SFR in the Infield - NL West

A few days ago I posted the SFR numbers for the infielders in the NL Central and so today it's time to do the NL West. You'll notice that our previous overall leader, Omar Vizquel, loses a few run with the new refinements and is now at about +24 and falls to second place behind Mark Ellis at +27 runs. Ryan Braun and Dan Uggla are still at the bottom at -25 runs while Rickie Weeks (-21) and Derek Jeter (-21) are not far behind.

Name                   Team      POS      Balls ExRunnerRunners     SFR
Livan Hernandez        ARI        1          38       4       0     3.0
Doug Davis             ARI        1          34       3       2     1.0
Micah Owings           ARI        1          26       2       4    -1.2
Brandon Webb           ARI        1          62       6       9    -2.2
Edgar G Gonzalez       ARI        1          15       1       4    -2.2
Miguel Montero         ARI        2          19       1       0     1.0
Chris Snyder           ARI        2          28       3       2     0.8
Tony Clark             ARI        3         110      17      12     3.5
Chad Tracy             ARI        3          23       4       3     1.2
Conor Jackson          ARI        3         204      30      29     0.3
Orlando Hudson         ARI        4         573     141     138     2.7
Alberto Callaspo       ARI        4          18       6       4     1.1
Augie Ojeda            ARI        4          97      26      25     0.1
Emilio Bonifacio       ARI        4          19       5       6    -0.9
Chad Tracy             ARI        5         119      24      22     1.6
Mark Reynolds          ARI        5         249      54      52     1.5
Jeff Cirillo           ARI        5          18       4       2     1.2
Alberto Callaspo       ARI        5          37       7       6     0.8
Alberto Callaspo       ARI        6          36      10       6     2.5
Augie Ojeda            ARI        6          41      11      14    -1.6
Stephen Drew           ARI        6         612     170     178    -6.4
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Jeff Francis           COL        1          30       3       0     2.0
Aaron Cook             COL        1          41       4       3     0.7
Josh Fogg              COL        1          22       2       1     0.6
Rodrigo Lopez          COL        1          16       2       1     0.5
Ubaldo Jimenez         COL        1          17       2       2    -0.2
Chris Iannetta         COL        2          20       1       0     0.8
Yorvit Torrealba       COL        2          59       5       5    -0.2
Todd Helton            COL        3         346      50      40     8.1
Jeff Baker             COL        3          22       3       4    -0.1
Kazuo Matsui           COL        4         420     105      85    14.2
Jamey Carroll          COL        4         212      55      47     5.9
Omar Quintanilla       COL        4          71      17      17     0.5
Ian Stewart            COL        5          20       4       0     3.0
Jamey Carroll          COL        5          20       5       5    -0.2
Garrett Atkins         COL        5         402      89      96    -5.4
Troy Tulowitzki        COL        6         814     222     199    18.6
Jamey Carroll          COL        6          32       9       7     0.7
Clint Barmes           COL        6          19       5       5    -0.4
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Mark Hendrickson       LAN        1          23       3       1     1.5
Brad Penny             LAN        1          26       3       1     1.2
Joe Beimel             LAN        1          19       3       1     1.2
Chad Billingsley       LAN        1          18       2       1     0.8
Derek Lowe             LAN        1          29       3       2     0.6
Randy Wolf             LAN        1          17       2       3    -0.6
Russell Martin         LAN        2          63       5       3     1.4
