2012 Season

The 2012 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

Retrosheet has recently updated their play-by-play data to include 2012. I have updated my Player won-lost records to include the 2012 season. I thought it would be worthwhile to look through these new 2012 player won-lost records to see how the 2012 season looks as seen through Player won-lost records.

The Best of 2012

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	Robinson Cano	23.4	17.3	3.4	5.4	1	Robinson Cano	23.4	17.3	3.4	5.4
2	Buster Posey	19.2	12.5	3.2	4.7	2	Mike Trout	22.5	15.5	3.2	5.0
3	Mike Trout	22.5	15.5	3.2	5.0	3	Adam Jones	24.0	18.0	2.7	4.8
4	Yoenis Cespedes	19.5	12.9	3.1	4.7	4	Buster Posey	19.2	12.5	3.2	4.7
5	Adrian Beltre	20.7	14.5	3.0	4.7	5	Adrian Beltre	20.7	14.5	3.0	4.7
6	Adam Jones	24.0	18.0	2.7	4.8	6	Yoenis Cespedes	19.5	12.9	3.1	4.7
7	Clayton Kershaw	15.0	11.3	2.6	3.9	7	Dan Uggla	21.0	16.2	2.5	4.3
8	Justin Verlander	16.4	12.0	2.6	4.0	8	Chase Headley	22.5	16.8	2.4	4.3
9	Kris Medlen	8.8	4.1	2.6	3.3	9	Aramis Ramirez	20.9	15.1	2.5	4.3
10	Dan Uggla	21.0	16.2	2.5	4.3	10	Brandon Phillips	20.8	16.6	2.2	4.0

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	Clayton Kershaw	15.2	11.2	2.8	4.1	1	Ryan J. Braun	24.4	17.8	2.8	4.8
2	Ryan J. Braun	24.4	17.8	2.8	4.8	2	Robinson Cano	22.7	18.3	2.6	4.6
3	Robinson Cano	22.7	18.3	2.6	4.6	3	Mike Trout	21.8	15.9	2.6	4.4
4	Mike Trout	21.8	15.9	2.6	4.4	4	Andrew McCutchen	22.5	16.9	2.3	4.2
5	Cliff P. Lee	15.0	11.6	2.5	3.8	5	Clayton Kershaw	15.2	11.2	2.8	4.1
6	David Price	13.4	9.4	2.3	3.4	6	Chase Headley	21.9	16.9	2.1	4.0
7	Justin Verlander	15.0	11.2	2.3	3.6	7	Miguel Cabrera	22.3	18.1	2.0	3.9
8	Andrew McCutchen	22.5	16.9	2.3	4.2	8	Adrian Beltre	19.8	15.2	2.1	3.8
9	Edwin Encarnacion	17.4	12.2	2.2	3.7	9	Cliff P. Lee	15.0	11.6	2.5	3.8
10	Giancarlo Stanton	18.4	13.3	2.1	3.7	10	Edwin Encarnacion	17.4	12.2	2.2	3.7

Buster Posey won the National League MVP award fairly handily. Player won-lost records generally agrees, with Buster Posey leading all National League players in pWins above both average and replacement level.

There were, however, several other results that seem to warrant further investigation, including a fairly unusual take on the very interesting AL MVP race.

AL MVP Race: Miguel Cabrera v. Mike Trout

Miguel Cabrera was voted American League MVP on the strength of his having won the Triple Crown: leading the American League in batting average (.330), home runs (44), and RBIs (139). The overwhelming consensus of sabermetric commentators, however, was that Mike Trout deserved the award.

So what do Player won-lost records have to say about the Cabrera-Trout debate?

Let's start with the measure of Player won-lost records that is most similar to other sabermetric measures: eWins and eLosses, which are neutralized for context and teammate quality.

	Batting		Baserunning		Fielding		Positional
	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	Average	Repl. Level
Miguel Cabrera	17.0	12.4	1.0	1.0	4.2	5.0	0.504	0.455
Mike Trout	15.0	10.4	2.1	1.3	4.5	4.5	0.507	0.459

Cabrera and Trout are basically dead even in net batting wins (eWins minus eLosses), with Cabrera having more eWins and eLosses, due to his extra 58 plate appearances. Trout breaks the tie with Cabrera, however, with better baserunning and better fielding (although, I notice that Player won-lost records aren't a huge fan of Trout's fielding). Third base and center field are pretty comparable positions in terms of average Player winning percentage, so there's nothing interesting there. Trout was better, although Cabrera makes up some of that gap if you measure vs. replacement level instead of average, because of his extra playing time.

