2005 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
Home List of Articles

2005 Season

The 2005 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

Next in my continuing series of looking at individual seasons through the prism of Player won-lost records is the 2005 season. The highlights of the 2005 season included 100 regular-season wins for the St. Louis Cardinals, the first World Series appearance by the Houston Astros in their history, and the first World Series win by the Chicago White Sox in 88 years.

The Best of 2005

I calculate Player won-lost records two ways: pWins, which tie to team wins and eWins, which control for context and the ability of one's teammates. For players with more pWins than eWins, their Player wins contributed to more team wins than one might expect; for players with more eWins than pWins, just the opposite is true: their Player wins translated into fewer team wins than expected. Or more briefly: a player with more pWins than eWins was better in context, a player with more eWins than pWins was worse in context.

The top 10 players in pWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.


		pWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Alex Rodriguez	25.5	17.2	8.2	10.1	1	Alex Rodriguez	25.5	17.2	8.2	10.1
2	Dontrelle Willis	18.5	11.7	7.9	9.7	2	David Ortiz	20.2	11.7	7.7	9.8
3	David Ortiz	20.2	11.7	7.7	9.8	3	Dontrelle Willis	18.5	11.7	7.9	9.7
4	Chris Carpenter (1997)	17.2	11.1	7.0	8.7	4	Chris Carpenter (1997)	17.2	11.1	7.0	8.7
5	Jim Edmonds	21.9	14.6	6.9	8.5	5	Jim Edmonds	21.9	14.6	6.9	8.5
6	Andruw Jones	24.8	18.1	6.3	8.1	6	Andruw Jones	24.8	18.1	6.3	8.1
7	Johan Santana	14.5	8.5	6.2	7.6	7	Chase Utley	21.5	15.2	6.1	7.7
8	Chase Utley	21.5	15.2	6.1	7.7	8	Johan Santana	14.5	8.5	6.2	7.6
9	Travis Hafner	15.5	9.4	5.6	7.2	9	Roy Oswalt	18.1	13.7	5.4	7.3
10	Roy Oswalt	18.1	13.7	5.4	7.3	10	Travis Hafner	15.5	9.4	5.6	7.2

The top 10 players in eWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.


		eWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL		Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Alex Rodriguez	24.6	18.1	6.4	8.3	1	Alex Rodriguez	24.6	18.1	6.4	8.3
2	Roger Clemens	14.7	9.2	6.3	7.7	2	Roger Clemens	14.7	9.2	6.3	7.7
3	Dontrelle Willis	17.4	12.8	5.9	7.6	3	Dontrelle Willis	17.4	12.8	5.9	7.6
4	Johan Santana	14.2	8.8	5.5	7.0	4	Johan Santana	14.2	8.8	5.5	7.0
5	Derrek Lee	20.7	13.8	5.3	6.8	5	David Ortiz	18.8	13.1	4.8	6.9
6	Chris Carpenter (1997)	16.0	12.3	5.2	6.9	6	Chris Carpenter (1997)	16.0	12.3	5.2	6.9
7	Albert Pujols	20.8	14.3	5.1	6.7	7	Roy Oswalt	17.7	14.1	4.9	6.8
8	Roy Oswalt	17.7	14.1	4.9	6.8	8	Derrek Lee	20.7	13.8	5.3	6.8
9	David Ortiz	18.8	13.1	4.8	6.9	9	Albert Pujols	20.8	14.3	5.1	6.7
10	Pedro J. Martinez	14.0	10.3	4.7	6.2	10	Travis Hafner	15.1	9.8	4.6	6.3

I take a look at some of the most interesting players of 2005 at the end of this article.

2005 Postseason

The 2005 World Series matched up a team that had never been in a World Series in its 43-year history and a team who hadn't won a World Series in 88 years.

The top players in terms of postseason pWins over replacement level (pWORL) were White Sox captain Paul Konerko who had 5 home runs and 15 RBIs in 12 postseason games, including a grand slam in Game 2 of the World Series and Roy Oswalt of the Astros, who won the clinching game of the NLCS (as well as two earlier playoff games).

