SB Nation - Marcos Carvajal

WAR Lords of the Diamond (Catchers)

Jabberwocky — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:00:23 -0000

More photos » by Ed Andrieski - AP

Chris Iannetta sure is great.

In this relatively short session of Purple Row Academy, we're hitting the history books.

Now that I've explained the components and calculation of the statistic Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for position players and for pitchers, I'm going to use historical WAR calculations to determine the best players by position in Rockies' history. The inspiration for this article came from Sky Kalkman at BtB and KL Snow at Brew Crew Ball.

Of course, due to the fact that the Rockies' history is only 17 years old, there isn't exactly a deep pool of players to choose from in this study. Therefore, I will be ranking all players who produced a career WAR of over 3 wins at a position for the Rockies or was a significant player for the team.

Here's my methodology:

1. I only used stats accumulated when they played for the Rockies.

2. The categories used were: career with Rockies, best three consecutive years with Rockies (establishes average production), and best single year with the Rockies (establishes peak production).

3. If the players spent less than three years with the Rockies, their career total was used in the other metrics as well. If the player was at different positions for different years, the player would be considered for the position in which he had the most starts (or greatest impact, at my discretion) for the Rockies.

4. The players were ranked in each category. Those ranks were added and averaged out--the lowest average rank was the most valuable Rockie.

5. The data used was only for seasons that were completed (e.g. not 2009).

To gather data, I used Sean Smith's fantastic historical WAR database. This resource is so great because it accounts for basically all significant aspects of a player's context-neutral on-field production: hitting, baserunning, fielding, etc. Another major reason was that the database extends back to 1954, unlike FanGraphs' 2002. Note also that these numbers do differ from FanGraphs' values slightly.

Join me after the jump as I discuss catchers...

Catchers

As RMN pointed out in his Counting Rocks article about Chris Iannetta, the Rockies have historically had a revolving door of sorts at the catcher position. Looking at the numbers, their career WAR data isn't much prettier.

In fact, just producing a positive career WAR for the Rockies as a catcher was a major accomplishment. In fact, no Rockies catcher has five years of service with Colorado. Since I have to rank somebody, here are the five catchers in Rockies' history (through 2008) who have delivered over a 0.5 WAR for the team.

Here's the best of a motley crew:

1. Jeff Reed

Career WAR: 4.3 (1st)
Top Three Seasons: 4.6, 1996-1998 (1st)
Top Season: 1.8, 1998 (2nd)
Average Rank: 1.33

Reed spent the 1996-1999 campaigns with the Rockies--tied with Ben Petrick for the longest Rockies' catching tenure. His Rockies career coincided with the twilight of his 17 year MLB career, spent with 6 teams almost exclusively in a back-up role, but his Coors years were also his most successful ones.

Considering the fact that a league-average player by definition is one that is two wins above a replacement player, Jeff Reed never reached league-average status, even in his career-best 1.8 WAR 1997 season. When one considers that his 1997 season is the second best catcher season in Rockies' history, the scale of the Rockies' failure at the catching position becomes apparent.

2. Chris Iannetta

Career WAR: 3.2 (2nd)
Top Three Seasons: 3.2 (2nd)
Top Season: 2.7, 2008 (1st)
Average Rank: 1.67

That's right Rockies fans, Chris Iannetta's 2008 season in which he racked up 2.7 WAR was not only by far the best catching season ever by a Rockie, it was also the only time that the Rockies have had an above-average MLB catcher. Obviously going forward Iannetta will be the man atop this leader board, probably as soon as the end of this year. He is, after all, a Very Special Boy.

3. Charles Johnson

Career WAR: 1.8 (3rd)
Top Three Seasons: 1.8 (3rd)
Top Season: 1.5, 2003 (3rd)
Average Rank: 3

While CDI is undoubtedly the best homegrown catcher the Rockies have produced, an argument can be made that Charles Johnson, to this point, was the best catcher to put on a Rockies uniform. After all, CJ did produce three years that were better than CDI's 2008 prior to coming to Colorado, the best being a 4.3 WAR season in 1997.

CJ was notably traded to Colorado from Florida in a package that included Preston Wilson in exchange for Mike Hampton and Juan Pierre. His Rockies career was from 2003-2004. In all, CJ played for 6 teams in 12 years, most notably the Marlins. He appeared in two All-Star games and won four Gold Gloves, though none with the Rockies.

4. Brent Mayne

Career WAR: 1.6 (4th)
Top Three Seasons: 1.6 (4th)
Top Season: 0.8, 2000 and 2001 (5th)
Average Rank: 4.33

Seriously, the 4th ranked catcher in Rockies history is Brent Mayne. Perhaps most famous for the pitching win that he garnered in 2000, Mayne played for the Rockies from 2000 to mid-2001, after which he was traded to the Royals for Sal Fasano and Mac Suzuki. In all, Mayne played for seven teams in 14 years, posting a career-high (and league-average) 2.1 WAR for San Francisco in 1999.

