Leaderboards of Pleasure – 9/12/11

Let the Leaderboards of Pleasure get all up in your nucleus accumbens.

Much like a perfectly orange and barely clothed Jim Palmer circa 1981, this edition of the Leaderboards of Pleasure wants nothing more than to hold you tight, tell you everything will be okay, and flood your brain with the neurotransmitter dopamine.

In our totally scientific and always rigorous search for pleasure, today we find a number of familiar faces, but also some new ones, too.

New ones like:

• Alejandro De Aza, who, after just 39 games and 116 plate appearances, already finds himself fourth among White Sock position players in WAR (and still fifth, if we discount his defensive contributions).

• Mike Trout, whose inclusion, so far as surprises go, isn’t one (i.e. a surprise).

• Jerome Williams, who, at 14.9%, has the highest swinging-strike rate (by a large-ish margin) of any pitcher with 20-plus innings as a starter.

Soak in the pleasure, ladies and gentlemen. (But mostly gentlemen, I’m guessing.)

1. Team NERD Leaderboard
2. Underrated Player Leaderboard
3. Player NERD Leaderboard
4. Pitcher NERD Leaderboard

Team NERD Leaderboard
Like the NERD scores you’ll find below, this one represents an attempt to anticipate the “watchability” of each team. The first iteration appears in a heartfelt love letter to America, which anyone is free to read here.

Please note that the “POFF” numbers (playoff-odds adjustments) are not included in the Team NERD scores you see below, but are instead the bonuses/penalties applied to the Game Scores for each respective team — a thing about which you can learn more by reading here.

Teams	NERD	Age	BAT	HR/FB	Spd	BULL	UZR	Pay	Luck	POFF
Royals	10	2.55	0.09	-0.45	1.06	-0.01	0.07	1.40	1.23	0
Red Sox	10	0.00	2.16	1.51	0.21	0.40	1.65	0.00	0.87	1
Yankees	10	0.00	2.08	1.65	1.40	0.79	0.78	0.00	0.00	0
Diamondbacks	9	0.47	-0.11	0.71	0.89	-0.01	2.18	0.97	0.00	0
Rangers	8	0.00	1.67	1.44	0.89	-0.12	0.84	0.02	0.00	1
Brewers	8	0.00	0.59	0.81	0.05	1.48	0.41	0.18	1.07	0
Marlins	8	1.20	-0.31	0.07	-0.46	0.30	-0.38	0.89	2.00	0
Rays	7	0.47	0.38	0.13	0.89	-1.68	1.50	1.25	0.09	3
Padres	6	0.65	-0.71	-1.09	1.90	-0.29	0.53	1.16	0.00	0
Nationals	6	0.20	-0.58	0.96	-0.12	-0.19	-0.39	0.72	2.00	0
Blue Jays	6	0.38	0.50	0.40	1.06	-0.12	-0.74	0.75	0.00	0
Rockies	6	0.11	-0.16	0.45	0.55	1.17	-0.19	0.12	0.30	0
Angels	5	0.00	-0.09	-0.02	0.38	-0.43	1.22	0.00	0.60	4
Pirates	5	1.47	-1.32	-0.88	0.21	-0.29	-0.35	1.15	0.00	0
Reds	5	0.02	0.11	0.74	-0.80	-0.57	1.48	0.41	0.00	0
Dodgers	4	0.00	-0.52	-0.90	0.38	0.37	0.22	0.00	1.42	0
Astros	4	0.47	-0.61	-1.75	0.21	0.16	-0.63	0.55	2.00	0
Indians	4	0.83	-0.22	0.47	-0.29	-0.74	-1.09	1.08	0.00	0
Braves	4	0.00	-0.54	1.18	-1.98	2.21	-0.87	0.15	0.71	0
Mets	4	0.65	0.64	-1.54	1.06	-0.19	-2.07	0.00	1.52	0
Cubs	4	0.00	-0.58	-0.03	-0.12	-0.40	-0.50	0.00	1.90	0
Phillies	3	0.00	0.13	0.25	0.72	-0.54	-0.37	0.00	0.00	0
Cardinals	3	0.00	1.23	1.27	-1.81	0.19	-1.14	0.00	0.00	2
Giants	3	0.00	-1.93	-1.38	-1.31	1.41	0.54	0.00	2.00	0
Tigers	2	0.11	1.06	-0.04	-0.97	-1.20	-0.22	0.00	0.00	0
White Sox	2	0.00	-0.71	-0.61	-1.81	1.97	-0.02	0.00	0.00	0
Orioles	2	0.38	-0.16	0.42	-1.31	-0.01	-1.70	0.19	0.45	0
Athletics	1	0.00	-0.51	-1.43	0.05	-0.26	-1.07	0.65	0.00	0
Mariners	0	0.00	-1.68	-1.19	-0.12	-0.78	-0.11	0.16	0.85	0
Twins	0	1.01	-1.46	-1.13	-0.80	-2.62	0.30	0.00	0.00	0

