CLEARLY, NAUGHTY NEIFI HAD IT COMING

Detroit Tigers utility infielder Neifi Pérez (pictured) has received a 25-game suspension for testing positive for a banned stimulant. Was he tested right after he hit his one home run on the season?

It serves Pérez right to get nailed during a season when he had finally found a way to undermine the Neifi Index. A few years ago when Pérez was an everyday player, Salon.com's King Kaufman noticed his team had a .929 winning percentage when he didn't play, compared to just .542 when he did for a difference of a whopping 387 percentage points. From that, Kaufman came up with the Neifi Index to recognize the player who did the most to help his team's chance of winning by not playing.

As a backup for the Tigers, however, the .172-hitting Pérez has a negative Neifi Index. His trick is that he often comes in as a late-inning defensive replacement after his more talented teammates build a lead. The Tigers have a .606 winning percentage (21 wins, 12 losses) when he plays, compared to .560 (28-22) when he's on the bench.

SABOTEUR! SABOTEUR!

The second baseman-shortstop-saboteur isn't really doing much to help the Tigers win, aside from not drilling someone in the face or groin with a throw when the infielders whip the ball around the horn after an out. There was a stretch about a month ago when Pérez entered three games where the Tigers respectively led 10-0, 11-3 and 15-7. He handled only three chances in the field (two of them pop-ups) and batted once, managing to get a single in the eighth inning of a blowout. He still got to be out there high-fiving and fist-bumping at the pitcher's mound after the final out, the Neifi Index dodger.

(A closer look reveals the Tigers are a .500 team, 6-6, when manager Jim Leyland lets Pérez play an entire game. They are 106 percentage points better, .606, the rest of the time.)

Now, with Pérez gone for a while, the Tigers can be half-expected to reel off 21 or 22 wins over the next 25 games. They would be overtaking Cleveland in the AL Central race, but really, they would be doing something about that Neifi Index.

Related:
Stimulating workload (Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.