Whose the Best All-Around Player?

by Marc Normandin on May 17, 2005 3:45 PM EDT

Joe Morgan wrote an article at ESPN.com a week or so ago with his choice for best all-around player in baseball. He chose Miguel Tejada due to his batting skills and said he is good enough with the glove to merit all-around honors. I do not intuitively know if he is correct or not (I'm pretty sure he is not), but I want to check this out for myself, so I chose a small list of players I thought capable of taking away this "all-around player" title:

Miguel Tejada
Albert Pujols
Carlos Beltran
Bobby Abreu
Todd Helton
Alex Rodriguez

Let's take a look at this season's numbers first:

Tejada 2005
.333/.372/.614
HR: 10
2B: 11
SB: 0/1
BB: 8
SecAvg: .327
Iso: .281
WARP1: 2.5
VORP: 23.0
EqA: .327
FRAA: -4

Pujols 2005
.324/.406/.581
HR: 9
2B: 11
SB: 2/2
BB: 18
SecAvg: .392
Iso: .257
WARP1: 2.3
VORP: 21.6
EqA: .320
FRAA: 1

Carlos Beltran 2005
.299/.349/.471
HR: 6
2B: 9
SB: 1/2
BB: 13
SecAvg: .248
Iso: .172
WARP1: 1.5
VORP: 10.9
EqA: .282
FRAA: -2

Bobby Abreu 2005
.331/.450/.604
HR: 10
2B: 8
SB: 10/10
BB: 28
SecAvg: .547
Iso: .273
WARP1: 2.9
VORP: 27.0
EqA: .350
FRAA: 1

Todd Helton 2005
.331/.452/.551
HR: 5
2B: 13
SB: 1/1
BB: 26
SecAvg: .433
Iso: .220
WARP1: 2.6
VORP: 16.4
EqA: .324
FRAA: 4

Alex Rodriguez 2005
.292/.374/.578
HR: 12
2B: 8
SB: 3/3
BB: 18
SecAvg: .403
Iso: .286
WARP1: 1.9
VORP: 17.3
EqA: .311
FRAA: -5

As far as 2005 goes, and just the sample size so far, Tejada is not even the best player among this grouping of 5. Bobby Abreu takes that title, but I wouldn't be much of a help if I just used a month and a half as my sample.

Let's look at their collective stats for the past three years excepting 2005. Same setup as before, except the first number is 2002, the second number 2003, and the third number 2004:

Tejada (2002-2004)
.308/.354/.508; .278/.336/.472; .311/.360/.534
HR: 34; 27; 34
2B: 30; 42; 40
SB: 7; 10; 4
BB: 38; 53; 48
SecAvg: .264; .292; .302
Iso: .199; .193; .224
WARP1: 6.8; 4.5; 10.3
VORP: 66.4; 58.1; 73.0
EqA: .294; .280; .305
FRAA: -7; -15; 16

Pujols (2002-2004)
.314/.394/.561; .359/.439/.667; .331/.415/.657
HR: 34; 43; 46
2B: 40; 51; 51
SB: 2; 5; 5
BB: 72; 79; 84
SecAvg: .366; .448; .468
Iso: .247; .308; .326
WARP1: 8.2; 11.4; 10.1
VORP: 72.6; 108.2; 103.5
EqA: .321; .360; .321
FRAA: -4; -1; 3

Carlos Beltran (2002-2004)
.273/.346/.501; .307/.389/.522; .267/.367/.548
HR: 29; 26; 38
2B: 44; 14; 36
SB: 35; 41; 42
BB: 71; 72; 92
SecAvg: .383; .424; .499
Iso: .228; .215; .280
WARP1: 6.7; 7.2; 8.9
VORP: 49.3; 64.1; 74.5
EqA: .284; .311; .308
FRAA: 5; 3; 6

Bobby Abreu (2002-2004)
.308/.413/.521; .300/.409/.468; .301/.428/.544
HR: 20; 20; 30
2B: 50; 35; 47
SB: 31; 22; 40
BB: 104; 109; 127
SecAvg: .428; .380; .524
Iso: .213; .168; .242
WARP1: 8.3; 7.8; 9.5
VORP: 70.4; 53.3; 83.8
EqA: .325; .310; .328
FRAA: -8; -2; 1

Todd Helton (2002-2004)
.329/.429/.577; .358/.458/.630; .347/.469/.620
HR: 30; 33; 32
2B: 39l 49; 49
SB: 5; 0; 3
BB: 99; 111; 127
SecAvg: .434; .455; .510
Iso: .248; .271; .272
WARP1: 8.8; 12.4; 12.3
VORP: 73.1; 99.9; 94.8
EqA: .322; .339; .339
FRAA: 10; 23; 24

