Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Win Shares Update #2
Update #1 looked at the top 100 of all time. With Red Sox greats #15 and #25 now gone, I thought it would be a good time for win shares update #2, which will look at the top 25 all-time Red Sox win shares leaders.
A few notes:
-This is only Win Shares accrued as a Red Sox player. So Babe Ruth is not #1.
-This is compiled using Bill James's Win Shares book, and sources like Hardball Times and Baseball Graphs to fill in the recent years.
-Lefty Grove was knocked off the list since 2001.
-Win shares in parentheses, active players in bold, my comments in italics.
And here it is!
1. Ted Williams (555)
2. Carl Yastrzemski (488)
3. Dwight Evans (337)
4. Wade Boggs (301)
5. Jim Rice (282)
Many have made the case that Rice should be in the hall of fame. And I don't think anyone disputes that Boggs should be in the hall of fame, with most of his success coming with the Red Sox, but no one really mentions Dwight Evans in hall of fame talk. I'm not saying he belongs there, but he really is overlooked as even a possibility.
Over 75% of Boggs's win shares came with Boston. We'll see what cap he wears in the hall.
6. Bobby Doerr (281)
7. Tris Speaker (265)
8. Roger Clemens (250)
9. Cy Young (247)
10. Harry Hooper (241)
Another trio of hall of famers, although they spent quite a lot of time on other teams before going. About 63% of Clemens's career win shares came with the Red Sox.
11. Dom DiMaggio (220)
12. Rico Petrocelli (205)
13. Carlton Fisk (182)
14. Babe Ruth (180)
15. Nomar Garciaparra (177)
There's Nomar! Just short of Babe Ruth's output with Boston, but I have a feeling he won't be catching him in his post-Red Sox production.
16. Reggie Smith (171)
17. Johnny Pesky (170)
18. Jimmie Foxx (161)
19. Larry Gardner (159)
19. Duffy Lewis (159)
Don't have too much to say about this group, don't have the prestige of the others, nor the strangeness of the next group:
21. Joe Cronin (158)
22. Fred Lynn (154)
23. Bob Stanley (149)
23. Mo Vaughn (149)
25. Mike Greenwell (146)
25. Pedro Martinez (146)
I think if someone had told Pedro Martinez that if he only stayed for one more year, that he could be 18th on the all-time Red Sox win shares list, he definitely would have turned down the extra year from the Mets.
Oh, and one last thing. Notice that I didn't use bold for any of the players, as none of them still play for the Sox.
Part 3 will be looking at Wakefield, Nixon, Manny, Damon, and Ortiz, and how long it will likely take until they can crack this list. And depending how free agency goes, perhaps we'll look at Lowe and Varitek as well.
A few notes:
-This is only Win Shares accrued as a Red Sox player. So Babe Ruth is not #1.
-This is compiled using Bill James's Win Shares book, and sources like Hardball Times and Baseball Graphs to fill in the recent years.
-Lefty Grove was knocked off the list since 2001.
-Win shares in parentheses, active players in bold, my comments in italics.
And here it is!
1. Ted Williams (555)
2. Carl Yastrzemski (488)
3. Dwight Evans (337)
4. Wade Boggs (301)
5. Jim Rice (282)
Many have made the case that Rice should be in the hall of fame. And I don't think anyone disputes that Boggs should be in the hall of fame, with most of his success coming with the Red Sox, but no one really mentions Dwight Evans in hall of fame talk. I'm not saying he belongs there, but he really is overlooked as even a possibility.
Over 75% of Boggs's win shares came with Boston. We'll see what cap he wears in the hall.
6. Bobby Doerr (281)
7. Tris Speaker (265)
8. Roger Clemens (250)
9. Cy Young (247)
10. Harry Hooper (241)
Another trio of hall of famers, although they spent quite a lot of time on other teams before going. About 63% of Clemens's career win shares came with the Red Sox.
11. Dom DiMaggio (220)
12. Rico Petrocelli (205)
13. Carlton Fisk (182)
14. Babe Ruth (180)
15. Nomar Garciaparra (177)
There's Nomar! Just short of Babe Ruth's output with Boston, but I have a feeling he won't be catching him in his post-Red Sox production.
16. Reggie Smith (171)
17. Johnny Pesky (170)
18. Jimmie Foxx (161)
19. Larry Gardner (159)
19. Duffy Lewis (159)
Don't have too much to say about this group, don't have the prestige of the others, nor the strangeness of the next group:
21. Joe Cronin (158)
22. Fred Lynn (154)
23. Bob Stanley (149)
23. Mo Vaughn (149)
25. Mike Greenwell (146)
25. Pedro Martinez (146)
I think if someone had told Pedro Martinez that if he only stayed for one more year, that he could be 18th on the all-time Red Sox win shares list, he definitely would have turned down the extra year from the Mets.
Oh, and one last thing. Notice that I didn't use bold for any of the players, as none of them still play for the Sox.
Part 3 will be looking at Wakefield, Nixon, Manny, Damon, and Ortiz, and how long it will likely take until they can crack this list. And depending how free agency goes, perhaps we'll look at Lowe and Varitek as well.
# posted by Darlucky @ 9:06 PM 
