Comments on: Teams with the most players with at least 5 WAR

By: Andy

Andy — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:44:21 +0000

In 2001 I used to call him "Enter Boob", an anagram for Bret Boone. He had a teammates named Retarding Maze, Income Maker, Bald Devil, Nails Down, Insert Java, Graced Friday, and A Real Nose. The best teammate for anagrams, though, was Carlos Guillen. He could be Collegian Slur, Recalling Soul, Rolling Clause, Lilac Loungers, Large Scullion, Closing Allure, Singular Cello, Gorilla's Uncle, and many more...

By: tim

tim — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:27:45 +0000

Yeah, Bret Boone probably dodged the steroid police for that 2001 season. Basically, unless the media doesn't like you, they won't look.

By: Cyril Morong

Cyril Morong — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 22:26:43 +0000

The 1939 Yankees had the highest run differential ever (or at least since 1900). 967- 456 = 411

By: John Q

John Q — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:14:18 +0000

@19 Albanate,

Valid points. You know I went back and checked and Kranepool was only 29 in 1974. It seems kind of unbelievable to me because I would have sworn his was in late 30's because he was on the team so damn long.

Trading away all of those young prospects started to come back to bite them in 1974.

Kranepool could hit but he was a below average fielder and strictly a lefty platoon type first basemen. The problem with the Mets is that they had John Milner who was 3 years younger than Kranepool and Rusty Staub who really should have been out of the outfield by 1974.

What they should have done is keep Otis & Singleton and put Milner at first.

By: John Q

John Q — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:01:11 +0000

@21 Good Points John A.

I think what's left out of the equation is Pitching + Defense. Defense is usually left out of the equation. If that '74 Mets team were a good defensive team, then they could have been competitive with that pitching staff.

By: T

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 11:09:00 +0000

That was supposed to be a 7, not a slash.

By: T

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 11:06:07 +0000

Funny, but that 2001 season for Boone accounted for almost half of his career WAR (9.3 of his 21.4). In fact that nice little 3 year run of his ('01-'03) accounted for virtually his entire carer WAR (20.3 of 21.4)! Which means he was just barely treading water the rest of his seasons. / of his years were spent in negative territory. I wonder what the career mark for having the most negative years of WAR is?

By: John Autin

John Autin — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 07:28:19 +0000

You know what these two lists have in common?

Nothing. There's not a single team that made both lists -- i.e., no team in modern MLB history has had at least 4 hitters and 3 pitchers post 5 or more WAR in a season.

Another observation:

Of the 32 teams on the batting list:
-- 20 won their pennant (62.5%);
-- 10 won the World Series (31.2%)
-- 25 made the postseason, or would have, if it existed (78.1%);
-- 2 had a losing record (6.3%).

Of the 16 teams on the pitching list:
-- 6 won their pennant (37.5%);
-- 2 won the World Series (12.5%);
-- 6 made the postseason (37.5%);
-- 2 had a losing record (12.5%).

So, now ... what is it that wins championships, again?

Yeah, I know -- they're not strictly equivalent comparisons.
But it's still striking: For all the talk of how three strong pitchers can carry a team to October glory, only TWO teams with three 5-WAR pitchers have ever won a title. And the last time it happened was almost 100 years ago.

Either WAR doesn't properly measure pitcher value, or else someone's been blowing smoke up our tailpipes.

By: flyingelbowsmash

flyingelbowsmash — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 05:31:53 +0000

Surprised the Braves pitchers made it only once.

By: Albanate

Albanate — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 03:34:21 +0000

#12 John Q--I disagree about Kranepool deserving release in '74. He was still productive at that point, putting up a 115 OPS+ that year. in fact, his OPS+ for the three seasons after that were 120, 120, and 112. He was no superstar, but he could still hit a bit.