THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Monday, January 04, 2010

Best players in baseball

Best players in baseball:

Two things:

1983-87: Tim Raines
Very Close: Wade Boggs
Close: Murphy
In the discussion: Ripken, Schmidt, Henderson, Keith Hernandez.

One win share separated Raines from Boggs … Keith Hernandez was a great player in the mid-1980s.

The other: Joe unfortunately chose Win Shares instead of WSAB (Win Shares above Bench).  Why is this unfortunate?  Of the 63 players Joe shows as being the best player for a 5-yr period, close to the best player, or even in the discussion for the best player, there is exactly ONE pitcher: Greg Maddux.  Pedro?  Not in the discussion.  Clemens?  RJ?  Nope, not there.  Tom Seaver?  Steve Carlton?  Jim Palmer?  No, of course not!  Johan Santana?  Halladay?  CC?  Now, you’re being ridiculous.  Don’t even discuss them!  You have to have a 5-yr stretch like Greg Maddux to just be in the discussion.

As I said from the very beginning, Win Shares is terribly biased against starting pitchers.  Here is the list from Joe, and you tell me if there isn’t a 5-yr period where a pitcher other than Maddux should be in the discussion as best of his era.

AdrianGonzalez
AlbertBelle
AlexRodriguez
AndreDawson
BarryBonds
BernieWilliams
BobbyAbreu
BobbyBonds
BobbyGrich
BobbyMurcer
CalRipken
CarlosBeltran
CesarCedeno
ChaseUtley
ChipperJones
CraigBiggio
DaleMurphy
DaveParker
DaveWinfield
DavidWright
DerekJeter
DonMattingly
EddieMurray
FrankThomas
GaryCarter
GeorgeBrett
GeorgeFoster
GregMaddux
HanleyRamirez
IchiroSuzuki
Jackson
JasonGiambi
JeffBagwell
JeffKent
JoeMauer
JohnnyBench
KeithHernandez
KenGriffeyJr
KenSingleton
KirbyPuckett
LanceBerkman
MannyBManny
MannyRamirez
MarkMcGwire
MarkTeixeira
MiggyCabrera
MikePiazza
MikeSchmidt
PedroGuerrero
PeteRose
PrinceFielder
RickeyHenderson
RobinYount
RodCarew
RyanHoward
RyneSandberg
SammySosa
TimRaines
ToddHelton
TonyGwynn
WadeBoggs
WillClark
WillieStargell