Voros McCracken comes down on the Mariners:

“Just because everyone knows OBP is important doesn’t mean OBP isn’t important. Just because we learned something a long time ago doesn’t mean we should unlearn it. We should keep it and add to it. There are a lot of people who are itching to do the next new thing. That’s great, it’s just that mindset can cause you to forget some of the basics.

“Not to pint fingers at any team, but to a certain extent the Mariners did that. They got so wrapped up in talking advantage of fielding statistics that they forgot they should have a first baseman with an on-base percentage over .280. Maybe that’s unfair. If they were here, they may interrupt me and say no, that’s not the way it happened. But my perception is that sometimes you can forget about the basics when you’re pursuing something new.”

I still like slash lines instead of wOBA. I don’t think slash lines are better than wOBA, but I get no sense of the player from the number other than where he lies on the continuum of hitters. That’s a good thing to know, but a slash lines gives me that, plus how he gets there. wOBA is a point, a slash line is a picture.

Hat tip, BBTF.