Dan Levy of On the DL brings us an All Star edition of Running Numbers. Enjoy.
I was in the car last week
listening to XM 175 – the Baseball channel and its PM Drive slot which
is most-ably patrolled by Rob Dibble and Kevin Kennedy. I have
grown to respect the job they’ve done over the last few years with
few exceptions. When I do take issue with “Skip and Dibbs”
it has to do with their constant defense of the game, the players and
the notion that people who didn’t play the game can’t possibly know
the game as well as those who did.
Last week, when talking about
who should make the All-Star team as the final fan selection, Dibble
went on a tirade about how a player shouldn’t make the All-Star team
because of one great first half. Without naming specific instances,
Dibbs cited that several times a player had a great first half, made
the All-Star team and never was heard from again. His assertion
was directly in response to the backlash of players like Jason Varitek
(.218/20/7/28) making the team instead of players who, I don’t know,
are actually producing for their teams. Dibble made the claim
that the All-Star game should be a reward for the players who’ve put
their time in the trenches year after year and earned the respect of
their teammates, opponents and the fans over a long and brutal career.
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Then he said Evan Longoria
should make the team. Hypocrite.
Dibble’s point, however,
was valid and it got me to thinking. Why is the All-Star game
just about the first half of this year? It should be about the
last half of last season and the first half of this season. It’s
fine that the game is played mid-year, but shouldn’t it take into
account a full year’s worth of work if we’re truly looking to reward
the top players in the game?
Let’s look at the numbers
from the last calendar year, with a bit of a Phillies-colored jaundiced
eye.
Pat Burrell has played in 167
games, has an on base percentage of .410 and is slugging .582 for an
OPS of .992. Compare that to David Wright, who was selected in
Burrell’s stead to replace the injured Alfonso Soriano and Pat the
Bat comes out favorably, as Wright has put up .416/.540/.957 in 166
games. That is not to slight Wright, who if you go by the
numbers, clearly deserves to be an All-Star. Wright is batting
.317 with more hits, runs and RBI than Burrell. In fact, the only
other offensive categories that Burrell out-duels Wright in, over the
last year, are home runs (42-31) and walks (123-110). Unless you
count GDP, as Wright has hit into a whopping 20 twin-killings to Burrell’s
amazingly-low total of five. But we’re splitting hairs at this
point.
News
So fine, Mets fans, wear your
last-minute-stitched David Wright All-Star jersey with pride tonight.
For the outfielders on the National League squad…your fans should
be a little less bragadocious when donning your mid-summer grays.
I wanted to compare Burrell’s
numbers to the other All-Star outfielders for the National League.
I left out Kosuke Fukudome and Ryan Braun because they were both voted
as starters by the fans, and frankly Fukudome is an international phenomenon
who helps grow the international game with his presence in the lineup.
Same with Braun…at least in many parts of Westchester, Long Island,
Brooklyn, Hollywood, most of Southern Florida and Cherry Hill, NJ (the
good side, not where I live). I decided to include Matt Holiday because
he was “selected” a starter by Clint Hurdle to replace Soriano.
Because Soriano is now listed as a reserve, he too made the list along
with Ryan Ludwick, Nate McLouth and Corey Will-somebody-get-my-daughter-a-cold-one-with-a-nipple-top
Hart.
Burrell has played in more
games than everyone on that list. His OPS is higher than everyone
but Holliday and is 70 points higher than Ryan Ludwick who is third
on the list. While his batting average is right in the middle,
everyone other than Holliday (.338) is within .14 points of one-another.
So that’s really a wash when stacked up against the field. Burrell’s
OBP surpasses everyone but Holliday (.423) by at least 40 points thanks
in large part to his 123 walks. Burrell placed his bat down and
strolled the 90-feet to first 40 times more than Holliday in the last
year and 94 more times than Corey Hart, the man who was voted into the
last spot over Burrell. In fact, Burrell has more runs (92/90),
RBI (116/105) and home runs (42/28) than Hart, with huge disparities
in OBP (.410/.331) and OPS (.992/.862). Sure, they are different
style players, but Burrell’s numbers are comparable in other categories
as well, including extra-base hits (80/81), batting average (.283/.290)
and strikeouts (139/119) when you factor in Hart has hit into 12 GDP
to Burrell’s five.
What’s worse is that over
the last year, Burrell’s numbers are favorable to Ludwick in nearly
every offensive category including runs, hits, home runs, extra base
hits, RBI, walks, OBP, SLG and OPS. When compared straight
up to the lone Pirate in the game, Burrell has fewer runs (92/113),
hits (157/160) and extra base hits (80/81) than McLouth in 20 more plate
appearances. And yes, McLouth has 27 steals to Burrell’s…uh…zero.
But due to the huge disparity in walks and power numbers, Burrell actually
has a higher batting average (.283/.276), OBP (.410/.361), SLG (.582/.530)
and has an OPS one-hundred points better than his Buc counterpart.
A hundred points!
The worst thing is, if you
take into consideration the entire calendar year, Burrell isn’t the
only Phillies player watching the game tonight with a stick up his ass.
(And also probably pretty miffed he’s not there.) Jimmy Rollins
had a mediocre first half to the 2008 season, landing on the DL for
much of the first month and never finding the rhythm that helped him
win the 2007 NL MVP award. But if you look at the numbers over
the last full year, Rollins has more runs, hits, doubles, triples, walks
and stolen bases than either Miguel Tejeda or Christian Guzman.
In fact, Rollins has 69 extra base hits to 52 for Tejeda and just 33
for the previously-convalescent Guzman. Rollins does have fewer
RBI than Tejeda (69/84) but has a higher batting average (.289/.278),
OBP (.349/.331), SLG (.488/.444) and OPS (.836/.771). Oh yeah,
and he wasn’t rumored for steroid abuse and birth certificate fraud
this year. As for Guzman, I know the Gnats had to send someone
this year, but his numbers are terrible when compared to Rollins.
Sure, he’s batting .312, but that’s it. Rollins leads in every
other statistical category and has a better fielding percentage over
that span (.984/.976).
Not to be left out of the gripe
party, Ryan Howard presents an interesting case to be including in the
Mid-Summer Classic. Sure, he’s the only batter on the list of
NL Reserves hitting lower than .276. His .251 BA over the last
year is honestly terrible for an All-Star. But he has 153 RBI,
which are 27 more than the next best NL All-Star pine-rider. He
has 12 more HR than the next best (Burrell) and his 80 extra-base hits
put him, along with Burrell, near the top of this list. And while
he has struck out a mind-boggling 231 times in a year, he still has
over 100 walks, has a higher OBP (.358/.352), SLG (.550/.522) and OPS
(.908/.874) than fellow first-baseman Adrian Gonzalez. He also
has more runs, home runs and RBI than either Gonzalez OR Albert Pujols
despite batting 100-points lower than the menacing Cardinal first-bagger.
But the Power….oooh the Power. (Yes, I’m mesmerized.)
So tonight when you’re watching
the NL try to secure a victory for the first time since the game was
played at the Vet in 1996 (ties don’t count), in hopes that said triumph
will secure home field advantage for the Fightins come October, be mindful
of the fact that as you sit down to listen to Buck and McCarver wax
rhapsodically about the phenomenon that is Josh Hamilton, there are
three guys in this town watching with you who may have a bone to pick
with the NL squad.
And don’t get me started
on Cole Hamels…