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	pWORL
	2005 Postseason: Total

Paul Konerko	CHA	2.5	1.1	1.4
Roy Oswalt	HOU	2.2	1.2	1.4
Joe Crede	CHA	2.0	1.0	1.1
Jermaine Dye	CHA	1.9	0.9	1.1
Bobby Jenks	CHA	1.2	0.3	1.1
Tadahito Iguchi	CHA	1.7	0.9	0.9
Albert Pujols	SLN	1.6	0.7	0.9
Juan Uribe	CHA	1.7	0.9	0.9
Jim Edmonds	SLN	1.7	1.0	0.8
Freddy Antonio Garcia	CHA	1.4	0.8	0.8

Top postseason players by round were as follows.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2005 World Series

Paul Konerko	CHA	0.8	0.2	0.6
Bobby Jenks	CHA	0.7	0.2	0.5
Jermaine Dye	CHA	0.7	0.2	0.5
Freddy Antonio Garcia	CHA	0.6	0.2	0.4
Joe Crede	CHA	0.6	0.3	0.3

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2005 Postseason: League Championship Series

Roy Oswalt	HOU	1.5	0.6	0.8
Joe Crede	CHA	1.1	0.4	0.6
Albert Pujols	SLN	1.2	0.5	0.6
Jermaine Dye	CHA	1.0	0.5	0.5
Paul Konerko	CHA	1.0	0.6	0.5

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2005 Postseason: Division Series

Jim Edmonds	SLN	1.2	0.2	1.0
Tadahito Iguchi	CHA	0.9	0.2	0.7
David Eckstein	SLN	0.9	0.3	0.7
Orlando Hernandez	CHA	0.5	0.0	0.5
Morgan Ensberg	HOU	0.9	0.5	0.4

Best of 2005 by Factor and Position

Next, let's look at the top players in various aspects of the game.

Best by Factor: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, Fielding

There are four basic factors for which players earn Player won-lost records: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, and Fielding. The top players in 2005 in wins over positional average (WOPA) by factor were as follows.


Batting
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Alex Rodriguez	18.4	11.7	6.6	1	David Ortiz	19.5	10.4	9.0
2	Derrek Lee	16.3	10.0	6.0	2	Alex Rodriguez	19.0	11.2	7.7
3	David Ortiz	17.9	12.1	5.7	3	Manny Ramirez	16.7	10.5	6.1
4	Travis Hafner	14.1	9.2	4.9	4	Travis Hafner	14.6	8.6	5.9
5	Albert Pujols	16.2	11.0	4.8	5	Derrek Lee	16.2	10.1	5.8
6	Manny Ramirez	15.9	11.3	4.4	6	Carlos Delgado	16.4	10.4	5.7
7	Jason Giambi	12.3	7.9	4.4	7	Gary Sheffield	15.0	9.7	5.3
8	Miguel Cabrera	16.4	11.9	4.1	8	Jason Giambi	12.7	7.5	5.2
9	Carlos Delgado	15.6	11.2	4.1	9	Albert Pujols	16.3	10.9	5.1
10	Jason Bay	16.2	11.9	4.0	10	Andruw Jones	17.1	11.8	4.9

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Baserunning
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Jose B. Reyes	2.6	1.5	1.0	1	Juan Pierre	2.7	1.6	1.0
2	Jimmy Rollins	2.2	1.2	0.9	2	Carlos Beltran	1.7	0.7	1.0
3	Ryan Freel	1.7	0.9	0.8	3	Jimmy Rollins	2.2	1.2	0.9
4	Edgar Renteria	1.4	0.7	0.7	4	Jose B. Reyes	2.5	1.6	0.9
5	Alfonso Soriano	1.4	0.6	0.7	5	Johnny Damon	1.5	0.7	0.8
6	Chase Utley	1.4	0.7	0.7	6	Scott Podsednik	2.4	1.6	0.8
7	Kenny Lofton	1.2	0.5	0.7	7	Alfonso Soriano	1.4	0.6	0.7
8	Johnny Damon	1.4	0.8	0.7	8	Craig Counsell	1.7	0.9	0.7
9	Jason Kendall	1.4	0.8	0.6	9	Kenny Lofton	1.2	0.5	0.7
10	Joe Mauer	1.3	0.7	0.6	10	Mark Teahen	1.1	0.4	0.7

