Great expectations: An analysis of major league baseball free agent performance

Statistical Analysis and Data Mining

Margrt V. Bjarnadttir¹  Sean L. Barnes² 

[1] 1815 USA;Department of Decision, Operations & Information Technologies, Robert H. Smith School of Business University of Maryland College Park MD 20742‐

关键词: baseball;    analytics;    machine learning;    compensation;    free agents;   

DOI  :  10.1002/sam.11311

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

【 摘 要 】

We explore whether free agents in Major League Baseball meet the expectations set forth by newly signed contracts. The value and duration of these contracts are negotiated between the player (and his agent) and the signing team and are based primarily on the player's performance to date, projected future performance, and potential marketing value to the team. We develop two classes of models to explore this problem using a variety of regression‐ and tree‐based machine learning algorithms. The market model uses player and team data to predict the market value of a player's performance (i.e., average contract salary). The performance model uses the same data to predict wins above replacement as a surrogate for overall player performance. We translate this measure into dollars using position‐based conversion factors. Analysis of these models demonstrates that the performance model more consistently predicts and assesses player value with respect to their free agent contracts. Together, these models can be used to target or avoid free agents (or other players) whose performance‐based value differs significantly from their market value. .

【 授权许可】

Unknown