2004 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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2004 Season

The 2004 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

This article takes a look at the 2004 season as measured by Player won-lost records.

The Best of 2004

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	23.7	11.4	11.5	13.3	1	Barry Bonds	23.7	11.4	11.5	13.3
2	Jim Edmonds	24.1	13.8	10.0	11.9	2	Jim Edmonds	24.1	13.8	10.0	11.9
3	Scott Rolen	23.0	13.8	8.5	10.4	3	Scott Rolen	23.0	13.8	8.5	10.4
4	J.D. Drew	23.8	14.9	8.2	10.2	4	J.D. Drew	23.8	14.9	8.2	10.2
5	Adrian Beltre	24.7	16.3	7.6	9.6	5	Adrian Beltre	24.7	16.3	7.6	9.6
6	Johan Santana	15.3	8.1	7.4	8.9	6	Albert Pujols	21.9	13.4	7.2	9.0
7	Albert Pujols	21.9	13.4	7.2	9.0	7	Johan Santana	15.3	8.1	7.4	8.9
8	Jason Schmidt	16.1	11.0	6.1	7.7	8	Gary Sheffield	23.0	16.6	5.8	7.9
9	Curt Schilling	14.7	9.0	5.9	7.5	9	Jason Schmidt	16.1	11.0	6.1	7.7
10	Gary Sheffield	23.0	16.6	5.8	7.9	10	Derek Jeter	22.7	18.1	5.5	7.5

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	23.3	11.8	10.4	12.2	1	Barry Bonds	23.3	11.8	10.4	12.2
2	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	17.0	10.9	7.4	9.0	2	Jim Edmonds	22.8	15.1	7.3	9.2
3	Jim Edmonds	22.8	15.1	7.3	9.2	3	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	17.0	10.9	7.4	9.0
4	Johan Santana	15.0	8.4	6.9	8.4	4	Albert Pujols	21.8	13.5	6.9	8.7
5	Albert Pujols	21.8	13.5	6.9	8.7	5	Johan Santana	15.0	8.4	6.9	8.4
6	Scott Rolen	22.0	14.9	6.3	8.1	6	Scott Rolen	22.0	14.9	6.3	8.1
7	Jason Schmidt	15.9	11.2	6.1	7.7	7	Jason Schmidt	15.9	11.2	6.1	7.7
8	J.D. Drew	22.6	16.1	5.6	7.6	8	Adrian Beltre	23.7	17.3	5.6	7.7
9	Adrian Beltre	23.7	17.3	5.6	7.7	9	J.D. Drew	22.6	16.1	5.6	7.6
10	Curt Schilling	14.2	9.4	5.1	6.6	10	Miguel Tejada	25.2	21.5	4.7	7.0

I take a look at some of the most interesting players of 2004 at the end of this article.

2004 Postseason

The 2004 postseason is kind of famous. I'm not sure that I have anything to say that's more interesting than what has already been said about it. So, I'll just let my numbers speak for themselves. The best performers in the 2004 postseason, as measured by Player won-lost records, are presented next.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	pWORL
	2004 Postseason: Total

David Ortiz	BOS	2.5	0.8	1.9
Albert Pujols	SLN	3.0	1.2	1.9
Carlos Beltran	HOU	2.8	1.4	1.6
Mark Bellhorn	BOS	2.1	1.1	1.2
Keith Foulke	BOS	1.3	0.4	1.1
Jeff Kent	HOU	2.2	1.5	0.9
Curt Schilling	BOS	1.7	1.0	0.9
Hideki Matsui	NYA	2.1	1.2	0.9
Manny Ramirez	BOS	2.3	1.5	0.9
Mariano Rivera	NYA	1.2	0.4	0.9

Top postseason players by round were as follows.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2004 World Series

Mark Bellhorn	BOS	1.0	0.2	0.8
Manny Ramirez	BOS	0.9	0.3	0.6
Curt Schilling	BOS	0.6	0.2	0.4
Derek Lowe	BOS	0.6	0.2	0.4
Keith Foulke	BOS	0.5	0.1	0.3

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2004 Postseason: League Championship Series

Albert Pujols	SLN	1.4	0.5	0.9
Carlos Beltran	HOU	1.5	0.6	0.9
Scott Rolen	SLN	1.5	0.7	0.8
David Ortiz	BOS	1.3	0.5	0.7
Jeff Kent	HOU	1.5	0.8	0.7

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2004 Postseason: Division Series

Albert Pujols	SLN	1.1	0.3	0.8
Edgar Renteria	SLN	1.1	0.3	0.8
David Ortiz	BOS	0.8	0.1	0.7
Alex Rodriguez	NYA	1.1	0.4	0.7
Rafael Furcal	ATL	1.3	0.7	0.6

Best of 2004 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 2004 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	16.5	6.4	10.0	1	Barry Bonds	17.5	5.4	11.9
2	Albert Pujols	17.2	10.9	5.9	2	Scott Rolen	16.8	9.5	7.0
3	Jim Edmonds	15.3	9.3	5.7	3	Adrian Beltre	18.4	11.3	6.8
4	Adrian Beltre	17.6	12.1	5.1	4	Jim Edmonds	15.8	8.8	6.6
5	Lance Berkman	15.9	10.6	4.9	5	Albert Pujols	17.5	10.5	6.6
6	J.D. Drew	14.7	9.5	4.9	6	J.D. Drew	15.5	8.7	6.5
7	Scott Rolen	15.8	10.6	4.8	7	Gary Sheffield	16.9	10.5	6.4
8	Todd Helton	14.2	9.2	4.8	8	Manny Ramirez	16.5	10.5	5.9
9	Adam Dunn	15.2	10.5	4.4	9	Lance Berkman	16.4	10.2	5.9
10	Manny Ramirez	15.7	11.3	4.4	10	David Ortiz	16.0	11.2	4.8

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Baserunning
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Dave R. Roberts	1.6	0.7	1.0	1	Dave R. Roberts	1.7	0.6	1.2
2	Johnny Damon	1.9	1.1	0.9	2	Cristian Guzman	1.5	0.7	0.8
3	Carlos Beltran	1.5	0.8	0.7	3	Tony Womack	1.6	0.7	0.8
4	Willie Bloomquist	1.1	0.4	0.7	4	Carlos Beltran	1.5	0.8	0.7
5	Carl Crawford	2.2	1.5	0.7	5	Derek Jeter	1.6	0.9	0.7
6	Rafael Furcal	1.8	1.1	0.6	6	Ryan Freel	1.7	0.9	0.7
7	Ryan Freel	1.6	1.0	0.6	7	Johnny Damon	1.8	1.2	0.7
8	Scott Podsednik	2.1	1.5	0.5	8	Jimmy Rollins	1.6	0.9	0.6
9	Tony Womack	1.4	0.9	0.5	9	Lew Ford	1.4	0.8	0.6
10	Luis A. Castillo	1.6	1.0	0.5	10	Carl Crawford	2.2	1.6	0.6

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Pitching
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLoss	Net pWins
1	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	15.0	9.3	5.8	1	Johan Santana	14.9	7.8	7.1
2	Johan Santana	14.0	8.7	5.3	2	Curt Schilling	14.5	8.8	5.7
3	Jason Schmidt	14.4	10.0	4.4	3	Jason Schmidt	15.0	9.4	5.6
4	Curt Schilling	13.6	9.7	3.8	4	Mariano Rivera	8.9	3.5	5.4
5	Mariano Rivera	8.1	4.3	3.8	5	Francisco Cordero	9.0	4.1	4.9
6	Ben Sheets	13.5	9.9	3.5	6	Roger Clemens	13.8	9.1	4.7
7	Brad Radke	13.0	9.9	3.2	7	Joe Nathan	7.4	2.9	4.5
8	Frankie Rodriguez	7.2	4.1	3.1	8	Eric Gagne	7.9	3.4	4.5
9	Roger Clemens	13.0	9.9	3.1	9	Brad Lidge	9.3	4.8	4.5
10	Carlos Zambrano	13.1	10.2	2.9	10	Carlos Zambrano	13.8	9.4	4.4

