Monday, June 22, 2009

Common sense

Albert Pujols has passed Chase Utley and now is the top vote getter for the All-Star game. While I encourage this seeing as how Pujols leads the league in everything there is a small discrepancy I'd like to acknowledge. All-Star ballotting is done by league and by position. Pujols leads all players in WAR with 5.5. The next closest NL 1B is Adrian Gonzalez with 4.7. Utley sits at 3.2. The next closest NL 2B is Freddy Sanchez with 3.0. It really shouldn't be this close.

It should be noted that Sanchez narrows the gap between himself and Utley mostly through defense even though he is having a good year at the plate.

3 comments:

  1. What shouldn't be this close? Pujols vs. Utley? I agree, but you should probably flesh out your logic a bit. I assume you're saying that Pujols is outperforming Gonzalez by more than Utley is outperforming Sanchez (true), and therefore should be getting more votes at his position than Utley is at his (true) assuming rational voters (definitely not true, but we're idealists here). I further assume that you're acknowledging Sanchez's defense-heavy contributions as a way of suggesting that Utley may be outpacing him by more than Pujols is outpacing Gonzalez because Chase's value is flashier and more easily (and reliably...and accessibly) quantified than Freddy's, while both first basemen are crushing at the plate (true).

    Am I connecting the dots properly? If so, I agree whole-heartedly. If not, I'll be curious to find out how YOU connected them.

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  2. You got it. I just didn't have a lot of time today and I wanted to get the thoughts out there, whether they were organized or not.

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