Alex Rodriguez (2002-2004)
.300/.392/.623; .298/.396/.600; .286/.375/.512
HR: 57; 47; 36
2B: 27; 30; 24
SB: 9; 17; 28
BB: 87; 87; 80
SecAvg: .471; .468; .399
Iso: .324; .301; .226
WARP1: 10.8; 10.0; 8.1
VORP: 94.7; 96.3; 62.3
EqA: .328; .324; .317
FRAA: 6; 1; 5

I know that was a lot of numbers, but bear with me. The only way to decide entirely who the best all-around player could be is by throwing all the numbers at you that I think are pertinent to the discussion. What do we see from above? Well first of all, Tejada is not the best all-around player in baseball, this or any other year really. Let's attempt to rank them based solely on their bat:

Pujols
Helton
ARod
Abreu
Tejada
Beltran

Now based solely on FRAA:

Helton
Beltran
ARod
Abreu
Pujols
Tejada

Now based solely on the basepaths:

Beltran
Abreu
Arod
Tejada
Pujols
Helton

Beltran is the worst with the bat, but one of the all-time greats on the basepaths. Abreu is in the middle of each listing. Based on how I think each player is going to develop over the next few years I like the chances of Pujols and Abreu the best. Abreu just seems to be getting better each year as of late, and Pujols has not hit his prime years yet (we hope). ARod is an excellent player, and last year most likely would have topped out this list, but I think we are more likely to see more 2004's than 2003's for the duration of his career. Pujols is capable of finishing his career as one of the top ten hitters of all-time in my mind, and I am sure some of you agree with me. Abreu is in the midst of a Hall of Fame caliber career, but no one seems to notice much.

Overall, I like all of these players over Tejada, which I guess is a good part of what the article is about. People complain about Helton playing at altitude, but forget to look at his EqA's and his road totals that are also quite impressive, as well as the fact that he is quite the defensive first basemen. People give Tejada a lot of credit because of his RBI totals, and as all of you readers know, that just is not acceptable to me. I'm going to have to go with Albert Pujols as the best all-around player in baseball, followed by Bobby Abreu. Pujols is just too good a hitter (and turning himself into a good defensive first basemen as well) to look away from. Bobby Abreu gets my vote for second though due to his proficiency with the stick and his excellent basepath talent. He is 10/10 this year, and that really helps bring his SecAvg figure way up. Keep an eye on Abreu more than Tejada; just because he does not have as many RBI does not mean he is not the superior player.

Update [2005-5-20 8:32:40 by Marc Normandin]: Honestly, I'm still on the fence about selecting Pujols over Abreu. I think I am going to really have to study this one for awhile and present my findings at a later time. For now, Pujols is it, but if I see 3/4 of the way through the year Abreu continues to be the dominating force he has shown he can be I might review this selection.

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Comments

Fielding

One of the real questions in the debate, which isn't picked up well be stats, is what the value difference is for a defensively average shortstop versus an average right fielder or above-average first baseman. While I'm sure that even Joe Morgan can see that Miguel Tejada clearly isn't the offensive force that Albert Pujols is, what he doesn't look at is the defensive differences between the two. While Tejada is just about an average defensive shortstop, none of these other guys listed here are Manny Ramirez in the field either. If moving Tejada pushes an extra worthy bat onto the bench and brings out a weak hitting shortstop who plays average defense, then that difference in value has to count for something. While the other guys do play positions with more worthy hitters, thus pushing those guys to the bench, if any of them could play even woefully inadequate Jeteresque shortstop, their managers would probably more them there in a heartbeat, opening up their present spots for a bat who makes more of a difference than the fielding downgrade. Taken in context, Tejada may allow for a better team, even if his numbers aren't as good as the other players. Imagine what the Cardinals lineup would look like if they could have Pujols playing short and were able to sign someone like Delgado to play first this offseason...

That being said, if I could choose one player to build a team around, I'd take Pujols over Tejada in a heartbeat....

by Brickhaus on May 17, 2005 4:41 PM EDT reply actions

Helton

I'm really hoping that Todd Helton gets traded soon. At the end of his career he may be a legit Hall of Fame candidate but if he doesn't spend some of his betters years playing outside of Coors then I think too many people will use the Coors factor to dismiss his numbers, ignoring how good he is even on the road.

Funny how a mediocre player like Vinny Castilla gets vastly overrated because of Coors but Helton might be underrated thanks to playing at altitude.

DRays Bay

by Jim Wisinski on May 17, 2005 4:49 PM EDT reply actions

Speaking of which....

I (personally) would love it if the Rays traded a few of their young prospects for Helton, where Colorado eats about 3/5 of the salary. If the Rays were to offer a package of Dukes, Baldelli, Hendrickson and Sonnanstine, all of whom fit the Rockies' scheme well (two outfielders who can cover a lot of ground but have some pop, a groundball pitcher and a sidearm pitcher who keeps the ball low), that might just be about as good of an offer as the Rockies might get...

by Brickhaus on May 17, 2005 5:38 PM EDT up reply actions

What about...

