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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Korked Bats

That Funny Sports Blog

VORP’s Worst Player In Baseball

So for those of you out there who are not caught up in this baseball obsession with statistics (thanks a lot Michael Lewis), let me introduce you to a thing called VORP.
VORP is defined on Wikipedia as:
“In baseball, value over replacement player (or VORP) is a statistic invented by Keith Woolner that demonstrates how much a hitter contributes offensively or how much a pitcher contributes to his team in comparison to a fictitious “replacement player,” who is an average fielder at his position and a below average hitter.”

All of the big stats guys are in love with it. Matthew Berry (or the Talented Mr. Roto as he is known on ESPN) has been the crusader of it. Bill Simmons quotes it all the time.
So what does it tell us. Basically you get a + or – number to tell you how many runs a player will generate. Last year, Albert Pujols led the league at 98.6. Check out the league leaders here.
In, my boy, Bill Simmons’ last mailbag, someone asked him whether or not you could have a negative VORP. Sure enough you can. You know who was the worst last year?
Drum roll please.
TONY PENA JR!

Way to go TPJ. Checking in at a mind blowing -25. That’s right. The VORP number indicates that Tony Pena is literally taking runs out of baseball. Not only that but he dominated at being the worst. The next closest player was all the way at 19 (give it up for Corey Patterson).

And here is the really exciting part of the story. Guess who is on the Royals 25 man roster? Look at the bottom of the list.
Is it to late for me to change my surprise team of the year pick?

6 thoughts on “VORP’s Worst Player In Baseball

  • Avatar
    April 7, 2009 at 9:34 am
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    Easily my least favorite player on the Royals probably ever. He should have been shipped out with his dad! I wonder what his VORP would be if you compared his numbers to Mike Aviles’ instead of an average player. He can’t hit, has a good glove, and a mean breaking ball. He should be a golden glove pitcher, not an infielder. I bet if we put Greg Maddox at short he’d have a better VORP than FING Tony Pena Jr!

    Reply
  • Avatar
    April 7, 2009 at 3:27 pm
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    Oh Hey Corey Patterson- former Iowa Cub!

    Reply
  • Avatar
    April 7, 2009 at 3:34 pm
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    We have a girl that reads Korkedbats!

    Reply
  • Avatar
    April 7, 2009 at 5:59 pm
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    so the vorp is not used in my book bc a it takes to much time to figure out for a player and b too much time to explain to a person who doesn’t know what it is

    Reply
  • Avatar
    April 7, 2009 at 8:26 pm
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    A fair stance Daniel. Supposedly it is the best stat available to determine a players worth, but I’m still happy with my OBS.

    Reply

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