24 posts tagged “statistics”
While digging through my closet, I found an interesting article written by Peter J. Schwartz in a 2008 issue of Sports Money. In the article, Schwartz looks at historical player salaries in comparison to the overall value of the team. Here were some of the players listed:
1930: Babe Ruth's salary - $80,000
Yankees Team Value: $2.5 million
Ruth made 3.2% of the team's total value.
1949: Joe DiMaggio's salary - $100,000
Yankees Team Value: $5 million
DiMaggio made 2.0% of the team's total value.
1980: Nolan Ryan's salary - $1.125 million
Astros Team Value: $13 million
Ryan made 8.7% of the team's total value.
1991: Roger Clemens' salary - $5.38 million
Red Sox Team Value: $136 million
Clemens made 4.0% of the team's total value.
1997: Albert Belle's salary - $11 million
White Sox Team Value: $149 million
Belle made 7.4% of the team's total value.
1999: Kevin Brown's salary - $15 million
Dodgers Team Value: $270 million
Brown made 5.6% of the team's total value.
2001: Alex Rodriguez's salary - $25.2 million
Rangers Team Value: $342 million
Rodriguez made 7.4% of the team's total value.
2008: Alex Rodriguez's salary - $30.5 million
Yankees Team Value: $1.3 billion
Rodriguez made 2.3% of the team's total value.
Win 25 games: Ron Guidry, 1978
Lose 20 games: Mel Stottlemyre, 1966
Pitch 300 innings: Catfish Hunter, 1975
Hit .350: Paul O'Neill, 1994
Slug .700: Mickey Mantle, 1956
Hit 20 triples: Snuffy Stirnweiss, 1945
Hit 50 doubles: Alfonso Soriano, 2002
Steal 50 bases: Rickey Henderson, 1988
Start 40 games: Jack Chesbro, 1906
Throw 20 complete games: Ron Guidry, 1983
Win the Triple Crown: Mickey Mantle, 1956
I'm not big into Spring Training stats; it's one of the reasons why I don't post many game recaps in February and March. Still, I was a bit surprised when I checked out some of the leaders thus far for the Yankees in Spring Training. Here are some of the leaders in important hitting and pitching categories (to make it more even, I narrowed it down to hitters with more than ten at bats and pitchers with more than three innings pitched):
Batting Average
Angel Berroa - .500
Eduardo Nunez - .500
Mark Teixeira - .500
Home Runs
Brett Gardner - 3
Angel Berroa - 2
RBI's
Angel Berroa - 5
Alex Rodriguez - 5
At Bats
Brett Gardner - 21
Cody Ransom - 20
Angel Berroa - 18
Melky Cabrera - 18
Innings Pitched
Dan Giese - 8.1
Ian Kennedy - 7.2
Brett Tomko - 7.0
Games Pitched
Steven Jackson - 5
Dan Giese - 4
Mark Melancon - 4
David Robertson - 4
ERA
Phil Hughes - 0.00
Mark Melancon - 0.00
Chien-Ming Wang - 1.80
The games and stats start to gain significance towards the end of March - right now, it's about staying healthy and getting ready for the season.
In short, very.
He is unquestionably the greatest relief pitcher of all time, given his longevity, durability, and success from April through October. And, in my eyes, his 2008 season was the best season ever by a relief pitcher.
Rivera, who was 38 last year, posted a 1.40 ERA in 64 games. In 70.2 innings, he allowed 41 hits, 11 runs, while walking six and striking out 77. That's better than a 1:12 walk to strikeout ratio: it's absolutely mind-boggling.
Rivera posted a whip of 0.665. It was the sixth season of his career where his WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) was below 1.000. He also posted an ERA+ of 317, which was the best mark ever in the history of the game.
Want more stats? These are his career postseason marks:
W-L: 8-1
G: 76
ERA: 0.77
SV: 34
IP: 117.1
H: 72
ER: 10
BB: 16
K: 93
Rivera has pitched in 26 career postseason series, and yet he has allowed just ten earned runs.
Oh, by the way, he throws only one pitch (for the most part).
Even though the Sandman will be 39 this year, I'm sure he'll be back to his old tricks again in 2009. We will never see another one quite like Mariano, and as Yankee fans, we should enjoy his dominance and savvy on the mound while we can.
Just for kicks, here are the five best baseball teams of all time (by winning percentage):
New York Yankees - .567 (9472-7235)
New York/San Francisco Giants - .538 (10256-8814)
Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers - .524 (9960-9050)
St. Louis Cardinals - .517 (9929-9271)
Boston Red Sox - .516 (8635-8093)
And here are the five worst:
Tampa Bay Rays - .417 (742-1037)
San Diego Padres - .462 (2933-3421)
Texas Rangers - .468 (3570-4059)
Philadelphia Phillies - .470 (8945-10098)
Seattle Mariners - .470 (2376-2683)
Kevin Hench of foxsports.com discusses this in his most recent article. Says Hench:
"By crunching the numbers of the top 10 home run leaders in each league for the 43 seasons preceding the Steroid ERA (1993-2003) and the numbers for the top sluggers during the Chicks Dig the Long Ball Boom, I've determined that a Steroid Era homer, assuming it was hit by a juicer, is worth .75 of a legit dinger."
