Hubs

In the race for the backup infield spot, Luis Rodriguez, Brenden Harris, and Andrew Romine are all hitting to around a .700 OPS. Jimenez is now hitting .314, with 6 BB and 6 K's, to go along with his .824 OPS. Tommy Field is not doing well. On a side note, Callaspo has started hitting, which I suppose is a good thing. Jimenez then has a much harder shot to make the team and is likely to start in AAA. In the race for the backup outfield spot, Matt Young is still killing the ball with a .500 average, .565 OBP, and a 1.250 OPS. Scott Cousins is still not hitting, and neither is Kole Calhoun. To me, the later into Spring we get, the more likely Young is going to get that 5th OF spot. Cousins is on the 40 man roster and could be cut, Young is a lefty batter, which the team does need. Calhoun was the favorite for this spot, but it appears he needs to be at AAA to start the year. Trent Oeltjen is also killing the ball, but Young has better numbers. Among the regulars, Trumbo now looks to be the hitter with the most area of concern, hitting just .231 with a .550 OPS. Callaspo is doing much better to a .800+ OPS. At Catcher, Iannetta's average has dipped to .379, while Conger stayed at .419. Still we decided to sign a Catcher who, in Nationals camp, is hitting .222. Kendrick is still killing the ball, with a .923 SLUGGING PERCENTAGE. Not an OPS which would still be great. Only issue? No walks. But I suppose if you're hitting as well as Kendrick, you are doing just fine. Aybar is still with the DR National team in the WBC. The OF is also kicking major butt. Wells is having a great spring, which would be worrisome to us Bourjos fans except Bourjos is hitting .351 with a .400 OBP and a .676 Slugging. Trout wasn't kicking butt until his recent hot streak which pushed him from merely having a good spring into having a ridiculous spring. He has a .719 Slugging to go along with his .400 average and .525 OBP. Hamilton is down to .660 OPS though. Overall this team is loaded. Hopefully we'll see them carry their hitting success into the regular season, but actually win some games as they are still only 5-12-4.

I don't get why people like Jay Mohr Sports, I think Rome can be great, but he can also be ridiculously schticky, like this AM when he kept play a call from the Heat game over and over. The clones love him, but do regular folks? Um no. Roger Lodge was not very good. Travis Rogers is trying to be a national guy, I liked having a local show, but didn't like Lodge. Honestly in the AM, I'm turning to Heidi and Frank, on 95.5 though I miss Frosty. I can't stand Vic The Brick, but he's not been on the show lately much. I like Petros and Money. Even though they can be a little dumb sometimes. Cannot stand Max Kellerman, but at least he's on in the afternoon now, so I have options. Mason and Ireland are awful. They'll talk Lakers basketball in August, when the NFL and College Seasons are gearing up and Baseball is in the stretch run. They talked basketball draft two days in a row one August (I think 09 when Both LA baseball teams were in the CS) (Draft is in June, 10 months away. Season doesn't start until three months later). I finally had enough and called in to tell them to maybe talk a little baseball, or college football and stop worrying about something that doesn't happen for 10 months! They responded that it was a Laker Town. F'in BS. Is it wrong to want to hear a baseball themed show in drive time? I miss Jeff Biggs.

I like Conger, still think he breaks camp with the club. They didn't sign Snyder to a major league deal, even with an open 40-man spot. That shows something.

We're alll assuming this means Conger is in AAA and Snyder is in the majors, but Snyder signed a minor-league deal, meaning they could still give Conger a chance in the majors and if he can't get it worked out, he'd head to the minors, or even another team at that point. Still he can hit, and is a switch hitter, so it's time for him to get some consistent major league AB's to prove he can hit in the majors. At worst, he could DH and be the third catcher for the Angels if they needed him to be.

