2002 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
Home List of Articles

2002 Season

The 2002 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

Next in my continuing series of looking at individual sesons through the prism of Player won-lost records is the 2002 season.

The Best of 2002

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	Barry Bonds	24.5	12.6	11.1	13.0	1	Barry Bonds	24.5	12.6	11.1	13.0
2	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	19.0	10.5	9.6	11.5	2	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	19.0	10.5	9.6	11.5
3	Miguel Tejada	26.5	19.0	8.4	10.8	3	Miguel Tejada	26.5	19.0	8.4	10.8
4	Pedro J. Martinez	14.8	7.5	7.6	9.2	4	Pedro J. Martinez	14.8	7.5	7.6	9.2
5	Jeff Kent	23.9	17.3	6.9	9.0	5	Jeff Kent	23.9	17.3	6.9	9.0
6	Jason Giambi	20.3	12.5	6.8	8.7	6	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	26.3	18.2	6.6	8.9
7	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	26.3	18.2	6.6	8.9	7	Jason Giambi	20.3	12.5	6.8	8.7
8	Curt Schilling	18.1	13.1	6.5	8.4	8	Curt Schilling	18.1	13.1	6.5	8.4
9	John Smoltz	10.3	4.0	6.0	7.6	9	Chipper Jones	23.6	16.4	5.9	7.9
10	Chipper Jones	23.6	16.4	5.9	7.9	10	Barry Zito	16.1	10.6	5.8	7.7

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	Barry Bonds	24.3	12.8	10.6	12.5	1	Barry Bonds	24.3	12.8	10.6	12.5
2	Curt Schilling	18.0	13.1	6.3	8.2	2	Alex Rodriguez	22.9	17.3	6.2	8.3
3	Alex Rodriguez	22.9	17.3	6.2	8.3	3	Curt Schilling	18.0	13.1	6.3	8.2
4	Pedro J. Martinez	14.1	8.3	6.2	7.7	4	Jim Thome	19.9	12.5	6.1	7.9
5	Jim Thome	19.9	12.5	6.1	7.9	5	Pedro J. Martinez	14.1	8.3	6.2	7.7
6	Derek Lowe	13.6	8.3	5.6	7.2	6	Roy Halladay	15.4	10.3	5.5	7.3
7	Roy Halladay	15.4	10.3	5.5	7.3	7	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	25.6	19.0	5.0	7.3
8	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	16.7	12.8	5.3	7.2	8	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	16.7	12.8	5.3	7.2
9	Jim Edmonds	19.6	14.0	5.2	7.0	9	Derek Lowe	13.6	8.3	5.6	7.2
10	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	25.6	19.0	5.0	7.3	10	Jeff Kent	22.9	18.2	4.9	7.1

I take a look at some of the most interesting players of 2002 at the end of this article.

2002 Postseason

The 2002 postseason ended with the Anaheim Angels winning the first World Series in their franchise history, just preventing the San Francisco Giants from winning their first World Series since moving to San Francisco.

The best players in the 2002 postseason, as measured by Player won-lost records, are shown in the next table.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	pWORL
	2002 Postseason: Total

Troy Glaus	ANA	2.4	1.3	1.3
Rich Aurilia	SFN	2.8	1.9	1.2
Scott Spiezio	ANA	2.2	1.2	1.1
Robb Nen	SFN	1.5	0.7	1.0
John Lackey	ANA	1.4	0.8	0.9
David Bell	SFN	2.0	1.3	0.9
Tim Salmon	ANA	2.5	1.8	0.9
J.T. Snow	SFN	2.2	1.3	0.8
Jason Schmidt	SFN	1.9	1.3	0.8
Adam Kennedy	ANA	1.8	1.2	0.8

Top postseason players by round were as follows.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2002 World Series

Troy Glaus	ANA	1.1	0.6	0.5
Jason Schmidt	SFN	1.0	0.6	0.4
Tim Salmon	ANA	1.3	0.9	0.4
J.T. Snow	SFN	0.9	0.6	0.3
Scott Spiezio	ANA	0.9	0.5	0.3

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2002 Postseason: League Championship Series

Rich Aurilia	SFN	1.1	0.5	0.7
Kenny Lofton	CHA	1.0	0.5	0.5
Barry Bonds	SFN	1.0	0.4	0.5
John Lackey	ANA	0.5	0.1	0.5
Scott Spiezio	ANA	0.8	0.3	0.5

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2002 Postseason: Division Series

Vinny Castilla	ATL	1.1	0.4	0.7
J.T. Snow	SFN	0.9	0.3	0.6
Troy Glaus	ANA	0.7	0.2	0.5
Garret Anderson	ANA	0.8	0.3	0.5
A.J. Pierzynski	MIN	0.8	0.3	0.5

Best of 2002 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 2002 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	Barry Bonds	17.6	7.5	9.9	1	Barry Bonds	18.0	7.0	10.8
2	Jim Thome	16.8	9.5	7.4	2	Jason Giambi	18.2	10.0	8.2
3	Jason Giambi	17.1	11.2	5.9	3	Jim Thome	16.7	9.6	7.1
4	Brian S. Giles	15.7	9.7	5.6	4	Jeff Kent	17.6	11.2	6.0
5	Manny Ramirez	14.3	8.8	5.5	5	Gary Sheffield	14.9	8.8	5.8
6	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	16.9	11.3	5.2	6	Shawn Green	16.5	10.6	5.5
7	Sammy Sosa	15.1	9.8	5.0	7	Chipper Jones	16.4	10.5	5.4
8	Alex Rodriguez	15.6	10.9	4.7	8	Miguel Tejada	17.6	12.2	5.4
9	Lance Berkman	15.9	10.9	4.6	9	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	17.0	11.2	5.3
10	Ryan Klesko	14.6	9.9	4.4	10	Lance Berkman	16.3	10.6	5.3

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Baserunning
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Luis A. Castillo	2.6	1.7	0.8	1	Luis A. Castillo	2.8	1.4	1.3
2	Dave R. Roberts	1.8	1.0	0.7	2	Rafael Furcal	2.1	1.2	0.9
3	Johnny Damon	1.8	1.0	0.7	3	Tony Womack	2.0	1.0	0.9
4	Preston Wilson	1.6	0.9	0.7	4	Dave R. Roberts	1.8	1.0	0.8
5	Ray Durham	1.5	0.9	0.6	5	Darin Erstad	1.4	0.7	0.7
6	Darin Erstad	1.4	0.7	0.6	6	Juan Pierre	2.2	1.4	0.7
7	Jerry Hairston Jr.	1.0	0.5	0.5	7	David Eckstein	1.9	1.2	0.7
8	Juan Pierre	2.1	1.5	0.5	8	Ray Durham	1.5	0.9	0.6
9	Tom Goodwin	1.0	0.4	0.5	9	Jerry Hairston Jr.	1.1	0.5	0.6
10	Andy Fox	1.7	1.2	0.5	10	Derek Jeter	1.4	0.9	0.6

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Pitching
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLoss	Net pWins
1	Pedro J. Martinez	13.4	8.5	5.0	1	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	18.1	8.7	9.4
2	Curt Schilling	16.2	11.3	4.8	2	Pedro J. Martinez	14.7	7.2	7.5
3	Derek Lowe	12.9	8.3	4.6	3	John Smoltz	10.1	3.8	6.3
4	Roy Halladay	14.5	10.2	4.3	4	Curt Schilling	16.8	10.7	6.2
5	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	15.4	11.4	4.0	5	Barry Zito	15.8	9.9	5.9
6	Roy Oswalt	14.1	10.5	3.6	6	Eric Gagne	9.1	3.4	5.7
7	John Smoltz	8.7	5.2	3.5	7	Roy Halladay	15.1	9.5	5.6
8	Kevin Millwood	12.8	9.8	3.0	8	Jarrod Washburn	13.4	8.4	4.9
9	Eric Gagne	7.7	4.8	2.9	9	Robb Nen	8.1	3.4	4.7
10	Octavio Dotel	6.7	3.8	2.8	10	Billy Koch	10.3	5.7	4.6

Fielding by Position


Fielding, P
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Livan Hernandez	1.0	0.3	0.7	1	Livan Hernandez	0.9	0.4	0.5
2	Jose Mesa	0.4	0.1	0.3	2	Mike Bacsik Jr.	0.4	0.1	0.4
3	Kirk Rueter	0.4	0.1	0.3	3	Jose Mesa	0.4	0.1	0.3
4	Tim Spooneybarger	0.3	0.1	0.3	4	Kirk Rueter	0.4	0.1	0.3
5	Tony Armas Jr.	0.4	0.1	0.3	5	Tom Glavine	0.5	0.2	0.3


