appealing. Andres Torres and Eugenio Velez? Hmm…do I want a guy who strikes out even more than Lewis, or a guy who’s on-base abilities are right there with Mike Jacobs? And nobody in the minors is ready. The guy is probably pushing for Posey to play left; then you’ll really see some defensive trouble…

Bettman's Nightmare: A Blog Where Hockey Aficionados Dismantle That Mighty Empire, One Balsillie at a Time

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by Bettman's Nightmare on Apr 4, 2010 11:06 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah, this reminds me of the article I read in the Beaver County Times by Bob Hertzel that swore up and down that wins are the only stat that matters for a pitcher, and that he’d rather have a guy who goes 15-3 with a 7 ERA than one who’d go 5-13 with an ERA of 1. I’d link it, but it hardly matters. Check this Google results page and read anything on it. Everything he wrote is equally “moranic”.

I was sad when John Perotto of Baseball Prospectus fame stopped writing for that paper. I was never so glad when they cut that Hertzel clown loose and let Perotto start writing columns again.

PensBurgh

by JustinM on Apr 5, 2010 11:05 AM EDT reply actions

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Henry Schulman: My Least Favorite MLB Sportswriter

"Memo to people who keep saying Fred Lewis should start in left field because of his high OBP: ENOUGH!!!!"

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