Carlton Ernest "Pudge" Fisk (born December 26, 1947) is a former Major League Baseball catcher who played for 24 years with both the Boston Red Sox (1969, 1971-1980) and Chicago White Sox (1981-1993). Known by the nickname "Pudge" due to his 6'2", 220 lb frame, he was the first player to be unanimously voted American League Rookie of the Year (1972). He is best known for "waving fair" his game-winning home run in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, one of the greatest moments in World Series history. At the time of his retirement in 1993 he held the records for most home runs all-time by a catcher with 351 (since passed by Mike Piazza). A testament to his durability behind the plate, Fisk held the record for most games played at the position of catcher (2,226) until June 17, 2009 when he was surpassed by "Pudge" Iván Rodríguez. Fisk still holds the American League record for most years served behind the plate (24). Fisk was voted to the All-Star team 11 times and won 3 Silver Slugger Awards which is awarded annually to the best offensive player at each position. Fisk was known as a fierce competitor, a superb handler of pitchers and a natural on-field leader. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2000.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Season 7 Awards: Part III

CY YOUNG AWARDS (AL & NL)



Let's start by taking a look at the AL Cy Young Award nominees:

Jesus Lee
Stan Newfield
Jay Young
Everett Hunter
Ignacio Pineda


24-2. 214/51 K/BB ratio. 0.97 WHIP. 2.19 ERA. .206 OAV. Wow! Jesus Lee put together an amazing stat line and has led the Wichita pitching staff to the World Series and a likely championship. Lee's 24-2 record is good for a .923 WPCT, .201 points higher than the Ruby Slippers own .722 WPCT. Lee tied Pineda with his 24 wins, was third in the AL with 235 IP, finished second in Ks only three behind teammate Sidney Hall, topped the AL with his low OAV, WHIP and ERA. So, three strikeouts kept him from winning the AL Triple Crown of pitching.

Mexico City's Stan Newfield also put together an impressive campaign. His 2.26 ERA and 1.03 WHIP are very comparable to Jesue Lee. In fact, Newfield's numbers are nearly as good as Lee in all but two major categories: Newfield registered a 21-8 record and had a less impressive 203/60 K/BB ratio. Additionally, Mexico City posted a 91-71 record as a team (.562 WPCT); Newfield's own WPCT was .724 (.162 points higher). However, there is one key factor working in Stan's favor: Mexico City has a Park Factor of .959 vs. the Wichita Park Factor of .924.

Jay Young is another Wichita starter up for the award. Young went 21-7 with a 2.36 ERA and 205 K. He also led the AL with a .204 OAV. Jay has very good numbers across the board, but falls just shy of Jesus Lee is just about every category. Given the play for the same team, this allows for a quick and direct comparison, and Young falls just short.

Louisville's Everett Hunter is a perennial contender for the Cy Young. This season he accumulated a 22-4 record, a 176/45 K/BB ratio, and 1.10 WHIP. Hunter's ERA is not as microscopic as our first three nominees checking in at 3.55. However, Louisville is much more of a hitter's park. Everett falls short in most core statistical categories, but his 22-4 record is good for seven additional wins versus his team average (Louisville had a .580 WPCT vs. Hunter's .846 WPCT). He also was second to Lee in the AL in K/BB ratio.

Ignacio Pineda is yet another Wichita starter. Pineda went 24-5 for a better record than Young. However, Pineda pales in comparison to both Young and Lee in just about every other category. He gave up more runs, hits, home runs, and walks than both of them tossing fewer innings.

The winner is... Stan Newfield. Really?

Newfield: 30 WS
Lee: 25 WS
Young: 23 WS
Hunter: 22 WS
Pineda: 18 WS

What makes the difference? Most of the difference is due to the easier park conditions for Wichita pitchers. Newfield is credited with saving 114 runs versus a replacement level pitcher in Mexico City whereas Lee is credited with "only" 99 runs saved. The combination of the Park Factor and Wichita's defense leads to a half run per game advantage for Wichita pitchers. Lee's ERA also benefits from three more unearnerd runs which is enough to give Newfield a lower "RA" (run average) than Lee. Interestingly, Jay Young did not allow a single UER which closes the gap in the race as well (but not enough).

