2010 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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2010 Season

The 2010 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

This article takes a look at the 2010 season as measured by Player won-lost records.

The Best of 2010

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	Joey Votto	20.4	12.8	6.2	7.7	1	Jayson Werth	23.9	16.6	6.1	8.0
2	Jayson Werth	23.9	16.6	6.1	8.0	2	Josh Hamilton	21.0	14.5	6.0	7.8
3	Josh Hamilton	21.0	14.5	6.0	7.8	3	Joey Votto	20.4	12.8	6.2	7.7
4	Albert Pujols	22.3	14.7	6.0	7.7	4	Robinson Cano	22.7	17.3	5.8	7.7
5	Robinson Cano	22.7	17.3	5.8	7.7	5	Albert Pujols	22.3	14.7	6.0	7.7
6	Roy Halladay	16.9	12.4	5.7	7.3	6	Roy Halladay	16.9	12.4	5.7	7.3
7	C.C. Sabathia	16.1	10.9	5.4	7.1	7	Ubaldo Jimenez	17.1	12.7	5.4	7.1
8	Ubaldo Jimenez	17.1	12.7	5.4	7.1	8	C.C. Sabathia	16.1	10.9	5.4	7.1
9	Evan Longoria	20.8	15.4	5.4	7.0	9	Evan Longoria	20.8	15.4	5.4	7.0
10	Troy Tulowitzki	19.4	14.6	5.3	6.8	10	Troy Tulowitzki	19.4	14.6	5.3	6.8

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	Josh Hamilton	21.0	14.4	6.1	7.8	1	Josh Hamilton	21.0	14.4	6.1	7.8
2	Adam Wainwright	16.8	12.7	5.4	7.0	2	Adam Wainwright	16.8	12.7	5.4	7.0
3	Albert Pujols	21.9	15.1	5.1	6.8	3	Albert Pujols	21.9	15.1	5.1	6.8
4	Joey Votto	19.9	13.3	5.0	6.6	4	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	23.1	17.7	4.8	6.7
5	Troy Tulowitzki	19.2	14.8	4.9	6.5	5	Joey Votto	19.9	13.3	5.0	6.6
6	Cliff P. Lee	13.6	8.9	4.8	6.2	6	Troy Tulowitzki	19.2	14.8	4.9	6.5
7	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	23.1	17.7	4.8	6.7	7	Ubaldo Jimenez	16.6	13.2	4.7	6.4
8	Ubaldo Jimenez	16.6	13.2	4.7	6.4	8	Evan Longoria	20.4	15.8	4.7	6.3
9	Evan Longoria	20.4	15.8	4.7	6.3	9	Cliff P. Lee	13.6	8.9	4.8	6.2
10	Miguel Cabrera	20.4	14.9	4.5	6.1	10	Miguel Cabrera	20.4	14.9	4.5	6.1

I take a look at some of the most interesting players of 2010 at the end of this article. One other player of note in 2010 was Joey Bautista who enjoyed a breakout season in 2010. I recently wrote a separate article about Bautista.

2010 Postseason

The 2010 postseason saw a couple of firsts. The Texas Rangers made the World Series for the first time in team history while the San Francisco Giants won their first World Championship since moving to San Francisco in 1958.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	pWORL
	2010 Postseason: Total

Cody Ross	FLO	3.1	1.3	1.9
Tim Lincecum	SFN	3.2	1.7	1.9
Cliff P. Lee	SEA	3.3	2.2	1.4
Edgar Renteria	SFN	1.7	0.8	1.1
Matt Cain	SFN	1.8	0.9	1.1
Brian Wilson	SFN	1.4	0.6	1.1
Roy Halladay	PHI	1.7	1.0	1.0
Colby Lewis	TEX	1.9	1.2	0.9
Madison Bumgarner	SFN	1.4	0.7	0.9
Juan Uribe	SFN	1.6	1.1	0.7

Top postseason players by round were as follows.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2010 World Series

Edgar Renteria	SFN	1.4	0.4	1.0
Tim Lincecum	SFN	1.2	0.6	0.5
Matt Cain	SFN	0.9	0.3	0.5
Cody Ross	FLO	0.8	0.3	0.5
Madison Bumgarner	SFN	0.7	0.2	0.5

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2010 Postseason: League Championship Series

