2009 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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2009 Season

The 2009 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

This article takes a look at the 2009 season as measured by Player won-lost records.

The Best of 2009

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	Albert Pujols	25.2	14.8	8.5	10.3	1	Albert Pujols	25.2	14.8	8.5	10.3
2	Adam Wainwright	17.7	12.1	6.7	8.5	2	Adam Wainwright	17.7	12.1	6.7	8.5
3	Chase Utley	23.1	16.4	6.5	8.3	3	Chase Utley	23.1	16.4	6.5	8.3
4	Zack Greinke	16.1	10.0	6.3	8.0	4	Zack Greinke	16.1	10.0	6.3	8.0
5	Chris Carpenter (1997)	13.8	8.8	5.9	7.2	5	Tim Lincecum	16.4	11.6	5.8	7.5
6	Felix Hernandez	15.4	9.9	5.9	7.5	6	Felix Hernandez	15.4	9.9	5.9	7.5
7	Tim Lincecum	16.4	11.6	5.8	7.5	7	Justin Verlander	16.9	11.7	5.5	7.4
8	Josh M. Johnson	15.3	10.4	5.7	7.2	8	Ben Zobrist	21.6	16.0	5.6	7.3
9	Ben Zobrist	21.6	16.0	5.6	7.3	9	Chris Carpenter (1997)	13.8	8.8	5.9	7.2
10	Justin Verlander	16.9	11.7	5.5	7.4	10	Josh M. Johnson	15.3	10.4	5.7	7.2

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


		eWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL		Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Zack Greinke	16.8	9.3	7.7	9.4	1	Zack Greinke	16.8	9.3	7.7	9.4
2	Albert Pujols	24.4	15.6	6.8	8.6	2	Albert Pujols	24.4	15.6	6.8	8.6
3	Tim Lincecum	16.3	11.7	5.8	7.5	3	Tim Lincecum	16.3	11.7	5.8	7.5
4	Chris Carpenter (1997)	13.6	9.1	5.6	6.9	4	Ben Zobrist	21.5	16.0	5.5	7.3
5	Ben Zobrist	21.5	16.0	5.5	7.3	5	Chase Utley	22.5	17.0	5.2	7.0
6	Chase Utley	22.5	17.0	5.2	7.0	6	Chris Carpenter (1997)	13.6	9.1	5.6	6.9
7	Joe Mauer	14.8	10.5	5.0	6.2	7	Josh M. Johnson	14.8	11.0	4.9	6.4
8	Josh M. Johnson	14.8	11.0	4.9	6.4	8	Justin Verlander	16.4	12.2	4.5	6.3
9	Justin Verlander	16.4	12.2	4.5	6.3	9	Joe Mauer	14.8	10.5	5.0	6.2
10	Prince Fielder	21.7	15.3	4.4	6.1	10	Prince Fielder	21.7	15.3	4.4	6.1

I take a look at some of the most interesting players of 2009 at the end of this article.

2009 Postseason

The 2009 postseason saw the Philadelphia Phillies win a second consecutive National League pennant, only to lose a 6-game World Series to the New York Yankees.

The one bright side for the Phillies in the 2009 postseason was the performance of Cliff Lee, who led all players in postseason pWins (total, as well as over either positional average or replacement level), on the strength of a 4-0 record in 5 starts, 40.1 IP, 33 K, and a 1.56 ERA.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	pWORL
	2009 Postseason: Total

Cliff P. Lee	CLE	2.8	0.9	2.2
Alex Rodriguez	NYA	2.8	1.2	1.8
Hideki Matsui	NYA	2.0	0.7	1.4
C.C. Sabathia	NYA	2.5	1.7	1.1
Jayson Werth	PHI	2.4	1.5	1.0
Mariano Rivera	NYA	1.1	0.3	1.0
Derek Jeter	NYA	2.4	1.8	0.9
Andy Pettitte	NYA	2.0	1.3	0.9
Chase Utley	PHI	2.5	1.8	0.9
Jered Weaver	ANA	1.0	0.3	0.8

Top postseason players by round were as follows.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2009 World Series

Hideki Matsui	NYA	1.2	0.2	1.0
Cliff P. Lee	CLE	1.2	0.3	0.9
Alex Rodriguez	NYA	1.1	0.7	0.4
Andy Pettitte	NYA	1.0	0.7	0.3
Johnny Damon	NYA	0.8	0.5	0.3