Fielding by Position


Fielding, P
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Barry Zito	0.6	0.1	0.5	1	Mariano Rivera	0.6	0.1	0.4
2	Russ Ortiz	0.5	0.2	0.4	2	Jon Garland	0.7	0.3	0.4
3	Brandon Duckworth	0.4	0.0	0.3	3	Barry Zito	0.6	0.2	0.4
4	Mariano Rivera	0.5	0.2	0.3	4	Russ Ortiz	0.5	0.1	0.4
5	Oliver Perez	0.4	0.1	0.3	5	Brandon Duckworth	0.4	0.0	0.4


Fielding, C
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Jason Kendall	2.0	1.5	0.5	1	Jason Kendall	2.2	1.4	0.8
2	Brian Schneider	1.7	1.2	0.5	2	Damian Miller	1.3	0.7	0.6
3	Jason Varitek	1.5	1.1	0.4	3	Henry Blanco	1.5	1.0	0.5
4	Damian Miller	1.2	0.8	0.4	4	Brian Schneider	1.6	1.2	0.4
5	Henry Blanco	1.4	1.1	0.3	5	Jose Molina	0.8	0.5	0.3


Fielding, 1B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Albert Pujols	3.3	2.3	1.0	1	Albert Pujols	3.4	2.2	1.2
2	Darin Erstad	2.2	1.7	0.4	2	Darin Erstad	2.2	1.7	0.6
3	Tino Martinez	2.0	1.6	0.4	3	Tony Clark	1.5	0.9	0.5
4	Phil Nevin	3.0	2.6	0.4	4	Tino Martinez	2.0	1.5	0.5
5	Scott Hatteberg	2.4	2.1	0.3	5	Pedro Feliz	1.4	1.0	0.4


Fielding, 2B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Luis A. Castillo	5.8	4.9	0.9	1	Rey Sanchez	3.5	2.3	1.2
2	Orlando Hudson	5.7	4.8	0.9	2	Luis A. Castillo	5.9	4.8	1.1
3	Tony Womack	5.5	4.7	0.8	3	Tony Womack	5.7	4.6	1.1
4	Rey Sanchez	3.3	2.5	0.8	4	Alex Cora	4.5	3.7	0.9
5	Adam Kennedy	5.2	4.9	0.3	5	Mark Bellhorn	4.2	3.6	0.6


Fielding, 3B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Scott Rolen	5.1	3.9	1.2	1	Scott Rolen	5.2	3.8	1.5
2	Eric Chavez	4.4	3.5	0.9	2	Alex Rodriguez	5.0	3.7	1.2
3	Scott Spiezio	2.3	1.5	0.7	3	Eric Chavez	4.5	3.3	1.2
4	Vinny Castilla	4.5	3.9	0.6	4	Adrian Beltre	5.1	3.9	1.2
5	Chipper Jones	2.8	2.3	0.5	5	Hank Blalock	5.0	4.2	0.8


Fielding, SS
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Julio Lugo	6.5	5.1	1.3	1	Jimmy Rollins	6.1	4.5	1.6
2	Jack Wilson	7.1	6.2	0.9	2	Edgar Renteria	6.2	5.0	1.2
3	Jimmy Rollins	5.7	4.8	0.9	3	Julio Lugo	6.4	5.2	1.1
4	Pokey Reese	2.5	1.7	0.7	4	Pokey Reese	2.6	1.6	1.0
5	Khalil Greene	5.0	4.4	0.6	5	Derek Jeter	6.1	5.2	0.9


Fielding, LF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Lew Ford	3.2	2.2	1.0	1	Charles Thomas	3.2	1.9	1.3
2	Brad Wilkerson	2.2	1.4	0.8	2	Brad Wilkerson	2.4	1.2	1.2
3	Geoff Jenkins	5.7	5.0	0.7	3	Carlos Lee	5.8	4.9	0.8
4	Carl Crawford	5.0	4.4	0.6	4	Jeff Conine	3.8	3.0	0.8
5	Charles Thomas	2.8	2.3	0.5	5	Terrmel Sledge	2.8	2.1	0.7