Footnote: Stan Farley and Russ Daniels also registered 22 WS and finish ahead of Pineda.

Moving on to the NL... the nominees:

Michael Hardy
Luis Ozuna
Ricky Kubinski
Tris McEnroe
Brendan Henry

Michael Hardy led Milwaukee and the ML with a 1.77 ERA. Hardy also led the ML with a .187 OAV, allowed only 8 HR (best among those with more than 162 IP), and led the NL with a 1.01 WHIP. Hardy was kept to an average of 73 pitches per game as Milwaukee went to a four man rotation. This led to him registering only 18 decisions (16-2) in his 37 starts.

Luis Ozuna went 16-6 with 161 K and a 2.72 ERA. His ERA is good for fourth in the NL. With Tampa Bay going 82-80, Ozuna's WPCT clocks in .221 points higher than his team. Ozuna was also the best hitting pitcher in the league posting a .297 BA and scoring 14 runs in 74 AB. His 13 HR allowed was second best to Hardy among qualifiers.

Iowa City's Ricky Kubinski narrowly missed being a bona fide ROY the year candidate since he pitched 54.2 innings last year. The 23 year-old went 17-2 adding depth to the already great Iowa City staff. His 2.91 ERA and 1.16 were both very good but not league-leading.

I found a glitch in my spreadsheet formulas today which results in Tris McEnroe being dethroned as last year's Cy Young Award winner. He had another very good season this year in Milwaukee's new four-man rotation. Averaging just 75 pitches per game, he posted a 2.51 ERA and 1.06 WHIP which are best in the NL if you exclude teammate Michael Hardy. His 14-6 record is not as good either which, by direct comparison, shows that he will likely not be the winner this time around either.

Brendan Henry of Philadelphia put up a 20-9 record whcih was good enough to lead the NL in wins. The workhorse hurled 242 innings which was tops in the ML. His WHIP of 1.34 and 3.75 do not rate with the best of the lot, but he makes up for some of that in his sheer volume of work. He also led the NL in quality starts with 25, batters faced with 1040 and GB/FB ratio at 2.2.

The results please:

Hardy: 27 WS
McEnroe: 25 WS
Kubinski: 22 WS
Ozuna: 22 WS
Henry: 18 WS

Another footnote... several pitchers check in with more WS than Henry: Bonilla, Thomas, Harrison, Devereaux, Witt, and Rogers all had between 19 and 21 WS. I would suspect that Henry would be a likely contender amongst "typical" sportswriters due to leading the league in wins.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Season 7 Awards - Part II

NL MVP AWARD:


The nominees are...

Wilson Truman
Christian Miller
Al Brown
Wiki Galvez
Gene Morris


Let's start by taking a look at Wilson Truman. The LF posted a huge .338/.412/.732 batting line on the shoulders of a ML leading 62 HR. His defense was less than stellar, but he made up for that with 127 runs scored and an NL leading 162 RBI. Truman missed the NL Triple Crown by only 3 points in batting average to Wiki Galvez. Monterrey proves to be a slight advantage for hitters with a Park Factor of 1.015.

Christian Miller is truly a stud 1B. Three straight seasons with an OPS over 1.100 and 60 HR is very good, and he's only 26. But, how does Season 7 stack up? 61 HR, 118 R, 124 RBI, and 18 more BB than Ks. His batting line checks in at .305/.407/.702; each number a little less than Truman's. Philadelphia calculates to a Park Factor of 0.985 - a slight disadvantage for hitters.

The other Philadelphia star is CF Al Brown. His play in CF was very good (not quite worthy of a Gold Glove) which is a a plus in terms of overal value versus Truman and Miller. Brown's line of .280/.335/.587 is solid, but does not stack up against our first two candidates. However, he did add 52 SB to his 43 HR, 119 R and 123 RBI.

