I met Jeff Barton, who invented and runs Scoresheet Baseball with his brother, out in Arizona last November at Ron Shandler’s shindig at the AFL. Jeff invited some of us to play in a Scoresheet league this year. Over the years the most vocal proponents of a fantasy game that is not Rotisserie have certainly been Scoresheet players, who love the game for the way it reflects the shape of real baseball games and the shape of the real baseball season. So I said yes.
I’m a newbie, my team isn’t so hot and, to be honest, I don’t have the time to soak up all the information I need to help me play this game better. But I can see the appeal. Each week you get actual box scores from simulated games based on the preceding week’s actual stats. It’s a deft mixture of roto and sim baseball played nearly in real time, and it only hurts when your Johan Santana is edged by Brian Bannister. But such things do happen.
I bring all this up because in this week’s Scoresheet newsletter Jeff lists the players who turn up most on winning and losing teams. This is a great way to measure a player’s actual impact on the standings. As you can see, the differences aren’t huge. Jermaine Dye is a disappointment, but he can’t single-handedly wreck teams. Perhaps you’ll find some names here that will help explain your season thus far:
(And don’t forget to check out Scoresheet Baseball.)
This week we’ve printed a short list of ‘Scoresheet All-Stars’
and ‘Scoresheet All-Worsts’. We took all of the players in the
majors, and totaled the won-loss records for all of the teams that
they are on in Scoresheet, then divided by the number of teams they
play on to come up with their ‘average Scoresheet won-loss record.’
Most pennant races are decided by just a couple of games, so if a
single player makes the difference in 3 or 4 games that is a big deal.This list is not just an order of the players who are having the
best (and worst) seasons, but more shows players who are playing
much better or worse than what they ‘cost’ (how high the draft pick
used to get them, or what they cost in trade).
*Note A guy like Matt Albers (who probably was not even picked
in many pre-season drafts) may show on a league’s ‘Worst’ list
because he was not picked until the mid-season supplemental draft
in many leagues. Those drafts go in the reverse order of won-loss
records, and since Buchholz was a top supplemental pick in many
leagues, Buchholz did end up getting picked by a lot of teams that
already had a losing record when they got him.Have a great week! – Jeff Barton
AL Bests
4468-3596, 35-28 Danny Haren
4347-3717, 34-29 John Lackey
4345-3718, 34-29 Alex Rodriguez
4340-3723, 34-29 Kelvim Escobar
4339-3724, 34-29 Carlos Guillen
4334-3730, 34-29 Grady Sizemore
4332-3730, 34-29 Victor Martinez
4312-3751, 34-29 J.J. Putz
4310-3753, 34-29 James Shields
4293-3769, 34-29 Johan Santana
4289-3775, 34-29 Pat Neshek
4287-3776, 33-30 Alexis Rios
4255-3746, 34-29 Magglio Ordonez
4190-3685, 34-29 Matt Guerrier
4266-3798, 33-30 Joe Nathan
4263-3800, 33-30 Justin Verlander
4230-3771, 33-30 Hideki Okajima
4252-3811, 33-30 C.C. Sabathia
3084-2649, 34-29 C.J. WilsonAL Worsts
3687-4375, 29-34 Joe Crede
3798-4265, 30-33 Brandon McCarthy
3790-4211, 30-33 Jake Westbrook
3832-4231, 30-33 Jermaine Dye
3838-4226, 30-33 Vicente Padilla
3209-3595, 30-33 Doug Mientkiewicz
3842-4221, 30-33 Jorge Cantu
3593-3967, 30-33 Casey Fossum
3789-4147, 30-33 Sammy Sosa
3853-4210, 30-33 Chone Figgins
3821-4178, 30-33 Jason Kendall
3829-4171, 30-33 Mark Grudzielanek
3797-4139, 30-33 Mike Maroth
3861-4203, 30-33 Kevin Millwood
3737-4075, 30-33 Scott Podsednik
3867-4195, 30-33 Josh BarfieldNL Bests
5456-4622, 34-29 Jake Peavy
5403-4676, 34-29 Brad Penny
5374-4706, 34-29 John Smoltz
5372-4710, 34-29 Chase Utley
5299-4719, 33-30 Todd Helton
5312-4767, 33-30 Jose Reyes(NYN)
5281-4739, 33-30 Chris Young(SD)
5275-4744, 33-30 Derrek Lee
5253-4764, 33-30 Chipper Jones
5248-4769, 33-30 Edgar Renteria
5210-4742, 33-30 Tim Hudson
4722-4288, 33-30 Sergio Mitre
5191-4761, 33-30 John Maine
5247-4834, 33-30 Roy Oswalt
5245-4835, 33-30 David Wright
5212-4805, 33-30 Scott Linebrink
5239-4837, 33-30 Albert Pujols
5204-4812, 33-30 Matt Holliday
5225-4853, 33-30 Russell Martin
5190-4827, 33-30 Matt Morris
5217-4864, 33-30 Miguel CabreraNL Worsts
4781-5298, 30-33 Adam LaRoche
4862-5219, 30-33 Taylor Tankersley
4110-4458, 30-33 Jose Castillo
4867-5213, 30-33 Josh Johnson(Flo)
4808-5146, 30-33 Bronson Arroyo
4211-4546, 30-33 Matt Albers
4780-5111, 30-33 John Patterson
4816-5138, 30-33 Anthony Reyes
4849-5167, 30-32 Juan Pierre
4823-5132, 31-32 Clay Hensley
4634-4942, 30-33 Mark Mulder
4162-4469, 30-33 Jarrod Saltalamacchia
4866-5152, 31-32 Freddy Garcia
4867-5150, 31-32 Brian Giles
4841-5112, 31-32 Dan Wheeler