Friday, October 24, 2008

Veterans' Committee Nominees

Tony Hudler
http://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=437835
9 seasons (age 33-41) RHP
131-69 in 289 G (289 GS) 32 CG
3.79 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 1826.3 IP, .265 OAV, .709 OPS Against
Won 20 games twice (career best 21), never lost more than 10, had no losing seasons, career high 287.3 IP, career best ERA 3.35, career best WHIP 1.20, went 15-7 at age 40
4-2 in postseason with 3.19 ERA and 1.51 WHIP in 53.7 IP in 8 GS
4-time All-Star
Need to project 7 seasons (age 26-32)

Willie Santana
http://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=438336

Wolf Morris
http://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=437937

LaTroy Franco
http://www.whatifsports.com/hbd/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx?pid=437828
7 seasons (age 29-35) LF/1B
.282/.358/.562, 303 HR, 961 RBI, 834 R, 144 SB, played in all but 8 of a possible 1134 games
Two 62-HR seasons, career high of 179 RBI, two 30/30 seasons, career high of 202 hits
708 OPS in 34 career post-season games, 7 HR
2-time AL MVP, 3-time All-Star, 2-time Silver Slugger
Need to project 4 seasons (age 25-28)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Friday, July 11, 2008

GAP APPRENTICE


Our WorldChat rule going forward is that this place is for the enjoyment of all 32 owners here, and nobody should act in a manner that makes someone else decide to block their messages. Name-calling, excessive posting, baiting and needless repetition are banned and grounds for removal after the season ends.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Season 8 ALDS Game 1

Network Associates Coliseum

330 ft. 362 ft. 400 ft. 362 ft. 330 ft.
-1 -2 -2 -1 -1

TM. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 R H. E
CLE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 2 0 7 15 0
OAK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 2 1 8 12 0

ML Division Series Game
7/9/08 PM

PLAY-BY-PLAY

1 Cleveland Indians
V.Palacios enters the game to pitch.
P.Taylor swings and misses for strike 3.
G.Nelson draws the walk.
J.Ricarrdi grounds it past the mound into CF for a single. G.Nelson is gunned down at 3B by T.Pujols.
J.Ortiz flies out to deep LCF.
Cleveland Indians 0 1 0
Oakland Athletics 0 0 0

1 Oakland Athletics
G.Stewart enters the game to pitch.
T.Linebrink grounds out to SS.
A.Villa grounds out to 3B.
C.Hutton flies out to deep CF.
Cleveland Indians 0 1 0
Oakland Athletics 0 0 0

2 Cleveland Indians
M.Medrano strikes out swinging.
M.Baez grounds out to 1B.
K.Wagner swings and misses for strike 3.
Cleveland Indians 0 1 0
Oakland Athletics 0 0 0

2 Oakland Athletics
D.Handworth grounds out to 2B.
E.Roque lines a single to CF.
M.Moore strikes out swinging.
G.Stewart is charged with a balk and all runners advance.
T.Pujols flies out to deep RF.
Cleveland Indians 0 1 0
Oakland Athletics 0 1 0

3 Cleveland Indians
R.Carrara swings and misses for strike 3.
P.Iwazaki strikes out swinging.
P.Taylor is plunked in the arm by a pitch.
G.Nelson swings and misses for strike 3.
Cleveland Indians 0 1 0
Oakland Athletics 0 1 0

3 Oakland Athletics
S.Harper smokes a line drive single to CF.
B.Dixon grounds into a 5-4-3 double play.
T.Linebrink strikes out on a ball out of the zone.