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Pitching
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLoss	Net pWins
1	Roger Clemens	12.8	8.4	4.4	1	Chris Carpenter (1997)	15.8	9.3	6.5
2	Johan Santana	13.3	9.1	4.2	2	Dontrelle Willis	15.9	9.6	6.4
3	Pedro J. Martinez	12.7	8.8	3.9	3	Johan Santana	14.2	8.2	5.9
4	Chris Carpenter (1997)	14.5	10.6	3.9	4	Andy Pettitte	13.2	7.9	5.3
5	Mariano Rivera	6.9	3.4	3.4	5	Roy Halladay	10.2	5.2	4.9
6	Andy Pettitte	12.3	8.8	3.4	6	Roy Oswalt	16.5	11.7	4.8
7	Dontrelle Willis	14.4	11.0	3.4	7	Roger Clemens	12.9	8.2	4.6
8	Roy Oswalt	15.8	12.4	3.4	8	Mariano Rivera	7.2	3.1	4.1
9	John Smoltz	13.1	9.8	3.4	9	Mark Buehrle	14.2	10.2	4.0
10	Roy Halladay	9.1	6.3	2.8	10	Frankie Rodriguez	8.2	4.4	3.9

Fielding by Position


Fielding, P
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Ryan Dempster	0.4	0.0	0.3	1	Chris Carpenter (1997)	0.7	0.2	0.5
2	Chris Carpenter (1997)	0.6	0.3	0.3	2	Kelly Wunsch	0.4	0.0	0.4
3	Zack Greinke	0.3	0.1	0.3	3	Ryan Dempster	0.4	0.0	0.3
4	Carlos Silva	0.3	0.1	0.2	4	B.J. Ryan	0.4	0.1	0.3
5	Danys Baez	0.3	0.1	0.2	5	Mark Mulder	0.6	0.2	0.3


Fielding, C
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Yadier Molina	1.5	1.1	0.4	1	Yadier Molina	1.6	1.0	0.6
2	Mike Matheny	1.5	1.1	0.4	2	Brad Ausmus	1.4	0.9	0.5
3	Brad Ausmus	1.3	1.0	0.4	3	Mike Matheny	1.6	1.0	0.5
4	Ivan Rodriguez	1.6	1.2	0.3	4	Jason LaRue	1.4	0.9	0.5
5	Ramon J. Hernandez	1.1	0.8	0.3	5	Ivan Rodriguez	1.7	1.2	0.5


Fielding, 1B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Darin Erstad	2.9	2.1	0.8	1	Darin Erstad	2.9	2.1	0.9
2	Justin Morneau	2.0	1.5	0.5	2	Xavier Nady	1.1	0.5	0.7
3	Albert Pujols	3.0	2.5	0.5	3	John Olerud	1.3	0.6	0.6
4	Xavier Nady	1.0	0.6	0.4	4	Nick Johnson	2.9	2.4	0.5
5	Jose Hernandez	0.9	0.5	0.3	5	Ryan Howard	1.2	0.8	0.4


Fielding, 2B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Mark Grudzielanek	5.8	4.7	1.0	1	Mark Grudzielanek	5.9	4.6	1.3
2	Orlando Hudson	5.6	4.8	0.9	2	Chase Utley	5.1	3.7	1.3
3	Craig Counsell	5.2	4.4	0.9	3	Marcus Giles	6.7	5.7	1.0
4	Chase Utley	4.8	4.0	0.8	4	Tadahito Iguchi	5.5	4.7	0.8
5	Mark Ellis	4.1	3.6	0.5	5	Craig Counsell	5.2	4.4	0.8


Fielding, 3B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Brandon Inge	6.2	5.2	1.0	1	Mike Lowell	4.2	2.8	1.4
2	Eric Chavez	4.6	3.7	0.9	2	Eric Chavez	4.8	3.6	1.2
3	Freddy Sanchez	2.2	1.4	0.8	3	Joe Crede	4.4	3.4	1.0
4	Mike Lowell	3.8	3.3	0.5	4	Dallas McPherson	1.9	1.2	0.8
5	Alex S. Gonzalez	3.3	2.8	0.5	5	Melvin Mora	4.8	4.0	0.8