Fielding, CF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Scott Podsednik	7.0	5.8	1.2	1	Jim Edmonds	7.6	4.2	3.4
2	Mark Kotsay	5.9	4.8	1.1	2	Andruw Jones	7.3	5.4	2.0
3	Jim Edmonds	6.4	5.4	1.0	3	Scott Podsednik	7.4	5.5	1.9
4	Jay Payton	5.2	4.3	0.9	4	Mark Kotsay	6.0	4.7	1.3
5	Endy Chavez	5.2	4.4	0.9	5	Jay Payton	5.3	4.3	1.0


Fielding, RF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Ichiro Suzuki	7.0	5.6	1.3	1	J.D. Drew	6.8	5.1	1.7
2	Richard Hidalgo	5.9	5.0	0.9	2	Juan Rivera	4.6	3.4	1.2
3	Jose Cruz Jr.	6.2	5.5	0.7	3	Kevin Mench	3.3	2.1	1.2
4	Alexis Rios	5.0	4.4	0.6	4	Timo Perez	2.3	1.2	1.1
5	Kevin Mench	3.0	2.5	0.5	5	Richard Hidalgo	6.0	5.0	1.0

Best by Position

Next, we look at 2004 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	12.4	10.4	2.9	1	Jorge Posada	13.3	10.8	3.5
2	Javy Lopez	12.6	11.1	2.5	2	Jason Varitek	12.0	10.8	2.2
3	Jorge Posada	12.7	11.4	2.3	3	Johnny Estrada	11.8	10.3	2.1
4	Jason Kendall	14.8	13.5	2.2	4	Paul Lo Duca	14.3	13.2	1.9
5	Victor Martinez	12.0	11.1	1.9	5	Jason Kendall	14.6	13.7	1.8


First Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Albert Pujols	21.3	13.3	6.7	1	Albert Pujols	21.7	12.9	7.6
2	Todd Helton	17.9	12.7	4.0	2	Mark Teixeira	17.7	13.3	3.5
3	Mark Teixeira	17.3	13.7	2.7	3	J.T. Snow	12.2	8.8	2.5
4	Jim Thome	15.6	12.3	2.1	4	Ben Broussard	12.5	9.7	2.2
5	Sean Casey	15.9	13.1	1.4	5	Todd Helton	17.1	13.6	2.2


Second Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Mark Loretta	21.3	18.5	3.1	1	Mark Bellhorn	16.6	12.7	4.3
2	Mark Bellhorn	15.6	13.8	2.3	2	Mark Loretta	21.5	18.3	3.5
3	Jose Hernandez	5.4	4.1	1.4	3	Jeff Kent	19.7	16.8	3.1
4	Marcus Giles	12.4	11.1	1.4	4	Alex Cora	14.5	11.9	2.7
5	Tony Womack	16.6	15.4	1.4	5	Chase Utley	7.5	4.9	2.7


Third Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Scott Rolen	21.8	15.0	6.0	1	Scott Rolen	23.0	13.8	8.5
2	Adrian Beltre	23.5	17.4	5.2	2	Adrian Beltre	24.7	16.3	7.6
3	Eric Chavez	17.0	13.5	3.1	3	Alex Rodriguez	21.1	15.4	5.3
4	Alex Rodriguez	20.0	16.6	2.9	4	Eric Chavez	17.4	13.2	3.9
5	Melvin Mora	19.1	15.9	2.8	5	Chipper Jones	13.0	9.2	3.3


Shortstop
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Miguel Tejada	24.9	21.7	4.2	1	Derek Jeter	22.7	18.1	5.5
2	Carlos Guillen	19.8	17.5	3.1	2	Miguel Tejada	24.8	21.8	4.0
3	Jimmy Rollins	20.0	18.1	2.4	3	Jimmy Rollins	20.8	17.3	3.9
4	Julio Lugo	19.0	17.6	2.3	4	Julio Lugo	19.4	17.1	3.1
5	Derek Jeter	21.0	19.9	2.1	5	Bobby Crosby	19.9	18.0	2.6


