There has been some 40-40 buzz surrounding Matt Kemp this spring, but Grady Sizemore and Hanley Ramirez are more realistic candidates for that hallowed club currently featuring the who's who of PED legends.
Yankees' third baseman Alex Rodriguez believes that his relationship with Madonna will allow him to bring a championship to the Bronx in 2009.
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The Reina Value is a valuation system which quickly determines how players are performing in relation to their contracts throughout the season.
While there is no salary cap in the MLB, making wise decisions on contracts remains imperative, especially for small market teams.
In order to objectively rank every player in baseball, I created a ranking system called the Field Impact Counter. I believe the system judges both position players and pitchers evenly, so their contributions to their team can be evaluated side-by-side.
Below are the leading positional players and pitchers from 2000-2007, with their season FIC and per game FIC in parenthesis. Pitchers, especially starters of course, average a higher per game FIC than everyday players.
2007 Alex Rodriguez, 399 (2.52)
Jake Peavy, 296 (8.70)
2006 Albert Pujols, 394 (2.75)
Johan Santana, 305 (8.96)
2005 Albert Pujols, 373 (2.31)
Chris Carpenter, 332 (10.07)
2004 Barry Bonds, 542 (3.69)
Randy Johnson, 323 (9.23)
2003 Barry Bonds, 405 (3.11)
Roy Halladay, 330 (9.15)
2002 Barry Bonds, 503 (3.51)
Randy Johnson, 401 (11.44)
2001 Barry Bonds, 516 (3.37)
Randy Johnson, 379 (10.83)
2000 Todd Helton, 449 (2.81)
Randy Johnson, 399 (11.41)
Historical Seasons
Babe Ruth 27: 513 (3.40)
Lou Gehrig 27: 504 (3.25)
Ted Williams 41: 479 (3.35)
Joe DiMaggio 41: 398 (2.87)
Mickey Mantle 56: 409 (2.73)
Barry Bonds 04: 542 (3.69)
Lefty Grove 31: 413 (10.07)
Sandy Koufax 65: 522 (12.15)
Bob Gibson 68: 462 (13.58)
Dwight Gooden 85: 432 (12.35)
Pedro Martinez 99: 344 (11.08)
Randy Johnson 01: 379 (10.83)
Career Totals
Babe Ruth: 6,886 (2.75)
Lou Gehrig: 5,939 (2.74)
Ted Williams: 6,139 (2.68)
Joe DiMaggio: 4,172 (2.40)
Barry Bonds: 7,090 (2.37)
Ty Cobb: 7,119 (3.35)
Jimmie Foxx: 4,956 (2.14)
Willie Mays: 5,282 (1.77)
Mickey Mantle: 4,222 (1.76)
Pete Rose: 4,337 (1.22)
Randy Johnson: 5,105 (9.02)
Juan Marichal: 4,176 (8.87)
Bob Gibson: 4,658 (8.82)
Babe Ruth: 1,404 (8.61)
Roger Clemens: 6,098 (8.60)
Sandy Koufax: 3,155 (7.95)
Lefty Grove: 4,585 (7.44)
- How does 2007's top-25 compare to the top-25 of 2008?
Albert Pujols moved up from fifth to first, and CC Sabathia edged up to second from eighth.
Johan Santana climbed from 17th to 8th going from the Twins to the Mets.
David Wright fell two slots to 12th while this year's 10th ranked player was Brandon Webb who was ninth in 2007.
Chase Utley moved up from 19th to 17th although his 2007 was superior individually per game.
Dan Haren was 25th in 2007 and was excellent again in 2008 and finished the season 18th while Matt Holliday fell from seventh to 21st.
That, of course, leaves 17* of the 2007 top-25 out of the 2008 top-25.
*Barry Bonds was 23rd in 07, and not offered a contract by a single team for the 08 season, so while there are asterisks being throwing around..
Various FIC and Reina Value Awards for 2008
- Best Overall Player/Best Position Player: Albert Pujols, 365
Pujols' 365 season FIC mark was lower than Rodriguez's in 2007 and didn't help lead the Cardinals to the postseason, but he was clearly the best offensive player in the game.
- Best Pitcher: CC Sabathia, 337
On this list, we make no distinctions for league, and so Sabathia is recognized as the very best pitcher in the MLB in 2008. His 337 season FIC comfortably beat Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay, and Cliff Lee.
- Best Reina Value: Tim Lincecum, +5,233%
Lincecum was ranked third and 'deserved' to make Derek Jeter's $21.6M while he only took home the Cy Young and $405k.
- Worst Reina Value: Andruw Jones, -97%
Jones was ranked 1,295th out of 1,296 players in 2008 and was historically awful and so grossly overpaid that Jeff Skilling and Carl Pavano are both jealous.
- Best Position Player Rookie: Jacoby Ellsbury, 164 (141st overall)
Ellsbury lost out the AL ROY to Evan Longoria who had 27 homers and an .874 OPS, but the Boston center fielder was aided, by 50 stolen bases, quite a few more plate appearances and far fewer strikeouts. He was also ahead of Geovany Soto and Joey Votto, who were the top NL hitters.
- Best Pitching Rookie: Edinson Volquez, 242 (32nd overall)
In a wicked twist of fate, Volquez finished 32nd in season FIC while Josh Hamilton, the player he was traded for, was ranked 33rd. Jair Jurrjens and Armando Guerrero also had nice seasons, but Volquez's 3.21 ERA, 17-6 record, and 206 strikeouts were vastly superior to his fellow rookies. I'm still not sure how Jurrjens was ahead of Volquez in ROY voting with 34 points to nine.
- Best Sophomore Position Player: Dustin Pedroia
Pedroia won the AL ROY in 2007 and followed it up with the AL MVP in 2008. His .869 OPS was the lowest by an AL MVP since Ichiro Suzuki won in 2001 with a mark of .838.
- Best Sophomore Pitcher: Lincecum
Lincecum was easily the best pitcher in his second season, but Daisuke Matsuzaka (54th overall), Joakim Soria (59th overall), and John Danks (62nd overall) had very good seasons.
- Best Season for a Free Agent: A.J. Burnett
Sabathia was going to get a $100M+ deal almost automatically, so he probably got himself an extra $20M-$30M with how dominant he was, but A.J. Burnett (20th overall) found the perfect time to stay healthy and excellent, one of many impending free agents to do so. He was rewarded with an $82.5M deal from the Yankees.
Also noteworthy; Francisco Rodriguez breaks save record (14th overall), Mark Teixeira has .962 OPS for season (7th overall), Manny Ramirez hits for a 1.232 OPS with the Dodgers (13th overall), and Ryan Dempster converts to consistently dominant starter (24th overall).
