Using Many Good Players
My earlier study of “How many times each season, over the past decade, did the Yankees have a batter on their roster get at least 100 At Bats?” left me thinking.
Sure, it seems that every season the Yankees get around 14 players at least 100 ABs. But, that talks in terms of quantity. What about quality? So, I went back to the stats to see how many times each year the Yankees had someone get at least 100 ABs with at least 0 RCAA. Here’s the results:
This tells us a lot more. In the late 1990′s, the Yankees did a much better job at making sure that the players who got 100+ ABs were at least average hitters. And, from 2002-2005, it was just about 50-50 that the person getting at least 100 ABs was a below average batter – sans 2004 where the levels were closer to what we see in the late 1990′s. (Boy, if that 2004 Yankees team only had some pitching!)
Now, outside of 1996, 2000, and 2001, the Yankees have always had a great hitting starting team. So, on the whole, the above chart tells us that, basically, the Yankees bench-batters were better from 1996-1999, and, around 2001 (through 2005) the Bombers’ bench has gone south.
It’s probably safe to say that, during 1996 through 1999, the Yankees had more quality contributors (starters and bench players combined) than they’ve had in recent seasons.
It will be interesting to see if they can reverse that trend this season.
This is totally off-topic but I’m dying here watching today’s game. If we ever needed a game thread going, today’s the day. Torre’s driving me nuts. Is Villone dead? Did something happen to him that he can’t pitch today?
You could always take notes and wait for the WasWatching.com game summary!
Trust me, I’ve taken notes. I probably lost a handful of hair and had 3 ulcers living through those last 8 outs with Torre…
Jut saw the update. Thanks, Steve. Looks like it is less about the number of different 100 AB guys, and more about the quality of those guys. I wonder just how well GMs this side of Beane & Theo think of their bench. And why have the Yankees seemingly gotten away from such thinking.
When you have a dozen guys on the team making more than $12 mill a year each, you tend to look to pinch pennies on the back-end.