Red Sox Monthly WPA Leaders for July
The monthly WPA rankings are getting a little bit boring, with Ortiz's theatrics once again earning him top billing, and Papelbon continuing his march toward the Cy Young award. The action at the other end of the spectrum was a little more interesting, with some surprises at the bottom of the rankings.
Starters
Starting pitching was a bit of a puzzle this month, with Jon Lester the only real standout. He was lights-out in his first four starts of the month, and less stellar in his last two. Overall, in six starts, he put together a 2-1 record and 3.82 ERA to earn 0.438 WPA. In second place was Josh Beckett, who was 3-2 with a 5.06 ERA and 0.086 WPA in six starts. At the bottom of the heap were David Wells and Jason Johnson, who each struggled in their only start of the month.
Bullpen
Jonathan Papelbon of course ruled the roost in the pen, with five saves in six opportunities and a 0.71 ERA. He allowed just one run in his ten appearances, earning 1.256 WPA. In second place was Manny Delcarmen, who started off the month better than he finished it, but still ended up with a 3.52 ERA and 0.464 WPA. The worst performer out of the pen was Rudy Seánez. Seánez actually had a pretty good month, but his WPA took a bath in the 19-inning marathon against the White Sox on July 9, where he took the loss on a walk-off single by Tadahito Iguchi after pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Since then, he has not allowed a run, but he has been used mainly in garbage-time situations, so his WPA has never rebounded from that bad outing. Second-worst in the pen was Javier López, who had a 6.23 ERA and -0.147 WPA for the month.
Position Players
Well, of course, David Ortiz, whose 2.312 WPA in July was the most for any player in any month this season. Hitting .339 with 14 homers will do that for you. Papi just needs to show up for the rest of the season to take home the MVP crown that should have been his last year. In second place offensively was Manny Ramirez, who put together a 16-game hitting streak to finish the month. For the whole month, he hit .336 with 9 homers. Bringing up the rear, we have Coco Crisp, who has excelled in the field and disappointed at the plate, with a .243 average for the month and -0.907 WPA. Second from the rear is Trot Nixon, who was riding a cold streak before getting hurt on July 30. He hit .187 for the month with just a single home run.
Starters
Starting pitching was a bit of a puzzle this month, with Jon Lester the only real standout. He was lights-out in his first four starts of the month, and less stellar in his last two. Overall, in six starts, he put together a 2-1 record and 3.82 ERA to earn 0.438 WPA. In second place was Josh Beckett, who was 3-2 with a 5.06 ERA and 0.086 WPA in six starts. At the bottom of the heap were David Wells and Jason Johnson, who each struggled in their only start of the month.
Bullpen
Jonathan Papelbon of course ruled the roost in the pen, with five saves in six opportunities and a 0.71 ERA. He allowed just one run in his ten appearances, earning 1.256 WPA. In second place was Manny Delcarmen, who started off the month better than he finished it, but still ended up with a 3.52 ERA and 0.464 WPA. The worst performer out of the pen was Rudy Seánez. Seánez actually had a pretty good month, but his WPA took a bath in the 19-inning marathon against the White Sox on July 9, where he took the loss on a walk-off single by Tadahito Iguchi after pitching 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Since then, he has not allowed a run, but he has been used mainly in garbage-time situations, so his WPA has never rebounded from that bad outing. Second-worst in the pen was Javier López, who had a 6.23 ERA and -0.147 WPA for the month.
Position Players
Well, of course, David Ortiz, whose 2.312 WPA in July was the most for any player in any month this season. Hitting .339 with 14 homers will do that for you. Papi just needs to show up for the rest of the season to take home the MVP crown that should have been his last year. In second place offensively was Manny Ramirez, who put together a 16-game hitting streak to finish the month. For the whole month, he hit .336 with 9 homers. Bringing up the rear, we have Coco Crisp, who has excelled in the field and disappointed at the plate, with a .243 average for the month and -0.907 WPA. Second from the rear is Trot Nixon, who was riding a cold streak before getting hurt on July 30. He hit .187 for the month with just a single home run.
Red Sox Monthly WPA Totals, July 2006
posted by jpo at
10:11 AM
3 Comments:
He had the most of any player on the Sox in any month this season. I'd have to do a bit of digging to determine whether any other player in the majors has exceeded the monthly total. Stay tuned.
By
jpo, at 3:47 PM
I would really doubt anyone exceeded Ortiz' July WPA performance, at well over +200. I think Pujols had a month like that earlier this year, but it came under similar circumstances, when he had a bunch of late-inning home runs to give STL the lead.
By
Andy, at 7:38 AM
Well, it turns out that Ortiz's July was the second-best month of any player in the big leagues this season. #1, of course, belongs to Pujols, who got off to a phenomenal start this year in April, capped off by his performance on April 19, when he hit three homers, including a walk-off two-run shot, to earn the highest single-game total of any player in any game this year.
In case you're wondering, the top-ten monthly WPA performances this year are shown below:
1. Albert Pujols April 3.115
2. David Ortiz July 2.351
3. Albert Pujols July 2.144
4. Chase Utley July 1.929
5. Ryan Zimmerman July 1.869
6. Jason Schmidt May 1.864
7. Jermaine Dye July 1.808
8. David Ortiz June 1.802
9. Ryan Howard May 1.797
10. Jason Bay May 1.794
Data comes from FanGraphs, with values divided by 100 to conform to the scaling system used here on SoxWatch.
By
jpo, at 11:37 AM
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