Weighing Hendry's good/bad moves

[Gad]

<!--quoteo(post=71975:date=Dec 16 2009, 04:09 PM:name=Butcher)-->QUOTE (Butcher @ Dec 16 2009, 04:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Are you going to tell me that Neifi Perez's defense was light years beyond Ronny Cedeno's? So much better, in fact, that he deserved to be paid $2,093,000 more than him?

This is my argument, BT. Players who hit .274/.298/.383 don't earn $2.5M. They earn 400k. Or...at least they should.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Well using UZR/150 which is a stat that determines how many runs a player's defense makes up or costs you over the course of a season.

2005 Neifi Perez had a UZR/150 rating of +12.5 at SS which is to say his glove saved the Cubs 12.5 runs over the course of a full season. Perez had a career +3.2 rating as a SS which is why he was continually able to get work despite being a horrible offensive player.

2008 Ronny Cedeno had a UZR/150 rating of -27.4 at SS which is to say that if Cedeno had played 150 games that year his glove would have cost the Cubs 27.4 runs more than an average SS. It was a bit of an outlier from his career totals but Cedeno is slightly under -6 for his career so he isn't considered a strong defender under any circumstances.

So comparing these 2 seasons, 2005 Neifi was worth 39.9 more runs as a defensive SS than 2008 Cedeno. A pretty amazing margin you have to admit.