Cleveland Indians 0 1 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

4 Cleveland Indians
J.Ricarrdi strikes out swinging.
J.Ortiz takes ball four.
M.Medrano swings and misses for strike 3.
M.Baez grounds it past the mound into CF for a single.
K.Wagner grounds out to 3B.
Cleveland Indians 0 2 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

4 Oakland Athletics
A.Villa fouls out to third.
C.Hutton flies out to CF.
D.Handworth swings and misses for strike 3.
Cleveland Indians 0 2 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

5 Cleveland Indians
R.Carrara grounds out to 1B.
P.Iwazaki grounds out to SS.
P.Taylor hits a shallow flyout to CF.
Cleveland Indians 0 2 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

5 Oakland Athletics
E.Roque swings and misses for strike 3.
M.Moore grounds out to 2B.
T.Pujols grounds out to SS.
Cleveland Indians 0 2 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

6 Cleveland Indians
G.Nelson smokes a line drive single to CF.
J.Ricarrdi grounds to the pitcher. They get the force at 2B, but the batter beats the throw to 1B to avoid the DP.
J.Ortiz hits a groundball single to CF.
M.Medrano grounds it past the mound into CF for a single.
M.Baez pops out to SS.
K.Wagner flies out to deep CF.
Cleveland Indians 0 5 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

6 Oakland Athletics
S.Harper swings and misses for strike 3.
B.Dixon grounds out to SS.
T.Linebrink swings and misses for strike 3.
Cleveland Indians 0 5 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

7 Cleveland Indians
R.Carrara lines out to 3B.
P.Iwazaki flies out to CF.
P.Taylor grounds out to 2B.
Cleveland Indians 0 5 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

7 Oakland Athletics
A.Villa grounds out to SS.
C.Hutton grounds out to SS.
D.Handworth grounds out to SS.
Cleveland Indians 0 5 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

8 Cleveland Indians
G.Nelson pops out to SS.
J.Ricarrdi smokes a line drive single to RF.
D.Cook enters the game as a pinch-runner for J.Ricarrdi.
J.Ortiz takes strike 3 looking.
M.Medrano pops out to 2B.
Cleveland Indians 0 6 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

8 Oakland Athletics
D.Cook remains in the game at DH.
E.Roque takes ball four.
M.Moore grounds to SS. They get the force at 2B, but the batter beats the throw to 1B to avoid the DP.
T.Pujols flies out to deep CF.
S.Harper strikes out on a ball out of the zone.
Cleveland Indians 0 6 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

9 Cleveland Indians
M.Baez grounds out to 1B.
L.Ramirez enters the game as a pinch-hitter for K.Wagner.
L.Ramirez smacks a solo homer to CF that barely clears the wall.
R.Carrara grounds out to 1B.
J.Mercado enters the game to pitch.
P.Iwazaki swings and misses for strike 3.
Cleveland Indians 1 7 0
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0

9 Oakland Athletics
C.Simpson enters the game at LF.
T.Campbell enters the game to pitch.
B.Dixon hits a flyball solo homer to RF.
T.Linebrink grounds out to SS.
A.Villa hits a line drive double to CF.
D.Wanatabe enters the game to pitch.
C.Hutton grounds out to 3B.
D.Handworth flies out to LF.
Cleveland Indians 1 7 0
Oakland Athletics 1 4 0

10 Cleveland Indians
P.Taylor grounds a single to CF.
G.Nelson hits a groundball single to LCF. P.Taylor slides in under the tag and is safe at 3B.
D.Cook hits a groundball single to CF. P.Taylor scores.
A.Thomson enters the game to pitch.
J.Ortiz hits a triple. G.Nelson scores. D.Cook scores.
M.Medrano flies out to CF. J.Ortiz scores on T.Pujols's late throw home.
M.Baez flies out to deep LCF.
C.Simpson grounds out to SS.
Cleveland Indians 5 11 0
Oakland Athletics 1 4 0

10 Oakland Athletics
G.Martin enters the game at CF as a defensive replacement.
E.Roque lines a single to CF.
M.Moore hits into a 4-6 fielder's choice.
T.Pujols smacks a 2-run homer to LCF that barely clears the wall.
D.Nakajima enters the game to pitch.
M.Mercedes enters the game as a pinch-hitter for S.Harper.
M.Mercedes takes ball four.
B.Dixon smacks a 2-run homer to LCF that barely clears the wall.
T.Clifton enters the game to pitch.
T.Linebrink strikes out on a ball out of the zone.
A.Villa grounds out to SS.
Cleveland Indians 5 11 0
Oakland Athletics 5 7 0