Cody Ross	FLO	1.4	0.5	0.9
Cliff P. Lee	SEA	0.9	0.2	0.8
Colby Lewis	TEX	1.1	0.5	0.5
Brian Wilson	SFN	0.8	0.3	0.5
Bengie Molina	SFN	0.7	0.2	0.5

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2010 Postseason: Division Series

Tim Lincecum	SFN	1.1	0.2	0.9
Cliff P. Lee	SEA	1.5	0.6	0.9
Roy Halladay	PHI	0.9	0.2	0.7
Shane Victorino	PHI	0.8	0.2	0.6
Cole Hamels	PHI	0.9	0.3	0.6

Best of 2010 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 2010 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	Joey Votto	16.1	9.8	6.0	1	Joey Votto	16.9	9.1	7.5
2	Miguel Cabrera	17.5	11.5	5.9	2	Miguel Cabrera	17.8	11.2	6.5
3	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	16.0	10.4	5.5	3	Albert Pujols	17.6	10.9	6.3
4	Albert Pujols	17.1	11.3	5.4	4	David Ortiz	15.5	9.8	5.6
5	Josh Hamilton	14.8	9.7	5.1	5	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	16.0	10.4	5.5
6	Paul Konerko	15.7	10.7	4.9	6	Josh Hamilton	14.9	9.6	5.2
7	Matt Holliday	16.9	12.5	4.0	7	Jayson Werth	16.1	10.7	5.1
8	Adam Dunn	15.9	11.6	3.9	8	Paul Konerko	15.8	10.6	5.1
9	Jayson Werth	15.5	11.3	3.8	9	Jason Heyward	14.8	10.1	4.3
10	Shin-Soo Choo	14.1	10.6	3.5	10	Alex Rodriguez	14.6	10.3	4.3

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Baserunning
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Michael Bourn	2.3	1.2	1.0	1	Rajai Davis	2.2	1.0	1.2
2	Juan Pierre	2.5	1.6	0.9	2	Michael Bourn	2.2	1.3	0.9
3	Rajai Davis	2.0	1.2	0.9	3	Brett Gardner	1.8	0.9	0.9
4	Brett Gardner	1.7	0.9	0.7	4	Juan Pierre	2.5	1.7	0.8
5	Andres Torres	1.7	0.9	0.7	5	Andres Torres	1.7	0.9	0.8
6	Coco Crisp	1.3	0.6	0.6	6	Ian Kinsler	1.3	0.5	0.8
7	Emilio Bonifacio	0.8	0.2	0.6	7	Derek Jeter	1.7	0.9	0.7
8	Shane Victorino	1.8	1.1	0.6	8	Rafael Furcal	1.3	0.6	0.7
9	Chone Figgins	1.9	1.3	0.6	9	Carlos Gonzalez	1.6	0.9	0.7
10	Cliff Pennington	1.3	0.8	0.5	10	Austin Jackson	1.7	1.0	0.7

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Pitching
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLoss	Net pWins
1	Cliff P. Lee	12.8	8.8	4.0	1	Ubaldo Jimenez	16.1	10.6	5.4
2	Ubaldo Jimenez	15.2	11.5	3.7	2	Roy Halladay	15.4	10.1	5.3
3	Adam Wainwright	14.6	11.0	3.6	3	C.C. Sabathia	15.7	10.5	5.2
4	C.C. Sabathia	14.8	11.4	3.4	4	Heath Bell	8.4	3.2	5.1
5	Jered Weaver	13.1	10.1	3.0	5	Brian Wilson	7.8	2.8	5.0
6	Felix Hernandez	14.2	11.3	2.9	6	Cliff P. Lee	12.9	8.8	4.2
7	Francisco Liriano	11.8	8.9	2.9	7	Carlos Marmol	9.0	4.9	4.1
8	Roy Oswalt	13.3	10.5	2.9	8	Joakim Soria	7.0	3.1	3.9
9	Jon Lester	14.1	11.4	2.7	9	C.J. Wilson	12.7	9.1	3.6
10	Josh M. Johnson	10.5	7.8	2.7	10	Hong-Chih Kuo	5.0	1.5	3.5

Fielding by Position


Fielding, P
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Ervin Santana	0.5	0.2	0.3	1	Brandon Morrow	0.4	0.1	0.4
2	Randy Wolf	0.5	0.2	0.3	2	Tim Hudson	0.9	0.6	0.4
3	Livan Hernandez	0.5	0.3	0.3	3	Bronson Arroyo	0.4	0.1	0.3
4	Tim Hudson	0.9	0.6	0.2	4	Ervin Santana	0.5	0.2	0.3
5	Bronson Arroyo	0.4	0.1	0.2	5	John Danks	0.5	0.2	0.3


