Graph of the Day: 2009 All Star WAR Matchup

by Dan Turkenkopf on Jul 6, 2009 9:03 AM EDT Comment 8 comments

The 2009 All Star teams were announced yesterday in preparation for the July 14th game at the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis. While many are going to be identifying the unworthy (Jonathan Papelbon, Josh Hamilton) and the snubs (Matt Kemp, Brandon Inge - who are the most deserving of the final spots based on value this season in case you were wondering), we're going to start with the head-to-head matchup.

The bars on the positions represent the 2009 WAR for the starters at each position based on Fangraphs WAR; red for AL, blue for NL. The bars across deep center field is the 2009 WAR for each roster broken up by roster spot. Position players are on the left, pitchers on the right. I know the NL is likely going to lose two of the starting outfielders to injury, but we'll go with the rosters at this point.

Image courtesy of Google Earth.

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Could you perhaps throw up the rosters for each league?

It doesn’t matter for most positions but it’s unclear which outfielders will be playing in each position.

by Graham on Jul 6, 2009 3:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Especially since you put the AL Centrefielder as having a lot of WAR

and I am pretty sure it is in fact Josh Hamilton.

"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"

by jessef on Jul 6, 2009 4:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Sorry about that

In the outfield I went (from left to right).

NL: Braun, Beltran, Ibanez
AL: Bay, Ichiro, Hamilton

You’re probably right that Hamilton will play CF. I just assumed that they’d put the better fielder there, but Maddon probably will go with Hamilton.

by Dan Turkenkopf on Jul 6, 2009 8:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks Dan

I would have expected Jason Bay to have more value, but I guess not being able to field prevents you from being all that great

"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"

by jessef on Jul 6, 2009 9:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Jul 7, 2009 10:32 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Small point

I’m pretty sure that fangraphs does not adjust for league diffculty in their WAR calculations. So it’s probably true that the AL should look better than they do vs. the NL.
-j

My blog: Basement-Dwellers.com
Also: Beyond the Boxscore

by JinAZ on Jul 7, 2009 1:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs