BP Comment Quick Links
September 3, 2004 Prospectus MatchupsBeing Valuable
BEST AMERICAN LEAGUE MATCH-UP (Best combined records with both teams being over .500): Texas @ Boston
1B: Albert Pujols: 82.2 If you raise the bar to 30 (or, perhaps soon enough, 35), this is the most irreplaceable unit:
1B: Mark Teixeira: 42.2 The Cleveland unit of Ben Broussard, Ron Belliard, Omar Vizquel and Casey Blake is third. Speaking of them... Did you do it, Red Sox Royal Rooters? Did you clip Tuesday night's Yankees box score and have it framed for your rumpus room? That sound you heard the world over on Tuesday night was Yankee haters counting off push-ups they were doing every time the Indians scored a run, college cheerleader style. 22-0. No matter what happens the rest of the way, Red Sox fans and the wider Yankee-hating population will always have that moment. That's really all it is, too: a moment. Within 24 hours, the Yankees had chalked up a very pedestrian 5-3 victory over Cleveland. Then, they followed up by scoring in the first four innings of their next game. So much for the demoralizing and humiliating effects of a blow-out loss, hey wot? I put it to you that this is what makes this game of our choosing worth watching night after night: the variety of its outcomes. You simply never know what you're going to get when you walk into a ballpark or turn on the television, radio or computer simulcast (or mechanical recreation if anyone is still doing those in a town square somewhere). People want us to get excited about the United States' women's softball team winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games. While it's nice for the participants and should give us pride as a nation, etc., etc., have you ever tried to watch that game? What is the point? Nearly every contest ends in a shutout. It's like the NFL in the 1920s: no variety in scoring. There were 32 games played at the Athens Olympics and 27 of them ended in shutouts. Fully one quarter of the games ended 1-0. Please don't get me wrong; this is neither a misogynistic tirade nor an indictment of low-scoring games. What I am doing is dissing sports that do not offer a variety of outcomes. Only one time in those 32 games did the losing team plate more than two runs. Where is the fun in that? If women's softball ever hopes to get anywhere as a spectator sport then it needs to address the dominance of its pitchers over its hitters at its highest levels. BEST NATIONAL LEAGUE MATCH-UP (Best combined records with both teams being over .500): Los Angeles @ St. Louis
In this series, there are four players who are having MVP-caliber seasons: Adrian Beltre, Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen. Three are on St. Louis and one is on Los Angeles. What is more, none of Beltre's teammates are anywhere near him in terms of VORP. In fact, it would take the next two best players on his team (Shawn Green and Cesar Izturis) plus 88% of the fourth-best player, Milton Bradley, to equal his figure. That's what we're looking at here: the Loneliness Factor. How much help do the best players on each team have? Beltre's Loneliness Factor is 2.88 - it takes the next two best players on his team and 88% of the one after that to equal his value over replacement. For Pujols, it's only 1.05. Here are the five highest LFs the National League:
6.16: Barry Bonds, San Francisco I'm not arguing that Overbay is more valuable than Pujols, I'm merely pointing out for those keen on the contextual argument for MVP, that Bonds and Beltre are operating in a relative talent vacuum compared to their Cardinal counterparts. The highest LFs in the American League are:
2.79: Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Ford and Huff do not have MVP numbers, obviously, and I don't think Suzuki has done enough to warrant a top vote, in spite of his run at George Sisler's hit record. To me, this list is good evidence that Guillen deserves a lot of consideration for the top slot. There's a huge drop-off in talent after him and Ivan Rodriguez on the Tigers. Surely, he means more to his team's success than does the Yankees' Gary Sheffield (1.14) and Red Sox' Manny Ramirez (1.05). Both of them, while having excellent seasons, have better partners in their ranks. Obviously, a player's Loneliness Factor can be skewed greatly if he is surrounded by a whole host of incompetence (Overbay) or a corps of frequently-injured players (Ford). Because of situations like this, it does not stand alone by any means, but it can act as a devil's advocacy tool when refining the meaning of the word "valuable." MISMATCH-UP (opponents furthest from each other in won-lost records with the better team over .500 and the lesser team under): Arizona @ San Francisco
Pro-rating Bonds' stats for the 85 plate appearances he's missed during these games, the Giants have missed out on six home runs and 18 walks. In all, They Who Would Be Bonds have a line of .267/.388/.338. This is opposed to the .253/.365/.441 line they have otherwise. Heavy lies the crown, it might seem. CLOSEST MATCH-UP (opponents with the won-loss records closest to one another): Detroit @ Tampa Bay
What I am proposing to you today is a trade designed to manufacture a run at that record. So far, Comerica Park is turning out to be the best triples park in the American League, if not in all of baseball. Don't get me wrong--it's not the triples factory that Forbes Field was (check out where the Pirates finished in three-baggers from 1909 to 1970), but more triples have been hit there over the last three seasons than anywhere else, including Coors Field. So, here's my proposition: the Devil Rays should trade Carl Crawford to the Tigers. Crawford currently leads the majors in triples with 17. True, 12 of them have come at home, so one could argue that he is already enjoying a home-field advantage of sorts, but why not maximize his triple-hitting ability? What is more, a triples-hitting guy named Crawford has historical mojo in Detroit. The guy who came closest to Wilson's record is Sam Crawford with 26 in 1914. He is also the all-time leader in the category with 309. Here are some other things to consider when contemplating why this trade needs to be made:
I think we're all in agreement that, when it comes time vote for the MVP this year, most ballots are going to place Ivan Rodriguez ahead of Carlos Guillen. This is not an endorsement of this act, merely a prediction this is what is to be. Both men have been indispensable to the Tigers in their rise from the historic depths, but Guillen has been more indispensable than has Pudge. Their current VORP differential is about 13 points. What is interesting about this is that while Rodriguez might be over-credited in this year's voting, he was under-credited last year while playing for the World Champion Marlins. These are the VORP standings of the five best 2003 Marlins:
Mike Lowell: 52.0 The voters, of course, placed Pierre highest among Marlins:
10th: Pierre, 39 points Go figure.
0 comments have been left for this article.
|