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2009 Postseason: League Championship Series

C.C. Sabathia	NYA	1.1	0.4	0.7
Ryan Howard	PHI	1.1	0.4	0.7
Carlos Ruiz	PHI	0.7	0.1	0.6
Jayson Werth	PHI	1.1	0.6	0.5
Alex Rodriguez	NYA	0.9	0.4	0.5

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	2009 Postseason: Division Series

Cliff P. Lee	CLE	1.1	0.4	0.7
Alex Rodriguez	NYA	0.8	0.2	0.6
Jered Weaver	ANA	0.7	0.1	0.6
Torii Hunter	ANA	0.9	0.3	0.6
Andre Ethier	LAN	0.8	0.3	0.5

Best of 2009 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 2009 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	Albert Pujols	18.8	11.4	7.1	1	Albert Pujols	19.6	10.6	8.7
2	Prince Fielder	18.3	11.9	6.0	2	Ryan Howard	18.9	12.1	6.4
3	Derrek Lee	15.6	10.7	4.6	3	Prince Fielder	18.4	11.8	6.2
4	Ryan Howard	18.0	13.0	4.5	4	Mark Teixeira	16.7	11.0	5.6
5	Adrian Gonzalez	15.3	10.6	4.4	5	Jason Bay	15.5	10.0	5.4
6	Adam Dunn	16.1	11.5	4.3	6	Joey Votto	13.8	8.3	5.2
7	Jason Bay	14.8	10.7	4.0	7	Alex Rodriguez	13.6	8.8	4.7
8	Joe Mauer	13.0	8.9	4.0	8	Nick Swisher	13.2	8.7	4.5
9	Ryan J. Braun	16.0	11.7	3.9	9	Ryan J. Braun	16.3	11.4	4.5
10	Mark Teixeira	15.8	11.8	3.9	10	Johnny Damon	14.8	10.3	4.5

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Baserunning
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Jacoby Ellsbury	2.1	1.1	1.0	1	Michael Bourn	2.4	1.3	1.0
2	Michael Bourn	2.3	1.4	0.8	2	Chase Utley	1.4	0.5	0.9
3	Randy Winn	1.5	0.8	0.7	3	Randy Winn	1.6	0.7	0.9
4	Brian Roberts	1.9	1.2	0.7	4	Jacoby Ellsbury	2.0	1.2	0.8
5	Rajai Davis	1.4	0.9	0.5	5	Jason Bartlett	1.6	0.9	0.7
6	Dexter Fowler	1.7	1.1	0.5	6	Brett Gardner	1.2	0.6	0.7
7	Chris Getz	1.1	0.6	0.5	7	Dexter Fowler	1.7	1.1	0.6
8	Brett Gardner	1.2	0.7	0.5	8	Brian Roberts	1.8	1.2	0.6
9	Chase Utley	1.2	0.7	0.5	9	Carlos Gonzalez	1.0	0.4	0.5
10	Matt Kemp	1.6	1.1	0.5	10	Orlando Cabrera	1.4	0.9	0.5

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Pitching
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLoss	Net pWins
1	Zack Greinke	15.6	9.9	5.7	1	Adam Wainwright	16.1	10.1	6.0
2	Tim Lincecum	14.7	10.4	4.4	2	Zack Greinke	15.7	9.8	5.9
3	Chris Carpenter (1997)	11.8	7.7	4.2	3	Felix Hernandez	15.2	9.6	5.6
4	Justin Verlander	15.7	12.3	3.3	4	Tim Lincecum	15.2	9.9	5.3
5	Roy Halladay	14.3	11.0	3.3	5	Justin Verlander	16.6	11.4	5.2
6	C.C. Sabathia	13.5	10.5	3.0	6	Chris Carpenter (1997)	12.3	7.3	5.0
7	Josh M. Johnson	12.6	9.7	2.9	7	C.C. Sabathia	14.3	9.7	4.7
8	Javier Vazquez	13.3	10.5	2.9	8	Jonathan Papelbon	7.8	3.4	4.4
9	Felix Hernandez	13.8	11.0	2.8	9	Josh Beckett	13.5	9.4	4.1
10	Joel Pineiro	11.5	8.7	2.8	10	Josh M. Johnson	13.2	9.1	4.1

