EqA by Position

[philkid3]

I always find this table interesting to look at when the season ends, and thought I'd post it here this year.

This is the Equivilent Average (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/glossary/index.php?mode=viewstat&stat=61) put up by each position this season, along with a player who closely approximates that production. Below each position is the EqA put up by the player who led his position in Runs Above Replacement Player and the player who was the worst by the same number.

So, basically, by EqA's assessment, the average offensive player at ever position, along with the best and worst at that position in baseball.

Full EqA numbers for all of baseball can be found here. (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/eqa2008.php)


Average: .260 (Corey Hart, RF, MIL)
NL Lead: Albert Pujols, 1B, STL (.372)
AL Lead: Milton Bradley, DH, TEX (.341)

First Base: .283 (Ryan Shealy, KC)
Leader: Albert Pujols, STL (.372)
Bottom: Ross Gload, KC (.236)

Left Field: .276 (Fred Lewis, SF)
Leader: Manny Ramirez, BOS/LAD (.344)
Bottom: Wily Mo Pena, WSH (.164)

Right Field: .276 (David Murphy, TEX)
Leader: Ryan Ludwick, STL (.320)
Bottom: Jeff Francoeur, ATL (.228)

Third Base: .270 (Mike Lowell, BOS)
Leader: Chipper Jones, ATL (.362)
Bottom: Andy LaRoche, LAD/PIT (.177)

Center Field: .268 (Willie "Boom Boom" Bloomquist, SEA)
Leader: Grady Sizemore, CLE (.306)
Bottom: Corey Patterson, CIN (.200)

Second Base: .264 (Akinori Iwamura, TB)
Leader: Chase Utley, PHI (.308)
Bottom: Argenis Reyes, NYM (.178)

Shortstop: .255 (Jason Bartlett, TB)
Leader: Hanley Ramirez, FLA (.320)
Bottom: Tony Pena Jr, KC (.115)

Catcher: .252 (A.J. Pierzynski, CHW)
Leader: Joe Mauer, MIN (.316)
Bottom: Corky Miller, ATL (-0.114)

Pitcher: .101 (Jaime Moyer, PHI)
Leader: Carlos Zambrano, CHC (.288)
Bottom: Jay Bergmann, WSH (-0.208)

[Mariano_Rivera]

Its a shame that Milton Bradley has been so overshadowed by Josh Hamilton in Texas.

[SamtheBravesFan]

Now the whole world knows how much Jeff Francoeur stinks this year. :)

[philkid3]

Now the whole world knows how much Jeff Francoeur stinks this year. :)

There's a guy I really hate and had to ban from a group I moderate because he's not just a troglodyte, but an agressive, offensive one at that.

Anyway, on his blog he picked Francouer to win the MVP.

Yup.

[Evangelion]

Did the players at the bottom get that much playing time?

[SamtheBravesFan]

There's a guy I really hate and had to ban from a group I moderate because he's not just a troglodyte, but an agressive, offensive one at that.

Anyway, on his blog he picked Francouer to win the MVP.

Yup.

*laughs* What was his rationale?

[Evangelion]

Its a shame that Milton Bradley has been so overshadowed by Josh Hamilton in Texas.
It's shame that people don't known how good Milton Bradley was this season. He made the AS team, but he was one of the best players in MLB this season.

There's a guy I really hate and had to ban from a group I moderate because he's not just a troglodyte, but an agressive, offensive one at that.

Anyway, on his blog he picked Francouer to win the MVP.

Yup.
Can using any statistic justify believing Francouer a MVP?

[SamtheBravesFan]

Did the players at the bottom get that much playing time?

Here are the games and PAs:

Jeff Francoeur: 155 games, 652 PAs
Ross Gload: 122 games, 418 PAs
Corey Patterson: 135 games, 392 PAs
Andy LaRoche: 76 games, 262 PAs
Tony Pena, Jr.: 95 games, 235 PAs
Wily Mo Pena: 64 games, 206 PAs
Argenis Reyes: 49 games, 121 PAs
Corky Miller: 31 games, 67 PAs

Pitchers naturally get playing time if they can pitch. ;)

I can certainly attest to Francoeur and Miller. The Braves franchise is just hoping upon hope that he can become what they all envision him to be, and that's why he's getting a lot of chances to succeed, including this year. But the truth is, he may never get there because he's such a poor batter.

Miller is the usual "veteran backup catcher" that Bobby Cox just loves to have on hand. Corky just happened to be worse than the usual backup Braves catcher.

[philkid3]

Did the players at the bottom get that much playing time?

For the most part, enough. Partly just to be easy, they're the player at the position with the most runs below replacement, which is a counting number, so it does factor in playing time.

[philkid3]

*laughs* What was his rationale?

I don't remember, I could scrounge it up later. I think it was basically just that he thought the Braves would win the division and thought middle-of-the-order bat + scrappy player + off-the-beaten-path choice + good defense + division winner = MVP.

His predictions were very, very bad, though. He spends all this time railing against people who look at baseball scientifically, and then at the end of the season, they do a much better job an projecting the season than he does.