But what about the argument that Cabrera should get credit for getting hot in the last two months and carrying the Tigers to the playoffs (and ultimately, the World Series), while the Angels missed the playoffs entirely. Moving from eWins to pWins puts the performances of Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout in the context of how they contributed to team victories.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Miguel Cabrera	161	22.4	18.1	0.553	2.0	4.0	22.3	18.1	0.552	2.0	3.9
Mike Trout	139	22.5	15.5	0.591	3.2	5.0	21.8	15.9	0.577	2.6	4.4

Context just increases Trout's lead.

AL MVP According to Player Won-Lost Records: Robinson Cano

So Mike Trout should have won the American League MVP award, based on Player won-lost records? Actually, no. It turns out, the best player in the American League, as measured by either pWins or eWins, above average or above replacement level, was actually Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees.

Here's how Cano compares to Trout.

	Batting		Baserunning		Fielding		Positional
	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	eWins	eLosses	Average	Repl. Level
Robinson Cano	16.3	12.5	1.1	1.1	5.2	5.0	0.490	0.442
Mike Trout	15.0	10.4	2.1	1.3	4.5	4.5	0.507	0.459

Trout has a better Batting winning percentage (0.590 to 0.565), but Cano beats him in quantity (Cano had the same number of plate appearances in 2012 as Miguel Cabrera). Trout is a better baserunner (by quite a lot), but (surprisingly, to me) Player won-lost records actually have Cano as the better fielder. Cano also gets credit for playing the position (2B) with the lower average winning percentage.

Put it all together, with and without context, and the comparison looks like this.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Robinson Cano	161	23.4	17.3	0.575	3.4	5.4	22.7	18.3	0.555	2.6	4.6
Mike Trout	139	22.5	15.5	0.591	3.2	5.0	21.8	15.9	0.577	2.6	4.4

They're close, and I certainly don't think a vote for Trout over Cano would be a "mistake". In fact, if you think Player won-lost records are under-valuing Trout's defense (and that's my gut feeling here), you could probably push Trout ahead of Cano fairly easily. But if you take Player won-lost records at face value, there you are: Robinson Cano certainly has a strong argument that he should have won the American League MVP award.

Better in Context: Adam Jones, Yoenis Cespedes

Looking at the top 10 players in pWOPA and pWORL from the beginning of this article, two names that caught my eye were the top position players on the two most surprising playoff teams of 2012: Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles and Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland A's.

The table below shows Player won-lost records for Adam Jones and Yoenis Cespedes both in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Adam Jones	162	24.0	18.0	0.572	2.7	4.8	22.4	19.0	0.540	1.4	3.4
Yoenis Cespedes	129	19.5	12.9	0.602	3.1	4.7	17.0	13.8	0.553	1.4	2.9

The Baltimore Orioles competed with the New York Yankees for the AL East Division title down to the last day of the season. Yet, for most of the season, the Orioles were outscored by their opponents. Comparing their pWins and (context-neutral) eWins, the Orioles won 11.4 more games than would have been expected given their context-neutral stats. Based on the context of his performance, Adam Jones was personally responsible for 1.4 of these extra wins, (12.1%).

As one example of the Orioles' "clutchiness" and Adam Jones's part in it, the Orioles had an incredible 16-2 record in extra-inning games. In extra innings, Adam Jones batted .292/.393/.833, an OPS of 1.226, with 4 home runs and 10 RBIs in 28 plate appearances over 15 games. Overall, in the Orioles 16 extra-inning wins, Jones drove in the winning run 5 times (4 via home run) and scored the winning run another 4 times. Yep, he scored or drove in the winning run in over half of the Orioles' extra-inning wins!

As impressive as Jones was in context, Cespedes might have been even better. His OPS by leverage (high/med/low): 1.067/0.959/0.688. His OPS in extra innings: 1.500.

Adam Jones played every game for the Orioles in 2012, so it's impossible to say how much worse off the team would have done without him. Yoenis Cespedes, on the other hand, missed 33 games in 2012. And how did the A's do without him in the lineup? They went 12-21 without him (12-22 in games he didn't start). That translates into a 59-103 record over 162 games. With Cespedes in the starting lineup, the A's went 82-46, the equivalent of a 104-58 record over 162 games. Fluke? Sure, and I'm not suggesting he was worth an extra 35 wins or anything like that. But the timing of his hits, like those of Jones, translated into real wins for his team.