Fielding by Position


Fielding, P
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Trevor Cahill	0.4	0.1	0.3	1	Kevin Millwood	0.6	0.1	0.5
2	Zack Greinke	0.4	0.1	0.3	2	Ryan Dempster	0.6	0.2	0.4
3	Javier Vazquez	0.4	0.1	0.3	3	Javier Vazquez	0.5	0.1	0.3
4	Josh M. Johnson	0.4	0.2	0.3	4	Kenshin Kawakami	0.5	0.2	0.3
5	Scott Richmond	0.3	0.1	0.2	5	Jake Peavy	0.4	0.1	0.3


Fielding, C
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Rob Johnson	1.2	0.7	0.5	1	Yadier Molina	1.8	1.2	0.5
2	Gerald Laird	1.7	1.3	0.4	2	Gerald Laird	1.8	1.3	0.5
3	Ryan Hanigan	1.0	0.6	0.4	3	Rob Johnson	1.2	0.8	0.4
4	Kenji Johjima	0.8	0.5	0.3	4	Ryan Hanigan	1.0	0.6	0.4
5	Ivan Rodriguez	1.4	1.1	0.3	5	Raul Chavez	0.7	0.4	0.3


Fielding, 1B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Adrian Gonzalez	3.2	2.3	0.8	1	Albert Pujols	4.0	2.8	1.2
2	James Loney	2.5	2.1	0.5	2	Adrian Gonzalez	3.1	2.4	0.6
3	Albert Pujols	3.6	3.2	0.4	3	Mark Teixeira	2.4	1.9	0.5
4	Kevin Youkilis	1.3	0.9	0.4	4	Casey Kotchman	2.0	1.5	0.4
5	Paul Konerko	2.2	1.8	0.4	5	James Loney	2.5	2.1	0.4


Fielding, 2B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Ian Kinsler	5.6	4.8	0.8	1	Ian Kinsler	6.0	4.4	1.5
2	Chase Utley	5.9	5.1	0.7	2	Chase Utley	6.1	4.9	1.2
3	Clint Barmes	5.4	4.7	0.7	3	Clint Barmes	5.6	4.5	1.1
4	Ben Zobrist	3.1	2.5	0.6	4	Dustin Pedroia	5.5	4.6	0.9
5	Craig Counsell	1.8	1.3	0.5	5	Placido Polanco	5.7	4.9	0.8


Fielding, 3B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Pedro Feliz	4.8	3.6	1.2	1	Chone Figgins	5.4	3.9	1.5
2	Evan Longoria	4.7	3.7	1.0	2	Adrian Beltre	4.5	3.2	1.3
3	Chone Figgins	5.0	4.3	0.8	3	Casey Blake	4.3	3.2	1.1
4	Casey Blake	4.1	3.4	0.7	4	Evan Longoria	4.7	3.7	1.0
5	Brandon Inge	5.0	4.3	0.6	5	Scott Rolen	3.5	2.7	0.9


Fielding, SS
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Brendan Ryan	5.2	4.0	1.2	1	Elvis Andrus	6.7	5.0	1.7
2	Jack Wilson	4.5	3.7	0.8	2	Brendan Ryan	5.5	3.8	1.7
3	Marco Scutaro	5.5	4.7	0.8	3	Troy Tulowitzki	6.3	5.2	1.1
4	Paul Janish	3.0	2.2	0.8	4	Rafael Furcal	6.2	5.2	1.0
5	Yunel Escobar	5.3	4.6	0.7	5	Paul Janish	3.0	2.1	0.9


Fielding, LF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Carl Crawford	6.6	5.1	1.4	1	Seth Smith	3.1	1.9	1.2
2	David DeJesus	6.0	5.1	0.9	2	Laynce Nix	3.2	2.1	1.1
3	Nyjer Morgan	3.1	2.4	0.8	3	Nyjer Morgan	3.3	2.2	1.1
4	Laynce Nix	3.0	2.3	0.7	4	Carl Crawford	6.4	5.4	1.0
5	Wladimir Balentien	2.6	2.0	0.6	5	Ryan Raburn	2.9	2.0	0.9


Fielding, CF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Franklin Gutierrez	6.8	4.8	2.0	1	Franklin Gutierrez	6.6	5.0	1.7
2	Willy Taveras	4.2	3.2	1.0	2	Drew Stubbs	2.6	1.1	1.5
3	Colby Rasmus	4.3	3.4	0.9	3	B.J. Upton	5.8	4.3	1.4
4	Carlos Beltran	3.0	2.3	0.7	4	Willy Taveras	4.4	3.1	1.3
5	Drew Stubbs	2.2	1.5	0.7	5	Colby Rasmus	4.3	3.3	1.0


