AL Wins Above Average By Position

[VAfan]

I just stumbled upon a Baseball Reference chart I hadn't seen before. It ranks teams by WAR by position. 

Sox are:

Overall - 3rd,  1.4
All Pitchers - 10th, -.0.7
Starters - 2nd, 0.9
Relievers - 12, -1.7
Non-P - 1st 2.1
C - 9th, -0.3
1B - 7th, 0
2B - 4th, 0.2
3B - 2nd, 0.6
SS - 3rd, 0.5
LF - 9th, -0.3
CF - 6th, 0.3
RF - 2nd, 0.3
OF all - 9th, 0.3"
DH - 1st (tied), 0.8

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Some observations.

1. Having the starters rank this high is very good, since most people going into the season would have thought our starters were the shakiest part of the team. (And they were the worst group last year.)  But with Carlos Rodon pitching lights out, Dylan Cease throwing the first shutout of his life, and Michael Kopech being devastating, the back end of the rotation seems like it may be as good as the front end. So when Giolito, Keuchel and Lynn sharpen up, this could be a devastating staff that can go on some nice winning streaks.  Both the 1983 and 2005 Sox 99 win teams were driven by their starters. There is a lot of potential in this group.

2. The bullpen is not going to remain this bad. When they sharpen up, the Sox are likely to move to the top of the overall WAR ranking. 

3. Yasmani Grandal is not going to continue hitting .120. He ranked 2nd in the AL in WAR last season. Another area where the Sox will improve.

4. Jose Abreu is not going to finish 7th. He was first last year by a wide margin. 

5. Seeing Yoan Moncada 2nd after such a miserable offensive start to his season is impressive. He brought up the rear last year with a 12th place ranking. 

6. Tim Anderson is good, but can and will be better. He finished 1st last year. 

7. Left field is obviously the biggest hole (other than catcher) in the lineup.  We need Engel to be healthy, but by late in the season Eloy's return will fill this hole.  (Don't expect him Eloy to DH much when he returns.)

8. This is a surprisingly low ranking for Luis Robert, who has made strong offensive improvement. But he still has Mike Trout ahead of him and Byron Buxton has been having a year for Min. In the end, the rank will matter less than the final WAR number. 

9. Adam Eaton has very adequately filled a big hole from the 2020 team.

10. The Yerminator has filled a DH hole the Sox have had for more than a decade. 

Overall: The Sox are underperforming where they should be if you look at run differential. I'd blame most of that on bullpen failures in close games. But the Sox also have studs like Jose Abreu and Yasmani Grandal underperforming, which will not continue. Mercedes will return to earth, but the Sox should have more than enough offensive improvement from other guys to compensate. 

Meanwhile, the starting pitching from the back end has been a revelation, with Carlos Rodon looking like an ACE, Michael Kopech looking even better in shorter stints, and Dylan Cease perhaps finally having the light go on. 

Once the bullpen comes around and the offense heats up, the Sox should be able to sustain some nice winning streaks. 
 

 

[Jerksticks]

Yep.  Ain’t seen nothing yet.  
 

Wonder what the record looks like if we don’t blow 7 saves the first month.  Hmmm

 

Dodgers lol.  Most complete team lol.  They will all learn soon enough

[YoYoIsMyHero]

33 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

Yep.  Ain’t seen nothing yet.  
 

Wonder what the record looks like if we don’t blow 7 saves the first month.  Hmmm

 

Dodgers lol.  Most complete team lol.  They will all learn soon enough

You should look at the Dodgers IL list 

 

Also the bullpen giving up a lead in the 7th shouldnt be a blown save IMO 

Edited May 2, 2021 by YoYoIsMyHero