Rays Infield = Best of Modern Era
by ZBW on Mar 10, 2010 6:09 PM EST
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PrintToday Bill Conlin, Daily News Sports columnist, who covers the Philadelphia Phillies suggested that they have the best infield in the modern era in Placido Polanco, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard. Without a doubt, that infield is great, and the team results (two straight NL pennants, one World Series championship) speak for themselves (although PP had no part in that), but this got me thinking. If we look at last year, isn't the Rays infield (Evan Longoria, Jason Bartlett, Ben Zobrist, Carlos Pena) even better, therefore making it the "greatest infield of the modern era" ??
Let's take a look, using WAR (wins above replacement, which is the best estimation of a players' overall value) from FanGraphs:
2009 Phillies Infield WAR
Polanco - 3.1
Rollins - 2.4
Utley - 7.6
Howard - 4.8
TOTAL WAR = 17.9
2009 Rays Infield WAR
Longoria - 7.2
Bartlett - 4.8
Zobrist - 8.6
Pena - 2.7
TOTAL WAR = 23.3
As you can see, the Rays 2009 infield was FAR better (+5.4 WAR) than the Phillies infield, and the Phillies infield was pretty damn good. Now obviously these number will vary from year to year, but a one thing is clear. The Rays 2009 infield, NOT the Phillies 2010 infield, should be considered one of, in not THE, best infields of the modern era. And here's hoping the Rays 2010 infield will be even better.
This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.
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Dear person who voted for the Phillies infield,
What is you.
Yours,
TGN1
FREE SPEACH is a myth. There is no such thing as 100% free speech. You cannot go into a movie theater and say "FIRE"!…"What? I have freedom of speach!" Bull. Doesnt work that way. Any real lawyer will tell you that.
by Top Gun Numba 1 on Mar 10, 2010 7:35 PM EST reply actions
Bill Conlin would eat the entire infield, for breakfast
and vote none of them in as first time hall of famers because there is no such thing as a first ballot HOF
by Jason Collette on Mar 10, 2010 10:01 PM EST reply actions
The numbers are different
with the Rays in the AL East and the Phillies in the NL East and that makes a difference
This discussion makes a lot less
sense than the Rays IF vs. Yankees IF from earlier this offseason.
I really like steve duemig
Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan since 1979
by Niko Houllis
by CubFanRaysaddict on Mar 11, 2010 7:28 AM EST reply actions
the question is how many mlb infields are worse than
Dan Johnson/Ryan Shealy, Sean Rodriguez, Reid Brignac, Elliot Johnson (although the likely hook of SRod being in Durham has diminished, depth is a good thing.)
Is this a rhethorical question?
Frankly I don’t think many, if any, are, though RJ might suggest the Royals again.
If the death threats have subsided.
by nyyfaninlaaland on Mar 12, 2010 2:19 AM EST up reply actions
The Yanks IF is better than both.
The Rays might be better next year, but they might not.
Chutley=Longo (at best)
J-Roll=Zorilla (maybe, we’ll see)
R-Ho>=Pena
Polanco>MVB?
Well no one is equal to 2009 Zobrist really.
I guess Pujols or Chutley, but Zorilla isn’t that good.
Rollins had a down year last year, but the three prior years he had WARs of 5.2, 6.7, and 5. I’d say he’s probably about even going forward nut who knows.
Polanco’s 3-year WAR avg. is 3.77; Bartlett’s is 3.1.
Well thanks Mr Glass
“Best of the Modern Era” maybe shouldn’t be a one year analysis thing.
I’m not lobbying for the title for NY either.
by nyyfaninlaaland on Mar 12, 2010 2:13 AM EST up reply actions
It would be close I think
Here are what I think are reasonable enough projections
Utley-8 wins
Rollins-4 wins
Howard-4 wins
Polanco-3 wins
Longo-7 wins
Zobrist-5.5 wins
Bartlett-3.5 wins
Pena-3 wins
I have them pegged equal. I would have to go with the phillies though, because Zobrist and Bartlett could perhaps regress more heavily than I projected, and because Howard could easily outdo my 4 win projection, and probably will.
by benderbrodriguez on Mar 11, 2010 4:08 PM EST reply actions
Too bad it's tough to get older reliable defensive statistics
But I suspect the ’76 Big Red Machine was better than all of the above. Perez, Morgan, Concepcion and Rose, and Morgan and Concepcion both had career years. ’75 Reds have an argument too, certainly.
The ’82 Brewers might be there also, but I doubt their defense was as good as the ’76 Reds. Cooper, Molitor and Yount all had great years, and Gantner was just about average.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
CHONE 2010
Utley = 6.1
Longo = 5.1
Rollins = 3.8
Zobrist = 3.8
Howard = 4.4
Pena = 2.6
Polanco = 3.0
Barlett = 2.8
Phillies = 17.3
Rays = 14.3
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