New York's Wiki Galvez completed his third year at 3B recording 230 assists, turned 24 DP and committed only 6 errors for a FLD PCT of .980. Wiki also led the NL in batting average turning in a line of .341/.398/.511. Galvez doesn't have the big power that our first three stars have with only 51 extra bases. He doesn't have speed either stealing only two bases. However, Wiki struck out only 37 times which is second best amongst qualified hitters (Reid Hernandez of Salem registered only 33 whiffs in 549 PA).

Gene Morris rebounded from a sub-par season last year after a huge season 5 performance. The darkhorse in this race from the under-.500 Indianapolis Immigrants, Morris scored 104 R, stole 28 bases, smacked 43 doubles and led the ML with 12 triples. His batting line of .312/.390/.498 doesn't shine as bright as our big hitters, and his defensive play in LF isn't enough to put him in the same class as our big hitters.

So, who receives my endorsement? Based on Win Shares, the results are in:

Truman: 37 WS (35.5 OWS, 1.2 FWS)
Miller: 30 WS (28.3 OWS, 2.2 FWS)
Brown: 27 WS (19.3 OWS, 8.0 FWS)
Morris: 27 WS (24.9 OWS, 2.1 FWS)
Galvez: 26 WS (21.3 OWS, 4.9 FWS)

Truman and Miller were pretty close in their stats. Miller did have an overwhelming edge in BB (83 vs. 63) and K (65 vs. 104), but Truman's OPS edge of 36 points on 5 more extra base hits and 22 more singles offsets that advantage. Ultimately, Truman contributed a larger percentage of his team's offensive output than Miller (26.66% vs. 21.88%), and the offensive output of Philadelphia and Monterrey are quite similar. Philly had one less win and thus three less total Win Shares. The Cheese offense is credited with 46.7% of their value, while the Utley's have a slightly lower percentage at 45.9%. So, 3.5 more OWS are at-stake for Monterrey, and Truman gets a larger percentage of his team's output on a larger base. That makes the difference.

Next post we will review the AL Cy Young race.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Season 7 Awards - Part I

I spent time over the weekend copying/pasting data off the site to my spreadsheets to calculate Win Shares for Season 7. Instead of posting all my awards here at once, I thought I'd put in an entry for each of the awards. Hopefully, I can get through the MVP, Cy Young and ROY award posts before voting concludes. So, without further ado...

American League MVP

Nominees (from website):
Antonio Chen
Nate Singleton
Phil Graves
Mario Kydd
Placido Ferrer

Chen got off to a slow start, but came on strong as the season progressed. His batting line ended at .322/.416/.724 good for top OPS in the AL. His 61 HR was good for the AL lead; he added 165 RBI and scored 152 runs. Did I mention that he had 95 SB in 101 attempts?! His numbers truly are amazing. Oh, he also played great 2B with .988 FLDPCT, turned 108 DP and had no "-" plays. One last note, I have Wichita at a Park Factor of .924 - good for the second toughest park in the league for offense.

Nate Singleton put together a great season for the Ruby Slippers as well. Singleton doesn't play the tough position that Chen plays, but played a very respectable LF. However, defense is not the key for him. Nate posted a .297/.350/.638 line and led the ML with 172 RBI. He homered 59 times and swiped 37 bases. While impressive, Chen is better on almost any meaningful comparison.

Phil Graves had another very good season for the Jaxsonville jarheads. Graves was a bit of a utility man on defense posting over 400 innings at both 3B and LF while receiving playing time at 2B, RF and CF as well. He didn't really excel at any of the positions. Graves hit 59 homers leading to a .316/.395/.702 batting line. These are very solid numbers, but, again, Chen still has him in just about every category.

The Rookie. Mario Kydd - .343/.408/.635. Pretty good. Kydd had arguably the best rookie season we have seen in this world driving in 135 RBI, scoring 132 runs on 47 HR. Kydd played a respectable 1B, but the pattern emerging is clear. No one is better than Chen.

