Matt Stairs, one of the most productive batters of 1998 / Icon SMI |
The essential details for 1998 are:
- 562.4 total WAR was accumulated among batters.
- They had a total payroll of $715,940,318.
- That's $1.27 million per Win Above Replacement.
- I used a cutoff of 94 plate appearances to eliminate pitchers.
- Players with no salary listed on B-R's 1998 Batting Player Value page were ignored.
Here are the top 20 batters in 1998 by $WAR (difference between actual WAR and salary-expected WAR):
Rank Player Team WAR Salary $WAR 1 Derek Jeter NYY 7.8 $750,000 7.2 2 Andruw Jones ATL 7.2 $215,000 7 3 Vladimir Guerrero MON 7.1 $230,000 6.9 4 Nomar Garciaparra BOS 7.3 $1,075,000 6.5 5 Alex Rodriguez SEA 7.9 $2,162,500 6.2 6 Bobby Abreu PHI 6.2 $180,000 6.1 7 Scott Rolen PHI 6.6 $750,000 6 8 Chipper Jones ATL 7.4 $2,550,000 5.4 9 Jason Kendall PIT 5.7 $600,000 5.2 10 John Olerud NYM 8.1 $3,750,000 5.2 11 Jeff Cirillo MIL 5.9 $1,500,000 4.7 12 Matt Stairs OAK 4.1 $325,000 3.8 13 Scott Brosius NYY 5.7 $2,650,000 3.6 14 Brian Jordan STL 6.5 $3,700,000 3.6 15 Brian Giles CLE 3.8 $300,000 3.6 16 Matt Lawton MIN 3.5 $215,000 3.3 17 Carlos Delgado TOR 5.2 $2,400,000 3.3 18 Mark Kotsay FLA 3.4 $171,000 3.3 19 Jose Offerman KCR 4.7 $2,000,000 3.1 20 Jorge Posada NYY 3.3 $250,000 3.1
There is a nice mix of youngsters and well-paid players. Derek Jeter was in just his 3rd year, while John Olerud was having his first season after becoming a free agent (and re-signing with the Mets.)
Scott Brosius came out of nowhere to post a career year and Jorge Posada was just coming onto the horizon as a great young player.
Now here are the 20 worst values of 1998 among batters:
Rank Player Team WAR Salary $WAR 1 Gary Sheffield 2TM 3.7 $14,936,667 -8 2 Bobby Bonilla 2TM -1.1 $5,900,000 -5.7 3 Todd Hundley NYM -1.3 $4,925,000 -5.2 4 Bernard Gilkey 2TM -0.7 $5,050,000 -4.7 5 Carlos Baerga NYM -0.3 $4,749,999 -4 6 Lance Johnson CHC -0.1 $4,900,000 -3.9 7 Jay Buhner SEA 0.3 $5,367,702 -3.9 8 Gregg Jefferies 2TM 1.1 $6,000,000 -3.6 9 Brady Anderson BAL 0.7 $5,441,843 -3.6 10 Dante Bichette COL 0.6 $5,291,667 -3.6 11 Jeff Blauser CHC -0.3 $4,000,000 -3.4 12 Cal Ripken BAL 1.6 $6,400,000 -3.4 13 David Justice CLE 1.7 $6,500,000 -3.4 14 Cecil Fielder 2TM -1 $2,970,000 -3.3 15 Chili Davis NYY 0.1 $4,333,333 -3.3 16 Mike Lansing COL -0.2 $3,950,000 -3.3 17 Joe Carter 2TM -0.8 $3,151,380 -3.3 18 Al Martin PIT -1.2 $2,600,000 -3.2 19 Paul Molitor MIN 0.1 $4,250,000 -3.2 20 John Mabry STL -2.1 $1,400,000 -3.2
Sheffield had an off year in 1998 (but by no means a bad year) but is really hurt in this analysis by having signed a huge contract. Interesting how many of these guys switched teams mid-season.
Now here are the 20 highest-paid players:
Rank Player Team WAR Salary $WAR 1 Gary Sheffield 2TM 3.7 $14,936,667 -8 2 Albert Belle CHW 7.4 $10,000,000 -0.5 3 Mark McGwire STL 7.2 $8,928,354 0.2 4 Barry Bonds SFG 9.3 $8,916,667 2.3 5 Andres Galarraga ATL 5.4 $8,400,000 -1.2 6 Sammy Sosa CHC 6.5 $8,325,000 0 7 Bernie Williams NYY 6.1 $8,300,000 -0.4 8 Ken Griffey SEA 6.1 $8,153,667 -0.3 9 Mike Piazza 3TM 6.2 $8,000,000 -0.1 10 Jeff Bagwell HOU 6.7 $7,945,000 0.5 11 Juan Gonzalez TEX 5.1 $7,800,000 -1 12 Kenny Lofton CLE 5.3 $7,550,000 -0.6 13 Frank Thomas CHW 3.5 $7,000,000 -2 14 Ivan Rodriguez TEX 6.6 $6,700,000 1.3 15 Mo Vaughn BOS 5.7 $6,650,000 0.5 16 Rafael Palmeiro BAL 6.2 $6,515,828 1.1 17 David Justice CLE 1.7 $6,500,000 -3.4 18 Cal Ripken BAL 1.6 $6,400,000 -3.4 19 Roberto Alomar BAL 3.4 $6,343,771 -1.6 20 Craig Biggio HOU 6.6 $6,145,000 1.8
This is quite a mix of players who out-performed or under-performed their contracts. Interesting that the two big names of 1988, McGwire and Sosa, were both around 0 for the year. But even back then, Barry Bonds was outperforming the other high-paid stars.