Fielding, RF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Nelson R. Cruz	5.7	4.7	1.0	1	Jay Bruce	5.3	3.4	1.8
2	Will Venable	3.4	2.4	1.0	2	Brett Carroll	2.3	0.8	1.4
3	Jay Bruce	4.8	3.9	1.0	3	Will Venable	3.5	2.2	1.3
4	Brett Carroll	2.0	1.1	1.0	4	Gabe Gross	3.2	2.2	1.0
5	Ichiro Suzuki	6.3	5.5	0.8	5	Kosuke Fukudome	1.6	0.6	1.0

Best by Position

Next, we look at 2009 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	12.0	8.4	4.3	1	Joe Mauer	12.3	8.1	4.9
2	Brian McCann	13.5	12.4	1.8	2	Brian McCann	14.1	11.9	2.9
3	Jorge Posada	9.4	8.4	1.7	3	Jorge Posada	9.9	7.9	2.5
4	Mike Napoli	7.9	7.2	1.3	4	Mike Napoli	8.3	6.8	2.0
5	Miguel Montero	10.7	10.1	1.2	5	Yorvit Torrealba	5.9	4.6	1.6


First Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Albert Pujols	23.4	15.6	5.8	1	Albert Pujols	24.3	14.7	7.7
2	Prince Fielder	21.6	15.5	3.9	2	Mark Teixeira	19.2	13.2	4.6
3	Adrian Gonzalez	18.5	13.5	3.2	3	Ryan Howard	21.6	15.5	4.0
4	Joey Votto	16.3	12.1	2.6	4	Prince Fielder	21.6	15.4	4.0
5	Derrek Lee	18.5	13.9	2.6	5	Joey Votto	16.8	11.6	3.7


Second Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Chase Utley	22.4	17.1	5.1	1	Chase Utley	23.1	16.4	6.5
2	Aaron Hill	22.7	20.2	2.7	2	Aaron Hill	23.4	19.6	3.9
3	Ben Zobrist	11.3	9.3	2.1	3	Ian Kinsler	19.9	16.7	3.3
4	Ian Kinsler	19.2	17.4	1.9	4	Dustin Pedroia	20.2	17.5	2.9
5	Robinson Cano	19.3	18.0	1.5	5	Orlando Hudson	17.6	15.0	2.4


Third Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Evan Longoria	20.2	16.1	4.1	1	Evan Longoria	20.3	15.9	4.4
2	Ryan Zimmerman	20.8	16.9	3.6	2	Chone Figgins	21.0	16.9	4.2
3	Alex Rodriguez	15.5	12.8	2.6	3	Casey Blake	17.6	13.6	3.8
4	Casey Blake	16.9	14.3	2.3	4	Alex Rodriguez	15.8	12.5	3.4
5	Scott Rolen	14.8	12.7	2.0	5	Scott Rolen	15.3	12.1	3.2


Shortstop
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Troy Tulowitzki	21.5	18.4	3.7	1	Yunel Escobar	19.6	16.0	4.2
2	Jason Bartlett	17.4	14.8	3.3	2	Troy Tulowitzki	21.6	18.2	3.9
3	Hanley Ramirez	19.0	16.2	3.3	3	Derek Jeter	19.0	16.1	3.8
4	Marco Scutaro	18.7	16.4	3.1	4	Brendan Ryan	13.6	10.2	3.7
5	Derek Jeter	18.3	16.8	2.3	5	Hanley Ramirez	18.7	16.5	2.7


Left Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Matt Holliday	22.8	18.7	3.4	1	Johnny Damon	19.9	15.6	5.3
2	Jason Bay	22.0	18.2	3.4	2	Jason Bay	22.9	18.2	5.2
3	Ryan J. Braun	23.3	19.5	3.0	3	Raul Ibanez	18.2	14.6	3.7
4	Johnny Damon	18.6	15.6	2.6	4	Ryan J. Braun	23.4	19.5	3.1
5	Carl Crawford	21.4	18.5	2.4	5	Matt Holliday	22.3	18.7	2.3


