Friday, January 1, 2016

The (WAR)ing AL East

Happy New Year! 2016 is finally here and baseball season will soon be back in our lives. With Spring Training, fast approaching teams will soon start wrapping up their free agent shopping. Significant free agents remain on the market but to me, January 1st is the perfect time to review the current rosters of the AL East teams with WAR (Wins Above Replacement). A replacement player seemingly has a neutral impact on the team (0.0 WAR). The higher the players WAR the better they are and it is possible to have a negative WAR in which the player is hurting the team with offensive and defensive play.



This review is still too early, and the Orioles have been a rumored destination for Yoenis Cespedes, as well as re-signing Chris Davis and Wei-Yin Chen which will dramatically increase WAR. The depth chart comes courtesy of the respective team sites and WAR is from fangraphs.com unless otherwise indicated.

NEW YORK YANKEES

STARTING NINE
C: Brian McCann: 3.1 WAR
1B: Mark Teixeira: 1.9 WAR
2B: Starlin Castro: 1.5 WAR
SS: Didi Gregorius: 2.0 WAR
3B: Chase Headley: 2.7 WAR
LF: Brett Gardner: 2.1 WAR
CF: Jacoby Ellsbury: 2.4 WAR
RF: Carlos Beltran: 0.6 WAR
DH: Alex Rodriguez: 0.7 WAR
Starting Nine WAR: 17
STARTING ROTATION
Masahiro Tanaka: 4.1 WAR
Michael Pineda: 3.6 WAR
Nathan Eovaldi: 2.0 WAR
C.C. Sabathia: 1.7 WAR
Luis Severino: 2.3 WAR
Starters WAR: 13.7
BULLPEN
Aroldis Chapman: 1.4 WAR
Andrew Miller: 1.5 WAR
Dellin Betances: 1.2 WAR
Chasen Shreve: 0.3 WAR
Ivan Nova: 0.9 WAR
Bryan Mitchell: 0.2 WAR
Jacob Lindgren: 0.2 WAR
Bullpen WAR: 5.7 
BENCH
Gary Sanchez: 0.6 WAR
Aaron Hicks: 0.5 WAR
Dustin Ackley: 0.6 WAR
Greg Bird: 0.9 WAR
Bench WAR: 2.6
Total WAR: 39

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

STARTING NINE
C: Matt Wieters: 2.2 WAR
1B: Mark Trumbo: 1.3 WAR
2B: Jonathan Schoop: 1.2 WAR
SS: J.J. Hardy: 1.0 WAR
3B: Manny Machado: 5.8 WAR
LF: Hyun Soo-Kim: 1.5 WAR - KANG Projection
CF: Adam Jones: 3.0 WAR
RF: Ryan Flaherty: 0.2 WAR
DH: Nolan Reimold: 0.1 WAR
Starting Nine WAR: 16.3
STARTING ROTATION
Chris Tillman: 1.5 WAR
Ubaldo Jimenez: 2.1 WAR
Kevin Gausman: 2.3 WAR
Miguel Gonzalez: 0.9 WAR
Mike Wright: 0.2 WAR
Starters WAR: 7
BULLPEN
Zack Britton: 1.3 WAR
Darren O'Day: 0.6 WAR
T.J. McFarland: 0.2 WAR
Brian Matusz: 0.3 WAR
Jason Garcia: 0.0 WAR
Chaz Roe: 0.1 WAR
Brad Barch: 0.4 WAR
Bullpen WAR: 2.9
BENCH
Caleb Joseph: 0.6 WAR
Christian Walker: 0.4 WAR
Jimmy Paredes: -0.6 WAR
Joey Rickard: 0.2 WAR
Bench War: 0.6
Total War: 26.8

