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12.28.2008 Just how good is Mark Teixeira? Part II

We showed you how valuable Mark Teixeira is offensively. He is a premiere hitter, no matter how a certain fanbase may be trying to spin it. However, for we Yankee fans who have been used to seeing Jason Giambi lumber his way around the bag, it would be useful to see how Teixeira fairs defensively as well.

According to the Hardball Times' Revised Zone Rating, Teixeira converted 83.4% of balls hit in his zone into outs during 2008. That was second among qualified 1B, only behind Albert Pujols.

Giambi in 2008? 67.9%

Talk about a huge freakin' upgrade.

12.27.2008 Just how good is Mark Teixeira?

There has been a lot of dispute since Mark Teixeira agreed to terms with the Yankees about what type of player he really is. People like to downplay the signing by saying that he isn't "elite" or that his numbers come from a position (first base) where they aren't anything special. Without even considering defensive contributions, we can use VORP to compare Tex offensively to other first baseman over the last two years. Remember, VORP is a counting stat, so we've included games played and VORP rate (VORPr) to help add more clarity.

	VORP	Games Played	VORPr
Pujols	170.7	306	.558
Texeira	118.3	289	.409
Berkman	115.2	312	.369
Fielder	109.7	317	.346
Pena	101.2	287	.353
Howard	90.0	306	.294
Youkilis	84.7	290	.292
Gonzalez	83.5	323	.258
Morneau	75.9	320	.237

So, in a group where offensive production is held to a higher standard, Teixeira is the second most valuable offensive player over the course of the last two full seasons. When adjusting for the number of games played, he separates himself even more.

Taking it a step further, over the same two-year period Teixeira has the 8th highest VORP total of any hitter in baseball. This should be especially amusing to those that claim he somehow isn't worth his contract because he is a first baseman, since the numbers are adjusted for position.

If we look simply at offensive production with no regard for position, Teixeira is tied for the 4th highest OPS+ in all of baseball (151) over the last two years. The beautiful thing here is that Teixeira has been trending upward, increasing his walk rate and decreasing his strikeouts.

Having said all of this, can we please stop with the foolish idea that just because Teixeira isn't the best at his position right now, he somehow isn't a great, or possibly elite, offensive producer? Currently, the best at his position is a generational player. Mark Teixeira is not that type of producer, but it's quite clear that he is among the best that MLB has to offer at the present time.