OT: Measuring 2011 Players by WAR and WPA

by ChopMaster on Jun 25, 2011 4:13 PM EDT

I wanted to look further into the value of each position player in WAR and WPA. I went to FanGraphs to dig up some info on the most important and most valuable Braves players in 2011. I wanted to use two important statistics to help make a list of the most important and valuable players this year. Here is a graph of the Braves' players and their WAR. A place on my graph requires a minimum of 40 plate appearances. Just to avoid confusion, the key and the players' places on the graph go clockwise, so that it is easy to read because some players share the same colors.

Matt Young, Joe Mather, and Dan Uggla all have negative WAR. You can see that Brian McCann has about 25% of the Braves WAR, while David Ross has the 4th most WAR for the Braves, more than Chipper Jones. I also used WPA, win probability added. Here is a graph for all Braves players with a minimum of 40 plate appearances.

Over half the Braves players have a negative WPA, and that's not good. But, Brian McCann has undoubtedly been the MVP of the Braves this year. A third thing I did was add WAR and WPA and then find the average by dividing by 2. Here is the list from best to worst:

1. Brian McCann 1.61

2. Martin Prado 1.235

3. David Ross 0.95

4. Chipper Jones 0.92

5. Brooks Conrad 0.51

6. Jason Heyward 0.345

7. Jordan Schafer 0.24

8. Alex Gonzalez 0.17

9t. Eric Hinske -0.1

9t. Freddie Freeman -0.1

11. Nate McLouth -0.23

12. Joe Mather -0.26

13. Matt Young -0.475

14. Dan Uggla -1.025

This FanPost does not express the views or opinions of Talking Chop.

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Comments

Funny that our third best player (David Ross) doesn't get used at all because Fredi refuses to let him pinch hit

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by SouthernPanther on Jun 25, 2011 5:43 PM EDT reply actions

With this, do you think Ross should be used somewhat a little more? Through this point, McCann has 280 plate appearances, while Ross has 56 plate appearances. Pretty funny that 280 divided by 56 is exactly 5. So the ratio of McCann to Ross is 5:1. For every 5 days that McCann plays, Ross plays 1 day.

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by ChopMaster on Jun 25, 2011 6:46 PM EDT up reply actions

That is way too much work for McCann

I know that Fredi hasn’t ever had a backup catcher like Ross to work with his starter, but this is getting ridiculous. I’d take Ross over either Cincy catcher, yet they’re getting equal at bats. Granted, they don’t have a McCann, but Ross has shown that one of the best parts about employing him is that he’s not a major drop off from McCann in production.

"Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results."
— Albert Einstein
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by biggentleben on Jun 26, 2011 12:31 AM EDT up reply actions

I almost want to see Boscan up just so Ross can be used.

by Broccoman on Jun 26, 2011 2:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I’d like to see them get Conrad a few innings at catcher. I’m not saying he should be starting games, or even playing there in any critical situation, but they could let him finish up in blowout games. That way, they could develop enough confidence in him to be able to use Ross (or McCann, in games where Ross starts) as a PH, knowing that if some emergency occurs, Conrad would be competent to take over.

"Some people give their bodies to science. I gave mine to baseball." -- Ron Hunt

by Cornutt on Jul 3, 2011 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions

inside the numbers

The WAR numbers include adjustment for fielding. However, Fangraph (and the entire Sabremetric community) doesn’t really have a good measurement for catchers (no determination of their range via UZR) so the only adjustment comes from how well they catch runners trying to steal. David Ross gets a boost in that regard. Chipper, on the hand is determined to not have much range by UZR, and thus his value is downgraded due to his defense.

by LEastCoastBears on Jun 26, 2011 1:40 AM EDT reply actions

Not bad, but...

I don’t think that (WPA+WAR)/2 is meaningful. Sure, the higher the number the better the player, but you’re adding a probability (%) stat to a counting stat. Who knows which one is better (which one should have more weight). That’s about like this article (http://walksaber.blogspot.com/2008/04/while-im-on-roll.html). Just my two cents worth.

"I always thought that record would stand until it was broken." -Yogi Berra

by iamthesgt on Jun 29, 2011 10:17 PM EDT reply actions