Fielding, C
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Yadier Molina	1.7	1.1	0.5	1	Yadier Molina	1.9	0.9	1.0
2	Matt Wieters	1.6	1.1	0.5	2	Matt Wieters	1.6	1.1	0.5
3	Russ Martin	1.6	1.3	0.3	3	Miguel Olivo	1.9	1.4	0.5
4	Humberto Quintero	1.1	0.8	0.3	4	Jason Kendall	1.6	1.3	0.4
5	Miguel Olivo	1.8	1.5	0.3	5	A.J. Pierzynski	1.5	1.1	0.4


Fielding, 1B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Adrian Gonzalez	3.5	2.7	0.8	1	Adrian Gonzalez	3.8	2.4	1.4
2	Mark Teixeira	2.9	2.2	0.7	2	Mark Teixeira	2.9	2.1	0.8
3	Justin Morneau	1.3	0.8	0.5	3	Travis Ishikawa	1.1	0.3	0.7
4	Kevin Youkilis	1.6	1.1	0.4	4	Todd Helton	2.1	1.5	0.6
5	Daric Barton	2.6	2.3	0.3	5	Justin Morneau	1.3	0.7	0.6


Fielding, 2B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Chase Utley	4.3	3.8	0.6	1	Chase Utley	4.9	3.2	1.7
2	Dustin Pedroia	2.7	2.2	0.5	2	Ian Kinsler	4.1	3.0	1.1
3	Mark Ellis	4.2	3.7	0.5	3	Robinson Cano	6.1	5.2	1.0
4	Blake DeWitt	4.4	3.9	0.5	4	Dustin Pedroia	2.8	2.0	0.8
5	Robinson Cano	5.8	5.4	0.4	5	Freddy Sanchez	3.6	3.0	0.7


Fielding, 3B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Chase Headley	5.1	3.9	1.2	1	Chase Headley	5.3	3.8	1.5
2	Evan Longoria	4.7	3.6	1.2	2	Casey Blake	4.7	3.2	1.5
3	Casey Blake	4.4	3.5	0.8	3	Danny Valencia	2.9	1.8	1.1
4	Jose C. Lopez	5.3	4.6	0.7	4	Evan Longoria	4.6	3.7	1.0
5	Alberto Callaspo	3.9	3.4	0.5	5	Placido Polanco	4.0	3.2	0.8


Fielding, SS
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Cliff Pennington	6.9	6.0	1.0	1	Cliff Pennington	7.2	5.7	1.6
2	Brendan Ryan	5.5	4.7	0.8	2	Troy Tulowitzki	5.2	4.1	1.2
3	Troy Tulowitzki	5.0	4.3	0.6	3	Alex 'Sea Bass' Gonzalez	7.2	6.5	0.7
4	Alex 'Sea Bass' Gonzalez	7.1	6.5	0.6	4	Yunel Escobar	6.2	5.5	0.7
5	Josh Wilson	4.2	3.8	0.4	5	Jimmy Rollins	3.2	2.5	0.6


Fielding, LF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Brett Gardner	4.1	2.6	1.5	1	Brett Gardner	4.5	2.3	2.1
2	Carl Crawford	5.3	4.5	0.8	2	Trevor Crowe	2.5	1.6	1.0
3	Laynce Nix	1.6	1.1	0.5	3	Laynce Nix	1.8	0.9	0.9
4	Angel Pagan	1.2	0.7	0.5	4	Juan Pierre	6.2	5.5	0.7
5	Michael Saunders	3.9	3.4	0.5	5	Andres Torres	1.2	0.5	0.7


Fielding, CF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	B.J. Upton	5.1	4.3	0.8	1	Angel Pagan	4.3	2.7	1.6
2	Peter Bourjos	2.7	2.0	0.7	2	Michael Bourn	6.1	4.9	1.2
3	Adam Jones	6.8	6.1	0.6	3	Drew Stubbs	5.5	4.5	0.9
4	Curtis Granderson	4.2	3.6	0.6	4	B.J. Upton	5.1	4.3	0.8
5	Alexis Rios	5.9	5.3	0.5	5	Curtis Granderson	4.3	3.5	0.8