Fielding, SS
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Jack Wilson	7.1	5.9	1.2	1	Jack Wilson	7.4	5.5	1.9
2	Rafael Furcal	7.5	6.4	1.1	2	Rafael Furcal	7.8	6.0	1.8
3	Jhonny Peralta	6.0	5.2	0.8	3	Juan Uribe	6.6	4.9	1.8
4	Juan Uribe	6.2	5.4	0.8	4	David Eckstein	7.9	6.5	1.4
5	Neifi Perez	5.2	4.6	0.7	5	Jhonny Peralta	6.3	5.0	1.4


Fielding, LF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Cliff Floyd	7.3	5.9	1.4	1	Coco Crisp	6.5	5.0	1.5
2	Coco Crisp	6.2	5.3	0.9	2	Cliff Floyd	7.3	5.9	1.4
3	Juan Rivera	1.7	1.0	0.7	3	Randy Winn	4.5	3.3	1.2
4	Reed Johnson	2.7	2.1	0.6	4	Kelly Johnson	3.5	2.7	0.7
5	Carl Crawford	6.1	5.5	0.6	5	Kevin Mench	5.3	4.6	0.6


Fielding, CF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Jim Edmonds	6.3	4.8	1.5	1	Jim Edmonds	7.1	4.0	3.1
2	Brady Clark	6.4	5.6	0.9	2	Aaron Rowand	6.5	4.6	1.9
3	Vernon Wells	6.0	5.2	0.8	3	Vernon Wells	6.3	5.0	1.3
4	Grady Sizemore	5.2	4.5	0.8	4	Andruw Jones	7.0	5.7	1.2
5	Randy Winn	2.8	2.2	0.6	5	Gary Matthews Jr.	5.0	4.1	0.9


Fielding, RF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Ichiro Suzuki	7.4	6.1	1.3	1	Geoff Jenkins	6.6	5.3	1.3
2	Casey Blake	5.7	4.5	1.2	2	Jose Guillen	7.9	6.5	1.3
3	Alexis Rios	4.9	3.8	1.1	3	Ichiro Suzuki	7.3	6.2	1.1
4	Geoff Jenkins	6.5	5.4	1.1	4	Mike Cameron	3.4	2.5	0.9
5	Jose Guillen	7.5	6.9	0.6	5	Casey Blake	5.5	4.7	0.9

Best by Position

Next, we look at 2005 Major-League leaders by position. The figures shown here only include Player decisions earned while playing this particular position.


Catcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jason Varitek	13.0	10.8	3.0	1	Jason Varitek	13.4	10.4	3.9
2	Victor Martinez	14.5	12.7	2.8	2	Victor Martinez	14.9	12.3	3.5
3	Jorge Posada	11.8	10.4	2.1	3	A.J. Pierzynski	12.8	11.0	2.5
4	Joe Mauer	11.0	10.2	1.6	4	Ramon J. Hernandez	10.3	8.7	2.1
5	Javier Valentin	6.1	4.9	1.5	5	Jorge Posada	11.6	10.6	1.8


First Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Derrek Lee	20.3	14.2	4.8	1	Derrek Lee	20.5	14.0	5.1
2	Albert Pujols	20.4	14.3	4.7	2	Albert Pujols	20.5	14.2	4.9
3	Mark Teixeira	18.8	14.6	3.3	3	Jason Giambi	10.1	6.1	3.5
4	Jason Giambi	9.8	6.5	2.8	4	Carlos Delgado	18.5	14.2	2.9
5	Todd Helton	16.6	13.0	2.4	5	Mark Teixeira	18.6	14.8	2.8


Second Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Chase Utley	19.8	15.2	4.4	1	Chase Utley	20.6	14.4	6.1
2	Brian Roberts	19.6	17.4	2.4	2	Marcus Giles	20.3	16.4	3.7
3	Mark Ellis	15.0	12.8	2.4	3	Craig Biggio	19.8	16.4	3.2
4	Jeff Kent	20.1	17.5	2.4	4	Tadahito Iguchi	18.0	15.2	3.0
5	Alfonso Soriano	20.5	18.9	1.9	5	Jeff Kent	19.9	17.7	2.0