But, let's look at one more player... Placido Ferrer. Ferrer played DH for Mexico City and put up a batting line of .298/.365/.603. His 47 HR, 125 RBI, 118 R, and 20 SB are all impressive. But, he falls short of Chen (sorry for being a broken record); he doesn't even earn the honor of team MVP according to Win Shares with that honor going to Greg Serra.

So, who is my AL MVP? You guessed it: Antonio Chen. Again.

Chen: 50 Win Shares (41.5 Offense, 8.3 Fielding)
Kydd: 38 WS (35.2 OWS, 2.4 FWS)
Graves: 36 WS (32.7 OWS, 2.9 FWS)
Singleton: 32 WS (29.2 OWS, 2.6 FWS)
Ferrer: 27 WS (27.0 OWS, 0.1 FWS)

Next post will look over the NL MVP candidates. It should be more interesting.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Sterling Dunston: Man or Demigod?

As suggested by Mr. Connelly, today we will look at Sterling Dunston, LF for the Seattle Dead Rockstars.

Sterling Dunston
Seattle
Dead Rockstars
Age: 25B/T: R/R
Born: Vandenberg Afb, CA
Position(s): LF
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Man or Demigod?

What would make Mr. Dunston a "demigod"? According to Wiktionary, a demigod is the offspring of a god and a mortal. Whatifsports does not give us information on the lineage of our simulated athletes, so we'll take a less literal meaning in looking at our specimen.

So, how good is Sterling Dunston. Well, not good enough to qualify for AL ROY voting. But, we'll take a deeper look in case the award is indeed a sham as the Seattle owner suggests. Dunston went .269/.334/.559 in his rookie campaign. Hardly staggering numbers for a 25 year-old rookie. His 47 HR are quite impressive making him tied for 10th in the bigs. Houston ROY candidate, Mario Kydd, also blasted 47 HR. But the comparison stops there. Kydd had 219 H (good for 2nd in the ML) to Dunston's 145, scored 132 R compared to 78, smacked 40 two-baggers versus 14 for Dunston, struckout just 78 times as opposed to 128 whiffs by Dunston, ... I could go on. Kydd is clearly superior.

There are countless other examples. Dunston is solid, but unless the league is full of demigods or baseball talent is not the best measure to find godly DNA, then I don't think our study bears out.

I'm going to vote that Dunston is just a man. I suppose he is an imaginary man, but that's not relevant here.

Friday, April 18, 2008

A look back at the #1 draft pick...

With this years amateur draft recently taking place, we now welcome to the league the lastest #1 pick and take a look back at where the previous #1 picks are now at...

This year's top draft pick is...

Juan Merced
Minnesota
Millers
Age: 22
B/T: L/L
Born: Suffolk, VA
Position(s): CF/1B/OF/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Juan received a 4 million dollar signing bonus from the club and he is working his way up the system at a very rapid pace. He currently is playing on the AA farm club and looks to be a great building piece for Minnesota's future plans.

Now let's take a look back to the #1 picks from the previous years and see where they are at now...

Last year, the Boston Nittanies selected as their first pick...

Chan Shinjo
Boston
Nittanies
Age: 23
B/T: R/R
Born: St. Johns, MI
Position(s): P (SP3)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

After signing to a 4 million dollar bonus this past season and posting a respectable 6-6 record in his rookie season with the club, Chan has struggled to find the right combination this current season. As of the posting of this, he is pitching at Boston's AAA club and has posted a cummulative record of 3-11 between AAA and AA.

During Season 5, the #1 pick was selected by the Minnesota Millers and received a 4 million dollar signing bonus. He was...

Gary Bird
Minnesota
Millers
Age: 22
B/T: S/R
Born: House, NM
Position(s): P (SP5)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Gary has been recently placed in the starting rotation on the ML club with Minnesota after acting as the team's closer for the past 2 seasons. He was 15 for 15 in save situations this past season with the parent club and converted 15 saves in 17 chances so far this current season.