5. Yorvit Torrealba

Career WAR: 0.9 (5th)
Top Three Seasons: 0.9 (5th)
Top Season: 0.9, 2007 (4th)
Average Rank: 4.67

Acquired by the Rockies before the 2006 season in a trade with Seattle for Marcos Carvajal, Torrealba has provided below league average production for the Rockies, his third MLB team. A decent (though still below average) 2007 keeps Torrealba afloat, though last year he was 4 runs below average.

That's it. Those five are the only catchers in Rockies history who have done much of anything for the team. Others of note are Ben Petrick (0.3), Joe Girardi (0.1), and Kirt (what is that) Manwaring (-2.4!).

Next week we'll delve into a far more pleasant position, albeit a short list for the Rockies--first base.

The Milwaukee Brewers' Last Trade With Each Team

TheJay — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:48:24 -0000

More photos » by H. Rumph Jr - AP

A long time ago, in a league 98 miles away, this guy was part of the Brewers' last trade with the Yankees.

Browse more photos »

One of my favorite parts of each year's team media guide is the page listing the Brewers' last trade with all the other major league teams. Maybe it's because it's so esoteric, maybe it's because of all the "some-team-wanted-him?" thoughts it prompts, or maybe it's the idea that for years Brewers and Mariners management had a bitter blood feud getting in the way of amicable trading. I don't know. Either way, let's take a trip down memory lane, transaction-style:

(note: PTBNL below stands for "Player to be Named Later," defined here)

The Milwaukee Brewers' Last Trade With...

Arizona Diamondbacks - 11/25/2006
Traded LHP Doug Davis, LHP Dana Eveland, and OF Dave Krynzel for C Johnny Estrada, RHP Claudio Vargas, and RHP Greg Aquino
Atlanta Braves - 12/7/2005
Traded RHP Wes Obermueller for RHP Dan Kolb
Chicago Cubs - 8/31/2004
Traded OF Ben Grieve for LHP Andy Pratt and cash
Cincinnati Reds - 1/14/2000
Traded OF Alex Ochoa for OF Mark Sweeney and a PTBNL (RHP Gene Altman)
Colorado Rockies - 12/13/2004
Traded RHP Marcos Carvajal in exchange for cash
Florida Marlins - 11/25/1996
Traded RHP Eddie Collins for LHP Joel Adamson
Houston Astros - 9/11/2007
Traded RHP Dennis Sarfate for cash
Los Angeles Dodgers - 3/26/2007
Traded OF Brady Clark and cash for RHP Elmer Dessens
New York Mets - 11/20/2007
Traded C Johnny Estrada for RHP Guillermo Mota
Philadelphia Phillies - 7/28/2006
Traded RHP Wilfrido Laureano for 3B David Bell
Pittsburgh Pirates - 12/7/2007
Traded RHP Marino Salas and RHP Kevin Roberts for RHP Salomon Torres
St. Louis Cardinals - 8/22/2003
Traded RHP Mike DeJean for two PTBNL (RHP Mike Crudale and RHP John Novinsky)
San Diego Padres - 7/25/2007
Traded LHP Joe Thatcher, RHP Will Inman, and LHP Steve Garrison for RHP Scott Linebrink
San Francisco Giants - 7/20/2008
Traded OF Darren Ford and LHP Steve Hammond for 2B Ray Durham
Washington Nationals - 9/4/2007
Traded a PTBNL (1B Andrew Lefave) for LHP Ray King

The AL teams are after the jump.

