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July 21, 2007
Brad Wilkerson, MVP
One of the more preposterous ideas polluting the newspapers and airwaves recently was of the team “showing it could win without Mark Teixeira.” See, here, here and here for examples. Within that statement resides the implication that Teixeira might not be so important to the team or that Texas is better off without him. After all, the Rangers went 16-12 while Teixeira nursed his sore quad but only 21-39 with him.
I don’t believe I need to tell you this, gentle reader, but just in case: For a statistic to have meaning and value, it must have uniform applicability. For example, one can calculate batting averages for all hitters, compare them, and learn something meaningful about the players.
Thus, for the difference in the Rangers’ record with and without Teixeira to have meaning, the difference must also apply logically to other players. Here’s a table of “with vs. without” records for all Ranger hitters who’ve started and missed at least 15 games:
| Player | Team Record When in Starting Lineup |
Team Record When Out of Starting Lineup |
Difference |
| Wilkerson | 28-29 (.491) |
13-26 (.333) |
.158 |
| Vazquez | 20-20 (.500) |
21-35 (.375) |
.125 |
| Metcalf | 11-10 (.524) |
30-45 (.400) |
.124 |
| Byrd | 22-23 (.489) |
19-32 (.373) |
.116 |
| Hairston | 17-17 (.500) |
24-38 (.387) |
.113 |
| Kata | 7-8 (.467) |
34-47 (.420) |
.047 |
| Stewart | 5-6 (.455) |
36-49 (.424) |
.031 |
| Catalanotto | 22-28 (.440) |
19-27 (.413) |
.027 |
| Lofton | 32-43 (.427) |
9-12 (.429) |
-.002 |
| Diaz | 10-14 (.417) |
31-41 (.431) |
-.014 |
| Blalock | 15-24 (.385) |
26-31 (.456) |
-.072 |
| Sosa | 31-46 (.403) |
10-9 (.526) |
-.124 |
| Cruz | 13-25 (.342) |
28-30 (.483) |
-.141 |
| Kinsler | 29-45 (.392) |
12-10 (.545) |
-.154 |
| Laird | 30-46 (.395) |
11-9 (.550) |
-.155 |
| Teixeira | 25-44 (.362) |
16-11 (.593) |
-.230 |
If you honestly believe in a correlation between Teixeira’s absence and the team’s improved record, you’d better be willing to accept Brad Wilkerson as the team MVP.
Yes, Teixeira has acted like he wants the next flight out to another franchise. Yes, yet another glacial start on his behalf contributed to the early-season struggles. Neither offsets the fact that he’s a very good player who helps his team to win.
Texas allowed 5.9 runs per game before Teixeira got hurt and 4.4 per game during his absence. We have causation!
Posted by Lucas at July 21, 2007 02:35 PM