Center Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Carlos Beltran	11.3	8.6	2.5	1	Franklin Gutierrez	21.7	16.4	5.4
2	Franklin Gutierrez	20.2	17.8	2.4	2	Matt Kemp	22.0	17.9	3.8
3	Torii Hunter	16.0	13.7	2.3	3	Shane Victorino	20.1	16.1	3.7
4	Matt Kemp	21.2	18.6	2.3	4	Drew Stubbs	7.0	4.6	2.4
5	Nate McLouth	17.8	16.1	1.4	5	Colby Rasmus	14.9	12.3	2.4


Right Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Shin-Soo Choo	17.4	14.3	2.6	1	Nick Swisher	17.1	12.5	4.1
2	Jayson Werth	20.2	16.8	2.5	2	Jayson Werth	20.7	16.3	3.5
3	Justin Upton	18.9	16.0	2.0	3	Ichiro Suzuki	22.1	18.6	2.8
4	Ichiro Suzuki	21.4	19.3	1.4	4	Andre Ethier	23.2	19.8	2.1
5	Ryan Ludwick	17.5	15.3	1.4	5	Ben Zobrist	6.6	4.5	2.0


Starting Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Zack Greinke	16.0	10.0	6.2	1	Adam Wainwright	16.6	10.4	6.4
2	Tim Lincecum	15.0	10.6	4.7	2	Zack Greinke	16.1	9.9	6.4
3	Chris Carpenter (1997)	12.1	8.0	4.2	3	Felix Hernandez	15.4	9.7	5.9
4	Justin Verlander	15.9	12.6	3.6	4	Tim Lincecum	15.5	10.1	5.7
5	Javier Vazquez	13.8	10.6	3.4	5	Justin Verlander	16.9	11.6	5.5
6	Josh M. Johnson	13.1	9.9	3.3	6	Chris Carpenter (1997)	12.5	7.6	5.1
7	Roy Halladay	14.5	11.4	3.3	7	C.C. Sabathia	14.7	9.9	5.0
8	C.C. Sabathia	13.8	10.7	3.3	8	Josh M. Johnson	13.7	9.3	4.6
9	Felix Hernandez	14.0	11.1	3.1	9	Josh Beckett	13.6	9.7	4.1
10	Ubaldo Jimenez	13.8	10.9	3.1	10	Jered Weaver	13.2	9.6	3.8


Relief Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Andrew Bailey	5.8	3.3	2.4	1	Jonathan Papelbon	7.8	3.4	4.2
2	Jonathan Broxton	6.2	3.9	2.1	2	Jonathan Broxton	7.1	3.0	3.9
3	Rafael Soriano	6.7	4.5	2.0	3	Joakim Soria	5.9	2.1	3.6
4	Brian Wilson	8.3	6.3	1.8	4	Joe Nathan	7.0	3.4	3.4
5	Joe Nathan	6.2	4.2	1.8	5	Huston Street	5.6	2.5	3.0
6	Mariano Rivera	5.6	3.7	1.8	6	Mariano Rivera	6.1	3.1	2.9
7	Michael Wuertz	4.9	3.2	1.6	7	Fernando Rodney	7.2	4.1	2.9
8	Phil Hughes	3.5	1.9	1.5	8	Michael Wuertz	5.5	2.6	2.8
9	Jonathan Papelbon	6.5	4.8	1.5	9	Ryan Franklin	6.2	3.2	2.8
10	Matt Thornton	5.3	3.7	1.5	10	Heath Bell	6.6	3.9	2.5


Designated Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Hideki Matsui	11.0	9.0	1.6	1	Jim Thome	9.9	7.3	2.2
2	Jim Thome	9.5	7.7	1.5	2	Hideki Matsui	11.2	8.8	2.0
3	Adam Lind	9.6	7.9	1.4	3	Jack Cust	9.3	7.0	2.0

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	Mike Hampton	1.0	1.0	0.6	1	Josh M. Johnson	1.6	1.1	1.1
2	Micah Owings	1.0	1.0	0.6	2	Yovani Gallardo	1.5	1.3	0.9
3	Carlos Zambrano	1.2	1.3	0.6	3	Carlos Zambrano	1.4	1.1	0.9


Pinch Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Ross Gload	2.5	1.8	0.8	1	Ross Gload	3.0	1.3	1.8
2	Jorge Posada	1.3	0.6	0.7	2	Jorge Posada	1.4	0.5	1.0
3	Seth Smith	1.2	0.7	0.6	3	Ben Zobrist	1.1	0.3	0.9


Pinch Runner
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Brett Gardner	0.5	0.1	0.4	1	Brett Gardner	0.5	0.1	0.4
2	Ramiro Pena	0.2	0.1	0.1	2	Brian Bixler	0.1	0.0	0.1
3	Brian Bixler	0.1	0.0	0.1	3	Eric Byrnes	0.1	0.0	0.1

Noteworthy Players of 2009

League-Leading Teammates

The top two players in pWins over positional average and replacement level in 2009 were teammates on the St. Louis Cardinals: Albert Pujols and Adam Wainwright.