Duck... 1) Trumbo pulled a muscle in his ribcage during batting practice on His stats before the injury were great. His stats after the injury were the bad two months you speak of. In the 36 games following the injury, he hit .174 with 3 HR. Prior to that, his was hitting the .300 .900 OPS numbers discussed. http://www.rotoworld.com/recent/mlb/4116/mark-trumbo 2) Fangraphs says that Keeping Bourjos and Trumbo is the best answer longterm, as some other posters have stated. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/hamilton-fallout-trade-bourjos-trumbo-or-morales/ 3) Season hasn't started. Trumbo plays OF, 1B, and DH. Morales is a 1B/DH. Trumbo is likely good for 10 SB a year, Morales isn't stealing any bases. Trumbo hit 5th which gives you a righty-lefty-righty middle of the lineup. Had they kept Morales, instead, it've been two lefties in a row, unless they went lefty-right-switch.

Wasn't he canned? Or doing only a few broadcasts? Or something? I swear he was doing Angels TV in Spanish or something...

PB is hitting .333 with a .394 OBP and a .633 slugging in 33 Plate appearances in Spring Training. He's stolen 1 base and hit three triples. Obviously those numbers are Mike Trout-eqsue, and are highly unlikely to translate to regular season numbers (he'd hit 59 triples in 650 PA if that was the case) but still, I expect big things offensively from PB in his return to regular duty. 30 2B, 15 3B, 15 HR, with a .280-.290 average and a .335-.350 OBP. 30 SB are my high end predictions. 25 2B, 10 3B, 10 HR with a .270-.280 average and a .320-.335 OBP with 20 SB are my low end predictions.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/LAA/2013.shtml#Catcher::none Iannetta has an OPS in the 1.116 range and Conger has one in the 1.268 range. They both have averages over .400. They are driving high OBP and both have great SLG percentages too. John Hester isn't hitting, but presumably his defense is up to par. Iannetta and Conger should be the Catcher's for the majority of 2013. A third catcher will only be brought in if Conger can't play defense to Scioscia's liking.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/LAA/2013.shtml#Outfield::none Trumbo and Pujols are doing well, but Mark hasn't shown a lot of power. Calhoun isn't doing great, with 9 K's to go along with 5 BB and a .207 average. In the OF, Prospects Randall Girchuck and Travis Witherspoon had good springs, while starters Bourjos, Trout, and Hamilton are also doing well. Wells is kicking butt as well, yet the competition for the fifth spot is wide open. Trent Oeltjen and Matt Young are both having great springs, which coupled with Scott Cousins numbers being downright awful means either of these guys could take Cousins spot on the 40-Man, and Calhoun's spot on the 25-Man to open the year.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/LAA/2013.shtml#Infielder2BSS3B::none The baseball-reference.com stats page shows the ST stats day-to-day. One thing I find interesting is their Opp Qual stat which basically shows the quality of the pitchers they have faced so far this spring. I don't think it makes a distinction between guys like Weaver and Tommy Hanson, but it does show a numerical value which shows where the pitchers they have faced spent most of their 2012 season. The scale works as follows: 10 being all in the majors 8 being in AAA 7 being in AA 5 being in High-A 4 being in Low-A If a hitter has faced mostly Major league starters, then it should be in the high 8-low 9 range. I've watched this go up and down over the course of several days, and it appears to me now that Luis Rodriguez, Brendan Harris are coming back to earth, whereas Romine's numbers are up a bit as ST has progressed. Kendrick is still lighting it up in ST. Callaspo is still doing poorly, as is Tommy Field. Callaspo has improved to a .451 OPS and Field hovers around the .570 mark. and Jimenez is staying consistent as he faces more major league starters. I really like this guy and hope he can be a contributor in 2013 with the Angels. .292 with a .419 OBP and a ..417 slugging, with 6 walks to 4 strikeouts….that's impressive seeing as he walked only 19 times in 122 games in 2012. His 6 walks in 13 games would put him closer to 56 walks in that 122… 37 additional walks would've raised his OBP and his average from the pretty good .309 / .344 to .335 average and a ridiculous .406 OBP and that would make him the legit starter we want at 3rd. Do I think he'd do that in the majors, maybe not..but I'd take his ST numbers all day long. Maybe the guy figured something out in the offseason as he had a really great Caribbean series after a somewhat disappointing regular season in the Dominican Winter League.