Left Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Barry Bonds	21.7	12.0	8.8	1	Barry Bonds	22.6	12.0	10.8
2	Adam Dunn	20.9	16.6	3.0	2	Lance Berkman	10.8	7.7	3.0
3	Manny Ramirez	18.9	15.6	2.4	3	Adam Dunn	20.9	16.6	3.0
4	Lance Berkman	10.3	7.7	2.0	4	Hideki Matsui	22.0	19.3	2.9
5	Brad Wilkerson	7.3	5.4	1.5	5	Charles Thomas	9.3	7.4	2.5


Center Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jim Edmonds	22.0	15.4	6.3	1	Jim Edmonds	23.8	13.6	9.8
2	Carlos Beltran	23.0	18.7	4.0	2	Carlos Beltran	23.2	18.4	4.5
3	Johnny Damon	20.7	17.8	2.9	3	Andruw Jones	21.8	17.8	3.6
4	Aaron Rowand	14.9	12.2	2.7	4	Johnny Damon	21.0	17.4	3.6
5	Andruw Jones	20.7	18.9	1.4	5	Aaron Rowand	14.9	12.1	2.8


Right Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	J.D. Drew	21.7	15.6	5.3	1	J.D. Drew	23.2	14.1	8.3
2	Bobby Abreu	22.9	18.5	3.5	2	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	21.8	16.6	4.8
3	Ichiro Suzuki	23.2	19.2	3.4	3	Gary Sheffield	19.7	15.5	3.7
4	Vladimir Guerrero Sr.	20.9	17.4	3.0	4	Bobby Abreu	22.9	18.6	3.4
5	Larry Walker	10.0	7.5	2.1	5	Kevin Mench	8.5	5.9	2.4


Starting Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	15.2	9.5	5.9	1	Johan Santana	15.2	8.1	7.3
2	Johan Santana	14.2	9.0	5.5	2	Curt Schilling	14.6	8.9	6.0
3	Jason Schmidt	14.6	10.2	4.6	3	Jason Schmidt	15.2	9.5	5.9
4	Curt Schilling	13.7	9.8	4.1	4	Roger Clemens	14.0	9.3	4.9
5	Ben Sheets	13.7	10.2	3.7	5	Carlos Zambrano	14.3	9.8	4.7
6	Brad Radke	13.2	10.0	3.3	6	Carl Pavano	13.5	9.5	4.2
7	Roger Clemens	13.2	10.1	3.3	7	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	14.3	10.4	4.1
8	Carlos Zambrano	13.6	10.5	3.2	8	Pedro J. Martinez	14.6	10.9	3.9
9	Oliver Perez	12.9	10.0	3.0	9	Oliver Perez	13.3	9.6	3.9
10	Pedro J. Martinez	14.1	11.4	2.9	10	Brad Radke	13.4	9.8	3.8


Relief Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Mariano Rivera	8.6	4.4	3.9	1	Mariano Rivera	9.4	3.6	5.5
2	Frankie Rodriguez	7.4	4.1	3.0	2	Francisco Cordero	9.0	4.1	4.6
3	Tom Gordon	6.9	4.2	2.5	3	Joe Nathan	7.5	3.0	4.4
4	Joe Nathan	6.6	3.9	2.5	4	Eric Gagne	8.0	3.4	4.3
5	Brad Lidge	8.4	5.8	2.3	5	Brad Lidge	9.3	4.9	4.2
6	B.J. Ryan	6.0	3.7	2.2	6	John Smoltz	7.8	3.5	4.1
7	Eric Gagne	6.8	4.7	1.9	7	Frankie Rodriguez	7.8	3.7	3.9
8	Francisco Cordero	7.6	5.6	1.8	8	Jason Isringhausen	7.1	3.2	3.8
9	Armando Benitez	5.3	3.4	1.7	9	Tom Gordon	7.4	3.7	3.5
10	Juan Rincon	5.6	3.8	1.6	10	Jose Mesa	6.8	3.5	3.1


