WAR’s look on salary expectations of free agents in Major League Baseball
Everyone who is familiar with Major League Baseball knows what’s happening nowadays. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the market is still booming with activity, after the season ended recently. The off season spring training is far ahead and the current
situation in baseball takes its pick on the climate which foretells a rising tendency for ball clubs to strengthen their side with additional manpower. The time for improvements in the weaker spots can be made as the free agents’ market has opened up again.
Top teams in the American League and the National League are looking for good deals and players. It seems the timing is right for the rosters to take a good note on their strengths and restructure their strategies to accommodate new personnel.
The players that highlight the free market are none other than top brass players like, Cliff Lee, Derek Jeter, Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre. Regardless of what one may say about their age, there’s nothing to contradict their contribution
to the ball clubs. Apart from the impressive exhibition laid out on the field, the major leaguers have become a model for their club and unit.
Nevertheless, the expectations in salaries are heightened and one expert, Sean Forman, who is the creator of the Baseball–Reference.com, has come up with a method to calculate the projected earnings due to the players in the free zone. The statistic for
determining the projected value deals with converting abilities into team wins for each player. The title of the methodology is ‘Wins Above Average’ (WAR) and it involves lining up figures of average Triple A replacements who would conjure up to 55 wins, in
estimation. WAR is able to tell how much a player in focus is able to contribute more than the average replacement ball player in comparison.
According to the previous year, players received $4.5 million on 1 WAR point. Hence with Cliff Lee the number goes up to $24.3 million with 5.4 points. The points are calculated on a three year based system and that foretells a lot about the expectations
in the market. Derek Jeter, marred by weak performances in the field this season, compared to 2009 has a project salary of $15 million. Foreman on the other hand, predicts that Jayson Werth will look for $19 million and Carl Crawford will go for $18 million
in 2011.
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