House That Hank Built
Fansided

The Atlanta Braves Scott Boras and Matt Wieters

By Fred Owens

May 25, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Scott Boras attends a MLB game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
May 25, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Scott Boras attends a MLB game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 25, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Scott Boras thinks th eSAtlanta Braves and other should think of Matt Wieters as the new Carlton Fisk Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 26, 2015; Cooperstown, NY, USA; Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk waves to the crowd after being introduced during the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies at Clark Sports Center. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports /

Sabermetrics Disagrees

Aside from the batting average and homers Boras shies away from any specific statistical comparisons for good reason; they don’t support his premise,

  RAA WAA rWAR fWAR wOBA wRC+
Fisk 162 18.1 28.3 27.8 .361 652
Wieters 30 3.9 14.7 15 .321 583

Statistics courtesy Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs

Fisk is clearly superior in every category – even with Wieters having more PA – and it isn’t even close.

On defense, Boras claims that Wieters throws the same and that he’s a better ball blocker.

More from Tomahawk Take

I guess ‘the same’ depends on how wide a margin you accept as the same. In the span under consideration Fisk threw out 238 of 632 base stealers (37.6%).

Wieters was good but not better throwing out 129 of 472 (29%) attempted thefts. He did, however, beat the league average in every year but one.

Blocking pitches is a hard thing to quantify as much of it depends on the pitching staff and how the official scorer decides passed balls and wild pitches.

Even if we call that a push however, Fisk isn’t good comp for Wieters, but of course Boras said his client is “Carlton Fisk-like” and that means whatever he wants it to mean.

That’s A Wrap

As most of us agree, the Braves did the right thing by not going big for Wieters. He’s a good bat and an okay defender, but the market confirms that he isn’t worth an expensive long-term deal particularly for a team that isn’t a realistic championship challenger.

I know what Boras is doing of course: he’s trying to convince some owner that his GM missed out of something and get his client a better deal. That’s what he’s supposed to do and he’s been good at it for a long time.

Next: All about Akeel

The Fisk analogy is simply a bridge too far and the Braves aren’t falling for his spin. Coppy said the Braves think a lot of Wieters and that they will monitor the markets. That translates to “if he’s cheap we’ll consider it otherwise we pass”.  And that’s absolutely the right answer.

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