Worse in Context: Ryan Braun, Andrew McCutchen

While some players, such as Adam Jones and Yoenis Cespedes, were better in context than their raw context-neutral statistics might suggest, the reverse was also true. Some players' statistics did not translate into team victories to the extent that might have been expected. Two players who appear in the top 10 lists for eWOPA and eWORL at the top of this article but not for pWOPA and pWORL are Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers and Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Ryan Braun	154	21.9	18.1	0.547	1.3	3.3	24.4	17.8	0.579	2.8	4.8
Andrew McCutchen	157	22.0	18.0	0.550	1.4	3.4	22.5	16.9	0.572	2.3	4.2

Neither the Milwaukee Brewers (26.7 pWins, 28.4 eWins) nor the Pittsburgh Pirates (22.7 pWins, 23.0 eWins) were notably good or bad at converting expected wins into actual wins. What the two teams did have in common, however, was that both teams' best player looks worse in context.

Ryan Braun's OPS by leverage (high/med/low) in 2012 was .894/.997/1.007. None of those numbers are bad, of course, they'd just be a bit more valuable if they were reversed.

The numbers aren't quite as dramatic for Andrew McCutchen (high/med/low), .885/1.066/.900. Again, an .885 OPS in high-leverage situations is well above-average, just not up to the level of McCutchen's overall OPS of .953.

Where Did That Come From? Kris Medlen

In the top 10 lists for pWOPA and pWORL above, only one player appears who had fewer than 15 pWins: Kris Medlen. From my perspective, the greatness of Kris Medlen's season really came out of nowhere. I only became vaguely aware that he was even having a great season some time in either August or September.

Looking at Kris Medlen's career through 2011, it's easy to see why I didn't see this coming. Up to that point, he had amassed a career pWin-pLoss record of 8.7 - 8.3, good for 0.4 pWOPA and 1.4 pWORL.

Then 2012 happened and Kris Medlen put up this line.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Kris Medlen	50	8.8	4.1	0.684	2.6	3.3	8.0	4.9	0.623	1.8	2.5

Earning 2.6 pWOPA on only 8.8 pWins is remarkable and struck me as probably being pretty damn rare. In fact, here are all of the players who have earned 2.5 or more pWOPA in a season in which they amassed fewer than 9.0 pWins since 1947.

			pWOPA>2.5, pWins<9
Player	Team	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
Tim Burke	MON	1987	7.6	2.5	2.7	3.3
Eric Gagne	LAN	2003	8.3	2.7	2.7	3.5
Frankie Rodriguez	ANA	2006	8.8	3.2	2.6	3.4
Kris Medlen	ATL	2012	8.8	4.1	2.6	3.3
Rod Beck	SFN	1993	8.6	3.4	2.6	3.3
Heath Bell	SDN	2010	8.7	3.4	2.5	3.4

Same Team, Different Context: Aramis Ramirez v. Ryan Braun

Finally, in looking at the top 10 lists at the top of this article, I noticed that a Milwaukee Brewer made the top 10 in both eWORL and pWORL. But it was a different Brewer on the two lists: Aramis Ramirez at #9 on the pWORL list and Ryan Braun at #1 in eWORL, but nowhere to be found on the pWORL list.

That's kind of interesting: Braun was clearly the better Brewer, but Aramis Ramirez might have been the most valuable Brewer.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Ryan Braun	154	21.9	18.1	0.547	1.3	3.3	24.4	17.8	0.579	2.8	4.8
Aramis Ramirez	149	20.9	15.1	0.581	2.5	4.3	19.3	15.3	0.557	1.6	3.3

As noted above, the Brewers as a team were not particularly noteworthy in terms of eWins vs. pWins, in either a good or a bad way. But what about Braun and Ramirez?

Looking at Ryan Braun's batting splits, one can see some un-clutchiness if you look for it. As noted above, his OPS by leverage (high/med/low) was .894/.997/1.007. Of course, an OPS of .894 is nothing to sneeze at; it's just not the .987 that Braun put up overall. Similarly, with two outs and runners in scoring position, Braun's OPS was .900; late and close, it was .951; in extra innings, it was .866. Overall, Ryan Braun came to bat with 402 teammates on base; he drove in 71 of them (17.7%).