BOSTON RED SOX

STARTING NINE
C: Blake Swihart: 1.1 WAR
1B: Hanley Ramirez: 2.2 WAR
2B: Dustin Pedroia: 3.7 WAR
SS: Xander Bogaerts: 3.6 WAR
3B: Pablo Sandoval: 1.8 WAR
LF: Rusney Castillo: 0.8 WAR
CF: Jackie Bradley Jr.: 2.1 WAR
RF: Mookie Betts: 4.8 WAR
DH: David Ortiz: 1.6 WAR
Starting Nine WAR: 21.7
STARTING ROTATION
David Price: 4.9 WAR
Rick Porcello: 2.8 WAR
Clay Buchholz: 2.7 WAR
Eduardo Rodriguez: 1.6 WAR
Joe Kelly: 0.7 WAR
Starters WAR: 12.7
BULLPEN
Craig Kimbrel: 1.2 WAR
Koji Uehara: 0.6 WAR
Junichi Tazawa: 0.4 WAR
Carson Smith: 0.8 WAR
Roenis Elias: 1.0 WAR
Robbie Ross Jr.: 0.2 WAR
Heath Hembree: 0.0 WAR
Bullpen WAR: 4.2 
BENCH
Ryan Hanigan: 0.7 WAR
Travis Shaw: 0.6 WAR
Brock Holt: 0.6 WAR
Chris Young: 1.0 WAR
Bench WAR: 2.9
Total WAR: 41.5

TAMPA BAY RAYS

STARTING NINE
C: Rene Rivera: 0.2 WAR
1B: James Loney: 0.5 WAR
2B: Logan Forsythe: 2.0 WAR
SS: Brad Miller: 2.2 WAR
3B: Evan Longoria: 3.9 WAR
LF: Desmond Jennings: 1.8 WAR
CF: Kevin Kiermaier: 3.5 WAR
RF: Steven Souza Jr.: 1.3 WAR
DH: Logan Morrison: 0.3 WAR
Starting Nine WAR: 15.7
STARTING ROTATION
Chris Archer: 4.1 WAR
Alex Cobb: 0.8 WAR
Drew Smyly: 2.3 WAR
Jake Odorizzi: 2.2 WAR
Erasmo Ramirez: 1.3 WAR
Starters WAR: 10.7
BULLPEN
Brad Boxberger: 0.6 WAR
Danny Farquhar: 0.4 WAR
Jake McGee: 0.8 WAR
Matt Moore: 1.3 WAR
Matt Andriese: 0.5 WAR
Xavier Cedeno: 0.4 WAR
Alex Colome: 0.5 WAR
Bullpen WAR: 4.5
BENCH
Curt Casali: 0.9 WAR
Tim Beckham: 0.0 WAR
Brandon Guyer: 1.0 WAR
Richie Shaffer: 0.1 WAR
Bench WAR: 2
Total WAR: 32.9

BLUE JAYS

STARTING NINE
C: Russell Martin: 3.4 WAR
1B: Chris Colabello: 0.7 WAR
2B: Ryan Goins: 0.3 WAR
SS: Troy Tulowitzki: 3.4 WAR
3B: Josh Donaldson: 5.9 WAR
LF: Ben Revere: 0.8 WAR
CF: Kevin Pillar: 2.5 WAR
RF: Jose Bautista: 3.9 WAR
DH: Edwin Encarnacion: 3.0 WAR
Starting Nine WAR: 23.9
STARTING ROTATION
Marcus Stroman: 3.4 WAR
R.A. Dickey: 1.1 WAR
J.A. Happ: 1.8 WAR
Marco Estrada: 0.6 WAR
Jesse Chavez: 1.8 WAR
Starters WAR: 8.7
BULLPEN
Daniel Hutchison: 0.8 WAR
Roberto Osuna: 0.7 WAR
Aaron Sanchez: 0.2 WAR
Brett Cecil: 1.0 WAR
Aaron Loup: 0.4 WAR
Ryan Tepera: 0.1 WAR
Bo Schultz: 0.0 WAR
Bullpen WAR - 3.2
BENCH
Josh Thole: 0.1 WAR
Justin Smoak: 0.4 WAR
Darwin Barney: 0.1 WAR
Michael Saunders: 0.5 WAR
Bench WAR: 1.1
Total WAR: 36.9

Standings Ranked based on WAR

  1. Red Sox: 41.5
  2. Yankees: 39
  3. Blue Jays: 36.9
  4. Rays: 32.9 
  5. Orioles: 26.8
  • Best Starting Nine - Blue Jays
  • Best Rotation - Yankees
  • Best Bullpen - Yankees
  • Best Bench - Red Sox

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