ESPN Top 500 MLB Players

[magnumo]

ESPN recently completed a series of articles where they created a list of the top 500 players in MLB. They used a panel of 34 experts who assigned points in various categories to each player in order to count down from player #500 to player #1. The ratings are based on expectations for the 2012 season. An more detailed explanation of their methodology can be found at this link for their top 10 players.

MLB -- ESPN 500: Ranking top 500 Major League Baseball players of 2012 (Nos. 1-10) - ESPN

That page also includes links to the other articles in the series, which cover all 500 players.

A few observations:

- Not surprisingly, Albert Pujols came out as the #1 player in MLB, with a score of 9.62.

- The top Pirate is Andrew McCutchen, who came out at #41, with a score of 7.31.

- Paul Maholm (#347) came out higher than any Pirate starter: Morton at #361, Bedard at #379, Correia at #383, Burnett at #410. (McDonald and Karstens did not make the top 500.)

- If one adds up the total points given to all players in the NL Central, and projects final standings for 2012 based on that, the teams are ranked as follows:

103.13 Reds
102.93 Cardinals
_93.01 Brewers
_84.85 Cubs
_63.74 Pirates
_37.14 Astros

 

[sychmd]

interesting assessment of our pitchers compared to maholm.
correia is the only one i would want maholm instead of.

thanks for the work on the calculations. i wish i had your time.
it will be interesting to resurrect this at the end of the year to see how well the experts rated the players.
the missing ingredients are
1. managers - you can stack a team but a terrible manager can ruin it (ozzie guillen comes to mind)
2. team chemistry and personalities - rarely does that get factored into player ratings and is a big part of the overall team performance.

 

[magnumo]

Sychmd,

I agree with ALL of your comments.

A couple of other notes of potential interest to Pirate fans:

- Many Pirate fans were advocating that we try to obtain John Lannan, who was recently shipped out to AAA by the Nationals. ESPN ranked Lannan at #417, which puts him ahead of Karstens and McDonald. However, the only Pirates starter which I would trade for Lannan is Correia.

- It was widely reported that Huntington pursued Roy Oswalt, who apparently wouldn't even return his calls. Oswalt ranks #151, which would be a clear upgrade for the Pirates' rotation.

More from the "what might have been" department:

- Everyone remembers that debacle of a trade involving Aramis Ramirez . A-ram came in at #133, which certainly would improve the Pirates at 3B (vs. Alvarez at #436 or McGehee at #465).

- Even if we relegate the Ramirez trade to the distant past, there's also Jose Bautista, who has blossomed into the #14 player on ESPN's list. I'm confident that Bautista could still play 3B at least as well as Pedro..... which would improve the Pirates even more at 3B.

- And then there's Matt Weiters, at #69. Had Littlefield drafted Weiters instead of Moskos, we would be "fixed" at catcher, and wouldn't have needed to waste a 1st round pick on Tony Sanchez..... or wasted a roster spot and several million on Rod Barajas, who did not make the Top 500 list at all. By the way, Ryan Doumit came in at #386.

 

[Illinest]

Even the old Bautista would've been a relatively decent hitter in this lineup. He was in the .730-.760 range ever year.
When I get mad about the Bautista trade I'm not mad about losing a 50 hr guy because that's not what he was at the time. I'm mad that we traded a guy who could play four positions and hit .750 and got nothing back.

And Weiters..... There's very little that annoys me more than to hear that name. He should be our Catcher right now. No excuse for passing on him. No excuse.

 

[sychmd]

having a number of top 5 picks turn out to be journeymen and not key performers really hurts. that is the whole reason why the league gives the bad team a top draft pick, to grab future marquee players and restore competitive balance. it is like a government entitlement to get back on our feet and instead of using wisely, we took it to the casino and gambled it away and came home empty. not once, but we've done that way to often. this si why society gets frustrated with some entitlement programs, and why us fans get frustrated with management who keeps getting handouts but cries "poor"/small market and asks for more from fans, stadium, league luxury tax, potential free agents, hometown discounts, share TV money.

all right, my rant is over(because my wife says i got to get some work done today, not because i ran out of frustrations with management), but i just miss my pirates of youth - didnt realize it was welling up inside so strongly for 20 years.

HAPPY EASTER to all of you.

 

[WVUinVegas]

My question is:

Who is the best ranked player on that list we have a chance of acquiring this season?

 

[element1286]

Bryce Harper at 190 is pretty dumb.

 

[element1286]

Tabata ranked 345, but listed as 28 years old. Freudian slip?

 

[element1286]

Burnett and Bedard are ranked way too low.

 

[sychmd]

everybody drops when they don the black and yellow.

the pirate devaluation coefficient.

 

[element1286]

the pirate devaluation coefficient.

Lol, nice.

 

[magnumo]

Bryce Harper at 190 is pretty dumb.

At first, I didn't think much of Yu Darvish at #62 or Yoenis Cespedes at #223 either..... because I wouldn't rank players who had never played an inning of major league baseball.

However, after I read that their methodology involved projecting 2012 performance and ranking players according to those projections, it made more sense. The panel of 34 "experts" (MLB writers, analysts, and contributors) assembled by ESPN were polled during the last half of February. Obviously, their consensus projected that Darvish, Harper, and Cespedes would all perform better than most of the guys who played Major League baseball in 2011..... and it appears that Darvish would be their clear choice for ROY in the AL.

everybody drops when they don the black and yellow.

the pirate devaluation coefficient.

You may be onto something, there, sychmd..... although I'm not surprised that Burnett (poor performance in NY) and Bedard (injury history) aren't ranked higher.

Actually, your notion probably applies to all small market teams, especially those who haven't performed well for the past few years. The panel of experts is probably biased toward large market teams and players who get the most "ink"..... just because "national" pundits know those guys better. It's the same phenomenon which often relegates the Pirates to the last minute of BBTN or Sports Center.

Tampa Bay has overcome the phenomenon through sustained performance over the past few years. If and when the Pirates become competitive, much of that devaluation coefficient should disappear.

 

[sychmd]

my pirate devaluation coefficient suggestion was part jest and part reality.

batting 4th on the pirates or the yankees. who will have more rbi opportunities.
closer for pirates or phils(last season). who gets more save opportunities.
starter for pirates or braves. whose bullpen protects the lead handed to them after a quality start.
think hit and run, bunting people over, fielders behind you.
affording a great manager 9altho they seem to have gotten a steal as hurdle has some personal family medical issues making pittsburgh attractive.

like you said, magnumo, publicity and awareness of the media, they drool over the ones they see a lot. i am a dookie, and our players are always over-rated by the media because they see us so much compared to the mid majors and smaller teams. i like it, but its not accurate.