Nomar Garciaparra      LAN        3         131      21      24    -2.3
James Loney            LAN        3         203      29      33    -3.5
Tony Abreu             LAN        4          60      16      14     1.4
Wilson Valdez          LAN        4          38       9       9    -0.2
Ramon Martinez         LAN        4          71      17      21    -2.7
Jeff Kent              LAN        4         487     124     132    -6.4
Ramon Martinez         LAN        5          40      10       5     3.4
Andy LaRoche           LAN        5          81      17      16     0.5
Nomar Garciaparra      LAN        5         110      23      23     0.1
Tony Abreu             LAN        5          82      19      19    -0.5
Wilson Betemit         LAN        5         106      23      27    -2.8
Shea Hillenbrand       LAN        5          58      13      17    -3.5
Rafael Furcal          LAN        6         642     173     165     7.6
Wilson Valdez          LAN        6          29       9       4     3.5
Tony Abreu             LAN        6          25       7       4     1.8
Chin-lung Hu           LAN        6          34      10      13    -1.4
Ramon Martinez         LAN        6          28       8      13    -3.9
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Jake Peavy             SDN        1          31       3       1     1.2
Doug Brocail           SDN        1          17       2       0     1.2
Justin Germano         SDN        1          22       2       1     0.6
Heath Bell             SDN        1          17       2       1     0.5
Justin Hampson         SDN        1          15       1       1     0.3
David Wells            SDN        1          21       3       3    -0.1
Greg Maddux            SDN        1          60       6       7    -0.8
Cla Meredith           SDN        1          21       2       4    -1.6
Josh Bard              SDN        2          41       2       3    -0.7
Adrian Gonzalez        SDN        3         364      57      54     2.6
Marcus Giles           SDN        4         473     119     107     8.7
Geoff Blum             SDN        4         224      57      46     8.6
Oscar Robles           SDN        4          18       5       6    -0.1
Morgan Ensberg         SDN        5          35       8       4     3.1
Russell Branyan        SDN        5          56      12      10     1.8
Kevin Kouzmanoff       SDN        5         360      77      80    -2.5
Khalil Greene          SDN        6         662     182     158    17.9
Geoff Blum             SDN        6          43      12      11    -0.2
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Matt Cain              SFN        1          28       3       3     0.0
Barry Zito             SFN        1          25       2       4    -1.3
Matt Morris            SFN        1          17       2       4    -1.5
Noah Lowry             SFN        1          29       3       6    -2.0
Bengie Molina          SFN        2          46       3       2     0.5
Rich Aurilia           SFN        3          78      10       8     1.8
Dan Ortmeier           SFN        3          46       7       5     1.5
Mark Sweeney           SFN        3          16       2       3    -0.5
Ryan Klesko            SFN        3         220      30      30    -0.5
Rich Aurilia           SFN        4          21       6       5     0.1
Kevin Frandsen         SFN        4         155      40      44    -2.5
Ray Durham             SFN        4         432     105     111    -4.3
Pedro Feliz            SFN        5         449      96      74    16.9
Rich Aurilia           SFN        5          59      12      11     1.1
Kevin Frandsen         SFN        5          17       5       5    -0.7
Omar Vizquel           SFN        6         643     176     137    24.8
Rich Aurilia           SFN        6          49      14      13     1.0
Kevin Frandsen         SFN        6          71      18      23    -2.4

