Ian Desmond’s Errors No Big Deal
Since the Mets are playing the Nats today, I thought this article was appropriate: Dan Daly of the Washington Post did a boxscore-by-boxscore study of shortstop Ian Desmond’s errors, and found that they weren’t really that big of a deal.
Desmond has received a lot of flak for making 34 errors, but Daly discovered they only cost the Nats three games at most — and only one of those errors directly resulted in a loss.
In addition to this being apropos because of the Nats game, this information suggests that a poor defensive second baseman might not affect the Mets’ won-loss record this season. Maybe a hard-hitting second-sacker like Brad Emaus, Dan Murphy, or Justin Turner will win more games with the bat than they’ll lose with their iron gloves. Who knows? But this research on Desmond surely offers hope for the Dr. Strangegloves of the world.