Underrated Player Leaderboard
To determine the most underrated player, we look at each qualified player’s WAR relative to a very fake version of WAR (called FANT, in this case) constructed only by the five most common fantasy categories. (Read more here.)

Name	Diff	WAR	FANT	Avg	HR	R	RBI	SB
Brendan Ryan	2.4	2.3	-0.1	-1.01	-1.51	-1.23	-1.37	0.10
Howie Kendrick	2.4	5.7	3.3	0.65	-0.06	0.55	-0.58	0.19
Alex Avila	2.3	5.3	3.0	1.01	0.17	-0.55	0.31	-0.71
Placido Polanco	2.3	2.5	0.2	0.22	-1.29	-1.60	-1.03	-0.71
Peter Bourjos	2.2	4.3	2.1	0.11	-0.62	-0.19	-1.37	0.74
Yunel Escobar	2.1	4.4	2.3	0.65	-0.62	0.55	-0.88	-0.71
Jamey Carroll	2.1	1.8	-0.3	0.54	-1.85	-1.35	-2.61	-0.08
Kurt Suzuki	2.0	2.1	0.1	-1.12	-0.39	-1.11	-1.27	-0.80
Evan Longoria	2.0	4.7	2.7	-1.12	0.95	-0.12	0.85	-0.80
Omar Infante	1.9	2.3	0.4	0.15	-1.29	-1.23	-1.17	-0.62
Shane Victorino	1.9	6.1	4.2	0.83	-0.06	1.23	-0.43	0.74
Alberto Callaspo	1.8	2.5	0.7	0.33	-1.29	-1.23	-1.12	-0.35
John Buck	1.8	1.8	0.0	-1.59	-0.06	-1.66	-0.48	-0.98
Jhonny Peralta	1.8	4.9	3.1	1.19	0.17	-0.43	0.56	-0.98
Dustin Pedroia	1.7	7.0	5.3	0.87	0.17	1.23	0.56	1.28
Brett Gardner	1.7	4.9	3.2	-0.40	-1.07	0.61	-1.52	2.91
Matt Wieters	1.7	3.3	1.6	-0.43	0.05	-0.49	-0.38	-0.89
Alexei Ramirez	1.7	4.2	2.5	-0.25	-0.28	0.49	-0.19	-0.35
Ben Zobrist	1.6	5.7	4.1	-0.04	-0.17	1.17	0.65	0.46
Dexter Fowler	1.5	3.2	1.7	-0.04	-1.29	0.61	-1.22	-0.08

Player NERD Leaderboard
Very similar to Pitcher NERD (below), except for position players. This version of NERD considers all batters with at least 100 plate apperances. (Read more here.)

