from Amazon
Monday, June 16, 2008
DH in the Hall of Fame
I give all DH -2 wins per 162G (700PA) for their “position+fielding”. That is the equivalent of a bad fielding 1B. In fact, I put a floor of -2 per 162G for all players for their pos+fielding.
I also give DH a bonus of +0.5 wins per 700PA, for those PA as a DH, in deference to Andy’s findings in The Book for a DH penalty.
Or, if that was too complicated, DH are compared to a tinge below average hitters, while the rest of the players are compared to replacement-level players. The “replacement-level” DH is, basically, a guy who is an average hitter, but can’t field at all.
IIRC, Hall of Famers are around +60 wins above replacement playerand above. So, for a full-time DH to make it, he’d have to be around +50 wins above average hitter. Edgar just slides above that line. Edgar also had the misfortune of getting his 1000th PA when he was 28 years old. That makes him an even older callup than Ryan Howard if you can believe it. Anyway, Edgar should make it in.
Seeing how long Raines will have to take, I don’t expect the Holy Writers to be on top of this one either. They’ll have to investigate and study this, and it will take years for their non-dissertations to finally reach public consumption.