How good is Teixeira's defense?

by Travis G on Jan 7, 2009 6:46 PM EST in New York Yankees Analysis

During a recent conversation with my (huge Yankee fan) father-in-law, I extolled the virtues of Mark Teixeria, especially his defense, citing how poor Jason Giambi was in that area. Not only will Tex hit about as well as Giambi, but he'll make more plays in the field as well. I said Tex is probably our best defensive first-baseman since at least Tino Martinez (not counting the stop-gaps of Travis Lee, Tony Clark and Doug Mxyzptlk). As it turns out, he's our best since Don Mattingly.

The only defensive stats that go back to the 1980s are Range Factor and FRAA (Fielding Runs Above Average), courtesy of BRef and BPro.

Mattingly saved 33 runs above average during his career, with his top year being 1992 (8 FRAA).

Tex is four runs below average for his career, but he may have turned a corner in 2008, saving nine runs, which is more than Donnie ever did.

Range Factor basically tells us the number of plays (e.g. outs) made per game.

Jason Giambi was not horrible, just below average. With the Yankees, he's been anywhere from average to safely below. For his total career he's been an average defensive first-baseman (mostly due to how good he was in Oakland).

Tino Martinez was well above average for most of his Yankee tenure, usually making 2-3 more plays per game than an average first-baseman. For his major league career, he made about 1 1/2 more plays per game.

Mark Teixeira has ranged from above average to phenomenal in his career (especially in 2006, when he made about 3 1/2 more plays per game than average). Overall, he makes about two more plays per game than average.

Donnie never had a single defensive year as great as Tex's '06, but was consistently well above average for all 14 seasons of his career. For his career, he made about two more plays per game than average.

The newest statistical measurements also shine brightly on Teixeira's defense. UZR (ultimate zone rating) had Tex as the third best defensive first-baseman in MLB in 2008, behind only Lance Berkman and Albert Pujols.

As Jeter and Arod age, and their defense suffers, the acquisition of Teixeira will alleviate a significant portion of their declining defensive abilities.

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he hits better average than giambi

by jv52yankees on Jan 7, 2009 11:01 PM EST reply actions

Better than Giambi after his first season with us, for sure...

…but not better than Giambi at Mark’s age in Oakland. From 1999 to 2002, at ages 28 to 31 (the first three in Oakland and the last with us), Giambi hit .315, .333, .342, and .314, respectively. The rest of his seasons with us, he generally hit around .250, but he used to be a raker, hitting for even better power and run production than he did with us, and comparable to if not better than what Tex has done so far. Check it out: http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/giambja01.shtml. Hopefully Tex’s body won’t break down and his production so precipitously and suddenly drop off like the Big G’s did, though. I doubt it will. He looks like he’s in better shape than Giambi did then, and he looks more youthful than did Giambino when he signed with us.

"If you lived in my grandfather's house...and you wanted to eat, you had to be a Yankees fan." --Joe Biden

by SenorSwanky on Jan 8, 2009 2:48 AM EST up reply actions

ummm....

let’s not forgot giambi had “help” while in oakland.

The Jayfiss Report ...one fan's rants

by NumberSeven on Jan 8, 2009 1:05 PM EST up reply actions

True

When did he testify he stopped using it, though?

"If you lived in my grandfather's house...and you wanted to eat, you had to be a Yankees fan." --Joe Biden

by SenorSwanky on Jan 8, 2009 1:54 PM EST up reply actions

Doug Mxyzptlk???

hehehehehe. nice one.

by DocBrown82 on Jan 8, 2009 8:10 AM EST reply actions

yeah

LOL

The Jayfiss Report ...one fan's rants

by NumberSeven on Jan 8, 2009 1:04 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, I forgot to comment on that

Travis must be a Superman fan.

"If you lived in my grandfather's house...and you wanted to eat, you had to be a Yankees fan." --Joe Biden

by SenorSwanky on Jan 8, 2009 1:51 PM EST up reply actions

the funny thing

is that i actually looked up how to spell ‘Mxyzptlk’, even though i probably already knew how to spell Doug’s last name.

let’s see:
Mientkiewicz… ?

by Travis G on Jan 8, 2009 2:06 PM EST up reply actions

I believe that's correct, yeah, haha

"If you lived in my grandfather's house...and you wanted to eat, you had to be a Yankees fan." --Joe Biden

by SenorSwanky on Jan 8, 2009 2:20 PM EST up reply actions

Range Factor and FRAA are pretty crappy stats, not based on play-by-play data

Going back through the retrosheet years (1956, I believe), I’d use TotalZone, which is at least somewhat play-by-play based. Check it out at Sean Smith’s site:

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/measuring-defense-for-players-back-to-1956-part-2/

From 1986 through present day, there’s also zone rating, available here:
http://www.replacementlevel.com/index.php/RLYW/comments/cairo_projections_and_zone_rating_database_updated

There’s also OPA! by PizzaCutter which I’m not as familiar with, but should be better than RF/FRAA. statspeak.net

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Jan 9, 2009 8:01 PM EST reply actions