2012 awards thread

ok, here's another caveat-riddled* list that I put together: top 50 MLB batters, Salary divided by WAR. The far right column, "Salary / WAR", in other words, shows you how much a player was paid to produce each 1.0 WAR in 2012.

*Some of the players on Baseball-Reference, where I collected the data, don't have Salary information. For the most part it's rookies, people picked up off of waivers, utilitymen, etc, that don't affect the results. However, little-known baseball player MIKE TROUT does not have salary information on Baseball-Reference. So I looked up his salary information from another source and manually added it in. However, I didn't do that for anyone else. So if your favorite hometown player with no salary information on B-R is not included on this list, that's why!

Rk	Name			Tm	G	PA	WAR	Salary	Salary / WAR
1	Mike Trout		LAA	139	639	10.7	$480,000 	$44,860
2	Andrew McCutchen	PIT	157	673	7	$500,000 	$71,429
3	Buster Posey		SFG	148	610	7.2	$615,000 	$85,417
4	Giancarlo Stanton	MIA	123	501	5.4	$480,000 	$88,889
5	Austin Jackson	        DET	137	617	5.2	$500,000 	$96,154
6	Bryce Harper		WSN	139	597	5	$500,000 	$100,000
7	Jason Heyward	        ATL	158	651	5.5	$565,000 	$102,727
8	Josh Reddick		OAK	156	673	4.5	$485,000 	$107,778
9	Darwin Barney	        CHC	156	588	4.6	$500,000 	$108,696
10	Brett Lawrie		TOR	125	536	4.1	$482,500 	$117,683
11	Jason Kipnis		CLE	152	672	3.7	$482,100 	$130,297
12	Carlos Santana	        CLE	143	609	3.7	$501,900 	$135,649
13	David Freese		STL	144	567	3.6	$508,000 	$141,111
14	Jonathan Lucroy	MIL	96	346	3.5	$500,000 	$142,857
15	John Jaso		        SEA	108	361	3.3	$495,200 	$150,061
16	A.J. Ellis		        LAD	133	505	3.2	$490,000 	$153,125
17	Paul Goldschmidt	ARI	145	587	3.1	$482,000 	$155,484
18	Matt Wieters		BAL	144	593	3.2	$500,000 	$156,250
19	Jon Jay			STL	117	502	3.2	$504,000 	$157,500
20	Ian Desmond		WSN	130	547	3.2	$512,500 	$160,156
21	Starlin Castro		CHC	162	691	3.5	$567,000 	$162,000
22	Desmond Jennings	TBR	132	563	3	$486,900 	$162,300
23	Mike Moustakas	KCR	149	614	2.9	$487,250 	$168,017
24	Michael Brantley	CLE	149	609	2.9	$495,300 	$170,793
25	Craig Gentry		TEX	121	269	2.8	$484,300 	$172,964
26	Brandon Belt		SFG	145	472	2.7	$481,000 	$178,148
27	Cameron Maybin	SDP	147	561	2.7	$500,000 	$185,185
28	Kyle Seager		SEA	155	651	2.6	$484,300 	$186,269
29	Zack Cozart		CIN	138	600	2.4	$480,000 	$200,000
30	Neil Walker		PIT	129	530	2.5	$500,000 	$200,000
31	Ben Revere		MIN	124	553	2.4	$492,500 	$205,208
32	Brandon Crawford	SFG	143	476	2.3	$481,000 	$209,130
33	Danny Espinosa	WSN	160	658	2.4	$506,000 	$210,833
34	Mark Trumbo		LAA	144	586	2.3	$500,000 	$217,391
35	Allen Craig		STL	119	514	2.2	$495,000 	$225,000
36	Alex Avila		        DET	116	434	2.2	$510,000 	$231,818
37	Michael Saunders	SEA	139	553	2.1	$489,100 	$232,905
38	Alejandro De Aza	CHW	131	585	2.1	$495,000 	$235,714
39	Andy Dirks		DET	88	344	2	$485,000 	$242,500
40	Wilin Rosario		COL	117	426	1.9	$480,000 	$252,632
41	Lorenzo Cain		KCR	61	244	1.9	$480,850 	$253,079
42	Tyler Colvin		COL	136	452	1.9	$481,000 	$253,158
43	Freddie Freeman	ATL	147	620	2.1	$535,000 	$254,762
44	Gregor Blanco       	SFG	141	453	2	$516,000 	$258,000
45	Ruben Tejada		NYM	114	501	1.9	$491,209 	$258,531
46	Eric Young		COL	98	196	1.8	$481,000 	$267,222
47	Salvador Perez	        KCR	76	305	2.8	$750,000 	$267,857
48	Pedro Alvarez       	PIT	149	586	2.6	$700,000 	$269,231
49	Matthew Joyce	        TBR	124	462	1.8	$499,500 	$277,500
50	Michael McKenry	PIT	88	275	1.7	$485,000 	$285,294

man, seriously FUCK trying to copy excel spreadsheets to BBcode. I went in there, use the Code tags, lined up everything, it looked fine, and now that. whatever

i'll do it for pitchers in a second, too.

unfortunately calculating the most overpaid players (by WAR) is more complicated. it's easy to do when a player has a positive WAR (same formula > Salary divided by WAR), but when a player has a negative WAR you get some really funny results

Z S, you should come to a SABR convention, kid.

Please do the reverse if you can, heh.

also: SABR has conventions?

2012 MLB Pitchers, Salary / WAR

(same caveats apply)

http://i45.tinypic.com/16adwkx.png

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.