Fielding, RF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Jay Bruce	6.5	5.2	1.3	1	Jay Bruce	6.7	5.0	1.7
2	Ichiro Suzuki	7.3	6.5	0.8	2	Jayson Werth	5.6	4.3	1.3
3	Jayson Werth	5.3	4.6	0.6	3	Ben Zobrist	3.8	2.8	1.1
4	Andruw Jones	2.1	1.4	0.6	4	Giancarlo Stanton	4.8	3.8	1.0
5	Giancarlo Stanton	4.6	4.0	0.6	5	Jeff Francoeur	5.4	4.4	1.0

Best by Position

Next, we look at 2010 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	Joe Mauer	11.7	9.5	2.8	1	Joe Mauer	12.1	9.1	3.6
2	Brian McCann	14.8	12.8	2.4	2	Brian McCann	15.0	12.6	2.9
3	Geovany Soto	9.1	7.3	2.2	3	Carlos Ruiz	11.7	9.4	2.7
4	Buster Posey	9.4	7.8	2.0	4	Buster Posey	9.6	7.6	2.3
5	Victor Martinez	11.1	10.0	1.8	5	Geovany Soto	9.0	7.4	1.8


First Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Joey Votto	19.5	13.5	4.6	1	Joey Votto	20.3	12.7	6.2
2	Albert Pujols	21.6	15.3	4.6	2	Albert Pujols	22.3	14.7	5.9
3	Miguel Cabrera	20.2	14.8	4.1	3	Miguel Cabrera	20.5	14.5	4.8
4	Paul Konerko	16.5	11.9	3.5	4	Mark Teixeira	17.9	13.1	3.7
5	Justin Morneau	10.7	7.0	3.0	5	Adrian Gonzalez	19.8	14.6	3.5


Second Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Robinson Cano	21.6	18.1	3.9	1	Robinson Cano	22.7	17.1	6.0
2	Dan Uggla	22.0	18.9	3.1	2	Chase Utley	16.0	12.2	3.8
3	Chase Utley	15.6	12.6	3.0	3	Sean Rodriguez	11.0	7.6	3.6
4	Kelly Johnson	19.5	16.6	2.9	4	Dan Uggla	22.2	18.8	3.5
5	Rickie Weeks	21.1	19.0	2.1	5	Ian Kinsler	13.7	11.0	3.0


Third Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Evan Longoria	20.3	15.9	4.5	1	Evan Longoria	20.8	15.4	5.4
2	Adrian Beltre	19.1	16.7	2.5	2	Alex Rodriguez	16.9	13.3	3.6
3	Ryan Zimmerman	17.1	14.5	2.4	3	Danny Valencia	10.0	7.1	2.9
4	Alex Rodriguez	16.1	14.2	1.9	4	Chipper Jones	11.7	9.1	2.4
5	David Wright	20.9	18.9	1.7	5	Placido Polanco	15.7	13.5	2.0


Shortstop
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Troy Tulowitzki	19.0	15.0	4.5	1	Troy Tulowitzki	19.4	14.6	5.3
2	Hanley Ramirez	19.0	16.7	2.9	2	Jimmy Rollins	12.3	9.9	2.8
3	Stephen Drew	18.3	16.8	2.1	3	Rafael Furcal	13.5	11.7	2.1
4	Rafael Furcal	13.4	11.7	2.0	4	Cliff Pennington	18.5	17.3	2.1
5	Cliff Pennington	18.4	17.5	1.8	5	Juan Uribe	12.5	11.1	1.8


Left Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Josh Hamilton	15.1	10.0	4.7	1	Josh Hamilton	15.7	10.0	6.0
2	Carl Crawford	21.2	17.4	3.1	2	Brett Gardner	13.8	9.7	4.7
3	Matt Holliday	22.8	18.6	3.0	3	Carl Crawford	21.7	17.4	4.2
4	Brett Gardner	12.8	9.7	2.6	4	Ryan J. Braun	22.6	19.0	3.3
5	Carlos Gonzalez	8.1	5.9	1.8	5	Matt Holliday	22.6	18.6	2.7


Center Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Colby Rasmus	16.7	14.1	2.2	1	Shane Victorino	20.6	16.5	3.7
2	Curtis Granderson	15.4	13.4	2.0	2	Vernon Wells	20.9	17.5	3.4
3	Drew Stubbs	17.3	15.2	1.7	3	Drew Stubbs	18.1	14.5	3.2
4	Chris B. Young	21.4	19.2	1.7	4	B.J. Upton	18.7	15.9	2.7
5	Coco Crisp	10.1	8.5	1.5	5	Curtis Granderson	15.7	13.1	2.6


