Last year's AL picks from me were: Dice-K, Pedroia, Bannister, Willits and Guthrie. (Wow, what happened to Willits?)
National League
Player WS* WARP** Soto 24 4.3 Votto 20 5.3 Jurrjens 12 5.0 Kuroda 10 4.5
Very interesting that Soto comes in 4th among this group in WARP. Probably because of the defensive adjustment I make to the WARP score, which affects an important defensive player more than a first baseman or starting pitcher. WS sees it just the opposite.
I'll take them in the order listed above, with Soto nudging Votto. Soto was pretty consistent all year, and he's a catcher. Votto came on strong at the end, but was inconsistent earlier in the year.
American League
Player WS* WARP** Longoria 20 6.4 Aviles 17 3.3 A. Ramirez 18 0.4 Chamberlain 10 4.3 Galarragga 14 5.9 Span 16 3.9 Masterson 8 3.9 Ellsbury 15 4.5 Ziegler 10 3.9
Well, BP doesn't like Ramirez much. Despite some good fantasy totals, he walked only 18 times in 500+ plate appearances, which pretty much makes him an out machine. BP also thinks his defense was bad. Could Kevin Kennedy have been wrong about him?
First place is easy, as expected. Longoria runs away with it. Galarraga, hidden on a bad Detroit team, comes in second, Ellsbury third and Denard Span is fourth. It will be interesting to see if BP is right about Ramirez. Ranked #2 in WS, but barely above replacement in WARP.
