Derek Jeter or Mark Teixeira?
Written by Joe Veno on August 16, 2009 – 1:07 PM -Many across the blogosphere, across the message boards, across the baseball world, have acknowledged that Derek Jeter might be more valuable than Mark Teixeira this season. This all of course is in response to the original “Tweet” put out by Tyler Kepner, writer for the New York Times.
Joe Mauer is the MVP. That is pretty obvious to me, Joe Po, and Rob Neyer. Two that I have learned a lot from over the years.
But as far as more deserving out of the two Yankees players? Both are having great seasons, and both should finish in the top ten. With the market they play in, there is little doubt that they will finish in that top ten. But aside from the market, they both deserve it.
But who has been more valuable?
Let us start with the most telling metric/statistic: WAR. ‘WAR’ likes Jeter more, although not by any significant margin. Jeter’s is 4.9, Tex’s is 3.9. So according to that, Jeter’s been worth an extra win compared to Teixeira. Okay, so maybe a win is pretty “significant.” But that isn’t the only metric that should be taken to heart.
WARP1 actually suggests that Tex has been more valuable. 5.4 “Wins above replacement player.” That is superior to Jeter’s 4.2. Of course, David Aardsma is ahead of Jeter, so I don’t know how seriously WARP should be taken in the first place.
Another look, another flaw in WARP. There is no way that Jeter is less valuable than Aardsma. I’m sorry, but I cannot be convinced. Jeter plays every day, while Aardsma appears a few innings a week.
Just for the record though, Joe Mauer’s WARP is 7.0.
Runs created you say? Jeter trails by a mere four runs. Tex with 83, Jeter with 79.
Look, metrics give us some perspective based on positional adjustment. Something that isn’t so easy to discover based on simply watching. Jeter plays SS, so the value in that is great, much more so than Tex’s quality play at first. If Jeter was sub-par at short as in past seasons, then a different case would be made. But Jeter’s glove has actually been worth quite a bit this season, more than Teixeira’s.
Anyway, to simplify the batting, here are the line’s:
Jeter: .320/.387/.463
Tex: .288/.385/.562
Tex has a huge edge in Slugging. But couldn’t the difference very well be made up in positional adjustment? Couldn’t the fact that Jeter plays short close that gap by a wide margin? And remember, he’s played a solid SS according to every metric out there, so it isn’t like he is hurting his team in the field.
I guess the point is, both are having great seasons for the best team in baseball–as much as it pains me to say the “best team” statement. The first part would never “pain” me. I don’t care how many “MVP’s” the Yankees have if the Red Sox are the better team. But as of now, the Yankees are clearly better.
So Joe Mauer is my MVP, obviously up until this point. And Jeter and Tex are close as to who is the more viable candidate in terms of Yankees players.
I guess this all stems from Kepner’s tweet being seen by Rob Neyer, who in turn wrote a post. Then Poz decided to write a post, then another…
The blogosphere is a funny place to be sometimes.
Tags: Derek Jeter, Joe Mauer, Mark Teixeira, Minnesota Twins, New York YankeesPosted in Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees | 2 Comments »
August 16th, 2009 at 6:13 PM
So Joe, are these—-http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/marlins_ignored_by_stat_zombies/P100/—-the people your REALLY wanna be associated with, even in a limited way?
August 17th, 2009 at 12:29 AM
Those message boards are terrible there. Only like one in ten comments are constructive/worthwhile. I want to be associated with the Rob Neyer’s and Rich Lederer’s like you put in your post