Jack Torrance - Contributing Reporter
And the Award goes to...
You can generally find the runs, HRs, RBIs, and AVG listed on the website when voting but we'll cover a few of the player's advanced stats; including their Cash points (fantasy points - offense focused), weighted SBs (when relevant, attempted 15 or more), extra base hits, a player's wOBA (weighted on-base average), wRC+ (weighted runs created), and even a player's wRAA (weighed runs above average). All in the effort to see how each individual effected the games they played.
MVP
We'll start off with the MVP race, listed by Skynet's favorites (ie. listed in order from website). We are starting a new thing where the leader in that category is underlined.
- AL - S55 & 56 winner Kyle Crain (C/DH) is working on his 3rd straight but will Louie Weiss (DH/1B) or Wei-Yin Wan (1B)'s shortened season prevent that? Once again they are joined by Matty Moss (2B) and new comer Mickey Barmes (1B) of the Helena Hot Dogs who missed the playoffs this season. I'm sure Barmes would gladly trade an MVP for a Playoff run.
- Kyle Crain (C)
- Can he repeat? I wouldn't call it a down year by any means, but Weiss and WYW are right up there with him.
- Cash points - 621
- xBH - 78
- wRAA - 63.5
- wOBA - .454
- wRC+ - 182
- wSB - irrelevant
- Louie Weiss (DH)
- After WYW goes down, Huntington doesn't miss a beat because of Weiss
- Cash points - 683
- xBH - 83
- wRAA - 78.4
- wOBA - .468
- wRC+ - 211
- wSB - irrelevant
- Wei-Yin Wan (1B)
- The interesting piece about WYW is the fact that's he's been injured for so long and still listed as the #3 favorite to win by Skynet. He was have a STELLAR season. Missed 39 games. The conversation will be WYW's shortened season versus whoever was really second best.
- Cash points - 639
- xBH - 76
- wRAA - 88.2
- wOBA - .507
- wRC+ - 238
- wSB - irrelevant
- Matty Moss (2B)
- The only speedster / front of the order guy on the list. Hard to split Crain and Moss apart, does one produce without the other?
- Cash points - 590
- xBH - 60
- wRAA - 38.0
- wOBA - .395
- wRC+ - 141
- wSB - 12
- Mickey Barmes (1B)
- The only one to not also receive a Silver Slugger award. At 1B that went to WYW, he also has the lowest wOBA of the group.
- Cash points - 688
- xBH - 81
- wRAA - 80.0
- wOBA - .460
- wRC+ - 196
- wSB - irrelevant
- NL - No chance at a repeat because somehow Omar Gonzales was snubbed on the voting ballot. Include are some of the usuals in Shea Crowe (2B), Douglas Laxton (RF), and even his teammate Javier Quevedo (2B) who is been include in the ballot before. Joining them are Anibal Castillo (CF) and Dilson Rojas (2B). Yes that's three 2Bs in the NL making the ballot. Crowe, Laxton, and Rojas appear to be a notch above Quevedo and Castillo; with Q getting the nod between the two. Will the power of Crowe prevail in the voting, maybe the production of Laxton, or maybe it's time for some fresh blood at the top of the NL as you cannot deny Rojas' fantastic season that saw him help push Salem into the playoffs.
- Dilson Rojas (2B)
- Cash points - 566
- xBH - 79
- wRAA - 56.5
- wOBA - .445
- wRC+ - 185
- wSB - 2
- Shea Crowe (2B)
- Cash points - 616
- xBH - 97
- wRAA - 52.2
- wOBA - .413
- wRC+ - 158
- wSB - irrelevant
- Douglas Laxton (RF)
- Cash points - 594
- xBH - 74
- wRAA - 55.2
- wOBA - .423
- wRC+ - 172
- wSB - -2
- Javier Quevedo (2B)
- Cash points - 512
- xBH - 81
- wRAA - 38.4
- wOBA - .397
- wRC+ - 155
- wSB - 5
- Anibal Castillo (CF)
- Cash points - 511
- xBH - 73
- wRAA - 41.5
- wOBA - .401
- wRC+ - 149
- wSB - irrelevant
Cy Young
Next we have the Cy Young award. This time we'll be looking at a few advanced stats such as ERA+, FIP, Weighted Cash points to neutralize park factors. In the future, if we can figure out why our WAR numbers are so off, we'll include those as well. But for now we'll include K/BB and Quality Starts or Inherited Runners Scored as well. A reminder on ERA+, the average is 100 and anything above 100 indicates the pitcher performed better than average while below performed worse than average. Score of 150 would be 50% better than average. The FIP focuses solely on the events a pitcher has the most control over: K, BB, HBP, and HR.
- AL - Interesting group here, four starters and a reliever. Atlanta (Alcides Johnson) and Houston (Carmen Arnold) are represented to nobody's surprise but joining them are Huntington's Fausto Cruz and Philly's Joaquin Owen. While Ramirez had a fantastic season, we see it going to a starter this year.
- Joaquin Owen
- ERA+ - 159
- FIP - 3.01
- Cash - 531
- K/BB - 3.68
- QS% - 64%
- Fausto Cruz
- The trade with Colorado Springs is paying off as Cruz only loses 1 game this season.