He's not going to hit to a .350 OBP. He's been good for two months of his two and half year tenure in Anaheim. Bourjos will be a better hitter.

He was way below average offensively and capable defensively. He doesn't screw up plays often, but doesn't have Aybar's range for instance, so he doesn't make errors. Also, he is short, so a lot of balls get over his head. Which from a fielding metric standpoint adds up to him being good defensively. I also believe that a position player is judged on five tools, not just two. 1) Can he hit for average / get on base at a reasonable clip?? Callaspo has hit for nice averages in the past, but mostly no he doesn't. He does get on base often, due to his high walk total. Ok, then give him one point. 2) Can he hit for power? Slugging percentage is not a great metric, but he was 133rd of 143 qualified players in slugging percentage in 2012. Meaning almost every player in the majors with regular playing time hit for more power. So no. 3) Does he have speed? He had the same number of stolen bases as Miguel Cabrera in 2012. So. No. 4) Throwing arm. He has a good arm. 5) Fielding Ability. He's average at 3rd, can play 2nd. Probably ok in the OF. So, there you have it…average fielding skills, below average hitter, poor base running skills. So…

Zobrist is not a full-time second baseman, he's played less than 300 career starts at 2nd. Last year he started 46 games there, 118 the year before, and 45 in 2010. Zobrist is no doubt talented, but his 2009 season (which was outstanding) is not a good representation of the hitter he has been since. Still, Cano, Pedoria, Kinsler, Zobrist and Kendrick are the top 5 in the AL. Kipnis and Altuve are likely in the next five, but there is a big jump down. Lowrie is in this spot if he ends up the guy in Oakland, Ackley, and probably Infante are in the next five. Then Bonaficio / Izturis, Infante, Beckham, and whoever ends up manning the position in Baltimore and KC.

Who are the 2nd basemen in the AL who are better than Kendrick? Cano Pedroia Kinsler? KIpnis? Kendrick may not be Robinson Cano or Dustin Pedroia, but he's better than most of the other AL second baseman year to year. Kinsler's numbers aren't as good as one would think in 2012 after being great in 2011. Kipnis is only a 2nd year player. Ackley hasn't broken out in Seattle, the way people thought he would by now. In Houston, they have Altuve, but I don't know if I'd think he's better than Kendrick. He was only a 1.3 WAR player last year, even with all the hype. Oakland has a revolving door there, but Jemile Weeks hasn't turned into a solid regular so who knows how good he'll be in 2013. In Tampa, they also have a revolving door at 2nd, some Sean-Rod, some Zobrist, no regular guy. In Baltimore, Brian Roberts hasn't played a full season since 09, so I have no idea who they have now. The Twins used mostly Alexi Casilla, the Jays have Bonaficio and Izturis, White Sox played Beckham, who like Weeks hasn't lived up to his potential. While the Tigers and Royals also played a mish mash of guys too, Infante is good, but not better than Kendrick. Basically then Kendrick is the 3rd or 4th best regular 2nd baseman in the AL out of 15 teams. I can live with that.

The $4 Million plus Joe Blanton's 7.5 would've brought us back Dan Haren. That option was for $15.5, but there was a $2.5 buyout that the Angels paid, so effectively, they could have had Dan Haren back should they not have Signed Callaspo and Blanton. Dan Haren > Joe Blanton. And to those who worry about Haren's health, insurance would've covered most of his salary should he have missed any time, and even though he had a down season last year, he could easily turn in another 2011 in 2013. Joe Blanton is Joe Blanton. Do I think he'll be successful in 2013? I am hoping so. I'd just rather have had Luis Jimenez and Dan Haren than Alberto Callapso and Joe Blanton.