Name	NERD	Age	WAR	xBABIP	HR/FB	Spd	K%
Brett Lawrie	10	1.84	3.66	-0.60	1.75	1.89	0.15
Alejandro De Aza	10	0.43	3.16	-0.48	1.15	2.09	0.09
Mike Trout	10	2.31	1.26	0.90	1.18	0.35	0.12
Jacoby Ellsbury	10	0.43	2.23	-0.08	1.25	1.22	0.80
Desmond Jennings	10	1.14	1.36	-0.27	1.68	1.83	-0.18
Ryan Braun	10	0.43	1.94	-0.20	1.39	1.37	0.53
Ian Kinsler	10	0.00	1.66	0.45	0.55	1.37	1.43
Jose Constanza	10	0.43	1.15	0.58	0.51	1.58	1.02
Justin Upton	10	1.37	1.92	-0.46	1.20	1.06	0.07
Shane Victorino	10	0.00	2.07	-0.32	0.13	1.99	1.28
Curtis Granderson	10	0.00	1.76	0.09	2.29	1.99	-1.04
Jose Reyes	9	0.19	1.55	0.00	-1.03	2.30	1.93
Matt Kemp	9	0.67	1.98	-0.26	2.01	1.22	-0.69
Carlos Gonzalez	9	0.90	1.17	-0.35	2.04	1.17	-0.11
Jose Bautista	9	0.00	2.40	-0.31	2.52	-0.17	0.30
Albert Pujols	9	0.00	1.26	0.23	1.82	-0.17	1.60
Troy Tulowitzki	9	0.67	1.88	-0.17	1.43	-0.07	0.97
Robinson Cano	9	0.19	1.21	0.06	1.43	0.96	0.72
Howie Kendrick	9	0.43	1.84	0.13	1.43	1.01	-0.28
Mike Stanton	9	1.84	1.12	-0.18	2.87	0.19	-1.41

Pitcher NERD Leaderboard
The idea with Pitcher NERD — as with the other NERDs — is to express with one number the likelihood that the learned fan might have interest in a certain player. This version of NERD considers all pitchers with at least 20 innings as a starter. (To read more about Pitcher NERD, click here.)

Name	NERD	xFIP	SwStrk	Strk	Velo	Luck	Age	KN
Zack Greinke	10	2.58	1.68	0.38	0.74	1.42	0.15	0.00
Clayton Kershaw	10	2.09	1.79	0.82	1.08	0.00	1.15	0.00
Roy Halladay	10	2.42	1.57	2.08	0.55	0.00	0.00	0.00
Michael Pineda	10	1.00	2.23	1.38	1.62	0.25	1.40	0.00
Madison Bumgarner	10	1.66	0.63	1.45	0.47	0.26	1.65	0.00
Brandon Morrow	10	0.99	2.01	0.39	1.24	1.64	0.40	0.00
CC Sabathia	10	1.81	1.73	1.42	1.20	0.00	0.00	0.00
Cliff Lee	10	2.15	0.91	2.31	0.36	0.00	0.00	0.00
Justin Verlander	10	1.69	1.18	1.13	1.70	0.00	0.00	0.00
Matt Garza	9	1.41	1.62	0.76	1.20	0.32	0.15	0.00
David Price	9	1.45	0.30	0.32	1.62	0.20	0.65	0.00
Cory Luebke	9	1.68	1.57	1.03	0.36	0.22	0.40	0.00
Jonathon Niese	9	1.35	0.14	1.22	0.02	1.14	0.90	0.00
Cole Hamels	9	1.74	1.62	1.05	0.44	0.00	0.15	0.00
Brandon Beachy	9	1.36	1.95	0.41	0.51	0.04	0.90	0.00
Felix Hernandez	9	1.58	0.52	0.40	1.05	0.03	0.65	0.00
Juan Nicasio	9	1.10	0.30	-0.12	1.35	0.73	0.90	0.00
Anibal Sanchez	9	1.45	1.57	0.68	0.47	0.44	0.15	0.00
Jerome Williams	9	0.90	3.93	1.73	0.36	0.00	0.00	0.00
Rubby De La Rosa	9	0.89	0.25	-1.37	2.08	0.17	1.40	0.00