In no particular order...
1. Johnny Callison and Del Unser had two of the better outfield arms in the "Clemente Era" [p.113]
2. If the game on September 27, 2006, between the Phillies and Nationals felt like a roller coaster to you, you now have objective proof: the game ranked third in all of baseball in terms of win probability fluctuations. [p.123]
3. Along those lines, in 2006, no pitcher contributed to a larger swing in a game's win probability than Tom Gordon. On September 15th, the Phils were ahead 4-3 against the Astros. A double, a single, and a Jeff Conine error in the top of the ninth loaded the bases with just one out. Pinch-hitter Humberto Quintero [how can you not love baseball names that rhyme?] grounded into a Utley-Rollins-Howard double play to end the game.
4. Reinforcing something we already knew, non-arbitration eligible players almost always out-perform their salary, while arbitration-eligible, and free agency-eligible players are a bit more unpredictable. Net Win Shares Value reminds us of this and incidentally, the Phils -- because of players like Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Cole Hamels -- were in the top half of baseball in 2006 in terms of performance versus salary. [p.135]
5. If a batter takes a walk, it offsets the damage done by three strikeouts. [p.151] It doesn't sound right, I know, but in 2006, a walk on average contributed .355 runs while a strikeout equated to -0.113 runs. [I'll save you the trip to baseball-reference.com, Aaron Rowand was the only regular Phillie in 2006 to not break even in this regard: 76 K to 18 BB.]
6. Rookie batters with at least 250 plate appearances in 2006 batted .275/.339/.443 [p.51]. That's pretty impressive. Of course, those rookies batting .210/.250/.310 aren't going to get to 250 plate appearances, so the number is somewhat misleading, but still, a .782 OPS is impressive no matter how you look at it.
7. Pat Burrell ranked tenth in all of baseball in 2006 for the highest percentage of fly balls with 48%. Frank Thomas led with 57%. [p.149]
8. Adjusting for ballpark effects, the Phillies finished fourth in runs scored per game and eighth in runs allowed per game. [p.182]
9. Heading into 2007, Wes Helms is one of the most likely players to have a "break out" year among players that had an above average year in 2006. [p.166]
10. High school players drafted in the early rounds develop power faster and with a higher ceiling for power than any other group. [p.147]