11 Cleveland Indians
D.Takada enters the game at RF.
R.Carrara grounds out to 2B.
G.Martin hits a groundball single to CF.
A.Martin enters the game to pitch.
P.Taylor draws the walk.
G.Nelson strikes out swinging.
D.Cook hits into a 4-6 fielder's choice.
Cleveland Indians 5 12 0
Oakland Athletics 5 7 0

11 Oakland Athletics
C.Hutton grounds out to 2B.
D.Handworth strikes out swinging.
E.Roque grounds out to 3B.
Cleveland Indians 5 12 0
Oakland Athletics 5 7 0

12 Cleveland Indians
J.Ortiz strikes out swinging.
M.Medrano grounds out to 2B.
M.Baez pops out to SS.
Cleveland Indians 5 12 0
Oakland Athletics 5 7 0

12 Oakland Athletics
M.Moore grounds out to 2B.
T.Pujols hits a flyball single to RCF.
D.Takada hits a shallow flyout to RCF.
B.Dixon hits into a 4-6 fielder's choice.
Cleveland Indians 5 12 0
Oakland Athletics 5 8 0

13 Cleveland Indians
C.Simpson grounds out to SS.
R.Carrara strikes out swinging.
G.Martin crushes a solo homer to RCF.
A.Wagner enters the game to pitch.
P.Taylor grounds it thru the hole to LF for a single.
P.Taylor steals second base.
G.Nelson is issued the free pass.
D.Cook lines a single to RCF. P.Taylor scores.
E.Michalak enters the game to pitch.
++ J.Ortiz flies out to LCF.
Cleveland Indians 7 15 0
Oakland Athletics 5 8 0

13 Oakland Athletics
T.Linebrink grounds out to SS.
A.Villa hits a shallow flyout to CF.
C.Hutton lines a single to CF.
D.Handworth smokes a line drive to RCF for a double. C.Hutton scores.
J.Sierra enters the game to pitch.
E.Roque hits a Texas League single to RCF. D.Handworth scores.
M.Moore grounds out to 1B.
Cleveland Indians 7 15 0
Oakland Athletics 7 11 0

14 Cleveland Indians
M.Medrano grounds out to 2B.
M.Baez grounds out to 1B.
C.Simpson takes ball four.
R.Carrara takes strike 3 looking.
Cleveland Indians 7 15 0
Oakland Athletics 7 11 0

14 Oakland Athletics
T.Pujols crushes a solo homer to RF.
Cleveland Indians 7 15 0
Oakland Athletics 8 12 0

BOXSCORE

Cleveland Indians

Player Pos % AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Pat Taylor 2B 100 5 2 2 0 1 1 0 .391
Grant Nelson 1B 100 5 1 2 0 2 2 3 .364
Joe Ricarrdi DH 100 4 0 2 0 0 1 1 .389
Dan Cook DH 100 3 1 2 2 0 0 2 .333
Joaquin Ortiz 3B 100 6 1 2 2 1 2 4 .364
Miguel Medrano SS 100 6 0 1 1 0 2 2 .300
Max Baez C 100 7 0 1 0 0 0 3 .318
Kevin Wagner LF 100 3 0 0 0 0 1 5 .333
Leonardo Ramirez PH 100 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 .400
Corey Simpson LF 100 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 .100
Raul Carrara RF 100 7 0 0 0 0 3 1 .130
Paul Iwazaki CF 100 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 .316
Goose Martin CF 100 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 .375
Game Totals -- 100 55 7 15 7 5 14 .273

Batting
3B: J.Ortiz (1)
HR: L.Ramirez (1), G.Martin (1)
RBI: D.Cook 2 (2), J.Ortiz 2 (4), M.Medrano (1), L.Ramirez (4), G.Martin (2)
2-Out RBI: D.Cook, G.Martin
HBP: P.Taylor
SF: M.Medrano

Baserunning
SB: P.Taylor (1)