Looking at Aramis Ramirez's splits, you can see the opposite (if you go looking for it). Late and close, his OPS was .998; in extra innings, it was 1.194. Overall, Aramis Ramirez came to bat with 418 teammates on base; he drove in 78 of them, or 18.7%.

Does this mean that Aramis Ramirez was a better baseball player in 2012 than Ryan Braun? No. Does this mean that Aramis Ramirez had a better season in 2012 than Braun? Maybe. Does this mean that Aramis Ramirez's performance translated into team victories at a better rate than Ryan Braun's? Yeah, probably.

2012 Postseason

The 2012 postseason began with the first-ever wild-card play-in games, which were highlighted by a disputed invocation of the infield fly rule. It ended with the San Francisco Giants winning their second World Series in three years.

Overall, the best players in the 2012 postseason, as measured by pWins over replacement level were Ryan Vogelsong and Gregor Blanco.

	2012 Postseason: Total
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Ryan Vogelsong	SFN	2.1	0.9	0.8
Gregor Blanco	SFN	2.5	1.2	0.8

Top postseason players by round were as follows.

	2012 Postseason: World Series
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Gregor Blanco	SFN	1.0	0.3	0.4
Pablo Sandoval	SFN	1.0	0.3	0.4

	2012 Postseason: League Championship Series
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Marco Scutaro	SFN	1.6	0.8	0.5
Ryan Vogelsong	SFN	1.2	0.5	0.5
Delmon Young	DET	1.0	0.3	0.4
Matt Carpenter	SLN	0.8	0.1	0.4

	2012 Postseason: Division Series
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
C.C. Sabathia	NYA	1.7	0.5	0.7
Justin Verlander	DET	1.4	0.4	0.6

	2012 Postseason: Wild Card Round
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Joe Saunders	BAL	0.5	0.2	0.2
Matt Holliday	SLN	0.4	0.0	0.2
Kyle Lohse	SLN	0.5	0.3	0.2

Best of 2012 by Factor and Position

Next, let's look at the top players in (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) eWins over Positional Average 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 2012 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ryan J. Braun	16.6	11.3	2.5
Edwin Encarnacion	15.0	10.2	2.3
Miguel Cabrera	17.0	12.4	2.2
Mike Trout	15.0	10.4	2.2

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Tony Campana	1.3	0.4	0.4
Coco Crisp	1.5	0.8	0.4
Mike Trout	2.1	1.3	0.4
Desmond Jennings	1.3	0.6	0.4

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Clayton Kershaw	12.6	9.2	3.4
Kris Medlen	7.4	4.3	3.1
David Price	11.6	8.7	2.9
Justin Verlander	13.1	10.4	2.7
Felix Hernandez	12.7	10.3	2.4

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Cliff P. Lee	1.2	0.3	0.9

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Salvador Perez	1.2	0.7	0.6

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Adrian Gonzalez	3.1	2.3	0.8

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Darwin Barney	5.5	4.2	1.3

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
David Wright	4.9	4.1	0.8

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
J.J. Hardy	6.8	5.8	1.0

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Martin Prado	4.2	3.3	0.9

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Michael Bourn	5.6	4.4	1.2

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Alexis Rios	7.0	5.5	1.5

Best by Position

Next, we look at 2012 Major-League leaders in eWOPA by position. The figures shown here only include Player decisions earned while playing this particular position, and include no contextual adjustments (expected or actual).

	Catcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Yadier Molina	15.2	12.2	1.5
Carlos Ruiz	11.7	8.8	1.5
Buster Posey	13.7	10.8	1.5

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Joey Votto	14.2	9.9	1.7

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Robinson Cano	21.5	17.8	2.3

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Chase Headley	21.7	17.0	2.0

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Asdrubal Cabrera	18.1	16.7	1.2

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ryan J. Braun	24.0	17.9	2.5

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Andrew McCutchen	22.5	17.0	2.2

Incidentally, Mike Trout was 2^nd in center field eWOPA, in 110 games, and 8^th in left field eWOPA, in only 67 games (29 starts).

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Giancarlo Stanton	18.2	13.2	2.1

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Clayton Kershaw	12.6	9.4	1.9
Cliff P. Lee	13.0	10.0	1.8
David Price	11.9	9.0	1.7

Coming in just below David Price in eWOPA as a starting pitcher is Justin Verlander. A comparison of these two players makes for an interesting contrast between wins over average versus wins over replacement.

