from Amazon
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Best-fielding 1B over the last 3 years
As of today:
+27 Pujols
+16 Kotchman
+16 Youkilis
+12 Helton
...
-10 Giambi
-11 Nomar
-18 Jacobs
-19 Sexson
-21 Fielder
That’s UZR, and that’s their totals. You can do it as per 150 games if you like, and you’ll see Giambi at -8 per season, and the top fielders at around +5 or +7 per season. Whatever, it’s not that important. You look at the names in the best/worst list, and really, what is there to complain about? The Fans’ eyes pretty much agree. Joining those top 4 guys are Derrick Lee, Adrian Gonzalez, Mark Teixeira, Lyle Overbay, Lance Berkman. The important point is this: the 4 fielders with highest UZR were also in the top 10 among the Fans’ picks.
Not only that, but Giambi, Jacobs, Fielder, and Sexson were 4 of the 8 worst fielding 1B last year according to the Fans. Talk about two completely independent systems matching up.
Maybe UZR isn’t as high on Teixeira as it should be or as the Fans have him, but it’s one of those misses that we simply have to deal with. It doesn’t invalidate the entire UZR methodology. It is hard to find those guys that are highly or lowly ranked in UZR who don’t deserve to be there. And please, don’t quote 4 months of data. Don’t talk to me unless you are talking about at least two years of data.