Who is the “most valuable third baseman in baseball”?  Wins Above Replacement can be one tool to help answer that sort of question, but using a single season’s WAR number can sometimes leave us subject to random fluctuations in single-season performance that may not fully reflect a player’s real, long-term value.  For that reason, I like to use a longer-term test of true WAR-generating results, say for example, over a three-year period.  Let’s try a three-year test over the history of the third base position and see what we come up with as a running measure of who has been the “most valuable third baseman in baseball”. Continue reading →

Albert Pujols / USPRESSWIRE

Today in 2010, Albert Pujols hit career homer run #400. He was the 3rd youngest player to reach that plateau, behind just Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr.

At the time, Pujols seemed unstoppable. Over the first 10 full years of his career (2001-2010) he averaged 40.8 HR and 123.0 RBI per season. Thanks to injuries and a slip in his performance, though, he hasn’t been quite the same guy since.

That day 2 years ago was the 1,523rd game of Pujols’ career. Through that game he had 400 HR in 6636 plate appearances, or 1 HR every 16.6 PAs.

Since then, through yesterday, Pujols has played in 303 games. He’s hit 73 HR in 1323 plate appearances, or 1 HR every 18.1 PAs.

That may not seem like a huge difference, but let’s imagine that Pujols ends up with 12,000 career plate appearances, around 15th all-time. At his earlier HR rate of 1 per 16.6, that would mean 722 career homers. At his more recent rate of 1 per 18.1, it would mean 662 career homers. The first number is just ahead of Ruth, while the second number is just ahead of Mays.

I’m just sayin’.

Thursday’s wild and woolly game at Fenway caught my attention for any number of reasons. Of course, it was an extreme game, but interesting for how it illustrates a lot of the traits and trends that mark baseball of the present day.

I’ll let you absorb the line score, then talk a bit more about the game (or even go on a bit of a rant) after the jump.

                1  2  3   4  5  6   7  8  9  10    R H E
                -  -  -   -  -  -   -  -  -   -    -  - -
Angels          0  0  8   0  0  0   1  0  3   2 ..14 20 1
Red Sox         1  5  0   0  1  2   0  2  1   1 ..13 18 2

Continue reading →

Going into tonight’s game, Tampa has surrendered a total of 67 runs over its past 33 games. That is, by far, the lowest runs-allowed total over a 33-game sequence by any AL team since the DH rule was adopted in 1973, and is almost unprecedented in the majors since the spitball was banned in 1920.

Fewest Runs Allowed by an American League Team Over a 33-Game Stretch, since 1973:
Rays 67 (July 19-August 23, 2012)
Rays 76 (July 17-August 21, 2012)
Rays 77 (July 18-August 22, 2012)
Rays 78 (July 16-August 20, 2012)
Orioles 78 (August 27-September 29, 1974)
Yankees 78 (June 11-September 12, 1981)
Rays 79 (July 13-August 17, 2012)

Those are the only AL teams since 1973 to hold their opponents under 80 runs over a 33-game stretch. That Yankees streak started with the last day before a players’ strike halted the season, and then picked up with the first 32 games after the season re-started.

Derek Jeter / USPRESSWIRE

Yesterday, I put up some data showing that few players have ever hit as well as Derek Jeter has in his Age 38 season after hitting so poorly in their Ages 36-37 seasons.

Now I’m going to show you why that set of data was so misleading. Continue reading →

Most of our quizzes are about unusual exploits of groups of players. This one is a bit different.

After the jump you’ll find lists of specific teams and seasons. There is something that all of these teams have in common. Your task is simple – find that common link.

Congratulations (again) to Richard Chester! He identified that in the years indicated for each franchise, that year’s team had the greatest number of players on its roster born in the team’s state (in the case of Toronto and Montreal, born in Canada). For ties, the year indicated is the most recent.

Continue reading →

@Rays 5, Royals 3 / @White Sox 2, Yankees 1: I went to a coronation, and a pennant race broke out! Tampa’s surge has shaved New York’s division lead to 3 games.

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Derek Jeter / USPRESSWIRE

Admist the allegations about Derek Jeter this morning, I thought I’d check just how unusual his late-career resurgence is. Continue reading →

Reggie Jefferson played 9 seasons in the majors and is the closest to a .300 hitter you’ll ever see. With 637 hits in 2,123 career at-bats, his final MLB batting average is 0.300047.  Jefferson also had a lot of power, posting a career .474 SLG and 112 OPS+.

Jefferson played for 4 teams in the big leagues plus 1 year in Japan. In 320 games for Boston from 1996 to 1998, he hit .327/.372/.524 with a 127 OPS, including a wicked awesome 1996 in which he batted .347 with a 143 OPS+.

Read below to find out how a front-office blunder cost the Reds his rights, which player on the stacked early 1990’s Indians he thinks is the best, and why he gave up switch-hitting.

These days Jefferson (follow him on Twitter @ReggieJefferson) works as a player agent with SFX Baseball Group, one of the leading representative groups for MLB players.

Jefferson (virtually) sat down with us to answer a few questions about his career.

Continue reading →

Giants 4, @Dodgers 1: Down by 4 in the 6th, with no outs and the meat of the order coming up, you take no baserunning chances — right?

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