April WPA Totals

by WalrusMan on May 2, 2008 2:49 PM PDT

Here's the final wrap-up for April. WPA listed here has been taken from every game and added up to provide the year to date total for each player. In the Batters screen, when a player has multiple WPA amounts, such as starting pitchers batting, their total WPA is displayed next to their names as well.

pLI is the average Leverage Index the player has appeared in. This measures how important the situation is in a game. Merkin Valdez, for instance, has a very low pLI as a starter. His start only lasted two innings, and since the early innings don't affect the game as much as the later innings, his pLI is low. Brian Wilson, on the other hand, has a very high pLI. He's been used in mostly late inning, tight game situations where the game is on the line. With relievers you can see what sort of situations they have been used in. With other players, you can see how this relates to their WPA. If their WPA is high, their pLI is high, but their hitting line looks meh, then they were ~~CLUTCH~~. If the opposite is true, then they were ~~UNCLUTCH~~. So onto the graphs.

Note: Fred Lewis is 24th in the league. Bengie Molina is 26th. Randy Winn is 19th worrst. Jose Castillo is 34th worst. Bocock nor Bowker do not qualify, but they would be tied for 4th and 31st respectively.

Note: Tim Lincecum is tied for 9th. Jonathan Sanchez is 41st. Barry Zito is 2nd worst. Only to Matt Morris.

Note: Brian Wilson is tied for 7th. Tyler Walker is 19th. Jack Taschner is 41st. Brad Hennessey is 8th worst. Erick Threets is 49th worst.

Any surprises? I believe someone guessed a few days ago Ray Durham was going to be at the bottom. Well no one took into account how bad Bocock has been I guess. And this just proves that, yes, Zito does suck. Another quick comment...boy has Bowker taken a dive. His first few games pushed him up but lately he has had nothing but bad at bats.

Discuss! (That's an order from a moderator so you better follow it.)

This FanPost is reader-generated, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of McCovey Chronicles. If the author uses filler to achieve the minimum word requirement, a moderator may edit the FanPost for his or her own amusement.

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Great Work!

Wow, I did not realize just how bad Winn has been this season. I guess I kind of ignore him at this point. And what were the chances that the Giants would have 3 hitters slugging .500 or better after a month (4 if you want to count Cain)? Interesting stuff.

Adopted Giant: Travis Denker. Good?

by scotterduder on May 2, 2008 2:56 PM PDT reply actions

for the lay person (me)

WPA = ?

im guessing 0.00  = the average player in MLB?

by slojoe on May 2, 2008 4:32 PM PDT reply actions

the mysterey of WPA

WPA is a way to measure how a players performence affects the final outcome of a game. For example, in a 0-0 game if a player were to hit a homerun in the 8th inning his WPA would increase significantly more than his WPA would have had increased if he hit it in the 2nd. This is because there is significantly less time for the other team to come back. Essentially, like WalrusMan said, its kind of a way to measure a players clutchness. That is the VERY basics of it. i suggest the link below.

A really great article that does wonders to help understand WPA and all that good stuff is:

by jimbobjimbo2 on May 2, 2008 5:59 PM PDT up reply actions

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/the-one-about-win-probability/

by jimbobjimbo2 on May 2, 2008 6:03 PM PDT reply actions

thanks jimbob, nice link......

still over my head along with VORP and WORP and all the other stuff

by slojoe on May 2, 2008 10:35 PM PDT up reply actions

how does taschner have a higher wpa than valdez?

by Azmanz on May 2, 2008 8:43 PM PDT reply actions

I believe it’s because Taschner has usually come in with men on base and allowed none of them to score.

Neglectful father of David Quinowski

by marcello on May 3, 2008 1:18 PM PDT up reply actions

im guessing because taschner

has been good in all but a few outings and has gotten some key outs….Merkin has been lucky a few times, with others cleaning up his mess….

by slojoe on May 2, 2008 10:32 PM PDT reply actions

so does it take into account...

if the giants are down 7 nothing after the first inning in one game, does a players stats for the same inning in the next game that is tied 0-0 count the same?

choose lincecum/ lewis in 2009

by Headhunter Rollins on May 5, 2008 8:32 AM PDT reply actions

It's all based on situation.

Say the first batter in a 0-0 game, bottom of the inning makes an out. And then say the first batter in a 7-0 game, bottom of the inning makes an out. The first batter will get more counted against him (a larger negative number) than the second batter. Also, if it’s a 1-2-3 inning, the amount counted against each hitter decreases. Of course a team is more likely to score if the first batter gets on than the second, and more likely if the second gets on than if the third.

The Basil Fawlty Moderating Strategy:
"We could run a nice blog here if we didn't have all these members getting in the way."

by WalrusMan on May 5, 2008 12:31 PM PDT up reply actions