Right Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Nelson R. Cruz	14.6	11.0	3.2	1	Jayson Werth	20.3	14.6	4.6
2	Shin-Soo Choo	21.1	17.2	3.1	2	Shin-Soo Choo	21.3	17.0	3.5
3	Jayson Werth	19.6	15.4	3.1	3	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	16.6	12.6	3.4
4	Jay Bruce	19.7	15.8	2.7	4	Nick Swisher	18.9	14.8	3.4
5	Jose 'Joey Bats' Bautista	16.0	13.2	2.3	5	Jay Bruce	19.9	15.6	3.1


Starting Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Adam Wainwright	15.0	11.2	3.9	1	Roy Halladay	15.9	10.5	5.5
2	Cliff P. Lee	13.0	9.3	3.8	2	C.C. Sabathia	16.1	10.8	5.4
3	Ubaldo Jimenez	15.5	11.9	3.7	3	Ubaldo Jimenez	16.3	11.1	5.4
4	C.C. Sabathia	15.1	11.7	3.6	4	Cliff P. Lee	13.1	9.3	3.9
5	Jered Weaver	13.3	10.2	3.2	5	C.J. Wilson	13.0	9.4	3.7
6	Felix Hernandez	14.8	11.7	3.1	6	David Price	12.7	9.2	3.7
7	Roy Oswalt	13.7	10.7	3.1	7	Josh M. Johnson	11.1	7.5	3.6
8	John Danks	14.1	11.2	3.0	8	Felix Hernandez	14.9	11.6	3.5
9	Francisco Liriano	12.1	9.3	2.9	9	Clay Buchholz	12.3	9.0	3.5
10	Josh M. Johnson	10.7	8.0	2.8	10	Francisco Liriano	12.3	9.1	3.4


Relief Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Carlos Marmol	8.0	5.9	2.1	1	Heath Bell	8.4	3.3	5.0
2	Neftali Feliz	5.7	3.6	2.0	2	Brian Wilson	7.9	2.9	4.9
3	Hong-Chih Kuo	4.3	2.3	2.0	3	Joakim Soria	7.2	3.1	4.0
4	Brian Wilson	6.4	4.3	2.0	4	Carlos Marmol	9.0	4.9	4.0
5	Mariano Rivera	5.5	3.4	1.9	5	Neftali Feliz	6.4	2.9	3.4
6	Heath Bell	6.9	4.8	1.9	6	John Axford	6.2	2.8	3.3
7	Rafael Soriano	5.4	3.5	1.8	7	Rafael Soriano	6.1	2.7	3.3
8	Billy Wagner	5.4	3.6	1.8	8	Hong-Chih Kuo	5.0	1.6	3.3
9	Joakim Soria	6.1	4.3	1.7	9	Daniel Bard	6.7	3.7	2.9
10	Matt Thornton	4.9	3.1	1.7	10	J. Mike Adams	5.7	3.0	2.7


Designated Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jim Thome	8.0	5.1	2.7	1	David Ortiz	15.2	10.2	4.6
2	Luke Scott	9.1	6.8	2.1	2	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	14.1	10.9	2.8
3	David Ortiz	13.9	11.6	1.9	3	Jim Thome	7.8	5.4	2.2

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	Yovani Gallardo	1.6	1.3	1.0	1	Yovani Gallardo	1.7	1.2	1.1
2	Dan Haren	1.0	0.9	0.6	2	Bronson Arroyo	1.8	1.6	1.1
3	Mike Leake	0.9	0.8	0.6	3	Chris Narveson	1.2	1.0	0.7


Pinch Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Nick Hundley	0.8	0.3	0.5	1	Brooks Conrad	2.6	1.4	1.3
2	Eric Hinske	1.3	0.9	0.5	2	Donnie Murphy	1.2	0.3	0.9
3	Scott Rolen	0.7	0.3	0.5	3	Scott Rolen	0.8	0.2	0.7


Pinch Runner
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Justin Upton	0.2	0.0	0.2	1	Jason Bourgeois	0.2	0.0	0.2
2	Emilio Bonifacio	0.2	0.0	0.2	2	Emilio Bonifacio	0.2	0.0	0.2
3	Eduardo Nunez	0.2	0.0	0.1	3	Justin Upton	0.2	0.0	0.2

Noteworthy Players of 2010

The 2010 American League MVP award was won by Josh Hamilton, who is the top American League player in the first four tables of this article: pWOPA, pWORL, eWOPA, and eWORL. The NL MVP award was won by Joey Votto, who led all major leaguers in pWins over positional average (pWOPA). Player won-lost records certainly think that Votto was a solid choice for NL MVP but there are other NL players who rank ahead of Votto in three of the four tables at the start of this article.

Jayson Werth vs. Joey Votto

The leader in three of the four big statistics - pWOPA, eWOPA, and eWORL - were the two MVP winners in 2010. The leader in pWORL, however, finished eighth in NL MVP voting.

The table below compares Jayson Werth and Joey Votto in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Jayson Werth	156	23.9	16.6	0.589	6.1	8.0	22.8	17.7	0.563	4.0	5.9
Joey Votto	150	20.4	12.8	0.615	6.2	7.7	19.9	13.3	0.600	5.0	6.6

Both Votto and Werth look better in context (pWins) than with context neutralized (eWins). But the shift from eWins to pWins does much more to improve Jayson Werth's numbers.

Overall, in 2010, Jayson Werth batted .296/.388/.532 with a league-leading 46 doubles. He scored 106 runs (fourth in the NL) and drove in 85. Those are good numbers, but certainly not the sort that scream "MVP candidate!" And, indeed, Werth's eWOPA and eWORL don't really scream "MVP candidate" either. Digging into Jayson Werth's batting splits for 2010 doesn't really help much. For example, Werth's OPS by leverage was .795 in high-leverage situations vs. .983 in medium-leverage and .962 in low-leverage. Leverage, as measured by Baseball-Reference, corresponds to what I call "inter-game" context - the relative importance of situations within a game.

Where Werth gained in pWins, however, was via what I call "intra-game" context - the overall importance of games relative to each other. One way in which intra-game context comes into play is in context by inning. Leverage, as measured by Baseball-Reference and others, under-values the importance of the early innings in a game and, in particular, the value of a team jumping out to an early lead. And looking at Werth's batting splits in 2010 reveals one very interesting split for Werth. In the second inning of games, Werth batted .390/.455/.792; in the third inning, he batted .341/.426/.805. In innings 1 - 3, Werth had an OPS of .979. In the fourth inning, Werth had a .927 OPS; in the 5th inning, Werth had a 1.095 OPS. Werth was "clutch" in the early innings of games, helping the Phillies jump out to early leads and coast to relatively easy victories. In 94 Phillies wins, Jayson Werth batted .341/.425/.635. In 62 Phillies losses, Werth batted .226/.331/.373. As a general rule, most players hit better in team wins than in losses. But Werth's split (OPS of 1.060 vs. .704) is much more extreme than normal. For example, Joey Votto had an OPS of 1.108 in Reds wins vs. .913 in Reds losses. It's an odd thing and, even for me, a somewhat difficult thing to get a good handle on. But when you dig down to the game level and start handing out credits for actual wins and treating all wins equally, it turns out that Jayson Werth was a huge part of the success of the 2010 Philadelphia Phillies.

Roy Halladay vs. Adam Wainwright

The top pitchers in the first two tables finished 1st and 2nd in NL Cy Young voting. The next table compares Roy Halladay and Adam Wainwright in versus out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Roy Halladay	33	16.9	12.4	0.577	5.7	7.3	15.7	13.7	0.535	3.4	5.0
Adam Wainwright	37	15.9	13.6	0.538	3.4	5.0	16.8	12.7	0.569	5.4	7.0

For the 2010 season, batters put up a batting line of .224/.274/.330 against Adam Wainwright, an OPS of .604. In contrast, batters hit .245/.271/.373 against Roy Halladay, an OPS of .645.

Wainwright's performance got progressively worse, however, as the leverage increased. His OPS-allowed was .702/.598/.581 in high/medium/low-leverage situations.

Halladay's performance was just the opposite, with an OPS-allowed of .537/.594/.728 in high/medium/low-leverage situations.

This difference shows up in the two pitchers' earned run averages, with Halladay's and Wainwright's ERAs ending up virtually identical (2.44 for Halladay, 2.42 for Wainwright - counting unearned runs, their average runs per 9 innings are freakishly similar: 2.6569 for Halladay, 2.6570 for Wainwright).

The results are that Wainwright looks better when context is neutralized, while Halladay looks better when their performances are put into context.