Designated Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Travis Hafner	12.2	8.7	3.2	1	Erubiel Durazo	12.6	8.6	3.6
2	David Ortiz	12.4	9.8	2.3	2	David Ortiz	13.0	9.2	3.6
3	Erubiel Durazo	11.8	9.4	2.1	3	Travis Hafner	12.0	9.0	2.7

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	Jason Marquis	1.1	1.5	0.5	1	Tom Glavine	1.3	1.4	0.7
2	Randy Wolf	0.9	0.9	0.4	2	Kazuhisa Ishii	1.2	1.2	0.6
3	Brandon Backe	0.7	0.6	0.4	3	Brandon Backe	0.8	0.5	0.6


Pinch Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Mark Sweeney	2.4	1.8	0.8	1	Marlon Anderson	2.1	1.1	1.1
2	Marlon Anderson	1.9	1.4	0.7	2	Matt LeCroy	1.3	0.4	1.0
3	Jose Offerman	1.3	0.7	0.7	3	Mark Sweeney	2.5	1.7	0.9


Pinch Runner
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Willie Bloomquist	0.6	0.1	0.5	1	Willie Bloomquist	0.6	0.2	0.4
2	Dave R. Roberts	0.4	0.1	0.3	2	Dave R. Roberts	0.4	0.2	0.2
3	Chone Figgins	0.1	0.0	0.1	3	Reggie L. Sanders	0.1	0.0	0.1

Noteworthy Players of 2004

Barry Bonds

The 2004 season was the final season in a five-year streak that saw Barry Bonds win 4 MVPs and finish a close second the other year. For the five seasons from 2000 - 2004, Bonds batted .339/.535/.781 with 258 home runs (52 per season) and an astounding 306 intentional walks (61 per season), capped by 120 intentional walks here in 2004. To put that last number in perspective, the most intentional walks in a single season by a player other than Barry Bonds - since intentional walks became an official statistic in 1955 - was Willie McCovey with 45 in 1969.

Barry Bonds's five-year stretch from 2000 - 2004 was, of course, historically great. Very few players in major-league history have put together a five-year run that can match Bonds's 2000 - 2004 run.

One player who comes close, however, is Barry Bonds.

The next table compares Barry Bonds's Player won-lost records from 2000 - 2004 to his Player won-lost records from 1991 - 1995, with the 1994 and 1995 seasons adjusted to 162 games.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Barry Bonds, 2000 - 2004	715	121.8	65.8	0.649	51.4	60.9	120.1	67.4	0.641	46.8	56.3
Barry Bonds, 1991 - 1995 (adj.)	772	128.9	82.7	0.609	41.7	51.9	128.9	84.8	0.599	41.7	47.5

Barry Bonds's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is presented in the next table.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Barry Bonds Basic Player Won-Lost Records
1986	PIT	21	113	15.7	14.8	0.2	1.6	16.9	13.7	2.5	4.0
1987	PIT	22	150	19.0	16.8	1.1	2.7	19.5	16.3	2.1	3.7
1988	PIT	23	144	22.0	15.6	5.4	7.3	21.2	16.4	3.7	5.6
1989	PIT	24	159	21.1	19.1	0.6	2.5	21.5	18.7	1.3	3.2
1990	PIT	25	151	24.9	16.3	7.3	9.1	24.0	17.1	5.7	7.5
1991	PIT	26	153	24.7	15.6	8.3	10.1	23.4	16.9	5.8	7.6
1992	PIT	27	140	22.3	14.5	7.0	8.7	22.1	14.7	6.7	8.4
1993	SFN	28	159	27.5	15.4	11.1	13.3	26.8	16.1	9.7	11.8
1994	SFN	29	112	18.7	12.8	5.3	6.8	18.9	12.6	5.6	7.2
1995	SFN	30	144	25.0	17.1	6.9	9.0	24.8	17.2	6.5	8.6
1996	SFN	31	158	25.6	17.5	6.8	8.8	26.1	17.0	7.9	9.9
1997	SFN	32	159	25.4	17.1	7.7	9.7	25.0	17.5	6.8	8.8
1998	SFN	33	156	24.7	16.6	7.4	9.5	24.1	17.1	6.2	8.2
1999	SFN	34	102	15.8	10.8	4.4	5.7	15.5	11.1	4.0	5.3
2000	SFN	35	142	24.0	15.1	7.9	9.7	23.3	15.8	6.2	8.1
2001	SFN	36	153	28.3	15.2	12.1	14.4	28.4	15.2	11.6	13.9
2002	SFN	37	143	24.5	12.6	11.1	13.0	24.3	12.8	10.6	12.5
2003	SFN	38	130	21.2	11.4	8.9	10.5	20.9	11.8	8.0	9.6
2004	SFN	39	147	23.7	11.4	11.5	13.3	23.3	11.8	10.4	12.2
2005	SFN	40	14	1.8	1.3	0.4	0.6	1.9	1.2	0.6	0.8
2006	SFN	41	130	15.4	11.7	3.0	4.3	15.4	11.7	3.0	4.3
2007	SFN	42	126	15.3	12.0	2.8	4.0	15.5	11.8	3.1	4.4
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,985	466.8	310.6	137.3	174.8	462.8	314.6	127.9	165.4
			------	------	------			------	------
PostSeason (career)			48	6.4	6.5		0.1	7.2	5.7		1.8
			------	------	------		------	------	------		------
COMBINED			3,033	473.2	317.1		174.9	470.0	320.3		167.2