Baltimore Orioles - 7/16/1999
Traded a PTBNL (RHP Al Reyes) for RHP Rocky Coppinger
Boston Red Sox - 7/31/1998
Traded IF Eddy Diaz for RHP Joe Hudson
Chicago White Sox - 12/13/2004
Traded OF Scott Podsednik, RHP Luis Vizcaino and a PTBNL (IF Travis Hinton) for LF Carlos Lee
Cleveland Indians - 7/7/2008
Traded OF Matt LaPorta, LHP Zach Jackson, RHP Rob Bryson, and a PTBNL (OF Michael Brantley) for LHP CC Sabathia
Detroit Tigers - 7/1/2007
Traded RHP Jose Capellan for LHP Chris Cody
Kansas City Royals - 3/27/2007
Traded RHP Ben Hendrickson for a Marxist Empire
LAnaheim Angels - 7/31/2002
Traded OF Alex Ochoa and C Sal Fasano for C Jorge Fabregas and 2 PTBNL (RHP Pedro Liriano and IF John Raburn)
Minnesota Twins - 11/15/2002
Traded RHP Gerry Oakes and RHP Matt Yeatman for RHP Matt Kinney and C Javier Valentin
New York Yankees - 8/23/1996
Traded IF Pat Listach and LHP Graeme Lloyd for OF Gerald Williams and RHP Bob Wickman
Oakland Athletics - 5/23/2007
Traded RHP Alec Zumwalt for cash.
Seattle Mariners - 5/19/2005
Traded C Pat Borders for cash.
Tampa Bay Rays - 4/22/2008
Traded OF Gabe Gross for RHP Josh Butler
Texas Rangers - 7/28/2006
Traded OF Carlos Lee and OF Nelson Cruz for RHP Francisco Cordero, LHP Julian Cordero, OF Kevin Mench, and OF Laynce Nix
Toronto Blue Jays - 1/6/2006
Traded RHP Brian Wolfe for 3B Corey Koskie

This information comes out of the Brewers' 2009 Media Guide. I believe all listed trades include someone on the 40-man roster for one of the teams. Any errors are mine in transcription or not diligently checking MLB's work.

The Brewers and the Rule 5 Draft

TheJay — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 06:15:08 -0000

Since major league clubs finalized their reserve lists (also known as 40-man rosters) on November 20, the Internet has been abuzz with speculation about the Rule 5 draft. This year's Rule 5 draft takes place on December 11 at the end of the annual Winter Meetings. So what exactly is the Rule 5 draft and why are people so excited about it? Perhaps more importantly for us, how have the Brewers participated in it over the years?

The Rule 5 draft is intended to move players who may be blocked on talent-rich clubs to clubs who aren't stocked with as many skilled players. It's not a modern invention--the first Rule 5 draft took place all the way back in 1903. Back then, players were subject to the reserve clause, binding them to their teams for as long as the team saw fit. Without a chance to ever freely move from team to team, players could be blocked by established veterans for years. More important in the eyes of many owners, wealthier teams could stockpile good players and keep them in the minors indefinitely, creating a nearly inexhaustible depth chart of talented players and keeping major league talent from less wealthy teams. To combat this stockpiling, the Rule 5 draft was invented. During the draft, teams could select players left unprotected by other teams in the hopes the players would blossom into quality big leaguers. While the draft was (and is) hit or miss, it contained enough diamonds in the rough to keep teams interested.

To prevent teams from completely raiding each other's systems, however, a couple ground rules were laid down: first, there was a fee charged for each pick. Second, each pick had to remain on the drafting team's major league roster for the entire season after the draft. If the drafting team wanted to send the player they selected to the minors for more seasoning, he first had to be offered back to his original team for the waiver price. Sometimes teams would no longer have room for the drafted player to return and they let his new organization keep him, but these two basic rules kept teams from drafting too many players each season.

Those rules are still in place (with enhancements) today. Each Rule 5 draft pick costs $50,000 and must stay on the big league roster for a full season. Ninety days of that season must be spent on the Active List (i.e., not the disabled/military/etc. list). If the player fails to reach that ninety days in his first season with the club, he must stay on the major league roster during the next season until he reaches ninety days. This prevents stashing a guy on the disabled list all year just to keep him in the system. If the drafting team wants to release their pick or send him to the minors, he must clear waivers and then be offered back to his original team for $25,000. If the player's original team chooses not to reclaim him, his new team can treat him as just another player in their system. What has changed over the years are the eligibility requirements for the draft. To be eligible for the Rule 5 draft today, a player:

Must not be on his organization's 40-man roster
If 19 or older on the June 5th before he signed his first contract, must have spent four seasons in the majors or minors.
If 18 or older on the June 5th before he signed his first contract, must have spent five seasons in the majors or minors.

There are also rules governing which teams can select players in the draft: teams select in reverse order of that season's finish and since a Rule 5 draft pick automatically is added to a team's 40-man roster, the team must have an open roster slot in order to pick. For example, the Rockies had 40 players on their 40-man roster at the time of the 1999 Rule 5 draft, so they couldn't make a selection.

In addition to the major league Rule 5 draft described above, there are two minor league phases of the draft. In the AAA phase, players eligible for for the Rule 5 draft but not on a team's 40-man roster or in AAA can be selected for $12,000. In the AA phase, eligible players from below AA can be selected for $4,000. Selected players do not have to be offered back to their original clubs once picked. Usually players picked in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft are roster filler for minor league affiliates, but occasionally future major leaguers are selected. One example is Giants utilityman Eugenio Velez, plucked from the Blue Jays in the AAA phase of the 2005 draft.