Fielding

Player % IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
Greg Stewart 100 8.0 2 0 0 1 7 0 97 0.64
Theodore Campbell, BSV (2) 100 0.1 2 1 1 0 0 1 11 6.75
Del Wanatabe 100 1.0 2 2 2 0 0 1 16 6.75
Del Nakajima, BSV (1) 100 0.0 1 2 2 1 0 1 10 12.27
Tim Clifton 100 3.1 3 2 2 0 2 0 38 4.91
Jesus Sierra, L (0-2), BSV (1) 100 0.1 2 1 1 0 0 1 14 4.91
Game Totals 100 13.0 12 8 8 2 9 4 186

Oakland Athletics

Player Pos % AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Todd Linebrink SS 100 6 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 .000
Alberto Villa 2B 100 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 .167
C.C. Hutton 1B 100 6 1 1 0 0 0 1 .167
David Handworth DH 100 6 1 1 1 0 2 1 .167
Enrique Roque LF 100 5 0 3 1 1 1 0 .600
Mark Moore 3B 100 6 1 0 0 0 1 4 .000
Trenidad Pujols CF 100 6 2 3 3 0 0 2 .500
Stan Harper RF 100 3 0 1 0 0 2 1 .333
Miller Mercedes PH 100 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 -
Damian Takada RF 100 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Bobby Ray Dixon C 100 5 2 2 3 0 0 1 .400
Game Totals -- 100 50 8 12 8 2 9 -- .240

Batting
2B: A.Villa (1), D.Handworth (1)
HR: T.Pujols 2 (2), B.Dixon 2 (2)
RBI: D.Handworth (1), E.Roque (1), T.Pujols 3 (3), B.Dixon 3 (3)
2-Out RBI: D.Handworth, E.Roque

Baserunning

Fielding

Player % IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
Victor Palacios 100 8.2 7 1 1 2 9 1 106 1.04
Javier Mercado 100 0.1 3 3 3 0 1 0 18 81.00
Artie Thomson 100 1.1 2 1 1 0 0 0 20 6.75
Antonio Martin 100 2.1 1 1 1 1 3 1 27 3.86
Andruw Wagner 100 0.0 2 1 1 1 0 0 15 -
Eric Michalak, W (1-0) 100 1.1 0 0 0 1 1 0 12 0.00
Game Totals 100 14.0 15 7 7 5 14 2 198

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Trenidad Pujols hits walk-off home run

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

rowe-speak

Let's deconstruct some of the most recent spewings from our good buddy, rowesings.

(Referring to the real-life Red Sox) "turning the so called 'champs' into Chumps"
Ummm, wow. The Red Sox are not "so-called champs." They actually are the champs. They won the 2007 World Series. "So-called champs" are what the GAP Rays were in S6, taking advantage of a glitch.

(Referring to David Ortiz) "flash in the pan like that Poopie guy again!"
David Ortiz as a flash in the pan. This is a guy who has been a four-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, and was in the top five in AL MVP voting five times. His career OPS+ is 138. He has led the AL at least one season in OBP, HR, TB, RBI, BB, XBH, RC, and AB/HR. He has a career post-season OPS of 1005 in 52 games and has won two titles. Compare and contrast with the actual flash in a pan Rays, who are looking to win more than 70 games in one season for the first time ever. The Rays who have finished 5th of 5 in the AL East in 9 of 10 complete seasons. (They were 4th once.) Compare and contrast with the best hitters in Rays' history: Aubrey Huff and Fred McGriff. Huff leads the franchise with 128 career HR. McGriff played 577 games for them and put up an OPS+ of 122 in them. This is the best-ever Ray!

If basketball was a real force in sports, the Rays would have a team.
First, since when does a baseball team have a basketball team? Second, ratings for NBA and MLB games are very similar, and as far as logo merchandise goes, the NBA ranks ahead of the MLB (both trail the NFL). Basketball is also widely believed to be the second-most popular sport worldwide, behind only soccer. As for how the world views baseball? Well, you'd better watch the upcoming Olympics in Beijing. You'll see baseball for the last time. It has been eliminated for the 2012 games in London.