The list of teammates who finished 1-2 in Major League Baseball in pWORL since 1928 is shown in the next table.

Team	Season	Player 1	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Player 2	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
	Teammates Finishing 1-2 in Major-League pWORL
			Player 1					Player 2
NYA	1928	Babe Ruth	29.1	16.0	11.9	14.4	Lou Gehrig	25.1	14.2	9.2	11.3
PHA	1930	Al Simmons	27.1	14.4	11.5	13.8	Lefty Grove	21.8	11.5	10.8	13.0
NY1	1936	Mel Ott	28.2	16.8	10.0	12.4	Carl Hubbell	20.5	11.9	9.1	11.1
NYA	1941	Joe DiMaggio	25.4	15.0	9.2	11.4	Charlie Keller	26.1	16.3	8.7	11.0
BOS	1949	Vern Stephens	27.2	18.2	9.4	11.9	Ted Williams	27.2	16.9	8.6	11.0
BRO	1953	Roy Campanella	19.9	10.4	9.9	11.7	Duke Snider	23.4	13.2	9.3	11.4
CLE	1954	Larry Doby	27.0	15.0	10.5	13.0	Bobby Avila	24.8	15.3	9.7	12.0
NYA	1960	Mickey Mantle	23.5	13.3	9.2	11.1	Roger Maris	22.8	13.5	8.4	10.2
NYA	1961	Mickey Mantle	26.0	14.6	10.5	12.7	Roger Maris	27.2	15.3	10.1	12.4
SFN	1966	Juan Marichal	22.6	14.3	9.2	11.3	Willie Mays	26.1	16.6	8.3	10.3
CIN	1977	Joe L. Morgan	22.1	14.9	7.9	9.7	George Foster	27.4	19.3	6.9	9.3
BAL	1984	Cal Ripken	25.9	19.4	8.4	10.5	Eddie Murray	22.3	14.8	6.7	8.4
SLN	2009	Albert Pujols	25.2	14.8	8.5	10.3	Adam Wainwright	17.7	12.1	6.7	8.5

Best in the American League: Zack Greinke

The best player in the American League in 2009, as measured by Player won-lost records (in or out of context), was Cy Young winner Zack Greinke. At the time, there was some old-school / new-school controversy regarding Greinke's 2009 season. On the one hand, Greinke's 2009 season was excellent by any measure - 2.16 ERA, 242 K's in 229.1 IP. On the other hand, he "only" won 16 games. Not entirely coincidentally, he also accumulated 16 pWins. But even tying his performance to team wins - and Greinke only won 16 games because his team, the Kansas City Royals only won 65 games - Greinke led the American League in pWins over either positional average or replacement level and did so fairly easily.

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

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
2004	KCA	20	24	8.4	9.1	0.6	-0.5
2005	KCA	21	33	10.3	13.0	-1.1	-2.6
2006	KCA	22	3	0.3	0.4	-0.0	-0.1
2007	KCA	23	52	7.8	7.4	1.6	0.4
2008	KCA	24	32	13.3	11.3	4.0	2.4
2009	KCA	25	33	16.1	10.0	8.0	6.3
2010	KCA	26	33	12.1	12.8	1.0	-0.5
2011	MIL	27	29	12.2	10.2	4.0	2.8
+– 2012		28	37	13.0	10.5	4.6	3.1
	ANA		13	5.3	4.9	1.2	0.5
	MIL		24	7.7	5.6	3.4	2.6
2013	LAN	29	29	13.5	8.7	6.9	5.7
2014	LAN	30	32	12.8	11.7	3.5	2.1
2015	LAN	31	32	15.2	9.6	8.2	6.7
2016	ARI	32	27	10.3	9.1	3.3	2.0
2017	ARI	33	33	15.2	10.9	7.1	5.5
2018	ARI	34	34	13.3	12.2	3.7	2.1
+– 2019		35	36	14.8	11.1	6.2	4.4
	ARI		26	10.4	8.0	4.3	3.1
	HOU		10	4.4	3.1	1.9	1.3
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			499	188.4	157.9	61.9	39.9
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			16	5.5	6.5	0.2	-0.5
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			515	194.0	164.4	62.1	39.3

Notable Debuts

The Debut Class of 2009 produced back-to-back National League Most Valuable Player Award winners in 2012 and 2013. The careers, to date, of San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen, as measured by Player won-lost records, are compared in the next table.

