I know Bill James has said that win shares are supposed to be applied retrospectively, but anyway… Gary Sheffield ranks second in the majors, first in the NL, with 12 WS so far. Rafael Furcal ranks fourth and third with 11.7. And John Smoltz ranks sixth and fourth, and as the highest pitcher, with 10.9. With Austin Kearns between Sheff and Furcal, this series includes the top four players in the NL. And Marcus Giles is tenth/seventh with 10.
(Via Baseball News.)
Great numbers. And the Braves are making them look good Wednesday night.
But…WinShares must, by these figures, be basically flawed, mustn’t they? After all, John Smoltz rates appreciably higher than Eric Gagne by these numbers…and we know there’s not a chance in hell that Smoltz might be pitching better than Gagne. Don’t we?
This version of Win Shares is the stripped down one where defensive shares are apportioned purely on the basis of position and not by performance.
Since the total of the team’s win shares is directly related to wins, and since the Braves have the most wins, its axiomatic that the Braves players will have the most win shares. Also, since the Braves team this year is top heavy ~ a bunch of hitters playing great, no bench, one man bullpen, starters with mediocre ERAs, etc ~ the club’s win shares are clustered. With those two things, its no surprise that the Braves are all over the top of the list.
And for what its worth, arguing that one 70 inning pitcher is better than another because of microscopic differences in statistics is ludicrous. Smoltz may be better than Gagne; Gagne may be better than Smoltz. But I *know* that Smoltz isn’t $9,450,000 better, the difference in 2003 salary.