Except when a veteran players "struggles" carry into the regular season, like they did last year with Abreu. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120329&content_id=27719868&notebook_id=27734304&vkey=notebook_ana&c_id=ana Trumbo by contrast had an excellent spring but got to watch from the bench while Abreu got starts in his place. This is the same thing that could happen in 2013 with Callaspo…if he continues to struggle and Harris / Rodriguez / Romine or Jimenez knock the crap out of the ball, what do they do? Callaspo is clearly the worst hitter in the projected lineup (you can say Bourjos based on scattered AB's last year or you can look at his rookie season or stretches where he did get to play consistently, like at the end of June last year) and if he struggles during spring, why do you give him the job? I understand a veteran who usually performs having a bad spring and you say okay, but Callaspo hit .252 with a .695 OPS last year, which is pretty similar to the numbers Abreu put up in 2010 and 2011 before struggling last spring.

I think Young has a shot only because Calhoun needs consistent AB's in SLC. He'd be a lefty backup in the OF and at 2nd. Calhoun has struggled to get going this spring. It's still early but a .143 average and a .450 OPS isn't a great start. Young can take Cassevah's spot on the 40. Cowart has a .590 OPS. 4-16 with 1 walk. He may not be struggling, but he's not lighting the camp on fire either. Doesn't really matter as he's headed to A or AA anyway. Callaspo is hitting .083 which is 1-12. Not a good start. He has 2 walks though. The four guys you mentioned I think all have legit shots to make the team. They can go with 4 OF plus Trumbo and a bunch of infielders too… They don't need to have five OF. Quick Depth Chart 1B) Pujols/ Trumbo/ Kendrick 2B) Kendrick / Romine / Rodriguez or Harris SS) Aybar / Romine / Rodriguez or Harris 3B) Callapso / Jimenez C) Iannetta / Conger / (Hester in AAA) RF) Hamilton / Wells / Trumbo CF) Bourjos / Trout / Wells LF) Trout / Wells / Trumbo Jimenez is likely the odd man out if they keep Rodriguez or Harris or Hall, and Young would be an ideal candidate as he's not needed in the minors, and is a lefty OF option.