- ERA+ - 175
- FIP - 3.67
- Cash - 413
- K/BB - 3.04
- QS% - 64%
- Alcides Johnson
- The only 20 game winner on the list and higher percentage of quality starts.
- ERA+ - 133
- FIP - 3.79
- Cash - 505
- K/BB - 2.41
- QS% - 74%
- Stephen Ramirez
- Did have a crazy 52 saves!
- ERA+ - 160
- FIP - 2.95
- Cash - 380
- K/BB - 2.95
- IR% - 38%
- Carmen Arnold
- Lowest ERA/FIP among all the starters on this list.
- ERA+ - 135
- FIP - 3.47
- Cash - 455.60
- K/BB - 3.46
- QS% - 63%
- NL - This year we appear to have three starters and two relievers and to EVERYONE's surprise, no Nigel White. I guess he couldn't make it a perfect 5 for 5 on his max 5 year contract. But check out his numbers, aside from his W/L; he still had a great season.
- Rolando Salinas
- What a year for Salinas but he also had the pitchers haven in OKC helping him out. Still can't argue the production though!
- ERA+ - 156
- FIP - 3.06
- Cash - 468.15
- K/BB - 2.75
- QS% - 76%
- Kevin Kashmir
- Could we see another joint Cy Young and Fireman of the Year? If so, Kashmir will be the one to do what Ronnie Andrews couldn't do in recent years.
- ERA+ - 203
- FIP - 3.14
- Cash - 315
- K/BB - 2.64
- IR% - 27%
- Avisail Mujica
- If it's not Kashmir, it has to be one of Salinas or Mujica. Are we sure this wasn't supposed to be his teammate, Nigel White on the ballot? Did Mujica pay the commissioner off in Timmy H's coffee?
- ERA+ - 165
- FIP - 3.03
- Cash - 409
- K/BB - 4.03
- QS% - 44%
- Santo Estrella
- What a rotation the Barons have again, but he's clearly a notch behind his teammate Salinas.
- ERA+ - 117
- FIP - 3.76
- Cash - 455.75
- K/BB - 1.69
- QS% - 76%
- Arthur Clippard
- Clearly #2 behind Kashmir this year, but considering he's on the Cy Young ballot, what a season Clippard had. Rumor has it he's trying to use this as a chance to get out of Canada and away from Donuts. His girlfriend once said he's more of a kolache type of guy.
- ERA+ - 204
- FIP - 3.70
- Cash - 279
- K/BB - 1.45
- IR% - 75%
Cash Points
The top 20 hitters players under the Cash system are:
- 689 - Omar Gonzales (Tok)
- 688 - Mickey Barmes (Hel)
- 683 - Louie Weiss (Hun)
- 639 - Wei-Yin Wan (Hun)
- 621 - Kyle Crain (Atl)
- 616 - Shea Crowe (Chi)
- 594 - Douglas Laxton (NO)
- 590 - Matty Moss (Atl)
- 569 - Boone Maxwell (Hou)
- 567 - Max Escuela (Hel)
- 566 - Dilson Rojas (Sal)
- 534 - Braulio Guardado (Buf)
- 533 - Vin Pirela (Phi)
- 531 - Johnnie Daniels (Atl)
- 530 - Alex Perez (Har)
- 529 - Banjo Urlaub (Hel)
- 526 - Juancito Martin (NO / SLC)
- 512 - Javier Quevedo (NO)
- 511 - Anibal Castillo (Col)
- 510 - Yovani Franco (Buf)
And the bottom 10 hitters with at least 300 ABs are. It's generally filled with SSs who often but not always provide solid defense to make up for it. Let's see who we've got this year. Tanking seems a little more higher than normal as the numbers are lower than normal.
- 53 - Yusmeiro Del Roasio (Phi - SS)
- -39.7 wRAA
- 69 - Esteban Castro (Mil - All positions)
- -29.0 wRAA
- 72 - Vic Rivera (MC - CF)
- -28.7 wRAA
- 78 - Williams Anderson (Mil - SS)
- -34.0 wRAA
- 91 - Allan Ott (LAA - SS)
- -53.2 wRAA
The top 20 pitchers under the cash system are:
- 531 - Joaquin Owen (Phi)
- 505 - Alcides Johnson (Atl)
- 478 - Nigel White (Har) - Silver Slugger
- 468 - Rolando Salinas (OKC)
- 460 - Ed Wood (OKC)
- 456 - Santo Estrella (OKC)
- 456 - Carmen Arnold (Hou)
- 437 - Roger Simon (Hun)
- 436 - Jimmie Perez (LAA)
- 434 - Mitch Dillard (Hou)
- 420 - Eli Moreno (Buf)
- 419 - Alan Street (Atl)
- 417 - Joshua Lough (Atl)
- 413 - Fausto Cruz (Hun)
- 409 - Avisail Mujica (Har)
- 407 - Tim Timmons (Col)
- 406 - Ezequiel Alicea (Sal)
- 401 - Evan Heisey (Sal) - Gold Glove
- 399 - Norm Cunningham (Hou)
- 399 - Tony Holdridge (Chi)