Sabermetric trivia: Name top5 WAR players on 1989 Oakland A's

JAKEPEAVY21 · 05-25-20, 06:49 PM

Canseco, McGwire, Eckersley, Tony Phillips?, Bob Welch?

JAKEPEAVY21 · 05-25-20, 10:17 PM

Dave Stewart

ChuckyTheGoat · 05-25-20, 10:28 PM

Originally posted by JAKEPEAVY21

Canseco, McGwire, Eckersley, Tony Phillips?, Bob Welch?

Very good guesses. Amazingly, only Stewart (below) made top5. Stewart was 5th at 3.8.

Canseco surely would have finished top5, but he missed half of the year w/ wrist injury. WAR calculations are sometimes weird. I'll comment more later.

DoctorStrong · 05-26-20, 06:53 AM

Eddie Murray

JAKEPEAVY21 · 05-26-20, 07:00 AM

Originally posted by ChuckyTheGoat

Very good guesses. Amazingly, only Stewart (below) made top5. Stewart was 5th at 3.8.

Canseco surely would have finished top5, but he missed half of the year w/ wrist injury. WAR calculations are sometimes weird. I'll comment more later.

Honestly those were the only players that i could remember and was not certain if Phillips or Welch were on that squad.

ChuckyTheGoat · 05-26-20, 02:41 PM

Answer is:

Mike Moore: 5.4
Rickey Henderson: 5.1
Carney Lansford: 4.6
Dave Henderson: 4.3
Dave Stewart: 3.8

JAKEPEAVY21 · 05-26-20, 02:44 PM

Originally posted by ChuckyTheGoat

Answer is:

Mike Moore: 5.4
Rickey Henderson: 5.1
Carney Lansford: 4.6
Dave Henderson: 4.3
Dave Stewart: 3.8

interesting, thought Rickey had moved on to the Yankees by then..never would have guessed Mike Moore in a million years..Lansford was one I should've known...probably never would have guessed dave Henderson either...good trivia chucky thanks for the trip down memory lane

ChuckyTheGoat · 05-26-20, 02:47 PM

No way I would have ever guessed Moore. He went 19-11, 2.61 ERA in 241IP. OppBA about 20% lower than Stewart's.

Rickey had 52SB, w/ only 6CS. .425OBA. He only played 85 games, so he must have had an injury (too), surely would have exceeded Moore in full season.

Lansford .336 but only .398 OBA. WAR formula must give extra credit to 3rd basemen. Hard position to play, tuff to be good 2-way player.

Hendu hit 15 HR w/ 80 RBI. Played tough defensive position, but OPS was only .695.

Stewart was 21-9 w/ 3.32 ERA. Gave up more HR than Moore, and his other underlying stats were inferior to Moore's.

ChuckyTheGoat · 05-26-20, 02:48 PM

McGwire was 6th, 3.6 WAR.

Welch 7th, 3.4 WAR.

Eck 8th, 2.6 WAR.

Phillips 10th, 2.5 WAR.

Canseco 11th, 2.2 WAR. In only 65 Games Played.

JAKEPEAVY21 · 05-26-20, 02:50 PM

I did think of Rickey but omitted him as I thought he was gone by then

I was racking my brain and could not remember hardly any players

ChuckyTheGoat · 05-26-20, 02:53 PM

McGwire had 33HR + 95 RBI, but only .231 BA.

Consider that Eck was almost untouched, until the Gibson HR. 55/3 K/BB ratio. But only 58IP. It's almost impossible for a relief pitcher to earn a big WAR score. They just don't pitch enough innings to move the needle. Sabermetricians and GMs have debated this for years.

Phillips didn't have a particularly good year, by his standards. A's were so tough when Rickey/Phillips were rolling in the 1/2 holes. Phillips posted an OBA > .400 several times, but only .345 in 1989.

ChuckyTheGoat · 05-26-20, 02:55 PM

Originally posted by JAKEPEAVY21

interesting, thought Rickey had moved on to the Yankees by then..never would have guessed Mike Moore in a million years..Lansford was one I should've known...probably never would have guessed dave Henderson either...good trivia chucky thanks for the trip down memory lane

You bet. I think it's interesting to look back on these classic teams.

I knew Rickey had two tours of duty w/ A's. I see on his bio that it was actually 3. He came back again in 1998.

ChuckyTheGoat · 05-26-20, 02:57 PM

Edit above. I was one year off. The Gibson HR was in 1988, not 1989.

JAKEPEAVY21 · 05-26-20, 03:02 PM

Originally posted by ChuckyTheGoat

McGwire had 33HR + 95 RBI, but only .231 BA.

Consider that Eck was almost untouched, until the Gibson HR. 55/3 K/BB ratio. But only 58IP. It's almost impossible for a relief pitcher to earn a big WAR score. They just don't pitch enough innings to move the needle. Sabermetricians and GMs have debated this for years.

Phillips didn't have a particularly good year, by his standards. A's were so tough when Rickey/Phillips were rolling in the 1/2 holes. Phillips posted an OBA > .400 several times, but only .345 in 1989.

I looked and Phillips had a few big seasons with Detroit after he left Oakland.

KVB · 05-26-20, 04:25 PM

Originally posted by ChuckyTheGoat

Answer is:

Mike Moore: 5.4
Rickey Henderson: 5.1
Carney Lansford: 4.6
Dave Henderson: 4.3
Dave Stewart: 3.8

When I read the op I was thinking about Rickey Henderson and Carney Lansford. Forgot all about Dave Stewart and without any research never would have thought of Mike Moore.

Good Stuff Chucky!