"ask 1000 passer by on the street who the Celtics are. Guarantee you 80 percent or more would say, 'Isn't that those pretty Irish girls that sing?' I guarantee it."
Hmmm. Well, I wasn't on the street and I didn't ask 1000 "passer by", but I did ask 6 people at work. My results:
100% basketball team from Boston
0% pretty Irish girls that sing

"one of those stupid Sox fans living in the Tampa Bay area"
Listen to how the Tampa "faithful" react when Ortiz makes an out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6eA8N_a2AA

Now listen to how they react to an Ortiz HR:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLeASp5LP6A

Seems there might be more Red Sox fans in Tampa than Rays fans. Embarrassing.

I've been a Rays fan since 1998, have listened to or watched every inning of every game for years. I am also a lifetime Yanks fan, but more interested for the past 10 years in the Rays.
What can I say about a front-runner who roots for two teams in the same division, and jumps to the one performing better? I think everyone reading this can draw their own conclusions.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Hall of Fame Committee suggestions

This is a post to kickoff discussions on forming a Hall of Fame committee to supplement what WIS is implementing at some point in the future. Bribar sent a ticket to WIS to find out the status. Here's the response Bribar got to his ticket:

"We will use the same rules as in real life. When we have the structure in place we will be looking at every player in all of the worlds that ever played so everything will be covered."

First, a key rule from "real life" is that a player must have played in each of ten Major League seasons. So I'll first suggest that any player who plays ten years in HBD is excluded from consideration by our committee. This is debatable; a guy who plays from age 31 through 40 in HBD might not have the stats to get in, but as long as another real life rule being carried over to HBD is the voting process, the owners as a whole will be able to have a say.

Second, I'll suggest that a player must play at least five seasons to be eligible. I can't see putting a guy in to our HoF who only played his last few seasons before retiring. It's just impossible to project such a short time playing over a whole career. I could see making the minimum four instead of five, but not any lower.

Third, a player must be retired but need not be retired for five years before we vote. As far as I know, that five-year period is to ensure a guy is really retired and not coming back. We don't have that risk in HBD--retired means retired.

Fourth, I'll suggest that the committee's role be limited to identifying the eligible players, projecting career stats, and making an argument for and against each eligible player's enshrinement. Then we take the eligible players to a vote, with a percentage of all votes required to enshrine. If it is 75%, it isn't necessarily 24 votes for. If only 20 people bother to vote, than 15 votes gets a guy in.

Last, I'll also suggest we consider a future addition of coaches and owners to the Hall of Fame. At least for owners, we should have some baseline requirements. Something like a minimum of 10 (15? 20?) years of ownership, and maybe something related to wins, playoff appearances, or titles, but I'm not sure about that. I don't know that I'd want something that excludes somebody like jenningss, who has been a loyal and hardworking owner who just hasn't found the right formula or caught the right breaks yet.

Thoughts?

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

All-Stars by the numbers

Total number of individual all-star selections: 480 (30 per league per year)

Teams with 25 or more selections:

Athletics (40)
Giants (32)
Mets (31)
Indians (30)
Astros (28)
Cubs (27)
Royals (27)

Teams with fewer than 10 selections:

Reds (9) (seven in last four seasons)
Twins (9) (no player more than once)
Cardinals (8) (no player more than once)
Orioles (7) (no player more than once)
Blue Jays (3) (two this year)
Mounties (3) (two this year)
Nationals (3) (none in first five seasons, one per year since)
Dodgers (2) (none in first six seasons, one per year since)
Phillies (2) (both in Season 1)

Teams with most pitchers selected:

Giants (17)
Indians (17)
Athletics (16)
Mets (14)
Rays (14)
Royals (11)
Brewers (10)

Teams with most position players selected:

Athletics (24)
Astros (20)
Cubs (18)
Mets (17)
Red Sox (16)
Royals (16)
Giants (15)

Teams with most unique players selected:

Athletics (19)
Cubs (17)
Mets (16)
Pirates (15)
Brewers (14)
Giants (14)
Red Sox (13)