NLCS Game Three

Last night I worked the NLCS game three matchup at Coors Field for MLB.com as a stringer for Gameday. While I was certainly glad that I didn't have to endure the 40 degree and drizzly weather, I was unprepared for the crush of media in the usually uncrowded and spacious press box at Coors Field. After finding my newly assigned seat and enjoying the pre-game press conferences I settled in and despite the unreliable wireless access we were able to get the job done.

In the end the night was not a good one for Eric Byrnes, a topic I wrote about today on BP Unfiltered. It was also a game that focused in on one plate appearance which was written about by Jenifer Langosch and which I also touch on in the Unfiltered post with the help of PITCHf/x data. For the conditions I thought the game was well played and both managers made solid moves. The only thing I second-guessed was Clint Hurdle's use of both Manny Corpas and Brian Fuentes in the eighth and ninth innings with the three run lead given that there is a game tonight. In that situation I think I would have favored bringing in LaTroy Hawkins or perhaps Ryan Speier and only going to either Fuentes or Corpas if there was trouble. But that's pretty nit-picky since if the Rockies win game three, you may purposefully sit one of the two tonight and roll the dice a little.

In any case, looking forward to the games again tonight.

Team Running - Arizona Diamondbacks

Last week in my chat on Baseball Prospectus a reader had the following question:

JK (Boston): Hey Dan - I know he hasn't been flashy with his moves - but is there a GM that has done a better job of positioning his team for the future while also putting together a competitive team for 2007 than Josh Byrnes? The D-backs have youth and talent at every position and even with some of the back-ups (Callaspo and Hairston) - he's also collected three average/slightly above average starters capable of 200 IP's over the last 8 months without giving up a Grade A prospect and without a nausiating long-term contract. I know Rizzo and Garigiola are responsible for most of the prospects...but Byrnes has done everything he should since taking over.

I couldn't really disagree with JK and so along with their fancy new uniforms this got me to thinking about the youth of the Diamondbacks and how that translates into good baserunning.

In a column in the series I wrote last summer I noted how the metrics I've developed correlate with age. For example, the following graph shows the correlation between EqHAR (advancing on hits) and age.




As you can see the relationship is fairly strong at an individual level with a correlation coefficient of .74 and so you would expect that young teams would generally do well in the overall baserunning. That's not always the case, however. Florida did finish second in overall baserunning at +8.88 runs (not considering EqSBR) and were also the youngest team in terms of their position players at 25.82 years (weighted by plate appearances). But other young teams included Tampa Bay at 27.78 who finished 21st in baserunning and Atlanta (27.87) who finished 24th. The D'Backs were in fact not a young team in 2006 and were 20th in terms of age of position players at 30.19 years. Of course they'll be getting younger with the departure of Luis Gonzalez to Los Angeles and Craig Counsell to Milwaukee.

In any case it would appear that Orlando Hudson (pictured above) and Stephen Drew along with Eric Brynes are in place to each pick up a few runs on the basepaths for the Snakes in 2007.

Equivalent Stolen Base Runs

Name              Team    SB    PO     CS  EqSBR
Eric Byrnes       ARI      24     2      3   2.15
Stephen Drew      ARI       2     0      0   0.62
Chris Young       ARI       2     0      1   0.26
Andy Green        ARI       1     0      0   0.24
Conor Jackson     ARI       1     0      0   0.15
Carlos Quentin    ARI       1     0      0   0.10
Damion Easley     ARI       1     0      1  -0.14
Chad Tracy        ARI       2     0      1  -0.19
Alberto Callaspo  ARI       0     0      1  -0.44
Luis Gonzalez     ARI       0     0      1  -0.44
Jeff DaVanon      ARI      10     0      4  -0.67
Shawn Green       ARI       4     0      4  -0.68
Orlando Hudson    ARI       9     0      6  -1.50
Craig Counsell    ARI      15     2      8  -2.86

Equivalent Hit Advancement Runs

Name              Team   Opp    OA  ExHAR  EqHAR  HARate
Orlando Hudson    ARI      40     0   5.42   3.01     156
Luis Gonzalez     ARI      56     0   8.99   2.99     133
Jeff DaVanon      ARI      22     0   2.61   1.19     146
Eric Byrnes       ARI      44     0   7.62   1.11     115
Stephen Drew      ARI      17     0   3.96   0.46     112
Chad Tracy        ARI      56     2   7.73   0.30     104
Craig Counsell    ARI      32     1   4.49   0.16     104
Carlos Quentin    ARI      10     0   1.80   0.14     108
Alberto Callaspo  ARI       1     0   0.68   0.06     108
Brandon Webb      ARI       3     0   0.75  -0.01      99
Juan Cruz         ARI       2     0   0.02  -0.02       0
Chris Young       ARI       8     0   1.51  -0.04      97
Russ Ortiz        ARI       1     0   0.06  -0.06       0
Tony Clark        ARI       7     0   1.98  -0.09      96
Enrique Gonzalez  ARI       3     0   0.84  -0.10      88
Scott Hairston    ARI       2     0   0.10  -0.10       0
Jason Grimsley    ARI       2     0   0.20  -0.20       0
Chris Snyder      ARI      11     0   2.44  -0.23      90
Andy Green        ARI       9     0   1.63  -0.45      72
Conor Jackson     ARI      33     1   3.31  -0.63      81
Johnny Estrada    ARI      29     1   5.19  -0.81      84
Damion Easley     ARI      14     1   1.15  -1.12       2
Shawn Green       ARI      40     1   4.68  -1.21      74
Miguel Batista    ARI       5     1   1.45  -1.30      11