Fielding, C
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Mike Matheny	1.5	0.9	0.6	1	Mike Matheny	1.4	0.9	0.5
2	Mike Redmond	1.1	0.7	0.4	2	Corky Miller	0.7	0.3	0.4
3	Corky Miller	0.6	0.3	0.3	3	Bengie Molina	1.3	0.9	0.4
4	Brad Ausmus	1.6	1.2	0.3	4	Michael Barrett	1.6	1.3	0.4
5	Brian Schneider	0.9	0.6	0.2	5	Brian Schneider	0.9	0.5	0.4


Fielding, 1B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Tino Martinez	2.7	2.0	0.7	1	Tino Martinez	2.8	1.9	0.9
2	Steve Cox	2.3	1.6	0.7	2	Scott Hatteberg	1.9	1.0	0.9
3	Todd Helton	3.6	2.9	0.7	3	Scott Spiezio	2.1	1.3	0.8
4	Scott Spiezio	1.9	1.4	0.5	4	Julio Franco	1.7	1.0	0.7
5	Scott Hatteberg	1.7	1.3	0.4	5	Doug Mientkiewicz	2.1	1.5	0.5


Fielding, 2B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Adam Kennedy	5.3	4.4	0.9	1	Adam Kennedy	5.4	4.3	1.2
2	Todd Walker	5.8	5.1	0.7	2	Pokey Reese	5.3	4.3	1.0
3	Pokey Reese	5.1	4.5	0.6	3	Fernando Vina	5.6	4.8	0.8
4	Jerry Hairston Jr.	4.2	3.8	0.4	4	Alfonso Soriano	6.0	5.2	0.8
5	Alfonso Soriano	5.8	5.4	0.4	5	Keith Lockhart	3.2	2.5	0.7


Fielding, 3B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Placido Polanco	4.0	3.1	0.9	1	Adrian Beltre	5.2	3.2	2.0
2	Scott Rolen	5.1	4.2	0.9	2	Eric Chavez	5.5	3.7	1.8
3	Robin Ventura	4.6	3.9	0.7	3	Placido Polanco	4.2	3.0	1.1
4	Edgardo Alfonzo	4.4	3.8	0.6	4	Robin Ventura	4.7	3.8	1.0
5	Craig Counsell	2.6	2.0	0.6	5	Aaron Boone	4.9	3.9	0.9


Fielding, SS
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Juan Uribe	6.8	5.8	1.0	1	Miguel Tejada	7.9	6.0	2.0
2	Mike Bordick	5.1	4.0	1.0	2	Rafael Furcal	7.3	5.8	1.4
3	Jack Wilson	6.2	5.2	1.0	3	Cesar Izturis	4.1	3.2	0.9
4	Rey Ordonez	5.5	4.7	0.8	4	Jack Wilson	6.1	5.3	0.8
5	Rich Aurilia	4.7	4.1	0.6	5	Rey Ordonez	5.5	4.7	0.8


Fielding, LF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Jacque Jones	6.2	5.4	0.8	1	Jacque Jones	6.7	4.9	1.8
2	Chipper Jones	5.8	5.1	0.7	2	Adam Dunn	4.9	3.7	1.2
3	Desi Relaford	1.2	0.5	0.7	3	Chipper Jones	5.9	4.9	1.0
4	Garret Anderson	5.5	4.8	0.6	4	Barry Bonds	5.4	4.4	0.9
5	Geoff Jenkins	2.8	2.2	0.6	5	Brian Jordan	4.7	3.8	0.9


Fielding, CF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Terrence Long	6.6	5.7	1.0	1	Darin Erstad	7.0	4.3	2.7
2	Jim Edmonds	5.4	4.5	0.9	2	Steve Finley	4.6	3.2	1.4
3	Tsuyoshi Shinjo	4.3	3.5	0.8	3	Jim Edmonds	5.6	4.3	1.4
4	Mike Cameron	5.2	4.6	0.7	4	Mike Cameron	5.4	4.4	1.1
5	Aaron Rowand	2.6	2.0	0.6	5	Aaron Rowand	2.8	1.8	1.0