Season	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
	Buster Posey					Andrew McCutchen
2009	7	0.3	0.4	-0.1	-0.1	108	13.6	14.9	-1.5	-0.2
2010	108	12.6	10.4	2.3	3.4	154	18.8	18.9	-0.6	1.2
2011	45	4.1	4.0	0.3	0.7	158	21.3	18.6	2.0	4.0
2012	148	19.3	12.6	6.6	8.2	157	22.2	18.1	3.2	5.1
2013	148	15.0	13.4	1.5	3.0	157	23.8	17.3	5.8	7.9
2014	147	17.9	12.1	5.6	6.9	146	19.8	14.7	4.5	6.0
2015	150	17.5	13.6	3.9	5.4	157	22.3	15.2	6.4	8.2
2016	146	15.6	13.6	2.3	3.6	153	17.5	18.3	-1.2	0.5
2017	140	14.0	13.5	0.5	1.8	156	19.5	17.0	1.9	3.5
2018	105	10.3	9.9	0.9	1.8	155	19.6	19.2	-0.6	1.2
2019	114	9.6	10.3	-0.2	0.9	59	7.2	6.1	0.9	1.6
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	1,258	136.1	113.8	23.5	35.6	1,560	205.7	178.4	20.8	39.0

Last Hurrahs

Finally, 2009 was the final season for two of the greatest pitchers of all-time, who won a combined eight Cy Young awards, both of them winning at least one in each league, with both of them winning the award in both 1999 and 2000.

The career records of Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez, as measured by Player won-lost records, are presented in the final table of this article.

Season	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
	Randy Johnson					Pedro Martinez
1988	4	1.7	1.3	0.5	0.7
1989	29	9.2	10.3	-0.8	0.4
1990	33	13.9	12.5	1.5	3.2
1991	33	14.0	13.4	0.8	2.5
1992	31	14.3	15.6	-1.3	0.7	2	0.2	0.4	-0.1	-0.0
1993	36	17.0	11.3	5.7	7.5	65	7.3	5.5	1.8	3.0
1994	23	11.2	8.4	2.8	4.2	24	9.6	8.0	2.2	3.3
1995	30	16.4	7.4	9.1	10.7	30	11.5	11.4	1.0	2.4
1996	14	3.9	2.6	1.4	1.9	33	13.1	13.2	1.0	2.6
1997	30	16.1	8.4	7.8	9.4	31	17.8	12.0	6.8	8.7
1998	34	18.0	14.9	3.6	5.8	33	15.5	10.7	5.0	6.8
1999	35	18.4	13.3	6.5	8.3	31	16.3	6.5	9.9	11.4
2000	35	18.5	13.4	6.2	8.1	29	16.4	7.1	9.5	11.0
2001	35	19.0	12.5	7.8	9.8	18	7.4	4.0	3.6	4.3
2002	35	19.0	10.5	9.6	11.5	30	14.8	7.5	7.6	9.2
2003	18	7.5	7.6	0.4	1.3	29	13.7	7.3	6.6	8.0
2004	35	15.2	12.6	4.0	5.6	33	14.6	10.9	3.9	5.5
2005	34	13.1	11.0	2.4	4.0	31	13.3	11.0	3.3	4.7
2006	33	11.6	11.4	0.5	2.0	23	8.4	9.9	-0.9	0.2
2007	10	3.5	3.5	0.4	0.8	5	2.3	1.5	1.0	1.2
2008	30	11.5	11.5	0.9	2.3	20	6.5	8.0	-0.9	-0.0
2009	22	6.8	7.5	-0.3	0.7	9	3.8	2.7	1.2	1.6
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	619	279.8	221.0	69.5	101.4	476	192.4	137.8	62.4	83.9

Article last updated: September 23, 2019

Wins over positional average and replacement level are calculated using data only for the 2009 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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