2012 awards thread

just going with screenshots because i already ripped out half of my hair trying to accommodate microsoft office's many special needs

nothing groundbreaking, but looking at these really reinforces that pitchers are really expensive. the 50th batter in the list is paid $285K per WAR. The 50th pitcher is paid $481K per WAR.

Can't look at it too closely right now, but that's great, Z S. Wonder what people are getting paid per WAR on the Barry Zito bizarro version (actually, he might not have been so bad this year)--12 million a win?

zito is a good example of how the (really simplistic) formula i'm using doesn't work for terrible players. his salary is $19 million, his WAR is -0.3. 19 million divided by -0.3 is about -$63 million per WAR. it's counting the wrong direction, saying that he's worth $63 million for each NEGATIVE WAR, which of course is not what we're looking for here.

i was trying to think about how to address this until i put on the B-52s debut, and now i'm just kinda dancing around

OK, NEW METHODOLOGY - UNIFIED FIELD THEORY OF GOOD AND BAD

1. i start with the assumption that each WAR is worth $4.5 million on the open market, which is the value that Fangraphs used last year.
2. i calculate each player's "Fair Salary" by multiplying each player's 2012 WAR by $4.5 million. so if a player has 2.0 WAR, their "Fair Salary" is $9.0 million (2 x 4.5).
3. i calculate each player's "Net Value" by subtracting their Actual Salary from their Fair Salary. if they were paid exactly what they deserved, the Net Value is 0. if they were a relative bargain, the Net Value is positive. if they were a relative ripoff, the Net value is Negative.

TOP 50 2012 MLB Pitchers - Net Value (Fair Salary - Actual Salary)
http://i46.tinypic.com/2hmkftt.png

BOTTOM 50 2012 MLB Pitchers - Net Value (Fair Salary - Actual Salary)
http://i46.tinypic.com/4iycl.png

4. i also calculated their net value as a ratio (Fair Salary divided by Actual Salary):

TOP 50 2012 MLB Pitchers - Net Value Ratio (Fair Salary / Actual Salary)
http://i49.tinypic.com/20aau1f.png

BOTTOM 50 2012 MLB Pitchers - Net Value Ratio (Fair Salary / Actual Salary)
http://i47.tinypic.com/2vnm4gp.png

FUCK, that last chart is messed up (as usual, because it's dealing with negative numbers and ratios). it's punishing players who are paid less. if you look at the top two players on the list, they both have -1.4 WAR, but Zach Stewart has the worse ratio because he is paid less than Brian Duensing. It should be the other way around - Brian Duensing is WORSE because he's paid more and did just as shitty as Zach Stewart.

i am done thinking about this. i just spent the last hour in the kitchen trying to figure this shit out and still failed in the end

Please ignore the last chart. However, the three before that are ROCK SOLID.

jeezus

zs you effin rule

not sure if you've been following SBN's picking of each team's (Representative, not Best) Player of the Year -- think Neyer writes em all -- but here is Seattle's:

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/10/19/3521986/2012-player-of-the-year-seattle-mariners

The idea that Verlander is underpaid by 14 mil despite making 20 mil already is insane but I don't disagree.

Give him all the money.

Nice work, down w/ obana.

wow lincecum

darwin barney @ 9th best salary/war is blowing my mind

also how is latos only making 550k

damn hes 24 i thought dude was like 29

hey zs this is some nice work

yea z_s for ilbb mvp

Should be getting paid to work arbitration cases.

here have an upvote/rep point/forum monetary unit

oh, i gave you your fourth rumglord! how pipping

give rizzo a call -- he could probably use a sabermetric sidekick

tell him you've run some stats on ryan zimmerman's effectiveness throwing underhand and that everyone should be doing it

There's a Babe Ruth Award (for postseason performance) that no one knows about:

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/10/24/3544038/mlb-postseason-award-babe-ruth

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/10/24/3546916/take-that-poindexter

Let the ugliness begin.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2012-10-26/mlb-player-of-the-year-2012-miguel-cabrera-mike-trout-al-mvp-triple-crown?eadid=EL/SICOM&sct=mlb_t2_a5

Not really--I'm sure Trout's side is resigned to the inevitable by now. I said upthread that I thought Trout would get MVP even if Cabrera did it, but it became clear to me soon after that that wasn't the case. (Verducci picking Cabrera was key in rethinking that.) Actually, 108-71 doesn't seem that bad a split for Trout in a player's poll, as you know players are going to favor traditional/dinosaur/whatever metrics.

tbh, i can't get too worked up about one winning over the other either way.

Same.

someone voted for jeter

derek jeter is so vain

He probably thinks this award is about him.

lol

Meat Hook has spoken.

‏@DaMeathookYoung
Rookie of the Year Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. Cy Young is Gio Gonzalez and Fernando Rodney. MVP is Buster Posey and Miguel Cabrera.

o_O

no Jeter nomination for a Gold Glove? He had 200+ hits this year! #LiterallyKatrina

Not an award, but Schoenfield's year-end All-Star team--most are pretty easy picks.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/30663/wrapping-up-2012-the-all-mlb-team

BBWAA doing "finalist" crap... kinda adds nothing.

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/11/7/3615240/american-league-award-finalists-bbwaa-mvp-cy-young-rookie-year

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/11/7/3615406/baseball-awards-mvp-cy-young-rookie-of-the-year

wait this finalist stuff was that determined before voting or is it just like the top X vote-getters? that's what i thought it was like with gold gloves, like the voters were only allowed to vote for one of three at each position

top X getters

"finalists" ... ugh. What's the point if they're just the top X vote-getters? To reduce the possible element of surprise like when e.g. Morneau or Pudge won?

haven't looked, but i bet mlb.com has a fan poll.

I didn't really get this until reading about Johnny Cueto on SweetSpot. What a horrible, horrible idea.

man, dave cameron is not v camera friendly

One thing this awful new format will gum up is the MVP- and Cy Young-share stat on Baseball Reference. It's a junk stat, but it does tell you something about how players were perceived in their day.

Is it really going to be acknowledged in that way? I have my doubts. BR should just stick w/ where they finish, 2-3-4-5.

also, fucking ignore it.

I mean gum up in the sense that for all those years, players accumulated award-shares for any kind of finish. I'm sure they'll continue to tabulate the stat, but it's now two different standards for pre- and post-2012.

Ignore it? Well, sure--if I wanted to, I would.

but... it's not a separate or new distinction, just an artificial one. They're just announcing the upper crust early.

Okay--I've misinterpreted. When I read this, I understood it to mean that they narrow the field to a few players ahead of time, and they're the only ones eligible:

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/30678/johnny-cueto-was-jobbed

But if it just means that they announce the top few finishers ahead of time, and there'll still be the usual also-rans drawing votes after the top tier, no big deal (although completely unnecessary). So: never mind.

And actually, in this instance, I think your "ignore it" advice makes 100% sense; I will try to avoid, in future, finding out about these week-before "finalists."

yeah the BBWAA is not having 2 separate votes for these awards

interesting re: manager of the yr discussion on clubhouse confidential - cameron mentioned theres fangraphs metrics that have the o's as the best bullpen in the history of baseball o_O

lol cameron's been on that show? the whole thing is silly. brian kenny is like a teenager just discovering sabermetrics and he's SO EXCITED but he's also just more natural as a host who delegates talking time to the ex-players, so not only is it finally ~his time to shine~ but he's sort of a creepy robot about it

hilarious A+