MVP Catchers

The 2010 National League Rookie of the Year was Buster Posey. Two years later, he would be named National League Most Valuable Player

Prior to Posey, the last catcher to win an MVP award was Joe Mauer in 2009.

The next table compares Posey's and Mauer's careers (through 2019).

Experience	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL
	Buster Posey					Joe Mauer
1	7	0.3	0.4	-0.1	-0.1	35	3.0	2.5	0.7	1.0
2	108	12.6	10.4	2.3	3.4	131	11.9	11.5	1.2	2.2
3	45	4.1	4.0	0.3	0.7	140	15.7	12.4	3.9	5.3
4	148	19.3	12.6	6.6	8.2	109	10.6	9.7	1.7	2.6
5	148	15.0	13.4	1.5	3.0	146	16.3	12.0	5.1	6.4
6	147	17.9	12.1	5.6	6.9	138	14.8	10.6	4.8	6.1
7	150	17.5	13.6	3.9	5.4	137	13.8	11.3	3.1	4.3
8	146	15.6	13.6	2.3	3.6	82	7.7	7.1	0.6	1.4
9	140	14.0	13.5	0.5	1.8	147	15.4	13.5	1.8	3.4
10	105	10.3	9.9	0.9	1.8	113	10.4	10.1	0.6	1.7
11	114	9.6	10.3	-0.2	0.9	120	10.9	11.5	-1.4	-0.3
12						158	15.5	14.2	0.3	1.8
13						134	10.8	13.4	-3.2	-2.0
14						141	14.9	12.1	1.9	3.2
15						127	11.9	11.3	0.2	1.4
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER TOTALS	1,258	136.1	113.8	23.5	35.6	1,858	183.5	163.3	21.3	38.6
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
THRU 1ST 10 SEASONS	1,144	126.5	103.5	23.7	34.7	1,178	119.5	100.8	23.5	34.5

Last Hurrahs

Finally, 2010 was the final season for two great centerfielders who hit a combined 1,023 home runs and won a combined 18 Gold Gloves.

The career records of Ken Griffey, Jr. and Jim Edmonds, as measured by Player won-lost records, are compared in the final table below. The final row may surprise you.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL
	Ken Griffey Jr.					Jim Edmonds
1989	127	15.5	15.1	0.5	1.9
1990	155	20.2	18.8	0.9	2.7
1991	154	20.5	16.7	3.7	5.4
1992	142	17.9	16.4	1.2	2.8
1993	156	20.4	16.4	3.8	5.7	18	1.7	2.1	-0.4	-0.2
1994	111	15.2	12.2	2.8	4.2	94	8.8	8.7	-0.2	0.6
1995	72	9.6	8.1	1.7	2.6	141	19.0	15.0	4.4	6.1
1996	140	19.4	14.6	4.7	6.3	114	12.3	13.2	-1.0	0.2
1997	157	22.8	15.9	6.9	8.7	133	17.3	14.5	2.7	4.2
1998	161	23.4	18.7	4.6	6.7	154	20.1	17.8	2.2	4.2
1999	160	23.8	17.9	5.7	7.8	55	6.3	6.5	-0.3	0.3
2000	145	20.1	16.9	2.6	4.3	152	21.4	14.4	6.4	8.1
2001	111	12.8	12.7	-0.1	1.3	150	22.3	15.5	6.5	8.5
2002	70	6.0	6.9	-0.9	-0.3	144	19.7	14.0	5.3	7.0
2003	53	5.3	5.3	-0.1	0.5	137	17.8	14.1	3.4	5.0
2004	83	11.8	8.9	2.7	3.8	153	24.1	13.8	10.0	11.9
2005	128	17.7	17.3	0.0	1.6	142	21.9	14.6	6.9	8.5
2006	109	14.1	13.2	0.7	2.0	110	14.6	12.0	2.4	3.6
2007	144	17.3	17.7	-1.3	0.2	116	11.3	12.7	-1.6	-0.6
2008	143	16.7	15.5	0.6	2.1	110	12.4	11.2	1.0	2.0
2009	117	9.8	9.4	0.2	1.4
2010	33	1.7	2.8	-1.1	-0.8	86	7.9	7.1	0.6	1.3
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,671	342.1	297.2	39.9	70.9	2,009	258.9	207.3	48.2	70.9

Article last updated: September 18, 2019

Wins over positional average and replacement level are calculated using data only for the 2010 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.

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