Players selected to 6 or more All-Star Teams:

Greg Stewart (8) (all as AL P)
Todd Linebrink (7) (all as AL SS)
Al Alvarez (6) (all as NL C)
Bob Wall (6) (three as NL P, three as AL P)
Chuck Rigdon (6) (all as NL P)
Cliff Simms (6) (all as NL P)
Gabe Brooks (6) (all as AL P)
Jorge Zapata (6) (three as NL RF, three as NL 1B)
Ralph Ryan (6) (all as NL P)
Wes White (6) (all as AL P)

Players who have been All-Stars five or more consecutive seasons:

Greg Stewart (8) (Seasons 1-8)
Todd Linebrink (7) (Seasons 2-8)
Gabe Brooks (6) (Seasons 3-8)
Jorge Zapata (6) (Seasons 3-8)
Ralph Ryan (6) (Seasons 2-7)
Joe Linden (5) (Seasons 4-8)
Theodore Haney (5) (Seasons 4-8)

Players who have been All-Stars for three different teams:

Bob Wall (Dukes, Angels, Orioles)
Brandon Canseco (Pirates, Brewers, Royals)
Cliff Simms (Pirates, Mets, Padres)
Wally Hunter (Rangers, Dukes, Angels)

Players who have been All-Stars in both leagues:

Bob Wall
Brandon Canseco
Chuck Hoover
Darryl Whitaker
Gerald Daly
Joe Linden
Luis Lopez
Mark Moore
Raymond Cambridge
Ricardo Castro
Shawn Becker
Tom Dickerson
Wally Hunter
Willie Santana

Player who has been an All-Star at three different positions:

McKay Woods (LF, RF, 3B)

Friday, May 23, 2008

Team Records

HBD has been updated to include historical stats. I've started playing with them and have some franchise batting records (all through Season 7). Granted, most team hitting stats are slanted toward AL teams with the DH, but top five includes at least the top NL team in almost every category:

At-Bats
1 BOS 41,122
2 KC_ 40,683
3 OAK 40,615
4 CHC 40,516
5 CHW 40,293

Runs
1 OAK 7,673
2 KC_ 7,074
3 BOS 6,707
4 CHC 6,413
5 HOU 6,358

Hits
1 BOS 11,984
2 OAK 11,770
3 KC_ 11,594
4 CHC 11,414
5 SF_ 11,143

Doubles
1 KC_ 2,043
2 OAK 1,986
3 CHC 1,881
4 BOS 1,875
5 MIN 1,847

Triples
1 HOU 467
2 SD_ 426
3 KC_ 420
4 OAK 391
5 DET 371

Homeruns
1 OAK 2,001
2 KC_ 1,986
3 MIL 1,686
4 CLE 1,671
5 HOU 1,659

Runs Batted In
1 OAK 7,445
2 KC_ 6,869
3 BOS 6,450
4 CHC 6,207
5 HOU 6,176

Walks
1 OAK 4,662
2 MIL 4,258
3 BOS 4,099
4 KC_ 4,093
5 ANA 3,942

Hit By Pitch
1 MEM 558
1 KC_ 558
3 OAK 495
4 SEA 491
5 BOS 487

Strikeouts (fewest)
1 OAK 5,909
2 SF_ 5,976
3 ANA 6,352
4 CHW 6,383
5 FLA 6,411

Stolen Bases
1 CIN 1,011
2 NYY 933
3 DET 918
4 ATL 873
5 CLE 857

Batting Average
1 BOS .291
2 OAK .290
3 KC_ .285
4 CHC .282
5 SF_ .279

On-Base Percentage
1 OAK .368
2 BOS .361
3 KC_ .357
4 CHC .350
5 SF_ .348

Slugging Percentage
1 OAK .506
2 KC_ .499
3 HOU .466
4 CLE .456
5 CHC .454

OPS
1 OAK .873
2 KC_ .856
3 BOS .812
4 HOU .80394
5 CHC .80387

Plate Appearances
1 OAK 46,036
2 BOS 45,938
3 KC_ 45,558
4 CHC 45,141
5 CHW 44,878

