Jose Canseco's defensive woes could have impacted his net worth in the developing market.

Eric Neel has a great article on the developing world of defensive sabermetrics at ESPN. He details how GMs around the league are all warming up to run differential as a way of evaluating a player’s overall contribution to a team.

Neel drags out all the usual suspects: He mentions Bobby Abreu’s fear of padded walls, Derek Jeter’s range to his left and the giant hole in Adam Dunn’s glove. He also talks about how more front offices are adopting stats like WARP and UZR to determine how much they’re willing to spend on a player.

Of course, baseball is steeped in tradition, for better or worse, so this new renaissance of glove work is born less out of progress and more out of precedent, namely the 2008 Rays:

In 2007, Tampa Bay had one of the worst defenses in modern history; according to BP’s calculations, the fielders cost the pitchers 117 runs compared with a league-average defense. But a few smart moves turned it all around: switching B.J. Upton from second base to centerfield; trading Delmon Young, who had been playing some center; and establishing Jason Bartlett, acquired in the Young deal, as the starting shortstop. Then, two weeks into the season, Evan Longoria came up from the minors and solidified third base. The collective result was one of the best defensive teams in baseball, saving 59 runs in the field. The net turnaround, from –117 to +59, accounted for almost 20 wins.

It’s hard to argue with that.  I doubt baseball will start throwing record-breaking contracts at the Christian Guzmans of the world, but in an era where power numbers are in decline, teams will need to find new metrics to be successful.

Source.

Joe Blancato adam dunn, bobby abreu, christan guzman, derek jeter, eric neel, espn, statistcs