The next table compares Price and Verlander in raw context-neutral pitching wins. Verlander has more raw wins, but Price has a better winning percentage.

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	Win Pct.	eWOPA
David Price	11.9	9.0	0.569	1.7
Justin Verlander	13.0	10.6	0.550	1.5

Raw pitching wins are converted into overall player wins by incorporating context (expected in the case of eWins, actual in the case of pWins), as well as pitcher offense (which is a fairly trivial consideration for two American League pitchers). The results for Price and Verlander are shown next.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
David Price	31	13.7	9.6	0.588	2.4	3.5	13.4	9.4	0.586	2.29	3.4
Justin Verlander	33	16.4	12.0	0.577	2.6	4.0	15.0	11.2	0.573	2.27	3.6

David Price just barely edged out Justin Verlander for the American League Cy Young award. Using Player won-lost record as a guide, the question of whether that was a good call depends on whether you prefer wins over average (WOPA) or wins over replacement (WORL) (and whether you prefer eWins or pWins) and by how much.

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Fernando Rodney	4.5	2.1	1.0

Two other relief pitchers besides Rodney had particularly noteworthy 2012 seasons: Craig Kimbrel, who struck out over half of the batters he faced (116 of 231), and Aroldis Chapman, who struck out 122 batters in 71.2 innings.

For relief pitchers, context-neutral records may not be the best measure of how good they are, as context can matter a great deal, depending on how a pitcher is used. Here are how Rodney, Kimbrel, and Chapman compare in context, in terms of pWins and pWOPA.

	Top Relief Pitcher in Context
	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
Craig Kimbrel	7.1	2.4	2.1
Fernando Rodney	7.7	3.3	1.9
Aroldis Chapman	7.5	3.9	1.5

	Designated Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Edwin Encarnacion	8.5	6.0	1.1
David Ortiz	8.7	6.3	1.0

2012 was something of a down year for the use of full-time DHs. The top DH in eWOPA, Edwin Encarnacion, only played the position in 82 games, amassing fewer than 10 Player wins at the position.

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

	Pitcher Offense
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Mike Leake	1.2	1.2	0.5

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Travis Buck	1.2	0.2	0.5

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Carlos Gomez	0.4	0.0	0.2

Noteworthy Players of 2012

Finally, let's take a look at some players who had noteworthy 2012 seasons.

Hello Young

One of the big storylines of 2012 was the influx of great young talent. Two players in particular caught the attention of Major League Baseball fans everywhere based partly on the impressive seasons they had, but also, based on how young they were while having these seasons.

Bryce Harper burst onto the scene for the Washington Nationals at the tender age of 19 and put up a season that was good enough to win him the National League Rookie of the Year award. It was also a season that ranked among the best ever for a 19-year-old. The table below shows the records of every player who earned at least 20 Player decisions in his 19-year-old season, sorted by pWORL.

			Best 19-Year-Olds of the Retrosheet Era
Player	Team	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
Dwight Gooden	NYN	1984	16.5	11.7	3.2	4.4
Wally Bunker	BAL	1964	13.8	10.7	2.1	3.5
Gary Nolan	CIN	1967	15.4	12.5	2.0	3.3
Bryce Harper	WAS	2012	19.4	16.0	1.2	2.9
Mickey Mantle	NYA	1951	13.1	9.2	1.7	2.9
Ray Sadecki	SLN	1960	11.6	11.5	0.6	1.7
Larry Dierker	HOU	1966	11.0	10.7	0.6	1.6
Bert Blyleven	MIN	1970	10.4	10.6	0.3	1.3
Tony Conigliaro	BOS	1964	13.4	13.0	-0.4	1.2
Ken Griffey Jr.	SEA	1989	14.8	15.2	-0.2	1.1
Mike McCormick	SFN	1958	11.2	12.2	-0.1	1.0
Cesar Cedeno	HOU	1970	11.1	11.2	-0.4	0.9
Robin Yount	MIL	1975	15.3	18.8	-0.8	0.8
Al Kaline	DET	1954	14.3	16.1	-1.1	0.7
Ted Kazanski	PHI	1953	9.2	11.1	-0.7	0.4
Rusty Staub	HOU	1963	16.1	17.8	-1.6	0.3
Ed Kranepool	NYN	1964	10.4	12.6	-1.6	-0.2
Bobby Del Greco	PIT	1952	8.9	12.6	-2.0	-0.9

By pWORL, Bryce Harper had the 4^th-best season by a 19-year-old in the past 60+ years. Not bad at all.

