Colin Wyer's piece mentioned in the Rays Tank today was pretty interesting. It suggested that DRS is skewed by the use of the shift based on time to ball, while UZR is more of a true player-talent stat. This got me thinking. If you subtract team UZR from DRS it might provide some sort of information about coaching and managerial preparedness.

Looking at the Rays over the past five years, the difference between DRS and UZR has consistently increased. Could this indicate the increasing incorporation of data into Maddon's/management's game plan? Even this year when the total team defensive UZR is in negative numbers, the difference between DRS and UZR is still elevated.

Below the Rays table are the DRS-UZR values for all teams so far this season sorted from highest to lowest. It is pretty to see what teams might be using the shift to make their players look better, and which teams talent is compensating for their manager's lack of planning (Ron Washington jumps out!). I couldn't find actual shift numbers for the season to date, but if someone has that, it would be interesting to see how the list compares.

So, team presidents can perhaps use this to evaluate their management....and vice versa come contract renewal time.