2000 Ballot

1. Pedro Martinez, P, Boston Red Sox: in the discussion for the greatest pitching season of all time; #2 by ERA+ (291) next to Tim Keefe in 1880
2. Alex Rodriguez, SS, Seattle Mariners: outstanding all-around season; 163 OPS+; +16 fielding and +6 baserunning
3. Todd Helton, 1B, Colorado Rockies: 192 runs created laps the field in the NL; 163 OPS+ and +18 fielding are pretty shiny too
4. Carlos Delgado, 1B, Toronto Blue Jays: AL-leading 186 RC and 181 OPS+
5. Jason Giambi, 1B, Oakland Athletics: AL-leading 187 OPS+ and 172 RC
6. Barry Bonds, LF, San Francisco Giants: NL-leading 188 OPS+ and 155 RC
7. Nomar Garciaparra, SS, Boston Red Sox: 7th in AL in OPS+ while adding +9 with the glove
8. Randy Johnson, P, Arizona Diamondbacks: NL-leading 181 ERA+ and 248 IP
9. Jeff Kent, 2B, San Francisco Giants: 162 OPS+ at the hot corner
10. Darin Erstad, LF/CF, Anaheim Angels: +29 fielding plus top ten RC and top 12 OPS+
11. Troy Glaus, 3B, Anaheim Angels: better bat than Erstad (150 OPS+) and a plus glove at third
12. Frank Thomas, DH, Chicago White Sox: 5th in AL in OPS+
13. Mike Piazza, C, New York Mets: 155 OPS+ while wearing the tools of ignorance
14. Kevin Brown, P, Los Angeles Dodgers
15. Greg Maddux, P, Atlanta Braves: Brown and Maddux are 3rd and 4th in NL ERA+ with 230 and 249 IP respectively

16. Vladimir Guerrero, RF, Montreal Expos
17. Sammy Sosa, RF, Chicago Cubs
18. Manny Ramirez, LF, Cleveland Indians
19. Brian Giles, CF, Pittsburgh Pirates
20. Edgardo Alfonzo, 2B, New York Mets

My blast from the past ballot, respecting as many of the choices I made in a memo written in 2000 as possible.

1. Pedro Martinez
2. Jason Giambi
3. Jeff Kent
4. Barry Bonds
5. Alex Rodriguez
6. Mike Piazza
7. Jim Edmonds
8. Carlos Delgado
9. Randy Johnson
10. Kevin Brown
11. Nomar Garciaparra
12. Todd Helton
13. Sammy Sosa
14. Frank Thomas
15. Greg Maddux

2000 Final Ballot

Includes a post season adjustment; which is basically the player's WPA score during the post season. (A more complete description in the Discussion thread)

WARRadj = WARR + post season WPA

1. Pedro Martinez 11.20 WARR
2. Todd Helton 10.92 WARR
3. Jason Giambi 9.31 WARRadj
4. Alex Rodriguez 8.91 WARRadj
5. Randy Johnson 8.27 WARR
6. Darin Erstad 7.66 WARR
7. Carlos Delgado 7.60 WARR
8. Jeff Kent 7.29 WARRadj
9. Barry Bonds 7.18 WARRadj
10. Nomar Garciaparra 6.90 WARR
11. Brain Giles 6.57 WARR
12. Greg Maddux 6.40 WARRadj
13. Johnny Damon 6.50 WARR
14. Frank Thomas 6.29 WARRadj
15. Jim Edmonds 6.29 WARRadj

