I'm stuck with a valuable friend
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
One flash of light
but no smoking pistol
1. Baltimore 17- 7 .708 144 RS/113 RA 2. Toronto 14-12 .538 4.0 GB 130 RS/124 RA 2. Boston 13-11 .542 4.0 GB 136 RS/109 RA 4. New York 10-15 .400 7.5 GB 129 RS/137 RA 5. Tampa Bay 8-17 .320 9.5 GB 111 RS/160 RASince 95% of the readers here follow the AL East closer than any other division, it's hard to come up with things you might not know. So instead of telling you what happened in games you probably watched, I thought it would be interesting to compare the 5 teams position by position. Here we go.
Note: The statistics contained in this section were as of the morning of May 1st, as that is when most of this was written. The VORP (value over replacement position) data comes from Baseball Prospectus.
CATCHER AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Javy Lopez (BAL) .338/.382/.575 0 11.6 2. Jason Varitek (BOS) .394/.541/.616 0 10.9 3. Gregg Zaun (TOR) .299/.410/.537 0 10.1 4. Toby Hall (TAM) .317/.359/.350 0 3.8 5. Jorge Posada (NYY) .240/.329/.320 0 1.9Poor Gregg Zaun. Although he's been the third best catcher in baseball so far, he's only the third best in the division, as Lopez and Varitek also call the AL East home. On the bright side for the Jays, at least they're not paying Zaun a fortune.
Who would have thought that Jorge Posada would be the worst performing starting catcher in the AL East?
FIRST BASE AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Eric Hinske (TOR) .291/.371/.456 2 5.4 2. Travis Lee (TAM) .288/.365/.364 1 2.1 3. Kevin Millar (BOS) .253/.394/.307 0 1.3 4. Tino Martinez (NYY) .246/.343/.377 0 1.2 5. Rafael Palmeiro (BAL) .247/.298/.325 1 -1.0That's right: Eric Hinske has been the best first baseman in the AL East. It hasn't even been close. Potential future hall-of-famer Rafael Palmeiro has been worse than replacement level so far this season. Ouch!
SECOND BASE AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Brian Roberts (BAL) .375/.455/.719 10 23.3 2. Jorge Cantu (TAM) .274/.278/.400 0 1.3 3. Orlando Hudson (TOR) .280/.317/.366 0 1.1 4. Tony Womack (NYY) .287/.337/.338 2 0.9 5. Mark Bellhorn (BOS) .229/.325/.357 1 0.8If you hadn't heard, Barry Bonds is playing second base for Baltimore under an assumed name. There's no other possible explanation. Every other second baseman in the league has been playing at mere-mortal level, and there's been little difference between them.
When discussing a journeyman player, you often hear that he "isn't a championship quality first baseman". I think it's a pretty silly distinction; is Tony Womack really a championship quality second baseman? How about the 2005 version of Tino Martinez at first? But I don't think there are too many people out there that would say the Yankees aren't a championship caliber team. You don't have to be great at every position; you can carry a guy like Shane Spencer in left and still win championships. In fact, I would say that every team has at least one player the fans would consider not to be of "championship quality". Except the Red Sox. They're freaks.
SHORTSTOP AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Miguel Tejada (BAL) .347/.394/.684 0 17.2 2. Derek Jeter (NYY) .349/.473/.477 2 13.6 3. Julio Lugo (TAM) .281/.324/.354 8 5.9 4. Edgar Renteria (BOS) .228/.283/.359 1 0.8 5. Russ Adams (TOR) .214/.290/.321 1 0.0The only real surprise here is the complete bust that has been Edgar Renteria. I have to accept responsibility for this as I overdrafted him in the BBFL. I still think he'll come back and have a great season, but I'm not sure what I'm basing that on.
Russ Adams has been around the quality of a replacement level shortstop which shouldn't be too surprising as that's what he is. He'll get better, though.
THIRD BASE AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Alex Rodriguez (NYY) .306/.352/.633 2 11.7 2. Melvin Mora (BAL) .306/.361/.500 2 8.7 3. Corey Koskie (TOR) .253/.327/.407 0 2.3 4. Alex Gonzalez (TAM) .276/.333/.397 0 2.1 5. Bill Mueller (BOS) .255/.397/.309 0 1.5For all the worrying about Corey Koskie around these parts, he's around the median when it comes to AL East third basemen.
I wonder how much of A-Rods 11.7 VORP is due to that one big game last week?
RIGHTFIELD AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Gary Sheffield (NYY) .344/.404/.478 2 10.1 2. Trot Nixon (BOS) .281/.429/.474 0 6.2 3. Aubrey Huff (TAM) .271/.350/.412 2 4.7 4. Sammy Sosa (BAL) .281/.317/.469 1 4.5 5. Alexis Rios (TOR) .309/.326/.444 2 2.8Rightfield is a surprisingly weak position in the AL East, particularly since Sammy Sosa has stopped taking pitches. A .317 on-base percentage while batting .281? This can't be the same player we saw 5-10 years ago. Anyhow, he's not the only player on this list with a hollow batting average, as Jays fans know too well.
