Elias Rankings Update

Let me rephrase: Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon, Vlad Guererro, Carl Crawford. If you could change the last 2 years, which player would you want on your team?

SWP,

You have an argument with Vlad Guerrero because he has had injuries the last two seasons, but prior to that he was probably in the top 10. Of the others you mentioned, Abreu is a lot better than Crawford, and Damon is slightly better than Crawford.

You can argue why Ortiz is listed as an A, and Ichiro listed as a B as well, but it has a lot to do with overall career performance and what has been done recently.

"Crawford is much more valuable than Abreu, Vlad and Damon."

Based on age, not by accomplishments.

"Crawford, but things like steals and defense don't count here, so it's not like it's some crime that he's Type B. He was also pretty bad offensively last year."

Right, and that is why the Elias Ranking system is almost criminally bad.

The system is based around counting statistics that do little to reflect a player's actual value, and the fact that an elite player like Crawford is a Type B is a reflection of the system's failure to accurately access a player's past and future value.

The whole draft pick compensation system is broken, and it needs to be addressed in the next CBA, along with the draft.

Once again, Kudos to Eddie for cracking the code and providing us with these rankings.
A couple of interesting things in the latest rankings:
As mentioned above, Jarrod Washburn drops from Type B status to none, meaning that the Tigers would not be compensated if he leaves, even if they offer arbitration. I'm not sure I'd offer him anyway. He's had three lousy years and one good one- partially, under his current contract.
Fernando Rodney was knocking on the door of Type A status in the last rankings, but has dropped way down the Type B list in the most recent rankings.
Since Magglio's option has vested, he comes off the free agent list. Not that they'd have offered him arby anyway.
Jermaine Dye has a mutual option. One would think that Chicago would either exercise the option- and I'm sure that he'd do likewise, or just let him go. It would be strange to decline the option and then offer arby.
Polanco continues to follow a thin hair behind Figgins for Type A status. The "winner" of the Type A label could be penalized by that status as their new club would have to give up a first or second round pick. I'm sure both players would like to play for a contender, so their new club would be penalized a first rounder. That would be much more detrimental to Polanco than Figgins, who figures to get nice offers regardless of the compensation. A first round pick plus a multi year contract might be too much to give up for Polanco, even as reliable as he is at the plate and in the field. That might just force him to accept arbitration and sign a one year contract to stay with the Tigers, which would be good news for Tiger fans, IMO.
Polanco, Huff, Lyon, Rodney are all Type B. Everett and Washburn, none.

Yeah it's a shame the way the Ranking favor a certain type of player only. It factors in PA, AVG, OBP, HR, RBI but ignores other extra base hits (Dbls/triples), stolen bases and defense. A lot of great OF'ers are also leadoff types and they will get crushed in the rankings. Despite his usually low OBP (his .362 OBP this year is a career high) he is easily better than Abreu, Damon or Vlad.

A better factor would be AVG-OBP-TOTAL BASES-SB-RUNS CREATED AND DEFENSIVE PUT OUTS.

Guys, Carl Crawford was pretty God-awful with the bat last year. Yes, he is getting screwed to an extent, but let's not forget that 2008 counts as well.

Also, it should be noted that Vlad, as a DH, is not being compared to the others being discussed here.

$Value from fangraphs the past two years:

Crawford $35.3M
Damon $30.8M
Abreu $16.7M
Vlad $14.7M

Crawford is getting the edge, primarily because of defense. Defense doesn't count for outfielders (Does it even count for players who are rated by fielding percentage?)