Printer-friendly

September 3, 2004

Prospectus Matchups

Being Valuable

by Jim Baker

BEST AMERICAN LEAGUE MATCH-UP (Best combined records with both teams being over .500): Texas @ Boston

Who has the most irreplaceable infield unit in baseball? It depends how you define your terms. If you set a minimum requirement of a VORP of 25 or greater from all four participants, then this unit is the best:

1B: Albert Pujols: 82.2
2B: Tony Womack: 27.3
3B: Scott Rolen: 68.9
SS: Edgar Renteria: 29.3
Total: 207.7

If you raise the bar to 30 (or, perhaps soon enough, 35), this is the most irreplaceable unit:

1B: Mark Teixeira: 42.2
2B: Alfonso Soriano: 34.8
3B: Hank Blalock: 38.2
SS: Michael Young: 43.5
Total: 158.7

The Cleveland unit of Ben Broussard, Ron Belliard, Omar Vizquel and Casey Blake is third. Speaking of them...

The rest of this article is restricted to Baseball Prospectus Subscribers. Not a subscriber? Click here for more information on Baseball Prospectus subscriptions or use the buttons to the right to subscribe and get access to the best baseball content on the web.

Cancel anytime. That's a 33% savings over the monthly price! That's a 33% savings over the monthly price! Already a subscriber? Click here and use the blue login bar to log in.