This Is Why I Read

Morgan Ensberg

Dave Cameron

Don Boudreaux

MLB Trade Value

Dave Cameron, who writes for USS Mariner, Fangraphs, and the Wall Street Journal, among others, is concluding a fantastic series on Fangraphs. He is ranking the top 50 assets in Major League Baseball. Players amass Wins Above Replacement (WAR). A team composed entirely of replacement level players wins about 50 games, so it takes roughly 35-45 WAR to be a playoff team. This past offseason, teams paid roughly 4.5 millions per WAR on the free agent market. As you can see, teams cannot buy their way to the playoffs; their payroll would be at least 180 million. So players that are within their six years of team control and quite valuable. Taking into account WAR, projected WAR, current and projected salaries, date becoming eligible for arbitration, date becoming a free agent, risk, potential, and scarcity, Cameron is exposing the masses to a new way of valuing baseball players. No longer are Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, and Manny Ramirez the most valuable players to their teams. Evan Longoria, Hanley Ramirez, David Wright, Albert Pujols, and Matt Wieters hold those spots now. I've included links to the series below. The top 5 will be revealed Monday on Fangraphs.

Introduction

#50-46

#45-41

#40-36

#35-31

#30-26

#25-21

#20-16

#15-11

#10-6

Player Valuation

In this article, Dave Cameron points out something that most baseball fans would be shocked to know. Because of the Mariners' black hole at shortstop composed of Yuniesky Betancourt and Ronny Cedeno, the Mariners would be well served to trade Erik Bedard for Rays shortstop Reid Brignac. Now the common fan would think the Mariners are getting ripped off. But digging below the surface, Cameron points out how this is not the case. The crux of the argument lies in relative value, something that is ignored in real baseball and fantasy baseball alike. The difference between Brignac and our current shortstops is roughly equal to the difference between Bedard and whoever we would plug in there to replace him. Absolute value is irrelevant. In fantasy baseball, the top catchers are drastically undervalued. The top catchers will put up lowers numbers in almost every category compared to outfielders and first basemen. But this difference is irrelevant. The difference between catchers is the important one. There is a distinct "top tier" of catchers, led by Joe Mauer and Victor Martinez. The value of owning Joe Mauer over Bengie Molina is greater than the value of owning Albert Pujols over Paul Konerko. Show me an owner who owns Bengie Molina and Albert Pujols, with Konerko available on the waiver wire, who trades Pujols for Mauer, and I'll show you someone who will do well. Relative value people. Learn it and succeed.