They didn't give you the option of assigning a negative value to a blown save, so that was the only way to do it.

My thinking - and DB and I discussed this, and he agreed - was that because such a tremendously high percentage of saves opportunities were sucessfully converted, making the SVOP -6 and the Save +8, aguy would get =2 points for a save, and -6 for a blown save, which is as bad as a loss.

If he converts 3 out of 4, which is below average for closers, he would wind up with a net of zero points.

If he coverts 4 of 5, about average, he winds up with a net of +2 points.

And so on.

Had Yahoo made Blown Saves a stat category, I would have made a Save worth +2 or +3, and a BS worth -3 or -4, which would have been preferable.

The only problems were

a) People seem to think that a save is worth a lot more in real life than I personally do. The save rule is so stupid that guys get saves for doing practically nothing and in some cases being totally inefficient.

Just an example: The game vs. the Yankees when the Mets Wagner came in with a 4 run lead and allowed the Yanks to tie the score, but wasn't charged with a blown save because with a 4 run lead it wasn't considered a SVOP.

and, more importantly,

b) A pitcher who blows a save frequently gets charged with a loss, penalizing him way too much IMO in those games. he took a big penalty for blowing the save, another bug penalty for allowing just one more run and being charged with the loss was not worth the additional -6 points, and leads to some scores that are way too low for the situation.

That's something we didn't anticipate when we did the scoring system, and something we'll have to try and figure a way around for next season.