During Season 4, the #1 selection was also made by the Minnesota Millers. Receiving a $4,131,000 signing bonus was...

Walt Hubbell
Wichita
Ruby Slippers
Age: 21
B/T: R/R
Born: Amarillo, TX
Position(s): P (SP1)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Traded to Wichita during Season #5, Walt is now enjoying his 1st full season with the AAA club and has posted a stellar 14-5 record and has had a decision in each of the 19 games he has pitched in. He currently has an ERA of 2.96.

Looking back at Season #3, the top pick was held by Pawtucket (now Minnesota) and the player selected was Carlos Paz.

He was never signed by the club and never made an appearance in the game other than to be the 1st player selected...

Back in Season #2, Boston (now Charleston) held the rights to the 1st player selected and chose...

LaTroy Guerrero
Charleston
Low Country Ambush
Age: 25
B/T: L/L
Born: Pine Bush, NY
Position(s): P (SP3)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Currently in a contract that pays 9.2 million through Season 10, this 5 year veteran on the parent club has a career ML record of 41-60 and is currently 0-3 this season...

Finally, the inaugural season featured the 1st selection by Wichita of...

Antonio Chen
Wichita
Ruby Slippers
Age: 24
B/T: R/R
Born: Okemah, OK
Position(s): 2B/CIF/OF/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Antonio worked his way up Wichita's minor league system and this home-grown product is currently in his 4th full season with the parent club. Coming off his best season to date last year (.307-56-179), Antonio is having another banner season as he already has posted 27 homers and 70 RBI's in 90 games. This 3 time ML All-Star is a real bargain as his current salary is only $2,530,000...

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Season 6 Win Shares

Welcome all to the Fisk World Blog. Thanks to kevbo for setting this up. Since I didn't post the Season 6 Win Shares results in the forums, I thought this would be a good place to start on the blogosphere. Without further ado...

AL MVP: Antonio Chen - 2B - Wichita


Antonio Chen
Wichita
Ruby Slippers
Age: 24B/T: R/R
Born: Okemah, OK
Position(s): 2B/CIF/OF/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Chen had an amazing year in his third full season going .307/.396/.669 with 46 SB. He is also my Gold Glove choice with only 6 errors and 105 double-plays. Chen's campaign was good for 44 Win Shares (35.7 Offense, 8.7 Fielding) which was far and away the best in the league.

NL MVP: Geraldo Lee - 2B - Los Angeles


Geraldo Lee
Los Angeles
Dodgers
Age: 30B/T: R/R
Born: San Isidro, DO
Position(s): 2B/CIF/OF/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Lee's line of .372/.460/.608 and solid defense up the middle was good for his third straight MVP by way of Win Share totals. Lee racked up 34 WS (27.3 OWS, 6.4 FWS) as he continues to be the best pure hitter in the entire World. He put those totals up while playing only 136 games and brought his career batting average up over .360!

AL CY YOUNG: Everett Hunter - Charleston


Everett Hunter
Louisville
Legends
Age: 35B/T: S/L
Born: St. Augustine, FL
Position(s): P/1B/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Everett Hunter had a truly great year which was good for 31 Win Shares. Hunter maintained a WHIP under 1.0 (0.97) while hurling over 260 innings. His dominance was good for a 23-6 record and he led the league with a 2.13 ERA. He takes the Cy Young by a landslide in the AL.

*** Edited ***
NL CY YOUNG: Lou Jefferson - Philadelphia & Omar Bonilla - Iowa City


Lou Jefferson
Philadelphia
Utleys
Age: 32B/T: L/L
Born: Anaheim, CA
Position(s): P (SP2)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile



Omar Bonilla
Iowa City
Corn Huskers
Age: 33B/T: R/R
Born: Higuey, DO
Position(s): P (SP1)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile



Lou Jefferson and Omar Bonilla both had great seasons yielding 27 Win Shares each. Tris McEnroe came in a close third with 26 WS.

