Vlad Jr’s 1 fWAR was last on the Blue Jays last season among qualified players.

21 comments

1. Vlad’s the most overrated player in baseball but he definitely underperformed his expected stats last year. Projections still have him at a comfortable 3-4 WAR this year.

2. even if he’s a rival, i hope he figures out how to lift the ball consistently again

3. >I’d guess it would have to be some hall of famer in their last season.

   Derek Jeter put up (down?) -0.7 bWAR in his final season, and was selected to the All-Star team, somehow.

   EDIT: I just had to look up who else could have been chosen that year. Erick Aybar led AL shortstops in fWAR in the first half, with 3.0. He was picked as a reserve, along with Alexei Ramirez. And even if it came down to a fan-vote popularity contest, there was still Jose Reyes having a fine season in Toronto.

4. Orlando Arcia started at SS last year for the NL and was only ahead of Eddie Rosario on the Braves I believe. 

5. Vladdy for my money has gotta have perhaps the broadest spectrum of possible career WAR values among active players (if we disregard injury and are talking with purely performance).

   Like I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s out of the league around age 30 or if he ends his career with 2 MVPs.

   He’s one thing clicking away from being like a top ~15 player again but is also that same thing never clicking again from just being an interesting piece of baseball trivia.

6. 1 good year and people act like he’s a stud lol

7. To be fair to Vlad, his underlying stats are still spectacular aside from his sweet spot rate and chase rate (which is about average).

   If he comes out and hit 45 homers i would not be stunned.

8. The reason he was worth only 1 fWAR is their trash ass baserunning stat that holds a player grounding into a double play against them. Gidp’s aren’t a base running issue, they’re a hitting issue and shouldn’t even be counted in a stat that’s supposed to be context neutral like WAR.

   It’s especially stupid from fangraphs who have the double standard of pitchers being unable to control anything besides home runs, walks and strikeouts but hitters somehow control if they hit a hard grounder to the short stop with a man on first.

9. My sweet prince needs to find 2021 again

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   He’s looked good this Spring so far though, his mechanics at the plate look quieter which I hope can lead to more consistency. Even if we get like 75% of 2021 Vlad it’ll be a huge boost to our offence

10. Nick Castellanos is in the exact same boat. Even had 1.0 fWAR. Every Phillies starter and starting pitcher had more.

11. Folks vote for their favorites. Performance doesn’t matter as much as name recognition.

12. Yeah, he’s a 1B. When they under-perform on their expected production, their WAR tanks. He still hit the cover off the ball, continued to have an elite K:BB, and actually improved on his typically very low average launch angle (ie, stopped hitting the ball into the ground so much). His production just didn’t line up with his level of play, which is super common in baseball. Don’t get me wrong, there are issues with his game, but the fact he still put up a 118 wRC+ while under-performing like that is a testament to his floor.

    Vlad is getting a lot of shit, but there are still very few players in the game that has his collection of offensive skills. He could remain exactly the same player and put up a 150 wRC+ season. No one should be surprised if he has a season like that.

13. He’s like Pop Rocks – everyone tells ya that they’re gonna be awesome, but they just don’t hit ya like you think they would.

14. I don’t want our team to extend him. I’m unpopular for this opinion, but no one should be signing him for the kind of money he’s going to try to fetch.

15. I don’t know why, but I really want him to do incredible this year. If only to shut up this narrative (and torment Yankees fans) that he’s actually ass at baseball.

16. Logan Webb who was the CY runner up and led the league in IP was not an all star by the way. All star selections are clearly not an exact science

17. I don’t know why people keep banging their heads against the wall about why he doesn’t hit like he did in 2021:

    * .321/.418/.762 in 98 PA at Sahlen Field
    * .410/.521/.897 in 96 PA at TD Ballpark

    He padded his stats in non-MLB parks. He hit 10 HR in each.

18. The problem with insane hype is when that player turns into just a good player, people will look down on him. He’s got 15 WAR at age 24. He’s going to be just fine. 

19. Easily the most overrated player and does not deserve to be on the cover of The Show, especially when we could have had Julio Rodriguez instead

20. dude is a 90 ovr in mlb the show LMFAO

21. He’s got the ego of being a superstar without the qualities of one.