Equivalent Ground Advancement Runs

Name              Team   Opp ExGAR  EqGAR GARate
Stephen Drew      ARI      18  2.39   0.66   1.28
Orlando Hudson    ARI      36  3.47   0.55   1.16
Damion Easley     ARI      15  1.01   0.28   1.27
Shawn Green       ARI      22  2.10   0.27   1.13
Andy Green        ARI       8  0.54   0.11   1.20
Chris Young       ARI      10  0.55   0.09   1.16
Orlando Hernandez ARI       2  0.05   0.05   2.02
Craig Counsell    ARI      30  2.29   0.03   1.01
Luis Gonzalez     ARI      26  1.71   0.00   1.00
Miguel Montero    ARI       1  0.05  -0.05   0.00
Livan Hernandez   ARI       1  0.09  -0.09   0.00
Brandon Webb      ARI       3  0.11  -0.11   0.00
Chris Snyder      ARI      14  0.78  -0.14   0.83
Jeff DaVanon      ARI      11  0.36  -0.16   0.54
Carlos Quentin    ARI      12  0.96  -0.19   0.80
Miguel Batista    ARI       2  0.50  -0.24   0.53
Alberto Callaspo  ARI       2  0.38  -0.29   0.25
Chad Tracy        ARI      28  1.07  -0.46   0.57
Johnny Estrada    ARI      18  1.67  -0.52   0.69
Tony Clark        ARI       9  1.50  -0.72   0.52
Conor Jackson     ARI      24  2.65  -1.50   0.43
Eric Byrnes       ARI      32  3.01  -1.59   0.47

Equivalent Air Advancement Runs

Name              Team  Opps ExAAR  EqAAR AARate
Shawn Green       ARI      23  2.67   1.29   1.48
Jeff DaVanon      ARI      21  3.23   1.03   1.32
Damion Easley     ARI      11  1.83   0.60   1.33
Johnny Estrada    ARI      13  1.97   0.38   1.20
Eric Byrnes       ARI      23  0.92   0.30   1.32
Chris Young       ARI       7  0.76   0.25   1.33
Tony Clark        ARI       5  0.41   0.21   1.50
Carlos Quentin    ARI       3  0.56   0.17   1.31
Conor Jackson     ARI      35  4.04   0.12   1.03
Chris Snyder      ARI       3  0.24   0.11   1.46
Brandon Webb      ARI       2 -0.04   0.04   0.00
Scott Hairston    ARI       2 -0.01   0.01   0.00
Alberto Callaspo  ARI       2 -0.01   0.01   0.00
Brandon Lyon      ARI       1  0.00   0.01   0.00
Orlando Hernandez ARI       1  0.00   0.00   0.00
Miguel Batista    ARI       2  0.02  -0.02   0.00
Craig Counsell    ARI      21  3.26  -0.04   0.99
Andy Green        ARI       4  0.40  -0.05   0.87
Orlando Hudson    ARI      22  2.17  -0.12   0.94
Chad Tracy        ARI      43  4.21  -0.17   0.96
Luis Gonzalez     ARI      23  3.38  -0.49   0.85
Stephen Drew      ARI      11  1.79  -0.82   0.54