AL ROOKIES OF THE YEAR: Greg Serra - CF - Mexico City & Jimmie Gabriel - 2B - Cleveland


Greg Serra
Mexico City
Border Crossers
Age: 24B/T: L/R
Born: Richland, NJ
Position(s): CF/IF/OF/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile




Jimmie Gabriel
Cleveland
grievous angels
Age: 27B/T: R/R
Born: Lake City, AR
Position(s): CF/2B/OF
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Serra had a solid rookie season posting 23 WS (18.2 OWS, 5.2 FWS) playing CF, driving in 127 runs and sporting an OPS of .904. At 23 years old, he has a big future in front of him. Jimmie Gabriel, at 26, also sported a 23 WS (16.5 OWS, 6.3 FWS) rookie year which was good for co-honors. He hit .326 with 117 runs scored and 36 stolen bases.

NL ROOKIES OF THE YEAR: Santiago Segui - C - New York & Phillip Cirillo - 2B - Milwaukee


Santiago Segui
New York
Cavaliers
Age: 23B/T: L/R
Born: Moca, DO
Position(s): C
View Hardball Dynasty Profile




Phillip Cirillo
Milwaukee
Suds Utd
Age: 24B/T: R/R
Born: Middle Island, NY
Position(s): 2B/IF/OF/DH
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


Segui's .826 OPS at age 22 along with his solid defense behind the plate were good for 21 WS (13.3 OWS, 7.4 FWS) with the Cavaliers. Phillip Cirillo's contributions for Milwaukee were good for co-honors. The 23 year old played 160 games, scoring 98 runs with 24 HR. His solid defense at 2B added to his totals giving him 21 WS (14.4 OWS, 6.2 FWS).

AL SILVER SLUGGERS:

C - Alex Harris - Omaha - 21.6 OWS
1B - Jaime Morris - Jacksonville - 30.8 OWS
2B - Antonio Chen - Wichita - 35.7 OWS
3B - Pedro Bocachica - Cleveland - 18.2 OWS
SS - Denny Wagner - Boston - 28.8 OWS
LF - Nate Singleton - Wichita - 33.7 OWS
CF - J.J. Whitehead - Jacksonville - 21.6 OWS
RF - B.J. Kotsay - Charlotte - 32.4 OWS
DH - Louie Osborne - Houston - 26.1 OWS

NL SILVER SLUGGERS:

C - Juan Guzman - Milwaukee - 16.5 OWS
1B - Christian Miller - Philadelphia - 26.2 OWS
2B - Geraldo Lee - Los Angeles - 27.3 OWS
3B - Wiki Galvez - New York - 17.5 OWS
SS - Julian Martinez - Nashville - 16.7 OWS
LF - Billy Nunnally - Monterrey - 26.0 OWS
CF - Al Brown - Philadelphia - 16.9 OWS
RF - A.J. Spencer - Monterrey - 13.5 OWS
P - Wayne Thomas - Iowa City - 0.3 OWS

AL GOLD GLOVES:

C - Tim Peterson - Charlotte - 8.8 FWS
1B - Darrel Lane - Cleveland - 2.6 FWS
2B - Antonio Chen - Wichita - 8.7 FWS
3B - Fernando Limon - Houston - 5.4 FWS
SS - Francis Miller - Houston - 8.9 FWS
LF - Barry Oliver - Charlotte - 2.2 FWS
CF - Alex Maduro - Chicago - 8.2 FWS
RF - Kris Hammond - Wichita - 2.0 FWS

NL GOLD GLOVES:

C - Wilson Walton - Iowa City - 15.1 FWS
1B - Eddie Steele - Louisville - 3.1 FWS
2B - Wiki Montanez - Nashville - 9.7 FWS
3B - Wiki Galvez - New York - 6.2 FWS
SS - Benny Estrella - Atlanta - 11.1 FWS
LF - Mickey Garcia - Nashville - 2.6 FWS
CF - Bernie Gonzalez - Texas - 10.0 FWS
RF - Ron Page - Cincinnati - 2.2 FWS
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