Rest of top 20
Troy Glaus
Richard Hidalgo
Kevin Brown
Ken Griffey
Edgar Martinez

2000 MMP final ballot (number in parentheses is WAR/rate-based salary estimator divided by $1M)

1. Pedro Martinez, sp, Bos (30.237)
2. Alex Rodriguez, ss, Sea (23.179) - MMPosition Player
3. Darin Erstad, lf, Ana (17.224)
4. Barry Bonds, lf, SF (16.112) - NL MMP
5. Randy Johnson, sp, Ari (15.959) - NL MMPitcher
6. Nomad Garciaparra, ss, Bos (15.562)
7. Jason Giambi, 1b, Oak (15.543)
8. Todd Helton, 1b, Col (15.246)
9. Andruw Jones, cf, Atl (14.358)
10. Jeff Kent, 2b, SF (14.246)
11. Troy Glaus, 3b, Ana (14.097)
12. Carlos Delgado, 1b, Tor (13.923)
13. Greg Maddux, sp, Atl (12.637)
14. Mike Piazza, c, NYM (11.546)
15. Edgardo Alfonzo, 2b, NYM (11.197)

16-25. Richard Hidalgo, Jim Edmonds, Brian Giles, Kevin Brown, Frank Thomas, Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa, Mike Mussina, Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez).

9. Jeff Kent, 2B, San Francisco Giants: 162 OPS+ at the hot corner

Isn't third base the hot corner? Second base is the keystone.

2000 MMP Ballot

1) Pedro Martinez - one of the best pitching seasons ever
2) Alex Rodriguez - very strong season, postseason closes the gap with Pedro but not quite
3) Barry Bonds - 2nd best bat, good glove
4) Jason Giambi - best bat
5) Randy Johnson
6) Darin Erstad - great glove
7) Brian Giles
8) Jeff Kent - small postseason bonus breaks tie with Maddux
9) Greg Maddux
10) Troy Glaus - good fielding season
11) Mike Piazza - very strong postseason moves him up
12) Kevin Brown
13) Jorge Posada - weak postseason but enough to move him up a little
14) Jim Edmonds - terrific postseason moves him up
15) Carlos Delgado

16-20) Todd Helton, Edgardo Alfonzo, Gary Sheffield, Nomar Garciaparra, Richard Hidalgo
21-26) Bobby Higginson, Sammy Sosa, Vladimir Guerrero, Jason Kendall, Charles Johnson, Mike Hampton

Isn't third base the hot corner? Second base is the keystone.

Oops. Yeah, got that reversed.

Note: My data, prior to 2006, was gotten from Stats, Inc. Therefore, I did not use Retrosheet's play-by-play data, prior to 2006. Stats, Inc. possesses that data and I have not gone backwards to analyze the retrosheet data for that period, as of yet. As a result, the defensive ability of the fielders IS NOT INCLUDED in this RPA rating since I would need to go to the retrosheet data, rather than simply see if I can find the Stats, inc. data. In any case, I am much more 'comfortable' with the Retrosheet data, that I can PERSONALLY analyze, than the Stats, Inc. data, that I cannot analyze.

With that said, Here's the RPA ratings, based on runs produced above the average player:

1. Jason Giambi 70.48 runs
2. Carlos DelGado 60.52 runs
3. Barry Bonds 55.46 runs
4. Alex Rodriguez 54.32 runs
5. Edgar Martinez 50.39 runs
6. Pedro Martinez 47.65 runs
7. Gary Sheffield 46.04 runs
8. Sammy Sosa 44.98 runs
9. Manny Ramirez 43.56 runs
10. Jeff Kent 40.46 runs
11. Frank Thomas 39.04 runs
12. Brian Giles 37.92 runs
13. Greg Maddux 37.82 runs
14. Edgardo Alfonso 37.63 runs
15. Jim Edmonds 36.99 runs
16. Nomar Garciaparra 36.24 runs
17. Todd Helton 35.40 runs
18. Kevin Brown 33.19 runs
19. Mark McGwire 32.10 runs

Here’s Brock Hanke’s final ballot for 2000. This time, there was a lot more consensus between Win Shares and WAR than usual, so I don’t have loads of rankings to justify and rants to unload. In fact, I think I can keep it down to just this: That was one heck of a 217 IP that Pedro Martinez pitched. Pity there weren’t 35 more of them.