Looking over the first two weeks of stats in ST… I have to say I'm surprised by some players lines offensively. Before ST started, I'd have said that the Angels were going with 14 position players and 11 pitchers. I still think that's the way they start, excepting the fact that I think Cordero or Shoemaker starts with the club and Madsen starts on the DL. Yet the BP is another post. For the position guys, I thought we'd see: OF Trout, Bourjos, Hamilton, Wells, Calhoun DH Trumbo INF Pujols, Kendrick, Aybar, Callaspo, Romine C Iannetta, Conger And either Hester or Hall as the #14 guy. Now looking over the stats, I think it's changed. I think OF Trout, Bourjos, Hamilton, Wells, Young DH Trumbo INF Pujols, Kendrick, Aybar, Callaspo, and two of (Harris, Romine, Jimenez, Rodriguez) C Iannetta, Conger Romine has been hitting okay, as has Field. But Luis Rodriguez, Brenden Harris, and Luis Jimenez have all been hitting really well. Hall hit well to start, but hasn't got a lot of playing time recently. As for the younger guys: Taylor Lindsey has hit well. Cowart has struggled but he wasn't going to make the team this year anyway. Callaspo, as I thought, has gotten off to a horrible start...which is why I hated that contract. Tell me the team wouldn't be okay (or even better off) with his salary spent on pitching and any one of Luis Rodriguez, Luis Jimenez, and Brendan Harris there. For the OF, Calhoun has has the playing time, but has not produced. Witherspoon and Girchuck have done really well, but are both righties and I think that spot goes to a lefty. Wells has had a good spring, as had Trout, Hamilton, and Bourjos. NRI Matt Young has done really well, and the guy has played some second base in his career as well. I think he has a real shot to make the team out of spring. Calhoun is obviously the team's first choice as he's on the 40 man roster, and can play all three OF spots plus 1st. As for the 40-man roster, they are at 39 with the release of Bobby Cassevah the other day, plus Scott Cousins is not hitting well and is on the roster. Field could also be bumped in favor of a NRI. Young, Harris, Rodriguez all have shots to make team as NRI. He's had 27 plate appearances against level 8.6 pitching (10 being quality major league starters, 8 being AAA guys) so he's holding his own. That's the most PA of any infielder. He's hit .286 with a .407 OBP (5 walks!), I think Harris has a reputation as a whiz defensively at short, but Romine can hold his own too. Harris was a major league starter for three seasons, 2007-2009, but never hit super well. Last year at AAA he did really well, but was possibly helped by the mountain air in Colorado Springs. He's 31, but his fielding numbers aren't reflective of where his reputation is. Still, he's capable at SS, 2B, and 3B. Luis Rodriguez seems to dominate in AAA, but never hits well in the Majors. Capable defensively though. He's 32. Can he make the jump? Last year in Tacoma, it was one of his best AAA seasons. Jimenez also has a shot but he's on the 40-man roster. Does that help his case? Many of you think I have a prospect-crush on Jimenez, but that's really not the case. I know he has plate discipline issues, but to me the results look like a right handed Garrett Anderson at 3rd base. A doubles guy who just hits. Yeah he may walk 30 times a season on the high side, but he doesn't have a strikeout problem either. Anderson in his two best seasons, had around 30 walks and 80 strikeouts to go with his 50 doubles His 162 game average is 31 and 89. He usually had 38 doubles and 21 HR in a 162 game season. A .293 average and a .785 career OPS. This is what I think Jimenez will be. In his last three years in the minors, he's had 46, 40 and 38 doubles to go along with 14, 16, and 18 HR. He's had 24, 27 and 19 walks. He's had 70, 72, and 70 strikeouts. In an average of 123.5 games played. If he had 150 games played, those averages are 50 2B, 19.5 HR, 28.5 walks, and 85 k's. Anderson didn't show this in the minors, but this is very similar to where he ended up being in the majors. Don't you want a 50 2B, 20 HR, guy with a .290 average even if he walks 30 times and strikes out 85? The point of this long post is to say that the team has a lot of interesting directions it can go, the next two weeks will be fun.

Iannetta is hitting .353 and Conger is hitting .429. Conger does have 6 strikeouts in 14 PA, but in 6 of the other 8 AB he's hit the ball hard. The guy has a .714 SLG. Iannetta has a .450 OBP in 20 PA, 2 walks, 6 hits and 4 K's in those PA. Not bad at all. I hope that these guys combined give us 30 HR and 30 2B as our 2 catchers this year. A couple of years ago, in 2010, we did this with Mathis, Napoli, and Wilson, but Napoli saw a lot of time at first base.. Then in 2009, they got 30 2B, and 25 HR from Mathis and Napoli. In 2008, They had 17 2B and 20 HR. I think this year, Iannetta should be good for 17-20 2B and 14-17 HR. Conger, if he hits, should be good for 12-15 2B, and 10-15 HR. Depending on playing time of course.

April 1st, 2013. Top of the First… Angels Mike Trout lines Johnny Cueto's first pitch into the gap in right center for a double. Next AB, Callaspo walks. Pujols up… and hits a towering flyball to right for an long flyball out, runners can't advance. Hamilton up, strikes out swinging. Trumbo up, singles to left. Trout scores, Callaspo at second. Kendrick up, grounder to the infield, fielder's choice. End of the inning. Angels 1-0. Or Top of the First…. Angels Mike Trout lines Johnny Cueto's first pitch into the gap in right center for a double. Next AB, Bourjos bunts to the third baseline, Frazier hesitates with the throw to first, Trout gets to third, Bourjos beats the throw. Pujols up towering flyball out to right, Trout scores on the sacrifice, throw goes to second, too late for Bourjos. Hamilton up, strikes out, Bourjos steals third on the second pitch. Trumbo up, singles to left. Bourjos scores. Trumbo advances to second on the throw home. Kendrick up, high chopper to the infield, throw is rushed, over Votto's head. Trumbo scores from second. Kendrick to 2nd on the error. Iannetta up, singles to left, Kendrick scores from second, Iannetta to second on the throw. Callaspo walks. Aybar up, singles to short center. Bases loaded, Trout hits a grand slam, chases Cueto after 2/3 of an inning. Bourjos strikes out to end the inning. Angels 8-0. Okay, I forgot they are going to be in Cincinnati, hence no DH. Push this to Arlington on April 5. The lineup in Cincinnati will obviously have Weaver batting ninth. No Trumbo or no Bourjos. Still...