Third Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Alex Rodriguez	24.1	18.2	5.7	1	Alex Rodriguez	25.2	17.0	8.1
2	Chipper Jones	14.8	11.1	3.4	2	Chipper Jones	15.7	10.2	5.2
3	Morgan Ensberg	19.9	16.5	2.9	3	Morgan Ensberg	20.5	16.0	4.0
4	David Wright	21.5	18.2	2.7	4	Joe Crede	13.9	10.8	3.1
5	Troy Glaus	19.4	16.5	2.3	5	Melvin Mora	18.4	15.9	2.4


Shortstop
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jhonny Peralta	17.8	14.9	3.6	1	Jhonny Peralta	17.8	14.8	3.7
2	Derek Jeter	22.6	20.6	3.0	2	David Eckstein	22.5	19.4	3.6
3	Miguel Tejada	22.3	20.7	2.6	3	Derek Jeter	22.8	20.4	3.4
4	Michael Young	21.6	20.6	2.0	4	Rafael Furcal	21.0	18.1	3.3
5	Bobby Crosby	12.1	10.6	2.0	5	Edgar Renteria	20.1	18.5	2.6


Left Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Cliff Floyd	22.2	18.0	3.2	1	Manny Ramirez	23.3	19.0	4.7
2	Manny Ramirez	22.4	19.0	2.9	2	Adam Dunn	18.8	14.5	4.2
3	Miguel Cabrera	19.9	16.1	2.9	3	Miguel Cabrera	20.3	16.1	3.8
4	Adam Dunn	18.2	14.5	2.9	4	Pat Burrell	23.2	20.1	3.0
5	Jason Bay	19.3	15.7	2.8	5	Cliff Floyd	21.8	18.0	2.4


Center Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jim Edmonds	20.1	15.7	4.0	1	Jim Edmonds	21.7	14.2	7.1
2	Andruw Jones	23.4	19.4	3.5	2	Andruw Jones	24.8	18.0	6.3
3	Randy Winn	10.3	7.1	3.0	3	Aaron Rowand	19.4	16.4	2.9
4	Grady Sizemore	20.7	17.7	2.9	4	Vernon Wells	19.4	16.9	2.5
5	Ken Griffey Jr.	18.6	16.2	2.0	5	Randy Winn	9.8	7.6	2.0


Right Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	17.9	14.3	2.9	1	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	19.1	13.1	5.5
2	Gary Sheffield	17.0	14.0	2.4	2	Bobby Abreu	22.7	18.0	3.6
3	Bobby Abreu	22.0	18.7	2.2	3	Gary Sheffield	17.6	13.4	3.6
4	Brian S. Giles	21.1	18.2	1.9	4	Larry Walker	11.9	8.1	3.1
5	Geoff Jenkins	20.1	17.2	1.7	5	Brian S. Giles	21.5	17.9	2.5


Starting Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Roger Clemens	13.0	8.5	4.7	1	Chris Carpenter (1997)	16.5	9.5	7.1
2	Johan Santana	13.5	9.3	4.4	2	Dontrelle Willis	16.4	9.8	6.8
3	Chris Carpenter (1997)	15.1	10.9	4.2	3	Johan Santana	14.4	8.4	6.2
4	Pedro J. Martinez	12.9	9.1	3.9	4	Andy Pettitte	13.6	8.0	5.7
5	Andy Pettitte	12.6	9.0	3.7	5	Roy Oswalt	17.0	11.9	5.2
6	Dontrelle Willis	14.9	11.3	3.6	6	Roy Halladay	10.4	5.5	5.0
7	Roy Oswalt	16.2	12.7	3.6	7	Roger Clemens	13.1	8.3	4.9
8	John Smoltz	13.4	9.9	3.6	8	Mark Buehrle	14.7	10.7	4.1
9	Roy Halladay	9.3	6.6	2.8	9	Carlos Zambrano	13.7	9.9	3.9
10	Mark Buehrle	14.0	11.4	2.8	10	Jake Peavy	13.1	9.3	3.9


Relief Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Mariano Rivera	7.2	3.7	3.4	1	Mariano Rivera	7.6	3.2	4.3
2	Joe Nathan	6.0	3.8	2.1	2	Frankie Rodriguez	8.4	4.4	3.8
3	Billy Wagner	6.2	4.0	2.1	3	Joe Nathan	6.7	3.2	3.4
4	Scot Shields	9.2	7.1	1.9	4	Brad Lidge	7.3	3.9	3.3
5	Huston Street	4.6	2.8	1.8	5	Francisco Cordero	7.0	3.6	3.3
6	Todd Jones	5.8	4.0	1.8	6	Brian Fuentes	7.8	4.5	3.2
7	B.J. Ryan	5.7	3.9	1.7	7	Huston Street	5.3	2.1	3.2
8	Juan Rincon	5.6	4.0	1.5	8	Ryan Dempster	5.9	2.7	3.2
9	Ryan Dempster	5.0	3.5	1.5	9	Dustin Hermanson	6.0	2.9	3.1
10	Justin Duchscherer	5.1	3.6	1.4	10	Billy Wagner	6.7	3.6	3.0


Designated Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	David Ortiz	17.4	12.0	4.6	1	David Ortiz	19.0	10.4	7.9
2	Travis Hafner	14.4	9.7	4.1	2	Travis Hafner	15.2	9.0	5.7
3	Larry Walker	1.6	0.5	1.1	3	Larry Walker	1.9	0.3	1.6

Finally, here are the best at three oft-forgotten positions that can nevertheless matter: pitcher offense, pinch hitting, and pinch running.


Pitcher Offense
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Dontrelle Willis	2.0	2.0	1.1	1	Dontrelle Willis	2.0	1.9	1.1
2	Jason Marquis	1.7	1.6	1.0	2	Jason Marquis	1.7	1.7	0.8
3	Carlos Zambrano	1.3	1.5	0.6	3	Carlos Zambrano	1.4	1.4	0.7


Pinch Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Tony Clark	1.8	1.2	0.7	1	Tony Clark	1.9	1.2	0.8
2	Ricky Ledee	1.4	0.9	0.6	2	Prince Fielder	1.3	0.6	0.8
3	Alex Cintron	1.5	1.1	0.6	3	Travis Lee	1.0	0.2	0.8


Pinch Runner
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Eric Bruntlett	0.4	0.2	0.2	1	Luis Terrero	0.3	0.1	0.2
2	Tony Womack	0.3	0.1	0.2	2	Tony Womack	0.3	0.1	0.2
3	Jason Repko	0.2	0.1	0.1	3	Joey Gathright	0.2	0.1	0.2

Noteworthy Players of 2005

The race for the 2005 AL MVP was a two-man race between Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz. I compared these two players' seasons in my first book (at the end of Chapter 3).

Not wanting to repeat myself too much, that still leaves a few interesting player comparisons worth looking at here.

Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols: Same Team, Different Context

As I noted above, a player who earns more pWins (or pWORL) than eWins (eWORL) contributed to more team wins than expected and can be thought of as having been better in context, while a player who earns more eWins (eWORL) than pWins (pWORL) contributed to fewer actual team wins than expected and can be thought of as having been worse in context.

There are essentially two ways that a player can be "better in context" than expected: the player could have actually performed better in clutch situations ("late and close", "high leverage", etc.) or the player could have better-than-average teammates, so that a player's positive contributions are more likely to have occurred within the context of team wins than team losses. The latter of these two possibilities will tend to be similar for teammates, of course. For example, in 2005, Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols shared an excellent set of teammates who combined to win more regular-season games than any other team in Major-League Baseball. Yet, Pujols only appears on the eWins top 10 lists above while Edmonds only appears on the pWins top 10 lists.

The next table compares Pujols's and Edmonds's 2005 seasons, in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Jim Edmonds	142	21.9	14.6	0.600	6.9	8.5	20.6	15.8	0.567	4.5	6.1
Albert Pujols	161	20.7	14.4	0.590	5.0	6.5	20.8	14.3	0.593	5.1	6.7

Pujols's performance looks virtually the same in and out of context as the benefit of playing on such a good team is offset by the fact that Pujols's performance was somewhat better in lower-context situations. For example, by leverage, Pujols's OPS was 0.996, 0.995, and 1.081 in high-, medium-, and low-leverage plate appearances, respectively. In late and close situations, Pujols's OPS was 0.852, a fine number, but well below his overall season OPS of 1.039.

