2009 Replacement Level: Right Field by Dave Cameron February 5, 2009 As most of you know, the Win Values we present here on FanGraphs are wins above a replacement level player. Replacement level, essentially, is the expected performance you could get from a player who costs nothing to acquire and makes the league minimum. That’s the baseline that players add value over – performance over their no-cost substitute. However, I know examples can be extremely helpful, so starting on Monday, we began looking at some players who currently personify replacement level, and what their respective organizations should expect from them in 2009. We’ve already covered catcher, first base, second base, shortstop, third base, left field, and center field. We’ll do the pitchers tomorrow. For now, we finish off the positions. Right Field A few of the LF guys could be listed here as well, as we noted that there’s significant overlap between the two corner OF spots. Laynce Nix, Cincinnati, .338 wOBA Jeff Salazar, Pittsburgh, .332 wOBA Trot Nixon, Milwaukee, .337 wOBA Chris Aguila, Unsigned, .324 wOBA Brad Wilkerson, Boston, .312 wOBA Jacque Jones, Cincinnati, .313 wOBA Emil Brown, Unsigned, .322 wOBA That’s a projected .325 wOBA for the group – nearly as good as the projected offensive level for first baseman. Besides Jones and Brown, though, it’s mostly a collection of below average defenders. ((.325 – .330) / 1.2) * 600 = -2.5 -2.5 offense, -5 defense, -7.5 position adjustment gets us -15 for this group, and I could be talked into a lower defensive rating for these guys, considering most of them are aging and well past their primes. So, after the little hiccup in center field, it looks like we’re right back to the -15 to -20 range for all the rest of the positions. We hoped you liked reading 2009 Replacement Level: Right Field by Dave Cameron! Please support FanGraphs by becoming a member. We publish thousands of articles a year, host multiple podcasts, and have an ever growing database of baseball stats. FanGraphs does not have a paywall. With your membership, we can continue to offer the content you've come to rely on and add to our unique baseball coverage. Support FanGraphs