Actually, I think I would. Value can be expressed in a different constant than a solid number of wins, which would negate the positional adjustment and be easy to show on a scale, like wOBA. It's offensive to people in the traditional stat community to say that Player X was so many wins better than player Y. Last year if the Angels and Tigers swapped centerfielders and thirdbaseman, is there a net gain for either team in wins? A-Jax had a 5.2 WAR, Cabrera was 6.9. Trout had 10.7 and Callaspo 3.2. Would this have resulted in a 2 win loss for the Angels and a 2 win gain for the Tigers? WAR says it does….I doubt that would have happened in real life. Still, It's not the name "Win" thing that really bugs me, it's the use of positional adjustments twice, in both oWAR and dWAR which makes very little sense. Where someone plays is not relevant to their offense. I understand that theoretically a first baseman is easier to replace than a second baseman, but in reality that's just not always true. Anyone can play anywhere…and defensively that makes a difference, but theoretically a team full of Miguel Cabrera's would be horrible fielding the ball, but might score 1100 runs. Likewise a team full of Mike Trout's would be great offensively and defensively, as Trout is much more athletic…This shows in the WAR, but because of positional adjustment, is it an accurate measure?

Exactly. Which, because of WAR's positional adjustment would still quantify the LF Trout about one win less than the CF Trout. Even though they are exactly the same player, with the same defensive ability in the same number of chances, because in theory it is easier to replace a corner outfielder than a centerfielder. The positional adjustment can be argued in the infield sure, but I don't get the 10 run switch between left or right and center. Center is tougher to play, but more offensive production has come from center than from the corners on the top end, which theoretically raises the replacement value, and should account for a lower adjustment, or a higher adjustment for the corners. Despite the fact that 10 of the best 20 hitting OF in the Majors over the past two years played CF. 1. Trout (2012) 2. Kemp (2011) 3. McCutchen (2012) 4. Braun (2011) 5. Stanton (2011) 6. Gordon (2012) 7. Hunter (2012) 8. Bautista (2011) 9. Jackson (2012) 10. Jones (2012) 11. Hamilton (2012) 12. Beltran (2011) 13. Ellsbury (2011) 14. Reddick (2012) 15. Span (2012) 16. Heyward (2012) 17. Granderson (2011 or 2012) 18. Justin Upton (2011) 19. Pence (2011) 20. Holiday (2011) 21. Bourn (2012) / Pagan (2012) / Bourjos (2011) / Harper (2012) Take your pick here. This doesn't even take into account a second season, just the best season for each player of the past two, and it's entirely a subjective order.

Doc...you make some good points. I don't like the theoretical replacement values. I don't have an issue with positional adjustment, just the values that they use. Yes it's harder to replace Beltre or Headley at 3rd than replacing Mark Trumbo at DH, but is it really that much harder? Can't we just take this into account in the fielding replacement? As I just posted above, is a team with outstanding 1st baseman, corner outfielders, and DH that much worse than a team with an outstanding 2B, 3B, C and CF? For those who don't know here are the positional adjustments: C: +12.5 runs (or 1.25 WAR) 2B: +2.5 runs 3B: +2.5 runs SS: +2.5 runs CF: +2.5 runs LF: -7.5 runs RF: -7.5 runs 1B: -12.5 runs DH: -17.5 runs

