Friday, August 22, 2003
PRODUCOR OR DOMINATOR?
Today, my vote for NL MVP is for Albert Pujols and not Barry Bonds. First off, I love Bonds. He is the greatest baseball player I have ever seen. His most recent heroics against the Braves is just amazing, regardless of Cox’s foolishness. But the MVP should be awarded to the player who added the most value to his team. In baseball, value is measured in runs by either scored or prevented. Since both frontrunners are paid to produce runs and play the same non-critical defensive position, left field, the analysis will focus on producing runs.
Most sabermetric folks, I guess I am one, talk about OBP, SLG, OPS and other fancy rate metrics, but they should primarily be used to forecast players' ability to produce runs. The MVP is based on past performance. We should use the hard historical data to determine the MVP and in this case, data on run production.
As of August 22nd, Pujols' run production [runs + RBI - HR] as a percentage of the Cardinals is 26.1%. Bonds' is 24.0%. It came as no surprise that Pujols had better numbers since Bonds missed a significant number of games this season. Pujols should not be penalized because Bonds has not been in the lineup as much. Pujols has account for 10.4% of the Cardinals plate appearances compared to 9.3% for Bonds.
In most cases, a players' run scored and RBI totals are very dependent upon the quality of your teammates. For example, a player could hit a lead off triple, but his next three teammates all strikeout leaving him stranded at third. The player who hit the triple should not be penalized due to the ineptitude of his teammates. The player who hit the triple should be credited with giving his team a chance of scoring.
The old-fashioned stat, total bases - tracks the number of bases a player accumulates - indicates the player's ability to produce opportunities for his team to score runs. It is solely dependent upon the hitter unlike runs and RBI. In this case, the difference between the players is smaller but not much. Pujols accounts for 15.4% of his team's total bases with Bonds at 13.7%. Again, the difference can be attributed to the games Bonds has missed.
There is little doubt that Bonds dominates the game of baseball but to date has not produced as much as Pujols due to his fewer plate appearances. The player who produces the most for his club should be the MVP. The season is not over yet. If Bonds can stay in the lineup over the next five weeks, he should win this race.
Today, my vote for NL MVP is for Albert Pujols and not Barry Bonds. First off, I love Bonds. He is the greatest baseball player I have ever seen. His most recent heroics against the Braves is just amazing, regardless of Cox’s foolishness. But the MVP should be awarded to the player who added the most value to his team. In baseball, value is measured in runs by either scored or prevented. Since both frontrunners are paid to produce runs and play the same non-critical defensive position, left field, the analysis will focus on producing runs.
Most sabermetric folks, I guess I am one, talk about OBP, SLG, OPS and other fancy rate metrics, but they should primarily be used to forecast players' ability to produce runs. The MVP is based on past performance. We should use the hard historical data to determine the MVP and in this case, data on run production.
As of August 22nd, Pujols' run production [runs + RBI - HR] as a percentage of the Cardinals is 26.1%. Bonds' is 24.0%. It came as no surprise that Pujols had better numbers since Bonds missed a significant number of games this season. Pujols should not be penalized because Bonds has not been in the lineup as much. Pujols has account for 10.4% of the Cardinals plate appearances compared to 9.3% for Bonds.
In most cases, a players' run scored and RBI totals are very dependent upon the quality of your teammates. For example, a player could hit a lead off triple, but his next three teammates all strikeout leaving him stranded at third. The player who hit the triple should not be penalized due to the ineptitude of his teammates. The player who hit the triple should be credited with giving his team a chance of scoring.
The old-fashioned stat, total bases - tracks the number of bases a player accumulates - indicates the player's ability to produce opportunities for his team to score runs. It is solely dependent upon the hitter unlike runs and RBI. In this case, the difference between the players is smaller but not much. Pujols accounts for 15.4% of his team's total bases with Bonds at 13.7%. Again, the difference can be attributed to the games Bonds has missed.
There is little doubt that Bonds dominates the game of baseball but to date has not produced as much as Pujols due to his fewer plate appearances. The player who produces the most for his club should be the MVP. The season is not over yet. If Bonds can stay in the lineup over the next five weeks, he should win this race.
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