Only Godzilla, Damon, Wang & Mo Shine For Yanks
Since we’re one game away from the one-quarter mark of the season, I thought this would be a good time to look at the Yankees, via the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia, in terms of their individual player’s Runs Created and Saved Above Average totals.
Here are the stats:
Batter RCAA PA Pitcher RSAA IP Hideki Matsui 9 149 Chien-Ming Wang 7 52.0 Johnny Damon 7 157 Mariano Rivera 7 15.0 Alex Rodriguez 3 99 Edwar Ramirez 3 6.2 Bobby Abreu 2 161 Kyle Farnsworth 3 18.0 Melky Cabrera 2 142 Brian Bruney 3 11.1 Chad Moeller 1 38 Darrell Rasner 2 12.0 Wilson Betemit 1 27 Joba Chamberlain 2 15.1 Jason Giambi 1 123 Chris Britton 1 4.2 Alberto Gonzalez 0 34 Jose Veras 1 3.2 Derek Jeter 0 146 Mike Mussina 0 43.1 Jorge Posada 0 66 Jon Albaladejo 0 13.2 Chris Stewart -1 3 Billy Traber 0 8.0 Shelley Duncan -1 36 Ross Ohlendorf -1 23.0 Morgan Ensberg -5 66 Andy Pettitte -1 47.0 Jose Molina -6 73 LaTroy Hawkins -4 18.1 Robinson Cano -10 148 Kei Igawa -5 3.0 Ian Kennedy -11 23.2 Phil Hughes -12 22.0
As the numbers show, the team with a $209,081,579 payroll only has 4 players, to date, this season, playing like All-Stars: Matsui, Damon, Wang and Rivera.
Further, New York has many, many, players making a ton of money who are playing just about like league-average performers: Abreu, Giambi, Jeter, Mussina and Pettitte.
Lastly, some of the Yankees “young studs” this season have come out of the gate this year like duds: Cano, Kennedy, and Hughes.
How do the Yankees rank in RSAA and RCAA compared to the rest of the league? See the following:
Team RSAA IP Team RCAA PA
1 Indians 40 340.0 1 Red Sox 55 1613
2 Jays 27 362.1 2 Rangers 31 1593
3 A's 18 350.0 3 Tigers 15 1471
4 Wh Sox 17 333.1 4 A's 14 1532
4 Orioles 17 345.0 5 Rays 13 1433
6 Red Sox 6 361.1 6 Yankees 3 1468
7 Rays 1 339.0 7 Angels 0 1493
8 Yankees -5 340.2 8 Wh Sox -8 1451
9 Angels -6 351.1 9 Twins -9 1355
10 Royals -8 326.0 10 Mariners -17 1485
11 Twins -13 325.2 11 Jays -26 1540
12 Mariners -16 351.2 12 Royals -27 1370
13 Rangers -27 356.0 13 Indians -32 1425
14 Tigers -35 334.0 13 Orioles -32 1452
Ah, this explains a lot. When you’re just about league average in both pitching and hitting, it makes sense that you have just about a .500 record on the season – which is the case for the Yankees.
When you look at the stats, and the Yankees record, it’s a simple matter to see how it all “ticks and ties.”
interesting giambi has 1 RCAA while hitting .177
meanwhile cano has upped his average 33 points since may 1
~~interesting giambi has 1 RCAA while hitting .177~~
Take away those PA vs. Byrd and Timlin and then it’s not so pretty for Jason.
RC are linked to OBP and total bases, not average, so you can get by hitting nothing but an occasional HR and walking a lot.
Kind of ironic that they almost traded Matsui to San Fran to get rid of his salary, since he seemed to become a 90-year-old man overnight. And now he’s been the best offensive player on the team.
The only strength this team has is its bullpen. Even Farnsworth is having a good year. I’m also glad the organization didn’t give up on Edwar the way the fans did — you can’t fluke the numbers he had in AAA last year.
Moose has been the best surprise this year in the rotation, but Pettitte has been the biggest disappointment. Pettitte was so effortless last year. But he’s been up and down like the team in ’08.
Interesting as always–but its early.
Matsui was hurt last year. So its nice to see him back to his old self. It wasn’t long ago that he was talked of as an MVP-type player.