1. Alex Rodriguez
2. Jason Giambi
3. Todd Helton
4. Andruw Jones
5. Barry Bonds
6. Jeff Kent
7. Pedro Martinez
8. Carlos Delgado (Did you know that “delgado” means “thin” in Spanish?)
9. Darin Erstad
10. Edgardo Alfonzo
11. Nomar Garciaparra
12. Jim Edmonds
13. Randy Johnson
14. Troy Glaus
15. Frank Thomas (An exact tie with Gary Sheffield, almost exactly both on the Win Shares end and the WAR end. For the first time, I made a choice based on personality, because there was nothing else to separate them.)

caiman - Interesting list (comment #8). Boy, does not using defensive data collapse Andruw Jones. And makes room for Mark McGwire. - Brock

2000 MMP ballot.

1. Pedro Martinez. One of the great pitching seasons of all time. ERA+ like an ace closer in 3 times as many innings.
2. Alex Rodriguez. Top position player.
3. Randy Johnson. Top NL pitcher.
4. Frank Thomas. Dominance relative to other DH and neutralizing DH "defense" gets him this high.
5. Jason Giambi. AL OPS+ leader.
6. Jorge Posada. Top catcher.
7. Jeff Kent. Top 2B. Kent and Alfonzo dominated other 2B this year.
8. Mike Piazza. Top NL catcher.
9. Edgardo Alfonzo. Very close to Kent.
10. Barry Bonds. NL OPS+ leader.
11. Carlos Delgado. Next-best 1B. Helton is a little back, partly due to league adjustments.
12. Greg Maddux. Maddux and Brown are next-best pitchers
13. Kevin Brown.
14. Darrin Erstad. Love the batting line. His 2002 will keep this from being among the all-time fluke seasons.
15. Nomar Garciaparra.

Wouldn't Giambi beat out Thomas if you neutralized his defense?

EricC, no Helton?

Final ballot-no postseason credit but some small credit for playing for a Division-contender
This year was very difficult as so many gawdy hitting totals were so close

1. Pedro Martinez
2. A Rodriguez
3. Giambi
4. Bonds
5. Kent
6. Delgado
7. Helton
8. Randy Johnson
9. Andruw Jones
10.Erstad
11.Garciaparra
12.F Thomas
13.Edgar Martinez
14.Piazza
15.Maddux

1. Alex Rodriguez - with post-season bonus
2. Pedro Martinez - not enough IP to be #1
3. Jason Giambi
4. Barry Bonds
5. Todd Helton - off the charts offense (even after Coors adjustments) propels him over Erstad
6. Darrin Erstad
7. Randy Johnson
8. Troy Glaus
9. Carlos Delgado
10. Andruw Jones - another in a long run of all-time great CF seasons
11. Jeff Kent
12. Nomar Garciaparra
13. Jim Edmonds - post-season bonus (Alfonzo hit well in LCS but poorly in WS)
14. Kevin Brown
15. Edgardo Alfonzo

Official 2000 MMP Ballot (no postseason bonuses):

1) Alex Rodriguez: Best ML player and shortstop
2) Jason Giambi: Best ML first baseman - extremely close to A-Rod in value
3) Jeff Kent: Best NL player and ML second baseman.
4) Pedro Martinez: Best ML pitcher.
5) Edgardo Alfonze: Best Met player.
6) Barry Bonds: Best ML left fielder.
7) Gary Sheffield: Best AL left fielder.
8) Carlos Delgado: Best ML player that shares my birthday.
9) Frank Thomas: Best ML DH.
10) Nomar Garciaparra
11) Mike Piazza: Best ML catcher.
12) Todd Helton: Best NL first baseman.
13) Jorge Posada: Best AL catcher.
14) Darin Erstad:
15) Randy Johnson: Best NL pitcher.

Ballot is closed