Vladimir Guerrero (2002-2004)
.336/.417/.593; .330/.426/.586; .337/.391/.598
HR: 39; 25; 39
2B: 37; 20; 39
SB: 40; 9; 15
BB: 84; 63; 52
SecAvg: .427; .426; .366
WARP1: 9.0; 6.0; 9.1
VORP: 86.6; 48.7; 88.5
EqA: .324; .326; .322
FRAA: -4; -2; 1

He slipped my mind earlier.

by Richard Wade on May 17, 2005 6:26 PM EDT reply actions

Vlad

I had Vlad on my original list, but I didn't see him beating anyone except maybe Tejada, and I had to keep Tejada there since he was the focal point of the article.

Thanks for doing the legwork on Tejada...

I also left out Scott Rolen, whose defensive abilities are far superior to basically everyone on this list, and his bat is also pretty nifty.

"I don't set the rosters, I just make fun of the guy who does" - Rob Neyer

by Marc Normandin on May 17, 2005 7:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Rolen

Rolen's also pretty injured at the moment, so that would make him tough to be the best non-injured all-around player...

by Brickhaus2 on May 17, 2005 7:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Tejeda

Can't disagree with Pujols. Busch isn't an easy place to hit and he still destroys the ball. I like how he strikes out so infrequently for a power hitter.

I like Tejada a little more than Mark does. Helton only offers a bat and coors masks his true worth. We can safely say he is better than all-stars like Brian Giles and Edmonds. But I'm less comfortable in saying he's one of the best 5 players in the game given Coors and 1B.

Tejada really has his power game going this year. He starts 162 games every year. And quite frankly posting a ~.900 ops at SS means more to me than doing even a .950-.875 at LF or 1B. He doesn't steal bases but I don't require that of my 3-4-5 hitters.

by natsfan2005 @ Beyond the Box Score on May 17, 2005 11:51 PM EDT reply actions

Helton doesn't solely offer a bat

He's one of the best defensive first basemen in all of baseball, and unlike Senor Olerud and Co. he can hit.

"I don't set the rosters, I just make fun of the guy who does" - Rob Neyer

by Marc Normandin on May 18, 2005 8:34 AM EDT up reply actions

typo

even a .950-.875 should be .950-.975

and as far as Helton offering defense... if I was comparing him to other first baseman like Frank Thomas, etc.. I'd consider that. But it doesn't impress me when comparing him to centerfielders, catchers or other infield positions.

First base is the least demanding position on the field. Somehow that has to be leveled out with the other positions when making accolades such as these or HOF arguements. FRAA isn't the answer to compare different positions. Frankly, I'm finding it increasingly ridiculous that guys like Trammell don't sniff anywhere near the number of votes for the HOF and some are saying Raffy is a 1st ballot guy. I'd take Trammell anyday and find some other fungible first base masher if I was starting my team.

by natsfan2005 @ Beyond the Box Score on May 18, 2005 9:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Trammell

Trammell and Whitaker are both Hall of Famers in my eyes, and BBWAA needs someone to smack them with something heavy before they realize it themselves.

Of course Ron Santo and Bert Blyleven are Hall of Famers in my eyes as well, and so is Goose Gossage, and if we are going to let closers in Lee Smith does fit the WARP3 and JAWS criteria I stick by so often...

I can talk Hall of Fame all day natsfan, so if you have any players you want me to do Hall of
Fame Credentials articles on, ask and you shall receive.

"I don't set the rosters, I just make fun of the guy who does" - Rob Neyer

by Marc Normandin on May 18, 2005 10:00 AM EDT up reply actions

"All-around"

All-around is a difficult term to justify / determine, but I think that the most balanced of these players is Beltran because he does everything well: he can hit for average (he's been over .300), power, play defense, walk, and run.

The best player, IMO, on this list, is Pujols just because he's such an outstanding hitter. Bobby Abreu doesn't get the credit he deserves as a player in a lot of ways, but I don't think that his 2004 FRAA is telling the whole story with Abreu in the field... my untrained eye doesn't think that Abreu is an above-average outfielder. I could be wrong, though.

by Dan Scotto @ Beyond the Box Score on May 18, 2005 1:25 AM EDT reply actions

barry?

suppose bonds were not injured and having a typical season --- wouldn't he have to rank as #1? or does the steroid taint disqualify him?

by lboros on May 18, 2005 1:44 AM EDT reply actions

Not the steroids...

but his complete lack of range in the field hurt him.

by Richard Wade on May 18, 2005 2:52 AM EDT up reply actions

I mentioned this on your site

Bonds was disqualified partially because of his lack of range (I'm pretty sure his bat makes up for that) and the fact that he is injured. Morgan disqualified him from his initial argument for the same reason, so as not to come out with Barry as the answer (and prove absolutely nothing) I chose to omit him as well. Scott Rolen, who between his bat and his glove would atleast merit some attention on this list, is also kept off under the injury format.

"I don't set the rosters, I just make fun of the guy who does" - Rob Neyer

by Marc Normandin on May 18, 2005 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions