2009 Positions by WAR

by Jon Kammerer on Oct 16, 2009 6:27 PM EDT Comment 16 comments

Taken from combining wRAA and UZR along with positional adjustments and replacement level for all games at each position. For example, catcher consists of a combination of the work of Mauer, Redmond, and Morales. I thought it would be an interesting exercise as we think about areas to improve for 2010. 0 WAR is replacement level. 2 WAR is league average.

C 7.9 WAR NA UZR 41wRAA

1B 4.4 WAR 1.4 UZR 30wRAA

2B -1.6 WAR -10.8UZR -33wRAA

3B 2.4 WAR 8.0 UZR -12wRAA

SS 0.9 WAR -5.1UZR -18wRAA

LF 2.0 WAR -10.8UZR 13wRAA

CF 2.3 WAR 4.1 UZR -8wRAA

RF 1.6 WAR -23UZR 21wRAA

DH 1.8 WAR NA UZR 16wRAA

2B was a swirling vortex of terribleness. The good news is that even a league average player would be a 4 win upgrade. The corner outfield numbers are dragged down by poor defensive performances by Kubel, Young, and Cuddyer. CF/LF both look decent because the excellence of Span averages out the replacementness of Gomez/Young. Hopefully, one or the other breaks out in 2010. 3B looks much better than expected due to 1/2 season of excellent defense from Crede.

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2B has been a swirling hole of horrible...

…since Luis Rivas. Kind of interesting really that they never got a good 2B for any serious length of time.

Dear Firpo, looks like my stock is fine.

by MNPundit on Oct 16, 2009 7:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Rivas was a swirling hole

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Oct 19, 2009 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think by Rivas you mean Knoblauch

by lookatthosetwins on Oct 21, 2009 3:08 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was going to say

Knoblauch was/is a different kind of hole.

But he was the best second baseman this team had since Rod Carew.

Really, second base is the organization’s historical black hole. Carew was the first decent one. Then Castino, and he got hurt. Then a bunch of scrubs, some of whom were decent players until they got here and became scrubs only after the Twins acquired them (Herr, Backman). Then Knoblauch. And, really nothing good since.

The good news is, I like some of the second basemen in the system. I’m especially high on McCallum. There is hope for the future. But when your present is a choice between Scrappy Do and Speedy Gonzales, it’s not good.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Oct 21, 2009 11:35 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Oct 21, 2009 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Burning hatred

I cannot stand Scrappy Doo. Even as a kid, I just wanted him to fall out of the window of the Mystery Machine and roll under a tire.

For what it’s worth, though, I do not feel that way about Nick Punto.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Oct 21, 2009 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Oct 21, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

we see that now that you have more time to devote to commenting you have the ability to look up pictures.

excellent.

by montanatwinsfan on Oct 21, 2009 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Has shortstop been any better?

Zoilo, Gagne, Guzman… is that basically the whole list of good Twins shortstops? My knowledge of Twins history prior to the mid-80s isn’t all that good… would Roy Smalley make the list? That’s still not an inspiring group, and it was definitely one of the organization’s many black holes during the 90s.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Oct 21, 2009 2:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Those are some ugly 2B numbers

I didn’t think SS would be that much higher in comparison

by what_would_gil_thorp_do on Oct 17, 2009 12:27 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Need a defensive upgrade

They need to improve up the middle defense at 2B and SS as a priority. They can win with their current offense and their most economical upgrade is infield defense. That means no Cabrera. They should also look into finding a home for one of their three rightfielders.

How do the middle infield free agents rank by UZR?

by DJL44 on Oct 17, 2009 9:53 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

MI UZR

Polanco 8.5, Lopez 5.4, Hudson -2.9, Sanchez 7.4, Kennedy -11 but career 8.1, Iwamura -0.2, Carroll 4.7, Uribe 10.5 are all roughly average or better defensively at 2B. Jack Wilson may not have his option picked up by Seattle and leads SS with 15.4. Alex Gonzalez may have his option declined by Boston and rates 8.3. OCab had -9.9 in 2009 although he rated well in 07,08. Punto rated above average at both SS/2B. The above numbers are UZR/150 so we’re comparing apples to apples.

by Jon Kammerer on Oct 17, 2009 10:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

My fear is they’ll re-sign Cabrera. I think the Twins probably value him more than any other team, and given his trends, age, and maybe even his potential “type A” status, I doubt that he’ll be priced out of their comfort level. The other side of the sword would be that Punto sees time at 2b or 3b, more demanding positions offensively.

So long as Punto will be around, he should play SS. He’s a legitimately plus glove there.

by jianfu on Oct 19, 2009 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs