Pedro Martinez's WAR In 2000 vs. Bob Gibson's In 1968

Something does not make sense to me and maybe I am doing it wrong or looking at something the wrong way.

Pedro Martinez has an 11.7 pitching WAR in the year 2000 while Bob Gibson has 11.2 in 1968. Martinez has a WaaWL% of .834 and Gibson has .754. It looks like that is the winning pct they would each have in the games they pitch if they were added to an otherwise average team. Gibson's lead in IP was 304-217.

If we divide their IP by 9, here is how many games they each had followed by their wins using the above percentages

Martinez 24.11, 20.11 (20.11 = .834*24.11)
Gibson 33.89, 25.55 (25.55 = .754*33.89)

Now if we subtract their WAR from these wins, here is how many games the replacement pitcher would win

Martinez 8.41
Gibson 14.35

But Gibson had 33.89 games and Martinez had 24.11. The Martinez replacement has a winning pct of .349 (8.41/24.11). The Gibson replacement has .424 (14.35/33.89). So it seems like Martinez is getting compared to a replacement with a much lower winning percentage. Am I doing something wrong or not understanding WAR correctly? Or is it supposed to work out like this?

Gibson's page at Baseball Reference

Martinez's page at Baseball Reference

Why Has Mike Trout Gotten So Many Walks Lately?

It is 26 in his last 20 games (and it was 26 in 19 games but he got no walks today). I am curious if anyone has a reason. He had 51 BBs in his first 102 games this year and had 67 in 139 games in 2012. And another question: is a walk to Trout more valuable than average due to his speed?

How Has Miguel Cabrera Been Hitting In Inter-League Games Since 2008?

First, here are his overall AVG-OBP-SLG from 2008-2013 (which includes games against both the AL and NL)

AVG .328
OBP .407
SLG .592

Now what he has done in inter-league games from 2008-2013, over 466 PAs

AVG .311
OBP .376
SLG .546

I used the Baseball Reference Play Index and called up his plate appearances against all the NL teams, including the Astros, so this includes how he has hit against them this year (in 34 PAs .379-.471-.759). So it seems like he has hit better against AL pitchers and that although it is not a huge difference, it is clearly noticeable. It is surprising because over this period the AL has been winning most of the inter-league games.

Miguel Cabrera Now Has 10 Straight Seasons Of 300+ Total Bases

I think he passed 300 yesterday. He is now tied with Musial for the 4th longest streak ever. It looks like Pujols will see his streak end.

Lou Gehrig               1926-38   13  
Willie Mays              1954-66   13  
Albert Pujols            2001-12   12  
Stan Musial              1948-57   10
Miguel Cabrera        2004-13    10 
Hank Aaron              1955-63    9 
Jimmie Foxx             1932-39    8  
Babe Ruth                 1926-32     7  
Joe DiMaggio           1936-42    7  
 Joe Medwick            1934-39    6  
 Billy Williams          1967-72    6  
 Manny Ramirez        1996-01    6  
 Jeff Bagwell             1996-01     6  
 Sammy Sosa             1997-02    6  
 Todd Helton             1999-04    6  
 Alex Rodriguez        2000-05    6  

Pitching To Contact

I don't think this is a good idea. Chris Moran of Fangraphs just posted a good article called The Folly of Pitching to Contact. He shows that contact pitchers generally get inferior results. I have done a couple of posts on this.

Can "Pitching To Contact" Lead To More Scoring?

Is "Pitching To Contact" Helping The Nationals?

Players With 500+ Total Bases At Ages 20-21 Combined

Trout is high and still climbing. If gets 88 more (about the pace he is on, assuming he plays about every game left), he will be 3rd

Rk	Player	TB	From	To
1	Ted Williams	677	1939	1940
2	Alex Rodriguez	670	1996	1997
3	Al Kaline	648	1955	1956
4	Mel Ott	647	1929	1930
5	Frank Robinson	642	1956	1957
6	Vada Pinson	638	1959	1960
7	Orlando Cepeda	625	1958	1959
8	Eddie Mathews	599	1952	1953
9	Mike Trout	579	2012	2013
10	Ken Griffey	576	1990	1991
11	Buddy Lewis	567	1937	1938
12	Ty Cobb	559	1907	1908
13	Cesar Cedeno	543	1971	1972
14	Jimmie Foxx	542	1928	1929
15	Tony Conigliaro	539	1965	1966
16	Hank Aaron	534	1954	1955
17	Mickey Mantle	520	1952	1953
18	Johnny Bench	503	1968	1969

Ranking The Best Players At Ages 20 & 21 Combined

Here are the top 10 in Fagraphs WAR for ages 20 & 21 combined. The first numbers games played. Trout has alot more WAR than anyone in alot fewer games

Mike Trout 250 17.3
Mel Ott 298 14.9
Rogers Hornsby 284 14.5
Alex Rodriguez 287 13.9
Ted Williams 293 13.8
Al Kaline 305 13.6
Ty Cobb 300 13.2
Jimmie Foxx 267 12.9
Frank Robinson 302 12.4
Ken Griffey Jr. 308 11.9

Now the same thing from Baseball Refernce. Trout seems like the greatest 20-21 year old ever. Willie Mays had 3.9 WAR (again Baseball Ref) at age 20 and at 21 spent most of the year in the Military. Not sure, but it looks like Ruth had 14.9 combined hitting and pitching at 20-21 (again Baseball Ref)

Mike Trout 250 16.9
Alex Rodriguez 287 14.9
Al Kaline 305 14.9
Rogers Hornsby 284 14.7
Mel Ott 298 13.8
Frank Robinson 302 13.4
Ted Williams 293 13
Ty Cobb 300 13
Jimmie Foxx 267 12.6
Ken Griffey 309 12.3

According to Bill James, Trout has 26 Win Shares so far this year. That is a pace to get about 38, the same total he had last year. So let's call this 76. Also according to James, these are all the position players with 30+ Win Shares at age 20 (that is the first number-the second is at age 21 and then the total of the two years)

Ty Cobb 41 + 36 = 77
A-Rod 34 + 22 = 56 
Mickey Mantle 32 + 26 = 58
Ted Williams 32 + 30 = 62
Al Kaline 31 + 26 = 57  
Mel Ott 31 + 28 = 59 

Trout has 64 Win Shares combined at the two ages in just 250 games. My guess is that the other guys played more. Once this year is over, Trout will have played about 300 games over these two years. Cobb had exactly 300. Trout could be just about tied with Cobb and way ahead of everyone else.

Is Yasiel Puig The Best 22 Year Old Since Ted Williams In 1941?

I found all the 22 year old guys with 200+ PAs and at at least .1 WAR. Then I ranked them by WAR/PA. Here is the top 25. Of course, there are still about 45-50 games left, but this is still impressive.

Rk	Player	PA	WAR	Year	WAR/PA
1	Ross Barnes	239	4.3	1872	0.01799
2	Ted Williams	606	10.6	1941	0.01749
3	Yasiel Puig	234	3.6	2013	0.01538
4	Ty Cobb	651	9.8	1909	0.01505
5	Eddie Collins	660	9.7	1909	0.01470
6	Stan Musial	700	9.4	1943	0.01343
7	Rickey Henderson	493	6.6	1981	0.01339
8	Jim Fregosi	591	7.9	1964	0.01337
9	Eddie Mathews	600	7.8	1954	0.01300
10	Cesar Cedeno	576	7.4	1973	0.01285
11	Davy Force	227	2.9	1872	0.01278
12	Tris Speaker	608	7.7	1910	0.01266
13	Dick Allen	709	8.8	1964	0.01241
14	Pete Reiser	601	7.4	1941	0.01231
15	Sherry Magee	568	6.9	1907	0.01215
16	Joe Battin	289	3.5	1876	0.01211
17	Joe DiMaggio	692	8.2	1937	0.01185
18	Rogers Hornsby	466	5.4	1918	0.01159
19	Vada Pinson	660	7.6	1961	0.01152
20	Alex Rodriguez	748	8.5	1998	0.01136
21	John McGraw	459	5.2	1895	0.01133
22	Cal Ripken	726	8.2	1983	0.01129
23	Boog Powell	506	5.7	1964	0.01126
24	Bob Caruthers	382	4.3	1886	0.01126
25	Johnny Bench	671	7.5	1970	0.01118