Fielding, RF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Robert Fick	7.6	6.4	1.2	1	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	7.7	5.6	2.1
2	Reggie L. Sanders	6.4	5.2	1.2	2	Austin Kearns	4.4	2.6	1.8
3	Austin Kearns	4.1	3.0	1.1	3	Reggie L. Sanders	6.5	5.1	1.4
4	Alex Ochoa	2.8	2.0	0.8	4	Gary Matthews Jr.	3.4	2.0	1.4
5	Gary Matthews Jr.	3.1	2.3	0.8	5	Eli Marrero	2.3	1.1	1.2

Best by Position

Next, we look at 2002 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	Jorge Posada	15.0	13.5	2.9	1	Jorge Posada	16.3	12.2	5.4
2	Mike Piazza	13.4	11.9	2.4	2	Benito Santiago	12.8	12.0	1.8
3	Ivan Rodriguez	9.7	8.2	2.4	3	Mike Redmond	6.7	5.5	1.6
4	Mike Lieberthal	11.9	11.0	1.8	4	Brian Schneider	5.7	4.4	1.6
5	Michael Barrett	9.6	8.8	1.5	5	A.J. Pierzynski	10.0	9.5	1.5


First Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jim Thome	17.8	11.4	5.4	1	Jason Giambi	13.7	7.7	5.2
2	Jason Giambi	12.8	8.5	3.4	2	Jim Thome	17.5	11.7	4.7
3	Todd Helton	19.5	14.4	3.3	3	John Olerud	18.6	13.5	3.7
4	Carlos Delgado	17.4	13.4	2.7	4	Erubiel Durazo	8.4	4.7	3.0
5	Mike Sweeney	12.7	9.2	2.6	5	Jeff Bagwell	19.6	14.8	2.8


Second Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jeff Kent	21.9	17.8	4.5	1	Jeff Kent	23.3	16.5	7.1
2	Alfonso Soriano	22.2	19.5	3.6	2	Alfonso Soriano	22.6	19.1	4.3
3	Jose Vidro	20.6	18.6	2.4	3	Junior Spivey	19.0	15.1	4.3
4	Mark Bellhorn	8.7	6.9	2.0	4	Bret Boone	21.2	17.9	4.1
5	Adam Kennedy	14.5	13.1	2.0	5	Jose Vidro	20.9	18.4	2.8


Third Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Scott Rolen	21.7	18.1	3.4	1	Eric Chavez	20.1	15.1	5.2
2	Edgardo Alfonzo	16.2	13.1	2.9	2	Troy Glaus	19.6	14.7	5.1
3	Robin Ventura	15.9	13.4	2.7	3	Robin Ventura	16.8	12.4	4.5
4	Troy Glaus	18.3	16.0	2.4	4	Scott Rolen	22.3	17.6	4.4
5	Eric Chavez	18.5	16.7	2.0	5	Corey Koskie	18.0	14.1	4.0


Shortstop
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Alex Rodriguez	22.5	17.5	5.7	1	Miguel Tejada	26.5	19.0	8.4
2	Nomar Garciaparra	21.6	19.2	3.3	2	Alex Rodriguez	21.7	18.2	4.4
3	Miguel Tejada	23.8	21.7	3.1	3	Nomar Garciaparra	22.1	18.7	4.3
4	Jose Hernandez	18.7	16.4	2.7	4	Edgar Renteria	20.6	17.3	3.7
5	Derek Jeter	19.3	18.2	1.9	5	Derek Jeter	19.9	17.5	3.2


Left Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Barry Bonds	23.1	12.8	9.3	1	Barry Bonds	24.0	12.8	11.3
2	Chipper Jones	22.5	17.2	3.8	2	Chipper Jones	23.6	17.2	6.2
3	Brian S. Giles	22.1	17.4	3.5	3	Jacque Jones	20.7	16.5	4.9
4	Pat Burrell	21.7	17.6	2.6	4	Albert Pujols	16.1	12.3	3.5
5	Albert Pujols	15.5	12.3	2.2	5	Pat Burrell	21.9	17.6	3.1


Center Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jim Edmonds	19.0	14.3	4.3	1	Steve Finley	19.3	13.5	5.3
2	Andruw Jones	21.6	17.9	3.1	2	Jim Edmonds	19.4	13.9	5.0
3	Lance Berkman	16.2	12.9	2.9	3	Darin Erstad	20.6	16.9	3.5
4	Bernie Williams	20.2	17.3	2.8	4	Andruw Jones	21.7	17.9	3.2
5	Steve Finley	17.8	15.0	2.3	5	Lance Berkman	16.3	12.8	3.1


