With my not-yet-finished position-player rankings, I decided to add up the talent for each team. These numbers represent the runs contribution of both hitting and fielding compared to what a team of replacement players would have done. Average is 182 runs or 20 runs per full-time player.
Tm Total ATL 335 NYA 329 PHI 328 DET 326 NYN 326 SD 247 COL 225 LAA 221 MIL 213 STL 205 FLA 202 SEA 191 CHN 179 TEX 177 BOS 172 TOR 163 OAK 161 CLE 158 LAN 157 CIN 156 SF 139 WAS 134 HOU 129 PIT 122 ARI 118 KC 116 BAL 103 MIN 90 TB 79 CHA -25
I don’t think four of the top five teams are anything of a surprise: The Yankees, Phillies, Tigers, and Mets all had high-powered offenses with some players who could also field. But the Braves? Really? Yup, if you buy the that Andruw Jones was +30 runs in CF, Matt Diaz was +17 runs in left, and Jeff Francoeur was +14 runs in right. Note to self: don’t hit flyballs against the Braves.
In sixth place — after a significant gap — is the Padres, who are more known for their pitching staff. But the hitters were actually a touch above MLB-average once you consider that PETCO Park reduces scoring by 20%. And those same hitters can flash some leather in the field, too: almost every regular was an above-average fielder for their position.
And now the bottom of the list. Yes, the White Sox position players were awful. We’re talking below replacement-level type of awful. With full warnings about the potential inaccuracy of fielding metrics, here are the most awful of the White Sox:
-9 Fields,JoshCHA -15 Dye,JermaineCHA -17 Uribe,JuanCHA -26 Gonzalez,AndyCHA
As good as Jermaine Dye’s been the past few years, batting .254/.317/.486 in a hitters’ park while playing the field poorly is not considered “earning your paycheck”. How much did Joe Crede’s injury hurt the team? Well, Fields and Gonzalez combined to be 35 runs worse than replacement level, mostly at third base. Crede was 13 runs above replacement level in just 47 games, even though his hitting was attrocious — he can pick it at third. And Juan Uribe? I guess it just goes to show that fielding definitely can slump — for extended, season-long periods of time.
(By the way, as frequently as I’m going to write about fielding, I need a lot more cliches and euphamisms for “plays good defense” and “plays bad defense”. Give me a little help here. I’m even into starting new catch phrases.)
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Sky is a baseball fan and racket sport afficianado living in upstate NY. His favorite color is orange and is just about ready to give up on his life-long dream to become the next Magnus ver Magnuson (World's Strongest Man). His favorite baseball teams are the Yankees and Red Sox, proving that there's hope in the Middle East.