Intentional Walks
1 SF_ 256
2 NYM 246
3 MIL 232
4 ATL 219
5 STL 216

Sacrifice Flies
1 OAK 257
2 KC_ 216
3 DET 212
4 MEM 210
4 ANA 210

Sacrifice Hits
1 NYM 276
2 LA_ 245
3 TEX 220
4 ATL 215
5 SD_ 211

Grounded Into Double Plays (fewest)
1 CIN 819
2 CLE 915
3 HOU 939
4 SD_ 998
5 NYY 1,006

Infield Hits
1 VAN 329
2 DET 303
3 CLE 292
4 ATL 285
5 PIT 282

Bunt Hits
1 CIN 123
2 BOS 119
3 NYY 115
4 PIT 108
5 VAN 106
5 DET 106

Number of Pitches Seen
1 OAK 162,730
2 BOS 159,223
3 KC_ 158,340
4 CHW 156,893
5 ANA 155,937

Number of Pitches Per Plate Appearance
1 OAK 3.53
2 ANA 3.499
3 CHW 3.49599
4 SF_ 3.49592
5 KC_ 3.48

Pinch Hits
1 CHC 360
2 ATL 333
3 PIT 331
4 CHA 321
5 CIN 319

Pinch At-Bats
1 CHC 1,235
2 PIT 1,228
3 WAS 1,186
4 ATL 1,184
5 FLA 1,182

Pinch Batting Average
1 OAK .409
2 CHW .310
3 VAN .304
4 NYY .294
5 CHC .291

Friday, February 8, 2008

GAP's Greatest Shortstop?

For all the hype about Tampa's Miguel Torres, is he really the best SS in GAP? Let's take a look at the numbers and try to figure it out.

First, who is in the discussion? We'll start with Torres, and add active SSs who have earned at least two all-star berths at SS. Although, this criteria wouldn't include Torres (his only selection came way back in Season 1), it seems like a fair starting point. We'll knock out Eugene Hackman who hasn't played since Season 5, and Al Cradle, who is retired. That leaves us with Todd Linebrink (Oak), Alberto Abreu (Mem), and Theodore Haney (KC).



Trolling through the league depth charts, I found quite a few other names that should be considered for this discussion. But first, we should note some guys who have a chance to be in this discussion a few years down the road, when they have some big league results to back up their ratings:

Rick Gordon (Bal)
Joaquin Ortiz (Cle)
Domingo Sosa (Hou)
Ugueth Herrera (Hou)
Chip Oliver (Phi)
Russ Anderson (Van)

There are a couple other guys who could play SS with some defensive deficiences (like Cincinnati's Andres Mieses and Tampa's Pedro Guerrero), but without ML SS results, I don't want to include them here. In fact, that same criteria diminishes Haney's case pretty strongly, which we will discuss further shortly. However, there are a few guys with results that warrant them being included in this discussion:

Roosevelt Kohlmeier (ChW)
Matt Moore (SD)
Barry Clayton (StL)

Missing my arbitrary cut but still worthy of note: Matt Kubenka (Cha).

So let's take a look at these seven. First, on the offensive side. The easiest available tool to measure hitting production is OPS. Here are our seven with their career OPS, and S6 OPS in parentheses:

Haney 947 (951)
Linebrink 882 (919)
Kohlmeier 879 (978)
Moore 874 (793)
Clayton 854 (769)
Abreu 775 (605)
Torres 687 (712)

Another way to slice offensive output is RC/27. That Runs Created per 27 outs. I had to make a couple minor tweaks due to the limited historical data (player card doesn't show extended batting info). I used the stolen base RC formula so we were including SB/CS, and eliminated GIDP, SH, and SF from the outs side because we don't have that. Here are our candidates, with their RC/27 career, and S6 in parentheses:

Haney 7.69 (8.08)
Linebrink 7.23 (7.95)
Kohlmeier 6.95 (8.62)
Moore 6.68 (5.20)
Clayton 6.51 (5.21)
Abreu 5.27 (3.07)
Torres 4.33 (4.78)