Right Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	25.4	19.2	4.6	1	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	26.3	18.2	6.6
2	Bobby Abreu	19.7	15.3	3.1	2	Gary Sheffield	19.8	13.9	4.7
3	Sammy Sosa	22.7	18.4	3.0	3	Shawn Green	24.0	18.1	4.4
4	Shawn Green	22.9	19.1	2.2	4	Larry Walker	18.2	13.7	3.4
5	Magglio Ordonez	21.6	18.4	2.1	5	Bobby Abreu	19.4	15.5	2.6


Starting Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Curt Schilling	16.4	11.4	5.2	1	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	18.3	8.9	9.7
2	Pedro J. Martinez	13.5	8.6	5.1	2	Pedro J. Martinez	14.8	7.4	7.7
3	Derek Lowe	13.1	8.7	4.6	3	Curt Schilling	17.0	10.8	6.4
4	Roy Halladay	15.0	10.6	4.6	4	Barry Zito	16.1	10.5	5.9
5	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	15.6	11.6	4.2	5	Roy Halladay	15.6	10.0	5.8
6	Roy Oswalt	14.4	10.9	3.7	6	Jarrod Washburn	13.5	8.7	5.0
7	Kevin Millwood	12.8	9.8	3.1	7	Greg Maddux	12.9	8.8	4.3
8	Tim Hudson	13.5	10.9	2.8	8	Derek Lowe	12.9	8.9	4.2
9	Bartolo Colon	14.4	11.8	2.8	9	David Wells	13.0	9.2	4.0
10	A.J. Burnett	12.9	10.3	2.8	10	Kevin Millwood	13.2	9.4	4.0


Relief Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	John Smoltz	8.9	5.4	3.2	1	John Smoltz	10.3	4.0	6.0
2	Octavio Dotel	6.7	3.9	2.7	2	Eric Gagne	9.2	3.5	5.4
3	Eric Gagne	7.8	5.0	2.6	3	Billy Koch	10.6	5.7	4.5
4	Arthur Rhodes	5.6	3.0	2.5	4	Robb Nen	8.2	3.4	4.5
5	Jason Isringhausen	5.7	3.3	2.2	5	Troy Percival	7.1	3.4	3.5
6	Robb Nen	6.9	4.7	2.1	6	Armando Benitez	7.0	3.3	3.5
7	Chris Hammond	4.8	2.8	1.8	7	Mike Williams	7.9	4.5	3.1
8	Byung-Hyun Kim	7.5	5.5	1.8	8	Jason Isringhausen	6.2	2.9	3.1
9	Billy Wagner	5.6	3.7	1.7	9	Arthur Rhodes	5.9	2.7	3.1
10	Mike Remlinger	5.1	3.3	1.7	10	J.C. Romero	6.6	3.5	3.0


Designated Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Ellis Burks	12.4	9.8	2.2	1	Edgar Martinez	8.9	6.4	2.2
2	Manny Ramirez	6.1	3.9	2.0	2	Ellis Burks	12.3	9.9	2.0
3	Edgar Martinez	8.6	6.7	1.6	3	Jason Giambi	6.7	4.8	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	Russ Ortiz	1.4	1.6	0.7	1	Jason Jennings	1.3	1.3	0.7
2	Jason Jennings	1.3	1.3	0.6	2	Russ Ortiz	1.4	1.7	0.6
3	Mike Hampton	1.0	1.0	0.6	3	Livan Hernandez	1.2	1.5	0.5


Pinch Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Shea Hillenbrand	0.8	0.0	0.8	1	Olmedo Saenz	1.0	0.3	0.8
2	Wil Cordero	1.2	0.6	0.7	2	Shea Hillenbrand	0.8	0.0	0.8
3	Rob Mackowiak	1.1	0.6	0.6	3	Mark P. Johnson	0.8	0.3	0.6


Pinch Runner
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Charles Gipson	0.4	0.1	0.3	1	Charles Gipson	0.4	0.1	0.3
2	Rickey Henderson	0.3	0.1	0.3	2	Rickey Henderson	0.3	0.1	0.2
3	Luis Ugueto	0.5	0.4	0.1	3	Luis Ugueto	0.6	0.3	0.2

Noteworthy Players of 2002

The best player in major-league baseball in 2002 in the first four tables in this article is the same player who was the best in major-league baseball in 2001 and the same player who would be the best player in major-league baseball in 2003 and 2004. I look at Barry Bonds in a bit more detail in my articles about each of those three seasons.

Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling

The top pitcher in each of the first four tables in this article was a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. But interestingly, it's a different Diamondback pitcher at the top of the pWins tables from the one who's at the top of the eWins tables. Even more interesting, the same was also true in 2001, except the two D-Backs pitchers were reversed.

The next table compares the 2001 and 2002 seasons of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
2001
Randy Johnson	35	19.0	12.5	0.602	7.8	9.8	18.5	13.1	0.585	7.1	9.1
Curt Schilling	35	19.2	12.4	0.607	8.1	10.1	17.2	14.4	0.544	4.5	6.5


2002
Randy Johnson	35	19.0	10.5	0.643	9.6	11.5	16.7	12.8	0.565	5.3	7.2
Curt Schilling	36	18.1	13.1	0.581	6.5	8.4	18.0	13.1	0.578	6.3	8.2

In 2001, both Johnson and Schilling looked better in context than not. But while Johnson was only about a half-win better in context than out, Schilling was two full wins better in context.

In 2002, the roles were reversed. Curt Schilling's pWins and eWins were virtually identical while Johnson was more than two wins better in context.

The next table, then, compares the career records of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, as measured by Player won-lost records in context (i.e., by pWins).

Season	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
	Randy Johnson					Curt Schilling
1988	4	1.7	1.3	0.5	0.7	4	0.9	2.0	-1.0	-0.9
1989	29	9.2	10.3	-0.8	0.4	5	0.3	0.7	-0.4	-0.3
1990	33	13.9	12.5	1.5	3.2	35	1.6	2.0	-0.4	-0.0
1991	33	14.0	13.4	0.8	2.5	56	3.7	4.0	-0.5	0.3
1992	31	14.3	15.6	-1.3	0.7	42	12.7	11.1	2.4	3.9
1993	36	17.0	11.3	5.7	7.5	34	14.2	12.8	2.3	3.8
1994	23	11.2	8.4	2.8	4.2	13	4.4	5.9	-1.2	-0.5
1995	30	16.4	7.4	9.1	10.7	17	6.2	6.2	0.4	1.2
1996	14	3.9	2.6	1.4	1.9	28	11.5	11.1	1.4	2.8
1997	30	16.1	8.4	7.8	9.4	35	17.0	14.6	3.5	5.4
1998	34	18.0	14.9	3.6	5.8	35	17.5	14.5	4.3	6.3
1999	35	18.4	13.3	6.5	8.3	24	12.6	10.3	2.9	4.3
2000	35	18.5	13.4	6.2	8.1	29	13.7	11.9	2.8	4.4
2001	35	19.0	12.5	7.8	9.8	35	19.2	12.4	8.1	10.1
2002	35	19.0	10.5	9.6	11.5	36	18.1	13.1	6.5	8.4
2003	18	7.5	7.6	0.4	1.3	24	10.8	8.3	3.4	4.6
2004	35	15.2	12.6	4.0	5.6	32	14.7	9.0	5.9	7.5
2005	34	13.1	11.0	2.4	4.0	32	5.7	5.6	0.0	0.9
2006	33	11.6	11.4	0.5	2.0	31	12.1	9.3	3.0	4.4
2007	10	3.5	3.5	0.4	0.8	24	8.9	8.0	1.1	2.3
2008	30	11.5	11.5	0.9	2.3
2009	22	6.8	7.5	-0.3	0.7
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	619	279.8	221.0	69.5	101.4	571	205.8	172.8	44.6	68.7

American League MVP: Miguel Tejada

The top player in the American League in pWins over either positional average or replacement level in 2002 was the same player who won the 2002 American League MVP award, Miguel Tejada.

Tejada's performance in 2002 was much stronger in context, as measured with pWins than out of context, measured by eWins. While the gap between Tejada's pWins and eWins was most extreme in 2002, it was also somewhat typical of his career.