So now that we've hashed out all the specifics of who can pick and be picked in the draft, let's look at how the Brewers have used the Rule 5 draft throughout the years. It's easy to find all the selections during the last decade since they're easily accessible online. Unfortunately, complete drafts from before then are not available online, so finding selections becomes a matter of combing through transactions lists and finding guys who eventually made it to the majors. It's safe to assume there were a number of Brewers Rule 5 draft selections from 1970 to the late 1990's that never made it to the majors and thus aren't on those lists. Thus this isn't a complete list of all Brewers Rule 5 picks but it is, I believe, a complete list of Brewers picks (and players bought immediately from other teams) who at some point played in the majors.

Drafted by Brewers				Drafted From Brewers
Name	Position	Year	Picked From	Name	Position	Year	Picked By
Edward Campusano	LHP	2006	CHC	Callix Crabbe	IF	2007	SDP
Marcos Carvajal	RHP	2004	LAD	Ramon Garcia	RHP	1996	HOU
Jeff Bennett	RHP	2003	PIT	Marc Ronan	C	1995	NYY
Enrique Cruz	SS	2002	NYM	Bobby M. Jones	RHP	1994	COL
Matt Ford	RHP	2002	TOR	Tim Fortugno	LHP	1991	CAL
Jorge Sosa	RHP	2001	SEA	Dwayne Hosey	OF	1991	SDP
Ryan Christenson	OF	2001	ARI	Dave Stapleton	LHP	1988	HOU
Matt Williams	RHP	1999	NYY	Gibson Alba	LHP	1987	STL
Al Reyes	RHP	1994	MON	Bob Gibson	RHP	1986	CHW
Jose Mercedes	RHP	1993	BAL	Jeff Parrett	RHP	1985	MON
Graeme Lloyd	LHP	1992	TOR	Willie Lozado	IF	1984	STL
Rob Lukachyk	OF	1991	CHW	Jesus Vega	1B	1977	MIN
Matias Carrillo	LHP	1987	PIT	Ron Tompkins	RHP	1970	CHC
Vicente Palacios	RHP	1986	PIT
Brian Giles	IF	1984	NYM
Jamie Nelson	C	1983	SEA
Mike Warren	RHP	1981	OAK
Tom Candiotti	RHP	1980	KCR
Mark Brouhard	OF	1979	CAL
Ned Yost	C	1977	NYM
Marshall Edwards	OF	1976	OAK
Jeff Yurak	OF	1976	NYM
Aurelio Monteagudo	RHP	1971	KCR

Players in italics were selected during the minor league portion of the draft.

You might be wondering who Edward Campusano and Marcos Carvajal are. They were picked by the Brewers but immediately sold to Detroit and Colorado, respectively. Similarly, Graeme Lloyd was picked by the Phillies and was promptly traded to the Brewers. Obviously, the Brewers have been more active as "buyers" than "sellers" during the Rule 5 draft when it comes to guys who made the majors, especially recently. That's not a big surprise, as bad teams don't usually have much worth taking from their farm system, unless something goes terribly wrong.

The Brewers have also dabbled in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft in the past few years. I could only find full details for those drafts going back to 2002, but here's a quick list of players selected by the Brewers:

Joe Bateman (RHP) in 2007, from San Francisco
Richard Campbell (RHP) in 2007, from Washington
Juan Sandoval (RHP) in 2007, from Seattle
Michael Carlin (1B) in 2006, from Pittsburgh
Steve Bray (RHP) in 2006, from Kansas City
Landon Stockman (RHP) in 2004, from Cleveland
Juan Cerros (RHP) in 2004, from Cincinnati
Ryan Costello (LHP) in 2003, from Toronto
David Manning (RHP) in 2002, from Minnesota

Outside of Bateman, Bray, and maybe Manning, that's a list that makes you say, "who?" See what I meant when I said the minor league portion is used for roster filler? The Brewers didn't lose much in those drafts either: the most notable names are RHP Ben Diggins (2005), LHP John Foster (2003), OF Pete Zoccolillo (2003), and the other RHP Dan Kolb (2004).

So now you know more than you ever thought you would about the Brewers and the Rule 5 draft. Will the Crew pick a player to keep for themselves for the first time in six years? Will anyone from the Brewers system be picked by another team? The answer to both questions is "probably not," but you never know. Anyone the Brewers pick will be able to commiserate with manager Ken Macha, himself a Rule 5 pick in 1978. That player will also join a list that has some surprisingly good names and an awful lot of forgotten ones.

Further Reading on the Rule 5 Draft:
Rule 5 draft information from Baseball America
Hardball Times article about interesting historical Rule 5 picks
Major League Rule 5 draft results back to 1998
A summary of Major League Rule 5
Retrosheet transactions data