Birds of a Feather

The 2004 St. Louis Cardinals won 105 regular-season games and the National League pennant. Looking at the above tables, it's not hard to understand why. The Cardinals had 3 of the top 10 players in MLB in both pWins and eWins over both positional average and replacement level - Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, and Albert Pujols - all of whom finished in the top 5 in NL MVP voting.

The next table compares the 2004 seasons of Edmonds, Rolen, and Pujols, as measured by Player won-lost records, both in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Jim Edmonds	153	24.1	13.8	10.0	11.9	22.8	15.1	7.3	9.2
Albert Pujols	154	21.9	13.4	7.2	9.0	21.8	13.5	6.9	8.7
Scott Rolen	142	23.0	13.8	8.5	10.4	22.0	14.9	6.3	8.1

The next table decomposes their (context-neutral teammate-adjusted) eWins over replacement level by factor.

	Decomposition of eWORL
	Wins over Average
	Batting	Baserunning	Fielding	Position	Replacement	eWORL
Jim Edmonds	5.7	-0.0	1.1	0.6	1.9	9.2
Albert Pujols	5.9	0.4	1.0	-0.4	1.8	8.7
Scott Rolen	4.8	0.2	1.2	0.1	1.9	8.1

Johan Santana

The best pitcher in major-league baseball in 2004, as measured by pWins over either positional average or replacement level, was Minnesota Twins ace Johan Santana.

The 2004 season was Johan Santana's first season as a full-time starter. It also was part of a four-year stretch from 2003 - 2006 where Johan Santana's pWin winning percentage exceeded 0.600. There have been a total of eight players who put together a streak of four or more seasons in which they earned at least 50 total pWins and had a pWin winning percentage over 0.600 every season over the seasons for which I have full play-by-play data (starting in 1928).

Lou Gehrig	1952 - 1957, 1960 - 1964
Stan Musial	1941 - 1944
Ted Williams	1946 - 1949
Mickey Mantle	1952 - 1957, 1960 - 1964
Duke Snider	1953 - 1956
Barry Bonds	1990 - 1993, 2000 - 2004
Pedro Martinez	1999 - 2003
Johan Santana	2003 - 2006