Meanwhile, in the American League, there was a player who was one year older than Harper making a lot of noise too.

			Best 20-Year-Olds of the Retrosheet Era
Player	Team	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
Dwight Gooden	NYN	1985	22.0	11.0	6.5	8.2
Mickey Mantle	NYA	1952	22.0	15.0	3.2	5.2
Mike Trout	ANA	2012	22.5	15.5	3.2	5.0
Fernando Valenzuela	LAN	1981	15.5	10.6	3.1	4.4
Al Kaline	DET	1955	22.8	17.7	1.7	4.0
Claudell Washington	OAK	1975	21.9	17.5	1.9	3.8
Bert Blyleven	MIN	1971	18.3	15.8	2.0	3.7
Frank Robinson	CIN	1956	22.3	17.9	1.3	3.5
Milt Pappas	BAL	1959	14.6	11.8	1.9	3.2
Vada Pinson	CIN	1959	23.9	21.2	0.6	3.2
Roberto Alomar	SDN	1988	19.3	16.5	1.5	3.2
Dave Rozema	DET	1977	13.0	9.6	1.9	3.0
Jason Heyward	ATL	2010	20.1	16.3	1.2	2.9
Ray Sadecki	SLN	1961	15.9	14.6	1.3	2.8
Jerry Walker	BAL	1959	12.7	10.4	1.6	2.8
Andruw Jones	ATL	1997	17.0	13.9	1.2	2.7
Johnny Bench	CIN	1968	15.1	13.6	1.0	2.6
Don Gullett	CIN	1971	14.0	12.5	1.3	2.6
Alan Trammell	DET	1978	14.0	12.9	1.2	2.4
Butch Wynegar	MIN	1976	15.1	13.9	1.0	2.4
Dennis Eckersley	CLE	1975	12.1	9.6	1.3	2.4
Hank Aaron	MLN	1954	16.9	14.8	0.5	2.4
Jim Palmer	BAL	1966	14.6	14.0	0.8	2.2
Cesar Cedeno	HOU	1971	20.7	19.6	-0.0	2.2
Elvis Andrus	TEX	2009	15.3	14.7	0.7	2.1

Goodbye Old

At the opposite extreme from Harper and Trout were the two oldest players to appear in Major League Baseball in 2012: 45-year-old Omar Vizquel and 49-year-old Jamie Moyer. Vizquel has already announced that 2012 was his last season. It is probably also the end of the line for Moyer as well. Here is how the recently-completed careers of Vizquel and Moyer look in Player won-lost records.

Year	Games	Wins	Losses	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	Wins	Losses	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Omar Vizquel						Jamie Moyer
1986							16	6.4	6.3	0.504	0.3	0.9
1987							39	12.6	15.8	0.445	-0.8	0.6
1988							34	11.1	13.8	0.445	-0.9	0.3
1989	143	10.7	13.4	0.444	-1.0	0.1	15	4.6	6.5	0.417	-0.8	-0.3
1990	81	7.0	8.9	0.441	-0.7	0.1	33	4.0	4.9	0.453	-0.5	0.0
1991	142	13.7	13.2	0.509	0.6	1.9	8	1.4	2.8	0.339	-0.6	-0.4
1992	136	14.5	16.8	0.462	-0.6	0.9
1993	158	17.2	19.2	0.472	-0.5	1.3	25	9.4	7.2	0.566	1.2	2.0
1994	69	7.3	9.0	0.448	-0.5	0.3	23	7.1	7.5	0.484	-0.2	0.6
1995	136	17.7	15.0	0.541	2.0	3.6	27	6.2	6.0	0.511	0.2	0.9
1996	151	17.0	17.1	0.497	0.5	2.2	34	8.4	7.0	0.546	0.8	1.7
1997	153	17.4	16.6	0.512	1.1	2.7	30	12.3	10.0	0.552	1.4	2.7
1998	151	18.0	17.4	0.508	0.9	2.6	34	14.6	11.9	0.551	1.6	3.0
1999	144	21.0	15.6	0.573	3.3	5.1	32	13.0	10.7	0.549	1.3	2.6
2000	156	16.9	17.5	0.492	0.3	2.1	26	9.8	9.7	0.502	0.2	1.2
2001	155	15.8	17.2	0.479	-0.2	1.6	33	13.5	9.0	0.599	2.5	3.7
2002	151	18.7	18.4	0.503	0.6	2.5	34	12.5	10.6	0.541	1.2	2.4
2003	64	8.3	7.9	0.513	0.4	1.2	33	13.8	9.6	0.589	2.3	3.7
2004	148	16.8	17.6	0.489	0.0	1.8	34	10.5	13.1	0.445	-1.1	0.3
2005	152	17.0	17.7	0.490	-0.2	1.5	32	11.8	10.3	0.534	0.9	2.1
2006	153	17.9	18.5	0.492	-0.1	1.6	33	12.3	13.0	0.486	-0.0	1.3
2007	145	14.1	16.5	0.461	-1.2	0.3	34	12.4	14.9	0.453	-0.5	0.9
2008	92	6.3	8.4	0.429	-0.9	-0.2	33	11.8	11.0	0.518	1.0	2.2
2009	62	5.0	4.1	0.550	0.5	0.9	30	9.6	11.8	0.447	-0.6	0.6
2010	108	10.0	9.8	0.505	0.2	1.1	19	6.8	8.7	0.438	-0.7	0.2
2011	58	4.8	6.1	0.444	-0.5	-0.0
2012	60	3.3	4.7	0.414	-0.6	-0.2	10	3.4	4.8	0.416	-0.5	-0.1
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,968	316.5	326.7	0.492	3.5	34.8	701	239.4	236.9	0.503	7.6	33.3