Hench has determined this by doing some "number-crunching." Here are the results (by decade) when averaging the top 10 home run hitters for each season in both leagues:
1950's: 30.9
1960's: 32.6
1970's: 30.7
1980's: 31.1
1990-1992: 31.5
1993-2003: 41.7
By this logic, Alex Rodriguez is left with a career total of 458 home runs (when multiplying his home runs from the Steroid Era by 0.75). Bonds would be left with 641 home runs, Sosa would be under 500, the list goes on. But I think the quote of the day is when Hench states, "With all the cheats on the all-time home run leaderboard, it might be easier to just put an asterisk next to Hank Aaron's 755* with this notation: *Aaron was not on steroids."
You think we'll still be talking about this in twenty years? I really, really hope not.
The Yankees did what they were supposed to do this offseason: sign two top-of-the-line starters and fill the void at first base. But here's the thing: Teixeira and Sabathia, more so than Burnett, are typically slow starters. And New York is a city where the fans are always asking, "What have you done for me lately?"
With that in mind, I'm concerned that a lot of people will be calling for the heads of Teixeira and Sabathia by June. Check out these stats: as of June 5th of last year, Sabathia had a 3-8 record and a 4.81 ERA. And as of May 28th, Teixeira had a .268 average and five home runs (at that point, Melky Cabrera had hit more home runs).
Granted, these two players went on to have awesome years: Teixeira finished with a .300+ average and 33 home runs, while Sabathia seemed to dominate every start from July on. However, in 2009, there will be more pressure to perform early on, and if Tex and CC start off sluggish, it's going to get ugly very quickly in these parts.
I often go back and forth in my views on statistical analysis, saber-metrics, and all of that good stuff that guys like Jayson Stark and Bill James love. On the one hand, baseball is a numbers game, and on the other hand, it is the most human of all sports.
For example, we all know the value that Jeter has brought to the number 2 spot in the order over the past 13 years. Even so, statistical analysis shows that Jeter would be more valuable as the number eight or nine hitter. Based on numbers alone, that might be so. But based on the intangibles (getting a runner over, getting a bunt down, etc.), Jeter has proven his worth in the two-hole.
With that, let's move on to analyzing the projected 2009 Opening Day lineup. According to baseballmusings.com's lineup analysis, this would be the most effective lineup for the Yankees:
DH Hideki Matsui
1B Mark Teixeira
C Jorge Posada
3B Alex Rodriguez
LF Johnny Damon
RF Xavier Nady
2B Robinson Cano
CF Melky Cabrera
SS Derek Jeter
Interesting, right?
Obviously, if Joe Girardi put this lineup out there on Opening Day, every blogger, journalist, and critic out there would call for his head. But, again, the stats say this would work best.
I'm thinking the real Opening Day lineup will look something like this:
LF Johnny Damon
SS Derek Jeter
1B Mark Teixeira
3B Alex Rodriguez
DH Hideki Matsui
RF Xavier Nady
C Jorge Posada
2B Robinson Cano
CF Melky Cabrera
The 1-4 slots are pretty well set. The 5-9 spots are up for debate, and there might be some changes in there.
This is just food for thought. As we all know from last year, the Opening Day lineup may only be used a handful of times throughout the year, since there are always injuries, call-ups, and slumps.
Just for fun, here are a few single-season records (from 1901 forward) that won't be broken anytime soon:
Batting Average: Nap Lajoie - .427
OBP: Barry Bonds - .609
Triples: Chief Wilson - 36
RBI: Hack Wilson - 191
Walks: Barry Bonds - 232
Stolen Bases: Rickey Henderson - 130
HBP: Ron Hunt - 50
Intentional Walks: Barry Bonds - 120
Wins: Jack Chesbro - 41
Games Pitched: Mike Marshall - 106
Innings Pitched: Ed Walsh - 464
Games Started: Jack Chesbro - 51
Complete Games: Jack Chesbro - 48
Shutouts: Pete Alexander - 16
Walks Allowed: Bob Feller - 208
I think it's safe to say that few of these records, if any, will be broken in our lifetime.
There has been a lot of talk recently about Andy Pettitte. Most people are saying that the Yankees should not re-sign him, especially since he declined their $10 million offer.
I wholeheartedly disagree. I don't think that Pettitte is worth more than $10 million, but I still believe the Yanks should do whatever they need to do in order to retain his services for 2009.
Let's look at his stats from last year: 14-14, 33 starts, 4.54 ERA, 1.412 WHIP. Granted, those stats aren't amazing. But they're also skewed.
If you take out five -- just five -- of Pettitte's starts, he is left with a 3.42 ERA (I took out his starts from June 7th against Kansas City, July 3rd against Boston, July 31st against Los Angeles, August 26th against Boston, and August 31st against Toronto). In other words, over 28 starts, Pettitte boasted an ERA in the low-to-mid threes. I'd take that out of my fifth starter any day.
People forget- Pettitte was the number 2 starter for most of the season last year. While other starters were going down, Pettitte was a rock throughout the entire season.
If I were Brian Cashman, I would raise the offer a few million if that's what it took to retain Pettitte. I mean, what's a few million dollars for the Yankees?
For the Yankees' sake, let's hope we're seeing Pettitte on the mound come April.
