Mid season report cards are certainly the topic du jour around the blogosphere as the All-Star break gives us a lapse from the everyday grind of game to game commentary.
I have to give Boston.com props for a pretty innovative approach to the report card feature this season. That said, there are a few items that could be improved.
1. Mazz can give a +/- on a letter grade, but we can’t? There were plenty that I would have given the same gradient as Mazz had I been able to. I ended up with alot of B’s where there was more variation between the players I gave that letter grade than I represented with the straight grade. I guess baseball isn’t as “easy as A, B, C” after all.
2. Aggregate grading isn’t weighted in structured way. The fact that I gave the Red Sox players most responsible for their performance all A/B grades and the long tail some C/D/F shouldn’t aggregate out to me giving the Red Sox as a whole a C+. The formula should be more intelligent (weighted by Win Shares or Innings Played) to derive a team score. Also it would be fun to see some roll ups of Bullpen/Starters/Infield/Outfield/Bench, etc.
Overall, I’ll give credit to Boston.com for a very well done interactive feature. Maybe even a B+ (if I could).