Japanese hitting Metric

I previously made a Japanese pitcher metric (you can find that in the Yu Darvish article), that compared how pitchers' in Japan did in the Majors in America. Here I am going to do the same with hitters. There have been far less Japanese hitters in the Show than pitchers. So I am using all 7 that BaseballCube had reliable stats on and had significant time in the Big Leagues. Ichiro 1.82 PAPP 1.56 PPG 392 OBP in Japan.  In America: 1.29 PPG, 2.227 PAPP. , 370 OBP. So Taguchi: in America, .62 PPG, 2.58 PAPP, .332 OBP, In Japan: .329 OBP, 2.6 PAPP, 1.07 PPG. Kazuo Matsui in Japan: 1.58 PPG, 2.10 PAPP, .351 OBP. In America: .321 OBP, 2.53 PAPP, 1.07 PPG. Kosuke Fukodome in Japan: .390 OBP, 1.99 PAPP, 1.48 PPG. In America: .92 PPG, .361 OBP, and 2.27 PAPP. Akinori Iwamura in America: .95 PPG, .345 OBP, 2.46 PAPP. In Japan: .358 OBP, 2.15 PAPP, 1.39 PPG. Tsuyoshi Nishioka in Japan: 2.18 PAPP, 1.26 PPG, and .375 OBP. In America: .278 OBP, .51 PPG, and 3.51 PAPP. Hideki Matsui in Japan: .408 OBP, 1.71 PPG, 1.77 PAPP. In America: 1.32 PPG, .363 OBP, 2.22 PAPP. The 7 hitters averaged a 2.09 PAPP in Japan, and 2.83 in America, a .74 addition. They averaged a 1.44 PPG in Japan and a .95 PPG in the Majors, a .49 addition. They averaged a .372 OBP in Japan and .339 OBP in the Majors, a .033 subtraction. When going over hitters numbers in Japan, we will use this metric to grade how well they might do in the Majors in the United States.

Grading Tony Reagins time in LA

After missing the playoffs for the second year, the Angels fired GM Tony Reagins. So its time to see where he messed up (and what he got right). Firstly, I have already written about the Scott Kazmir trade, and the absolute failure that was, so I feel no need to address that. Also, because he was only there for 4 years, it is really too soon to really be able to address all his drafts. So we will focus on key trades and signings. One of his first major moves was trading Orlando Cabrera for Jon Garland before the 08 season. Cabrera put up a 2.1 WAR with the White Sox in his only year there, making 10 million. This is a WASP well above the Halladay Standard at 4761. Garland, also playing just 1 year for the Angels, had just a 1 WAR and a 12 million dollar salary. This was an obvious loss. During 08, he traded Casey Kotchman and Stephen Marek for Mark Texiera. Marek has not played in the big leagues, and Kotchman put up just a .8 WAR for the Braves, and a 4512 WASP, while Texiera put up a 3.3 WAR and 1893 WASP with the Angels. This doesn't even include that they drafted Mike Trout (.9 WAR so far) and Garrett Richards (-.2 WAR so far) with the draft picks they got for losing Texiera in free agency. This was an obvious win, and the Braves don't want to hear the word Texiera anymore because that was two really bad trades for them. In 2010, the Angels sent Joe Saunders and two minor league players who have yet to reach the big leagues for Dan Haren. Haren has a 6.8 WAR as an Angel and a 2482 WASP. Saunders has a 2.2 WAR with the Diamondbacks and a 3340 WASP. Another win for the Angels, so far (it will depend on what the minor league players do for Arizona). However, the biggest disaster was before the 2011 season, when he shipped Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera for Vernon Wells. Wells put up a negative .2 WAR and made 23 million dollars (a vomit inducing 50600 WASP). Rivera was pretty terrible with the Jays, and was moved to the Dodgers. Napoli was immediately moved to rival Texas Rangers were he put up a 5.5 WAR and very good 1054 WASP. That move alone is probably the biggest reason Reagins was fired.

Now signings: Torii Hunter is 4 years through a 5 year $90 million deal. So far, he has posted a 13 WAR. He would have to pull off the most amazing season in baseball history (a 17 WAR is what he needs) to meet the Halladay Standard for the contract. So, they gave him way too much money. Brian Fuentes was also given way too much money, registering a 8667 WASP in his time in LA. Add, Bobby Abreu to that list as well, a 4893 WASP. Fernando Rodney a 55000 WASP, Hideki Matsui a 4285, Joel Pinero 10667, and Hisanori Takahashi 19000, all well above the Halladay Standard of 3000. Scott Downs was the only really good sign at a 2272 WASP. Reagins' era as GM was an era of a couple bad trades, and some really bad signings. We will see in the next few years how his drafts work out, but it appears that Reagins really set this organization back and a move was warranted.

When Moneyball wasn't Moneyball: Overpaid Athletics

As the Moneyball movie comes out (to some very positive reviews), its interesting to look at where the Athletics are currently. Not only are they third place in the AL West, but they have found themselves in some very bad contracts. The whole point of "moneyball" was to maximize production in a very small payroll. This is why they groomed the trio of Hudson, Mulder, and Zito, but let them go when they got expensive, and replaced them with groomed Rich Harden, Houston Street, and Joe Blanton, only to get rid of them when they got expensive to replace them with Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill and Dallas Braden (who can't stay healthy it seems). For the most part, the pitching has worked, but their struggles to develop hitters have cost them. Not to mention, Billy Beane has done something very anti-moneyball. This offseason, he signed/traded for 3 aging players with large deals. Hideki Matsui is making 4.25 million dollars this year (he was clearly worth this much when he was with the Yankees, but didn't show enough with the Angels last year to merit this), but barely has a positive WAR, giving him a WASP of over 6000. Josh Willingham is making 6 million dollars with a WAR of 1.5, giving him a sub-par 4000 WASP. Reliever Brian Fuentes is making a mind-numbing 5 million dollars, and with his .3 WAR, he has a WASP of 16,666. A GM that built his team using sabermetrics and avoiding deals like this has turned into the Cubs, who sign a bunch of old players that are overpaid and watch the thing blow up.