I like WAR, but I don't like the positional adjustments. Which team is better: CF Trout (10.7 WAR) SS Aybar (4.0 WAR) 2B Cano (8.2 WAR) 3B Cabrera (6.7 WAR) 1B Ike Davis (0.7 WAR) LF Jason Kubel (0.8 WAR) RF Nelson Cruz (0.1 WAR) DH Adam Dunn (0.9 WAR) C Buster Posey (7.2 WAR) Total WAR = 39.3 Or CF Colby Rasmus (1.2 WAR) SS Johnny Peralta (0.9 WAR) 2B Daniel Murphy (1.2 WAR) 3B Chris Johnson (0.7 WAR) 1B Albert Pujols (4.6 WAR) LF Ryan Braun (6.8 WAR) RF Giancarlo Stanton (5.2 WAR) C Matt Weiters (3.2 WAR) DH David Ortiz (2.9 WAR) Total WAR = 26.7. The first team has the three best hitters in the AL by WAR in Trout, Cano, Cabrera plus Buster Posey who was the best in the NL. Adam Dunn hit 41 HR but would be as valuable as Scott Cousins as your DH? Is the second team really going to score 130 runs less? With a middle of the lineup of Pujols/Braun/Stanton/Ortiz/Weiters?

I get the math. I know what a 0.1 or 0.2 or -0.1 or -0.2 player looks like, the problem with that article is it is still comparing actual performances of journeyman to a fictional player. That's what the OP's article discussed... Also these players all had positional adjustments, which in some cases took the guy from a 1.0 WAR to a negative WAR. The positional argument in this last post is flawed…And here's why... Why is Cano's offense better at 2nd than at 1st? Speaking strictly from a run created point of view, can't the same player produce the same number of runs offensively whether he plays 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or Rover? Seriously what does the defensive alignment have to do with a players offense? NOTHING. It only matters when you look at the replacement player. Because yes, it's easier to replace a guy at 1st or DH or in the corner OF. Yet their offensive value does not change. What if you take a oft injured but great fielding guy out of the outfield and put him in the infield at 1st base. Does his offensive contribution change? No. Does his defensive contribution change? Absolutely. This is why positional adjustment should be factored in to defensive WAR only. Also, the positional adjustments do not change in either Fangraphs or Baseball-Reference's WAR, from season to season. How is this possible? In 2012, the top offensive WAR players: Trout (CF), McCutchen (CF), Cabrera (3B), Posey (Catcher), Cano (2B), Headley (3B), Braun (LF), Beltre (3B), Zobrist (UT), Jones (CF). The only player on the list who gets a negative positional adjustment is Braun. Everyone else would have received at least +2.5 runs in their Offensive WAR for every 600 PA in that position. Being a 1st Baseman or a Corner OF or worse a DH, dramatically alters a players offensive contribution, because in theory they are easier to replace. Trumbo's offense is clearly there. He has had some rough stretches, but overall, the guy has been pretty good in his first two seasons. By WAR, putting him at 3rd or 2nd would increase his offensive value, even if he played horrifically on defense. How does that make sense? His WAR would go down, but only because of the fielding, not because of the offense value, which would increase…and it's significant as if he was a 3B versus a DH, it's a 20 run (2.0 WAR) switch. The guy could have a 1.000 OPS as a DH, but actually be less valuable to us as a DH by WAR than as our mediocre 3B. That's just silly. Defensively he'd likely cost us that many runs playing 3B versus a solid fielding 3rd base, but his offense wouldn't change. Another example is Mike Trout. Does his VALUE, what WAR is truly trying to determine, lessen by playing LF on the offensive side of the ball? NO. He may not make as much of an impact defensively in left, but then, doesn't the team get better by having excellent fielders in both spots? Assuming of course that his replacement makes as much of a difference in center defensively as he would have, and that his defense in left is an increase over whoever else would've played that position? Mike Trout as a left fielder in 2012, would've finished with a 7.6 offensive WAR, instead of 8.6 as it's a 10 run switch.