Miguel Tejada's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is shown in the next table.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA	eWins	eLosses	eWORL	eWOPA

1997	OAK	21	26	3.0	3.0	0.4	0.1	2.6	3.4	-0.3	-0.6
1998	OAK	22	105	11.6	13.0	0.6	-0.7	11.6	13.0	0.5	-0.7
1999	OAK	23	159	19.2	18.1	3.9	2.1	18.3	19.0	2.2	0.4
2000	OAK	24	160	21.3	18.2	5.9	4.1	20.3	19.2	3.9	2.1
2001	OAK	25	162	22.5	18.0	7.6	5.5	20.8	19.7	4.3	2.1
2002	OAK	26	162	26.5	19.0	10.8	8.4	23.9	21.6	5.6	3.2
2003	OAK	27	162	24.4	20.6	7.0	4.8	23.5	21.5	5.2	3.0
2004	BAL	28	162	24.8	21.8	6.3	4.0	25.2	21.5	7.0	4.7
2005	BAL	29	162	22.3	20.9	4.3	2.4	22.5	20.7	4.7	2.8
2006	BAL	30	162	20.7	19.7	3.6	1.7	21.2	19.2	4.7	2.8
2007	BAL	31	133	14.3	17.4	-1.2	-2.7	15.5	16.2	1.0	-0.4
2008	HOU	32	158	18.2	20.8	0.1	-1.7	18.4	20.6	0.4	-1.3
2009	HOU	33	158	23.1	23.1	2.8	0.7	22.9	23.3	2.5	0.4
+– 2010		34	156	18.1	20.8	-0.6	-2.4	18.8	20.2	0.7	-1.1
	BAL		97	9.9	12.9	-1.9	-3.0	10.6	12.2	-0.5	-1.6
	SDN		59	8.2	7.9	1.3	0.5	8.2	8.0	1.3	0.5
2011	SFN	35	91	9.6	9.8	0.8	-0.1	9.3	10.1	0.6	-0.4
2012	-	36	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2013	KCA	37	53	4.5	4.8	0.3	-0.2	4.4	5.0	-0.1	-0.6
			------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,171	284.3	269.1	52.5	26.0	279.1	274.2	42.9	16.4

In 2002, Miguel Tejada had an overall batting line of .308/.354/.508, an OPS of .861. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Tejada batted .373/.432/.537. In tie games, Tejada batted .345/.409/.567; when the A's were either ahead or behind by 4 runs, Tejada batted .309/.355/.502. Baseball-Reference divides plate appearances into three buckets based on their leverage - high, medium, and low. Tejada's OPS by leverage in 2002 was 1.088/.949/.697 in high/medium/low leverage. Having an OPS .400 higher in high-leverage situations (where Tejada batted .375/.405/.683) than in low-leverage situations (.244/.302/.395) will help contribute to a lot more wins than would be expected based on an aggregate batting line. These contributions are captured by pWins, which tie to team wins by construction.

Tejada's career splits were not nearly as extreme, but nevertheless still show a similar pattern. For his career, Tejada's .791 OPS splits by leverage were .853/.781/.775 high/medium/low.

The next table shows the top 15 players who earned at least half of their Player wins at shortstop, ranked by career pWins over replacement level.

Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Top Fifteen Shortstops, based on pWORL
Pee Wee Reese	299.9	239.2	0.556	67.7	96.4
Derek Jeter	367.7	323.1	0.532	60.6	93.7
Cal Ripken	382.3	351.6	0.521	50.5	85.1
Barry Larkin	291.5	249.5	0.539	51.9	77.9
Arky Vaughan	269.3	221.6	0.549	51.8	77.8
Joe Cronin	290.0	255.1	0.532	41.7	70.8
Alan Trammell	281.6	257.9	0.522	42.6	68.1
Robin Yount	366.7	345.7	0.515	33.9	67.8
Ozzie Smith	333.3	312.5	0.516	37.3	67.7
Vern Stephens	246.7	208.6	0.542	40.5	64.6
Lou Boudreau	229.2	192.5	0.544	42.2	64.4
Luke Appling	323.8	306.5	0.514	23.7	57.1
Dave Concepcion	288.2	275.0	0.512	30.1	57.0
Joe Sewell	253.3	234.1	0.520	28.4	53.5
Travis Jackson	214.0	188.2	0.532	31.7	52.9
Luis Aparicio	329.9	328.1	0.501	20.0	52.9

Francisco Rodriguez

The top player in the 2002 postseason, as measured by pWins over replacement level, was Angels' third baseman Troy Glaus. The best story of the 2002 postseason, however, was Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez.

Francisco Rodriguez made his major-league debut on September 18, 2002, at the age of 20, appearing in 5 regular-season games at the end of the 2002 season. In the 2002 postseason, Rodriguez appeared in 11 games, pitching more than three times as many postseason innings (18.2) as his career regular-season innings to that point (5.2 IP). Rodriguez earned 5 traditional pitcher wins in 11 postseason games. In his 16-year career, Rodriguez had only two seasons (2003, 2011) in which he earned more traditional pitcher wins than he earned in the 2002 postseason.

The next table shows all players who have earned more postseason pWins than regular-season pWins in the season in which they made their major-league debut, for all seasons for which I have calculated Player won-lost records. While relatively rare, this is actually quite a bit more common than I would have guessed.

Player	Season	Team	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
			Regular Season				Postseason
Melvin Mora	1999	NYN	0.9	0.8	0.0	0.1	1.4	0.6	0.8	0.9
Timo Perez	2000	NYN	1.8	1.3	0.4	0.6	2.0	1.3	0.6	0.7
Frankie Rodriguez	2002	ANA	0.2	0.2	-0.0	0.0	1.1	0.8	0.3	0.5
David Price	2008	TBA	0.5	0.4	0.1	0.2	0.5	0.2	0.4	0.4
Buddy Myer	1925	WS1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3
Seth Smith	2007	COL	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.2	0.2	0.3
James McDonald	2008	LAN	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0
Steve Torrealba	2001	ATL	0.0	0.2	-0.1	-0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Ken Brett	1967	BOS	0.0	0.0	-0.0	-0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Jorge Posada	1995	NYA	0.0	0.0	-0.0	-0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Brandon Finnegan	2014	KCA	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.5	0.6	-0.1	-0.0
Jack Sheehan	1920	BRO	0.1	0.2	-0.1	-0.1	0.2	0.5	-0.3	-0.3
Hunter Strickland	2014	SFN	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.7	-0.4	-0.3

Notable Debuts

The 2002 season was a pretty good season for the debut of major-league pitchers. The careers of four such pitchers, as measured by Player won-lost records, are shown in the next table.

Career Records of Pitchers Who Debuted in 2002

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Cliff P. Lee	337	134.9	116.6	0.536	23.8	39.4	134.9	116.6	0.536	24.2	39.9
Jake Peavy	393	151.1	143.7	0.513	16.3	34.5	154.1	140.8	0.522	23.3	41.5
John Lackey	450	169.9	159.3	0.516	16.8	38.0	166.9	162.3	0.507	10.7	32.0
Frankie Rodriguez	948	89.7	57.5	0.609	29.4	45.0	79.6	67.5	0.541	9.6	25.2

Last Hurrahs

Finally, 2002 was the final season for one player who has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Tim Raines. The final table of this article presents Tim Raines's career, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1979	MON	19	6	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.2
1980	MON	20	15	0.4	1.0	-0.5	-0.6
1981	MON	21	88	13.7	11.0	3.1	1.8
1982	MON	22	156	20.6	19.5	1.8	0.1
1983	MON	23	156	26.0	19.7	6.9	4.9
1984	MON	24	160	24.1	20.3	4.7	2.7
1985	MON	25	150	22.2	18.7	4.2	2.3
1986	MON	26	151	21.1	18.7	3.1	1.2
1987	MON	27	139	21.8	16.2	6.3	4.5
1988	MON	28	109	15.1	13.2	2.4	1.0
1989	MON	29	145	18.9	16.7	2.6	1.0
1990	MON	30	130	17.2	15.5	2.0	0.5
1991	CHA	31	155	17.5	17.9	0.7	-1.0
1992	CHA	32	144	20.2	15.7	5.7	4.0
1993	CHA	33	115	15.1	12.0	4.1	2.7
1994	CHA	34	100	13.3	10.9	3.3	2.1
1995	CHA	35	133	14.6	15.9	-0.3	-1.9
1996	NYA	36	59	6.8	5.8	1.3	0.7
1997	NYA	37	74	8.5	7.1	2.1	1.3
1998	NYA	38	109	9.0	7.1	2.7	1.7
1999	OAK	39	58	3.8	4.9	-0.7	-1.2
2000	-	40	-	-	-	-	-
+– 2001		41	51	3.4	3.2	0.5	0.1
	BAL		4	0.3	0.7	-0.3	-0.4
	MON		47	3.1	2.5	0.8	0.5
2002	FLO	42	97	1.7	2.3	-0.1	-0.4
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,500	315.4	273.3	56.1	27.8
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			34	3.7	4.1	-0.2	-0.6
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			2,534	319.1	277.3	55.9	27.3

Article last updated: October 24, 2019

Wins over positional average and replacement level are calculated using data only for the 2002 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