Well – it wasn’t quite as dramatic as Brett Myers, on the final day of the season, striking out Wily Mo Pena on a hook and then being promptly mauled by Pat Burrell in 2007 - but it’s still just as wonderful.
This time, fittingly, a complete-game shutout by Roy Halladay got the job done, and the Phillies have clinched a playoff spot for the 5th straight season, the only team in baseball on such a streak.
Halladay threw a big punch in the Cy Young race, lowering his ERA to a now-NL-best 2.34.
Though the new additions of Halladay, Lee, Pence and even Oswalt have taken this team to a new level, it’s the core group that has been here throughout the 5 years.
Let’s take a look at ALL the players that contributed to this feat.
WAR isn’t perfect, but it’s a good way to see who has most contributed to this team’s 466-328 record in the last 5 seasons…
From Utley to Bruntlett – thanks to all you guys!
What happened to Juan Perez?
Check out Aaron Rowand at number 12. And Brad Lidge all the way down at 31.
Cool idea for a post. Forgot about tadihito iguchi. He had a nice little run as a fill in the year a errant Lannan fastball simultaneously broke up an Utley MVP bid and several little bones in same player’s hand. Kinda surprised to see Happ so high up on the list too, WAR being a cumulative stat & all. What really jumps out at me though is how many guys just made positive contributions after the top ten.
It’s amazing that Halladay is 7th and Lee 9th in their short time here.
Surprised Romero is so high.
Hunter Pence, ALREADY more valuable than 84 other players
Really cool post man!
Greg Dobbs at 104, thought he would have been at lest 60th, guess he really stunk it up that one year. Freddy Garcia at 70th and Chris Roberson at 48th is kinda perplexing though.
Yeah, me too.
His WAR is brought down ENTIRELY by his HORRIBLE fielding ability.
Just his bat put him at 0.7. And if you take out his last, really bad, year, he’d be at 1.3.
e need Fabio C back.
Awesome post…. Adam Eatons ranking seems about perfect
Also really highlights how important our system has been. 6 of the top ten are produce of our farm Shane was rule 5, which is basically the same thong from a cost perpective. Consider that Werth was picked up off the scrap heap, and Doc and Cliff are the only top tenners that we really had to go out and get. Extend that out to the top 20,
I meant to delete that last sentence about the top 20. More of a mixed group 11-20.
Shocking how bad Dom Brown is, #96 with a negative WAR ? Can that be right ?
The Flying Hawaiian at #3 and above MVP Rollins ? Does he make 1/2 the money that Jimmy makes ? I love Big Ryan Howard, but compared to the generic average 1st baseman he doesn’t stand out. But I do love how he has improved his defense, that sliding catch the other week was awesome.
Here is the breakdown of Jimmy vs. Shane…
Batting value:
Shane: 2.9 wins above average
Jimmy: -1.0
Defensive value:
Shane – 1.9 wins
Jimmy – 1.8
Baserunning value:
Shane – 2.2 wins
Jimmy – 2.5
Position adjustment:
Shane – 0.3 wins
Jimmy – 3.2
Reach on error/GIDP value:
Shane: 1.3
Jimmy: 0.9
Replacement value (or pretty much games played):
Shane – 8.2
Jimmy – 8.0
Total:
Shane – 16.9
Jimmy – 15.4
This list just makes me doubt WAR even more. Are there really 38 minor league players who would have performed better than the people on this list?