Johan Santana's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is presented next.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Johan Santana Basic Player Won-Lost Records
2000	MIN	21	30	2.4	3.2	-0.9	-0.4	2.6	3.0	-0.4	0.1
2001	MIN	22	15	1.5	1.3	0.2	0.5	1.3	1.6	-0.4	-0.1
2002	MIN	23	27	7.4	5.5	2.0	2.9	7.3	5.5	1.9	2.9
2003	MIN	24	45	10.3	6.1	4.3	5.5	9.5	6.9	2.7	3.9
2004	MIN	25	34	15.3	8.1	7.4	8.9	15.0	8.4	6.9	8.4
2005	MIN	26	33	14.5	8.5	6.2	7.6	14.2	8.8	5.5	7.0
2006	MIN	27	34	15.9	9.9	6.3	8.0	15.5	10.4	5.4	7.0
2007	MIN	28	33	13.5	10.8	3.0	4.7	13.6	10.7	3.3	5.0
2008	NYN	29	34	15.1	11.8	4.3	6.0	14.4	12.5	3.1	4.8
2009	NYN	30	25	11.2	9.3	2.7	3.9	10.6	9.9	1.4	2.6
2010	NYN	31	29	12.5	12.7	0.6	2.1	13.2	12.0	2.1	3.6
2012	NYN	33	21	8.4	10.1	-1.1	0.1	8.5	10.0	-0.7	0.4
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			360	128.0	97.3	35.0	49.7	125.6	99.8	30.9	45.6
			------	------	------			------	------
PostSeason (career)			11	2.2	1.8		0.7	2.4	1.6		1.1
			------	------	------		------	------	------		------
COMBINED			371	130.2	99.1		50.5	127.9	101.4		46.7

Last Hurrahs

Finally, 2004 was the final season for two Hall-of-Fame middle infielders, Roberto Alomar and Barry Larkin.

The final table of this article compares the career records of Roberto Alomar and Barry Larkin, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Roberto Alomar						Barry Larkin
1986							41	5.5	4.5	0.550	1.2	1.7
1987							125	14.5	14.0	0.509	1.2	2.5
1988	143	20.1	17.2	0.539	3.2	5.0	151	22.8	19.1	0.543	4.2	6.3
1989	158	21.8	20.0	0.522	1.6	3.5	97	13.5	10.0	0.573	3.9	5.0
1990	147	19.2	19.2	0.500	0.0	1.7	158	22.5	18.3	0.551	5.0	6.8
1991	161	23.4	21.3	0.524	2.2	4.2	123	19.0	15.3	0.554	4.2	5.8
1992	152	23.0	17.7	0.565	5.6	7.4	140	21.5	16.1	0.571	6.1	7.8
1993	153	23.3	17.6	0.570	6.3	8.3	100	13.5	12.3	0.523	1.7	2.9
1994	107	12.8	12.9	0.497	0.3	1.6	110	16.0	13.6	0.540	3.1	4.5
1995	130	15.2	16.4	0.480	-0.5	1.1	131	19.9	15.1	0.569	5.5	7.2
1996	153	21.6	16.3	0.570	6.2	8.0	152	22.0	18.3	0.546	4.4	6.3
1997	110	15.3	13.1	0.539	2.8	4.1	73	8.2	8.2	0.498	0.3	1.1
1998	147	17.4	19.2	0.475	-1.2	0.7	145	20.0	16.6	0.546	4.0	5.9
1999	159	22.7	16.4	0.580	6.7	8.6	161	22.4	17.6	0.561	5.5	7.5
2000	155	19.3	18.1	0.516	1.9	3.7	102	11.7	13.0	0.473	-0.9	0.3
2001	157	21.5	16.5	0.566	5.5	7.5	45	5.7	4.7	0.545	1.1	1.6
2002	149	16.6	18.3	0.476	-1.2	0.6	145	14.5	15.3	0.487	-0.4	1.2
2003	140	14.8	17.4	0.459	-2.3	-0.7	70	7.8	6.6	0.540	1.4	2.1
2004	56	4.3	5.7	0.431	-1.3	-0.7	111	10.7	10.6	0.502	0.4	1.5
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,377	312.3	283.2	0.524	35.9	64.7	2,180	291.5	249.5	0.539	51.9	77.9

Both Roberto Alomar and Barry Larkin are highly deserving Hall-of-Famers. Roberto Alomar missed first-ballot election by 8 votes and got 90.0% of the vote in his second year on the ballot, while Barry Larkin debuted at just over 50% of the vote (51.6%) and took three years to be elected (with 86.4% of the vote). Yet, as measured by Player won-lost records, Larkin clearly had the better career of the two.

Article last updated: October 14, 2019

Wins over positional average and replacement level are calculated using data only for the 2004 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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