The Hall of wWAR welcomes Billy Pierce. (image via Wikipedia)

The beautiful thing about the Hall of wWAR is that it is a fluid institution. Just because you're in there one day doesn't mean you'll be in there the next. As the formula is improved, the population of the Hall is adjusted accordingly.

I've made a few tweaks to the formula recently and we had some turnover. But before we honor the new "inductees" (and say goodbye to the old ones), I wanted to talk about the changes I made.

1. WAR/162 and 19th Century Players

John Autin of High Heat Stats emailed me with some questions about WAR/162, the modified version of WAR that projects WAR totals for seasons with shorter schedules. John (rightfully) pointed out that in some cases, players were getting over five times the credit for the WAR the earned (like in 1871 when Ross Barnes earned 2.9 WAR in a 31-game schedule).

After some discussion and experiments, I decided to take John's advice and put a cap on the adjustment. A player's WAR/162 can now be no more than twice his WAR. This affected only seasons that were shorter than 81 games—essentially, 1871–1878).

The following players saw the biggest decrease in their wWAR:

1. Ross Barnes (–25.1 wWAR)
2. Cap Anson (–16.8)
3. Deacon White (–14.9)
4. Ezra Sutton (–9.2)
5. Jim O'Rourke (–8.0)
6. Al Spalding (–5.0)

As a result, Sutton falls below the induction line, so he will need to be replaced. He does, however, now sit close to Hardy Richardson. It was a Richardson/Sutton comparison that John made when he emailed me. That's what sparked this change. Their wWAR difference didn't match up with their relative value.

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Just in time for prospect season, we take a look at the idea of "windows" and a team's prime time to win. Inspired by what seems to be a once every three years rebuild for the Oakland Athletics, is there going to be a time where all their premier prospects hit and they'll have the best chance to win? Here we present the pleasures of trying to maximize production during one's service time.

Ninth in the series, we look at the San Diego Padres. Ranked 2nd overall by John Sickels, they have 0 A-rated prospects, but they're stocked in terms of B-rated prospects with 15. In Keith Law's organizational rankings released yesterday, he has them at #1 overall. Here's what KLAW says:

Without Anthony Rizzo, they no longer have a top-25 prospect in their system, but in terms of total future value of players likely to play significant roles in the big leagues, they're ahead of everyone else. Some of these players, especially from the 2011 draft, will develop into stars. But there are so many prospects here with high floors, players who would be top-10 or top-five in other systems but are 11-20 here (such as Robbie Erlin or Edinson Rincon), that they are well-positioned to compete even with modest major league payrolls during the next five to six years. Fans who were upset at the sudden departures of GM Jed Hoyer and assistant GM Jason McLeod for the Cubs should find solace in the fact that the prospects they helped bring into the system (along with many other scouts and execs, including Chris Gwynn, now with Seattle, and Jaron Madison and Randy Smith, still in San Diego) remain in place.

With the Padres top-ranked system, how long is it going to take before it all clicks?

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• Tier 1 (4 points): Major League Star -- Number One Starter
• Tier 2 (3 points): Stand Out/Above Average Regular -- Number Two/Exceptional Three Starter
• Tier 3 (2 points): Solid, Average, Every Day Regular -- Number Three/Solid Four Starter
• Tier 4 (1 point): Bench/Below Average Regular -- Borderline Four/Number Five Starter/Relief Pitcher

Seattle Mariners - 32 points

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• Tier 1 (4 points): Major League Star -- Number One Starter
• Tier 2 (3 points): Stand Out/Above Average Regular -- Number Two/Exceptional Three Starter
• Tier 3 (2 points): Solid, Average, Every Day Regular -- Number Three/Solid Four Starter
• Tier 4 (1 point): Bench/Below Average Regular -- Borderline Four/Number Five Starter/Relief Pitcher

Oakland A's -- 30 points

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Just in time for prospect season, we take a look at the idea of "windows" and a team's prime time to win. Inspired by what seems to be a once every three years rebuild for the Oakland Athletics, is there going to be a time where all their premier prospects hit and they'll have the best chance to win? Here we present the pleasures of trying to maximize production during one's service time.

Eighth in the series, we look at the Cleveland Indians. Ranked 27th overall by John Sickels, they have 0 A-rated prospects, 3 B-rated prospects, and 18 that are C-rated. Here's what Sickels says about their abundance of C-rated talent:

Indians fans may be discouraged by the large number of C+ grades, but they shouldn't be. While some of those C+s are future role players or relievers, the younger members of the group are high-ceiling guys who are just too raw or far away to get a higher grade just yet, but who could blossom within the next year or two. I'm thinking particularly of Araujo, Sterling, and the group of hitters who were backing them up in the Arizona Rookie League. The 2013 and 2014 lists could see a lot of those guys bumped up into the B-range (or maybe even higher) if they develop properly.

How does this system full of lower level talent affect their window to compete?

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The past 2 weeks, I've looked at which players have started the most games in the 5th and 6th spots in the batting order. This week, the 7th spot gets its turn.

The graphic below features the players with the 10 most career starts in the 7th spot (in the boxscore era, which is since 1919) as well as the 10 players who started the highest percentage of games in that spot (minimum 400 starts hitting 7th). Most of the players listed are relatively unknown old-timers, but if you read the post on 6th-spot hitters, you should remember the #1 guy:

That's right: Charlie Grimm, who has the most starts batting 6th since 1919, also has the most starts batting 7th. And in this case, it wasn't remotely close, as Grimm topped the runner-up total of Ken Reitz by nearly 200 starts. Despite having more starts hitting 7th than 6th, Grimm ranked only 15th on a percentage basis in the 7th spot (compared to his 8th ranking for the 6th spot).

Mike LaValliere comes in 2nd on the percentage list; what's interesting about that is that his counterpart on the early '90s Pirates, Don Slaught, just missed the top 10. Slaught ranks 12th with 49.8% of his starts in the 7th spot. Spanky and Sluggo: reunited at last!

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