In contrast, Jim Edmonds's performance was better in high-leverage situations (0.957) than in low-leverage situations (0.854). Looking at Edmonds's OPS splits by the score of the game is perhaps most illustrative. In tie games, Edmonds had an OPS of 1.141; when the Cardinals were leading or trailing by exactly one run, Edmonds's OPS was 1.054. With run differentials of 2, 3, and 4, runs, Edmonds posted OPS's of 0.971, 0.931, and 0.909, respectively. The only run-differential at which Edmonds posted a higher OPS than Pujols was in tie games (Pujols's OPS in tie games was 1.093).

In addition to his clutch batting, Edmonds also was extremely clutch in his fielding in 2005, which added another 0.8 pWins for Edmonds.

NL MVP Race: Albert Pujols, Andruw Jones, and Derrek Lee

The 2005 NL MVP voting came down to a 3-man race between Albert Pujols, Andruw Jones, and Derrek Lee.

Derrek Lee batted .335/.418/.662, with 46 home runs, 107 RBI, and 120 runs scored. Albert Pujols put up very similar numbers: .330/.430/.609, 41, 117, and 129. They even stole a similar number of bases (16 for Pujols, 15 for Lee). Both of them were also first basemen with reputations as very good fielders (Lee won the Gold Glove in 2005; Pujols won the first of his two Gold Gloves the next season).

Andruw Jones's offensive statistics were distinctly worse than Pujols and Lee, but he did lead the National League with 51 home runs and 128 runs batted in. He also played a much more difficult defensive position, center field, and played it brilliantly, winning his 8th consecutive Gold Glove in 2005 (he would then win two more Gold Gloves in 2006 and 2007).

Pujols, Lee, and Jones all appear in at least one of the top 10 tables shown earlier in this article. The next table decomposes their (context-neutral) performance to show how they accumulated their value.

	Decomposition of eWORL
	Wins over Average
	Batting	Baserunning	Fielding	Position	Replacement	eWORL
Derrek Lee	6.0	-0.1	-0.1	-0.6	1.5	6.8
Albert Pujols	4.8	0.5	0.5	-0.7	1.5	6.7
Andruw Jones	3.6	-0.2	0.1	0.2	1.9	5.6

The numbers largely tell us the same story as I outlined above, but it quantifies things a bit more. Lee had the best offensive season of the three, but Pujols gained most of that back with his better baserunning and fielding. Jones and Pujols were similarly above-average at fielding their positions, but Jones played the more difficult position and was rewarded accordingly for that.

The three players had similar playing time in 2005 (158 - 161 games played, 672 - 700 plate appearances). Jones gets a bit of a boost relative to Pujols and Lee for playing time ("Replacement") because center fielders earn more Player decisions than first basemen.

The final results confirm that all three players ended up extremely similar in terms of their overall (context-neutral) value.

The Actual NL MVP Was Probably a Pitcher

While Lee, Pujols, and Jones all had outstanding seasons in 2005, if I had a 2005 NL MVP vote (and access to these Player won-lost records), I would have almost certainly given my first-place vote to a pitcher, most likely Dontrelle Willis (who received no first-place votes and finished in 11th place in the actual voting) although Chris Carpenter (who won the NL Cy Young award and finished 8th in MVP voting) and Roger Clemens (3rd in Cy Young voting, 22nd in MVP voting) also have a case based on Player won-lost records. The next table compares their three seasons, as measured by Player won-lost records, both in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Dontrelle Willis	40	18.5	11.7	0.612	7.9	9.7	17.4	12.8	0.576	5.9	7.6
Chris Carpenter	33	17.2	11.1	0.607	7.0	8.7	16.0	12.3	0.566	5.2	6.9
Roger Clemens	32	14.1	9.8	0.589	5.1	6.5	14.7	9.2	0.614	6.3	7.7

Notable Retirements

Finally, let's take a look at some of the great players for whom 2005 was their final season. As I write this article (in October of 2019), there is one member of the Hall-of-Fame for whom 2005 was their final season. There are, however, four members of the Hall of Merit whose final season was 2005. Their careers are presented in the final two tables of this article.