Our players fall in the same order as in the OPS rankings. So we can feel good about this order, and weight them on a sliding scale (100 as the top of the scale) as follows:

Haney 100
Linebrink 94
Kohlmeier 92
Moore 90
Clayton 87
Abreu 75
Torres 64

Now let's take a look at defense. First, we should note the number of games played at SS, versus total games played:

Linebrink 906/916
Torres 870/875
Abreu 860/860
Kohlmeier 509/571
Moore 476/477
Clayton 408/749
Haney 224/701

All but Haney and Clayton have played more than 89% of their games at SS. Clayton played most of S2 at 2B and 3B, and continues to move around to other positions, but has played 54% of this games at SS. On the other hand, he only played 17 games at SS last year, filling the 2B slot most of the way. Haney, however, has played just 32% of his at SS. As a 20-year-old in S2, he played most of his games in RF, and did the same in S3. He split time evenly between SS, CF, and 2B in S4. His S4 games at SS primarily came early in the season, and were enough for him to be selected as an all-star at SS that year. He played 38 games at SS in S5, working primarily in CF that year. Last year was his first full year at SS, playing 130 of his 139 games there.

Each reader will have to make their own judgment call on whether one or both of these guys should be excluded from this discussion based on this. Haney, now 25, and Clayton, now 26, both have nearly reached their rating projections and are being used at SS here at the start of S7.

As to the defense, the most basic defensive stat is fielding percentage. Let's start there. Here are our guys, with career SS FPct and S6 in parentheses:

Torres .989 (.998)
Abreu .985 (.985)
Linebrink .973 (.986)
Clayton .966 (.986)
Haney .961 (.969)
Kohlmeier .958 (.974)
Moore .956 (.980)

Bill James created Range Factor, believing the number of outs a player participates in is more relevant than the number cleanly handled. Here our the range factors for our group, career and S6:

Haney 6.75 (6.55)
Torres 6.29 (6.14)
Linebrink 6.27 (5.90)
Abreu 6.19 (6.15)
Kohlmeier 5.87 (5.73)
Clayton 5.73 (5.20)
Moore 5.71 (5.76)

Lastly, HBD gives us a quantified number of excellent plays. To account for the varied amount of playing time, I converted the + plays to a rate, dividing by 1458 innings played (162*9), giving us an approximation of Great Plays Per Season (GPPS). Here are career and S6 numbers:

Torres 9.6 (12.8)
Abreu 5.8 (3.5)
Kohlmeier 2.6 (5.4)
Linebrink 2.0 (1.2)
Moore 1.5 (3.3)
Haney 1.5 (1.3)
Clayton 0.9 (0.0)

While FPct and RF reflect an entire season worth of play, GPPS only reflects a handful of plays. So by weighting these categories accordingly, and re-weighting again with 100 at the top of the scale, we get the following defensive scores:

Torres 100
Haney 98
Abreu 97

Linebrink 95
Kohlmeier 92
Moore 90
Clayton 90


Now, to go about the task of merging the offensive and defensive scores. It's clear we can't just average them, as fielding is only a portion of the defensive formula, along with pitching. Let's keep it simple and make fielding worth half as much. Using this method, here are the final rankings, again re-weighting to make 100 the top of the scale:

Haney 100
Linebrink 95
Kohlmeier 93
Moore 91
Clayton 89
Abreu 83
Torres 77


In the end, it's clear that while Torres and Abreu are both very strong defensively, their signifcant offensive shortcomings don't put them in the same category as a Haney or a Linebrink.

Clearly, there are a number of methodolgies that could be used that might vary these results slightly. Based on the statistics used and what they both mathematically represent and historically have proven, these results can't be far off. In fact, the only way to construct a case for Torres over the others would be to select only certain rudimentary statistics. However, even just using a basic stat like batting average, Torres comes up ahead of just two of the other six. There really is no argument here whatsoever. Torres is simply not a contender for GAP's Greatest Shortstop.