DBacks Organization to National Media: Select Goldschmidt as NL MVP, Per Stats Like WPA, WAR and wRC+

By Jeff Wiser On October 1, 2013 · 7 Comments

The Arizona Diamondbacks released a flyer to the national media yesterday lobbying for Paul Goldschmidt to take home NL MVP honors. Here’s a look at that release: Goldschmidt for NL MVP

Obviously, Goldy is deserving and we certainly hope he gets recognized for an outstanding season. Anything less than second place in the voting is a disservice and one could argue the same for anything but a win. Biases exist, however, and the Diamondbacks didn’t make the playoffs.

Perhaps most notable is the fact that the front office utilized advanced metrics like Win Probability Added (WPA), Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) to advertise Goldy’s candidacy. On top of just being awesome (which isn’t a metric, YET), Paul has a very legitimate statistical case to make when it comes to the NL MVP crown. Fingers crossed, maybe he pulls off a stunner.

Drop us a line in the comments and let us know why you think Paul Goldschmidt should take home the NL MVP crown!

[Flyer courtesy of the Arizona Diamondbacks]

Tagged with: Paul Goldschmidt

7 Responses to DBacks Organization to National Media: Select Goldschmidt as NL MVP, Per Stats Like WPA, WAR and wRC+

Ryan P. Morrison says:

October 1, 2013 at 4:27 pm

The D-backs’ release is really persuasive, actually. Lots of the most helpful facts, all in one place… kudos to the D-backs for the release and to Jeff for picking it up.

The thing that stuck out most to me right away was the WPA graph in the bottom right, but keep in mind what ESPN SweetSpot’s David Schoenfield noted about looking at WPA (and Goldschmidt) earlier this season: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/39095/paul-goldschmidt-is-awesome

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Tyler Olson says:

October 1, 2013 at 8:20 pm

After reading your headline and byline, I have one question:
How is the stat “JEFF WISER+” calculated, and how does it differ from “JEFF WISER”?

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- Ryan P. Morrison says:
  
  October 2, 2013 at 5:26 am
  
  JEFF WISER measures Jeff against himself, and does not control for site factor, or for the strength of competition on other Arizona Diamondbacks blogs.
  JEFF WISER+ is a weighted Jeff Wiser statistic, measuring Jeff not just himself, but against all other Jeff Wisers on other sites and in other years. It also does control for site factor and strength of competition. JEFF WISER+ thus gives us a way to compare Jeff to past years in a vacuum.
  (Doing a quick scan of our traffic and the posts on other sites yesterday, I’d note that Jeff’s JEFF WISER+ is in the 150-160 range, roughly 50-60% above average, something like the “Goldschmidt Range”)
  
  Also, the plus sign is a link to Jeff’s Google Plus page.
  
  Reply
  - Jeff Wiser says:
    
    October 2, 2013 at 11:55 am
    
    I think JEFF WISER+ is too advanced for me…
    
    Reply
  - Tyler Olson says:
    
    October 2, 2013 at 10:54 pm
    
    Thanks for the in-character clarification!
    
    Reply
Justin says:

October 5, 2013 at 2:27 pm

A lot of MLB “experts” actually have Trout over Cabrera for the AL MVP. How is this even possible!? The argument for Goldy not winning is he isn’t on a playoff team. Last time I checked the Angels aren’t either. Goldy leads so many important stat categories, some by a far margin. MLB – Major League Biased

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Roundup: Goldy Wins NL Hank Aaron Award, Matt Williams Finds Greener Pastures | Inside the 'Zona says:

October 28, 2013 at 3:02 pm

[…] is little doubt that Goldy was a deserving winner of the award; as the D-backs organization thoroughly illustrated, he was (and is) a strong candidate for the NL MVP award. His strong defense is part of his MVP […]

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