Season	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
	Jeff Bagwell					Larry Walker
1989						20	1.6	1.4	0.1	0.2
1990						132	14.9	13.6	0.6	1.8
1991	156	17.6	16.0	0.2	1.7	136	16.2	15.3	-0.3	1.1
1992	162	23.0	16.7	4.6	6.4	143	20.6	14.7	5.2	6.8
1993	142	17.1	14.0	1.4	3.0	138	22.7	14.8	7.1	9.0
1994	110	17.0	9.8	5.9	7.2	103	16.0	11.4	3.5	4.9
1995	114	15.2	10.7	3.1	4.4	131	19.2	18.1	-0.4	1.5
1996	162	22.9	14.9	6.4	8.2	83	9.0	8.5	0.2	1.0
1997	162	22.0	14.6	5.1	6.9	153	24.8	18.1	5.1	7.1
1998	147	19.5	13.1	4.7	6.3	130	16.0	14.2	0.7	2.2
1999	162	22.6	14.1	6.9	8.7	127	16.6	13.2	2.3	3.8
2000	159	18.8	15.6	1.0	2.6	86	11.3	10.5	0.1	1.2
2001	161	22.4	14.0	6.6	8.6	142	19.5	14.5	3.7	5.6
2002	158	20.0	15.5	2.5	4.3	136	19.4	14.4	3.9	5.7
2003	160	18.6	16.1	0.9	2.6	143	17.7	15.0	1.6	3.2
2004	156	16.7	14.2	1.1	2.6	82	10.0	8.2	1.4	2.4
2005	39	3.0	3.0	-0.1	0.2	99	14.0	8.9	4.6	5.6
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,150	276.5	202.4	50.2	73.6	1,984	269.3	214.7	39.5	63.1

Season	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
	Rafael Palmeiro					Kevin Brown
1986	22	2.7	2.2	0.3	0.6	1	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.1
1987	83	6.3	5.9	-0.0	0.5
1988	152	17.7	18.3	-1.8	-0.0	4	1.1	1.5	-0.4	-0.3
1989	155	15.2	14.2	-0.5	0.9	28	11.1	10.5	0.9	2.2
1990	154	17.4	16.1	-0.0	1.4	27	10.7	9.3	1.5	2.7
1991	159	17.5	15.2	1.3	2.8	33	11.2	12.2	-0.8	0.7
1992	159	16.5	16.2	-0.9	0.6	35	17.8	12.1	5.9	7.9
1993	160	18.7	14.6	2.8	4.4	35	14.4	11.7	2.8	4.4
1994	111	13.0	10.5	1.5	2.6	26	9.4	9.7	-0.3	1.0
1995	143	18.0	15.0	1.6	3.2	26	9.7	7.5	2.2	3.4
1996	162	19.4	14.9	3.3	4.9	34	16.1	10.6	6.6	8.3
1997	158	19.3	14.8	2.6	4.3	33	14.1	11.0	4.2	5.7
1998	162	20.6	17.2	1.6	3.5	36	16.9	10.8	7.1	8.8
1999	158	18.0	12.0	5.2	7.1	35	17.9	13.9	5.2	7.1
2000	158	15.6	13.5	0.8	2.3	33	15.5	10.4	6.2	7.8
2001	160	18.3	14.1	3.1	5.0	20	8.4	6.6	2.4	3.4
2002	155	16.7	13.3	2.4	4.1	17	3.8	4.7	-0.6	0.0
2003	154	15.1	13.4	0.9	2.6	32	13.8	10.5	4.2	5.8
2004	154	13.7	15.5	-2.8	-1.3	22	7.9	6.4	1.6	2.5
2005	110	9.4	10.5	-1.8	-0.9	13	4.1	4.9	-0.8	-0.2
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,829	309.1	267.4	19.5	48.8	490	204.2	164.5	47.9	71.2

Article last updated: October 9, 2019

Wins over positional average and replacement level are calculated using data only for the 2005 season. Positional averages for starting pitching and relief pitching are calculated using single-year data for all starting pitchers and all relief pitchers.

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

Home List of Articles