CENTERFIELD AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Johnny Damon (BOS) .365/.404/.479 4 11.2 2. Luis Matos (BAL) .319/.402/.420 7 7.2 3. Alex Sanchez (TAM) .275/.310/.375 1 1.1 4. Bernie Williams (NYY) .244/.330/.317 1 0.6 5. Vernon Wells (TOR) .200/.257/.389 0 -2.3Right now Vernon Wells is the worst player in the American League East. Double ouch!
Alex Sanchez hasn't been all that bad filling in for the injured Rocco Baldelli. Like other players we've mentioned his batting average is pretty hollow, so should it drop at all, he'll be on the wrong side of replacement level.
LEFTFIELD AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Manny Ramirez (BOS) .274/.386/.607 1 11.1 2. Carl Crawford (TAM) .262/.304/.437 6 4.9 3. Hideki Matsui (NYY) .261/.343/.432 0 4.4 4. Frank Catalanotto(TOR) .265/.320/.382 0 1.1 5. Larry Bigbie (BAL) .268/.305/.357 1 0.5If you combined Frankie Cat and Reed Johnson, they'd be right around the level of Crawford and Matsui. None of these guys are off to an exceptionally hot start. Manny's numbers are excellent, but they're not too different than what he's done over the last few seasons.
DESIGNATED HITTER AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Shea Hillenbrand (TOR) .396/.427/.542 0 13.4 2. David Ortiz (BOS) .256/.306/.556 0 6.4 3. Josh Phelps (TAM) .290/.364/.406 0 4.3 4. Jason Giambi (NYY) .231/.398/.385 0 4.0 5. Jay Gibbons (BAL) .232/.280/.420 0 0.5Shea Hillenbrand is mopping the floor with the competition, thanks to his flirting with .400 all month. Josh Phelps is quietly putting together some decent numbers in Tampa, though he's not hitting for a whole lot of power. Has his swing changed at all this year?
Jay Gibbons has really fallen off of a cliff.
CATCHER AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Charles Johnson (TAM) .235/.409/.353 0 1.4 2. Doug Mirabelli (BOS) .188/.316/.375 0 0.4 3. John Flaherty (NYY) .154/.214/.231 0 -0.8 4. Geronimo Gil (BAL) .241/.241/.276 0 -0.9 5. Greg Myers (TOR) .083/.154/.083 0 -1.8That's right kids: If your backup catcher plays at replacement level, you're doing fine. Unfortunately Greg Myers wasn't and he's since been replaced by Ken Huckaby.
None of these guys have performed well, though Charles Johnson's .409 on-base relative to a .353 slugging and a .235 batting average is interesting.
CORNER BAT AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Eddie Perez (TAM) .344/.400/.656 0 4.7 (1B) 2. Ruben Sierra (NYY) .269/.296/.692 0 3.1 (DH) 3. Kevin Youkilis (BOS) .571/.625/.714 0 2.2 (3B) 4. Frank Menechino (TOR) .167/.348/.167 0 -1.0 (DH) 5. B.J. Surhoff (BAL) .200/.200/.371 0 -1.5 (LF)The position in brackets is the position at which the player has played the most games. Kevin Youkilis has had all of 8 plate appearances, which explains how he can have a line like that and still only be 3rd in VORP. Eddie Perez is putting up some big numbers acting as Travis Lee's caddy. Also impressive is Ruben Sierra's .692 slugging percentage.
Father time has not been kind to B.J. Surhoff.
UTILITY INFIELDER AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Nick Green (TAM) .324/.375/.459 0 3.2 (3B) 2. Chris Gomez (BAL) .500/.571/.500 1 2.4 (1B) 3. John McDonald (TOR) .308/.321/.346 1 1.0 (SS) 4. Rey Sanchez (NYY) .364/.417/.364 0 0.8 (2B) 5. Ramon Vazquez (BOS) .194/.219/.258 0 -2.2 (3B)You can tell which infield position each team is weakest at by examining which position their utility infielder has played the most at.
Chris Gomez is back to being a 1st baseman. Way to go, Chris! I don't think those numbers are sustainable. As a matter of fact, neither are John McDonald's numbers.
How much longer will it be until Nick Green and not Alex Gonzalez, is getting the bulk of the starts at 3rd?
FOURTH OUTFIELDER AVG/ OBP/ SLG SB VORP 1. Reed Johnson (TOR) .279/.415/.419 0 2.7 (LF) 2. Joey Gathright (TAM) .333/.391/.476 3 2.6 (CF) 3. Jay Payton (BOS) .235/.250/.412 0 -0.3 (RF) 4. David Newhan (BAL) .200/.200/.267 1 -0.8 (CF) 5. Bubba Crosby (NYY) .167/.231/.167 0 -1.1 (CF)Reed Johnson is one of the best fourth outfielders in baseball, which is why I cringe every time I hear somebody suggest that the Blue Jays trade him.
Bernie Williams' troubles in center don't look too bad when you compare him to his understudy.
Your thoughts?
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