And Finally, Farewell to a Hall of Famer

Finally, 2012 was the final season in at least one (highly probable) Hall of Fame career: Chipper Jones. For his career, Jones is among the top 20 players in both pWOPA and pWORL among players for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1993	ATL	21	7	0.0	0.0	0.175	-0.0	-0.0	0.2	0.1	0.738	0.1	0.1
1995	ATL	23	140	20.1	15.8	0.560	1.7	3.5	17.4	15.9	0.522	0.4	2.0
1996	ATL	24	157	22.3	16.7	0.572	2.6	4.5	21.2	16.6	0.562	2.1	4.0
1997	ATL	25	157	20.9	17.4	0.545	1.4	3.3	19.7	17.2	0.534	1.0	2.8
1998	ATL	26	160	23.9	16.0	0.598	3.6	5.6	22.2	17.0	0.566	2.3	4.2
1999	ATL	27	157	22.7	15.3	0.597	3.5	5.4	21.7	16.2	0.572	2.5	4.4
2000	ATL	28	156	21.2	16.2	0.567	2.4	4.4	20.3	16.4	0.554	1.9	3.9
2001	ATL	29	159	20.7	16.1	0.563	2.0	4.0	20.7	15.7	0.569	2.2	4.2
2002	ATL	30	158	24.2	17.6	0.579	2.5	4.6	22.5	17.2	0.566	1.8	3.8
2003	ATL	31	153	21.2	17.1	0.553	1.2	3.1	19.9	17.5	0.532	0.4	2.3
2004	ATL	32	137	17.1	13.0	0.567	1.5	3.1	15.5	13.1	0.543	0.8	2.2
2005	ATL	33	109	16.2	10.6	0.605	2.6	3.8	13.8	10.2	0.576	1.6	2.7
2006	ATL	34	110	13.5	12.3	0.523	0.2	1.5	15.0	11.9	0.559	1.2	2.5
2007	ATL	35	134	19.5	14.3	0.577	2.2	3.8	19.2	13.7	0.583	2.4	3.9
2008	ATL	36	128	15.8	12.2	0.564	1.5	2.8	16.8	12.0	0.583	2.1	3.5
2009	ATL	37	143	16.2	14.4	0.529	0.7	2.2	15.5	14.7	0.514	0.3	1.7
2010	ATL	38	95	12.2	9.5	0.563	1.3	2.3	10.8	9.1	0.543	0.7	1.7
2011	ATL	39	126	15.1	12.9	0.540	1.1	2.5	14.7	12.9	0.531	0.9	2.2
2012	ATL	40	112	14.2	11.5	0.553	1.1	2.3	13.2	11.6	0.531	0.5	1.7
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,498	336.9	259.0	0.565	33.3	62.6	320.5	259.1	0.553	25.2	53.7
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			93	11.6	10.9	0.517		1.3	11.4	10.9	0.512		1.2
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			2,591	348.5	269.8	0.565		63.8	331.9	269.9	0.553		54.8

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