Leaderboards of Pleasure – 9/26/11

Howie Kendrick has made this and other plays in 2011.

In Preston Sturges’ 1941 film Sullivan’s Travels, protagonist John L. Sullivan learns that — instead of a socially conscious film designed to raise awareness about their struggles — that the downtrodden actually prefer the light, airy comedies on which he (i.e. Sullivan) has made his reputation as a film director.

Leaderboards of Pleasure is essentially Sullivan’s Travels in miniature. Except you read it. And it’s on the internet.

While reading this particular edition of the LOP on the internet, the reader will find that:

Howie Kendrick remains underrated.
Howie Kendrick continues to rank among the league’s most underrated players. The reader will also find that much of that is due to Kendrick’s 17.6 UZR. An interesting thing about that: Kendrick has been worth +16 runs per Defensive Runs Saved and a more modest, but still above-average, +7 runs per Total Zone (which has him as +12 at second base and -7 in left field).

More news on this story as it does or does not develop.

Liam Hendriks has been better than he’s looked.
The young Australian, now with 23.1 innings as a major-league starter, has posted a 6.17 ERA so far but only a 3.77 SIERA and 3.66 xFIP (91 xFIP-).

Murder is legal in Australia.
This is a fact that you don’t need to look up and can just tell anyone at the bar about, totally comfortable in the knowledge that it (i.e. the legality of murder in Australia) is a fact.

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	2.64	0.56	-0.22	1.20	-0.15	0.10	1.40	1.48	0
Yankees	10	0.00	1.99	1.59	1.57	0.60	0.78	0.00	0.00	0
Red Sox	9	0.00	2.21	1.43	0.28	0.42	1.65	0.00	0.00	1
Diamondbacks	9	0.42	-0.24	0.56	1.02	0.03	2.19	0.97	0.00	0
Rangers	9	0.00	1.83	1.58	1.02	0.10	0.80	0.02	0.00	0
Brewers	8	0.00	0.57	0.98	-0.09	1.66	0.45	0.18	1.08	0
Marlins	8	1.22	-0.55	0.07	-0.64	0.42	-0.34	0.89	2.00	0
Rays	7	0.42	0.35	0.08	1.02	-1.50	1.47	1.25	0.00	2
Rockies	6	0.15	-0.35	0.40	0.65	1.02	-0.19	0.12	0.49	0
Blue Jays	6	0.42	0.41	0.30	1.02	-0.15	-0.75	0.75	0.00	0
Padres	6	0.68	-0.87	-1.23	1.57	-0.25	0.50	1.16	0.00	0
Angels	5	0.00	-0.03	0.20	0.47	-0.43	1.22	0.00	0.62	0
Braves	5	0.00	-0.57	1.05	-1.56	2.26	-0.87	0.15	1.14	1
Nationals	5	0.24	-0.77	0.76	-0.64	-0.15	-0.42	0.72	1.60	0
Dodgers	5	0.00	-0.34	-0.81	0.28	0.74	0.22	0.00	1.21	0
Reds	5	0.06	0.04	0.80	-0.82	-0.72	1.45	0.41	0.00	0
Pirates	5	1.40	-1.27	-0.89	0.10	-0.33	-0.28	1.15	0.00	0
Indians	5	0.86	0.00	0.77	-0.27	-1.00	-1.10	1.08	0.00	0
Astros	4	0.50	-0.61	-1.79	0.28	0.21	-0.63	0.55	2.00	0
Cubs	4	0.00	-0.59	0.02	-0.09	-0.33	-0.50	0.00	1.80	0
Giants	3	0.00	-1.62	-1.03	-1.37	1.55	0.54	0.00	2.00	0
Mets	3	0.59	0.52	-1.68	1.02	-0.36	-2.12	0.00	1.01	0
Cardinals	3	0.00	1.27	1.24	-1.92	-0.01	-1.14	0.00	0.00	4
Phillies	3	0.00	-0.22	-0.02	0.65	-0.68	-0.37	0.00	0.00	0
Tigers	2	0.06	1.10	-0.04	-1.01	-1.11	-0.22	0.00	0.00	0
Orioles	2	0.42	-0.05	0.47	-1.19	-0.04	-1.67	0.19	0.00	0
White Sox	2	0.00	-0.76	-0.68	-1.92	1.80	-0.02	0.00	0.00	0
Athletics	1	0.00	-0.61	-1.35	0.10	-0.47	-1.11	0.65	0.00	0
Mariners	0	0.00	-1.66	-1.26	-0.09	-0.64	-0.11	0.16	0.58	0
Twins	0	1.04	-1.36	-1.32	-0.64	-2.52	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
Alex Avila	2.5	5.5	3.0	0.83	0.09	-0.70	0.30	-0.75
Brendan Ryan	2.4	2.4	0.0	-0.87	-1.59	-1.33	-1.48	0.09
Placido Polanco	2.4	2.7	0.3	0.18	-1.38	-1.62	-1.07	-0.75
Kurt Suzuki	2.2	2.4	0.2	-1.23	-0.44	-1.16	-1.30	-0.83
Yunel Escobar	2.2	4.3	2.1	0.65	-0.75	0.17	-1.07	-0.75
Howie Kendrick	2.2	5.9	3.7	0.51	-0.02	0.69	-0.38	0.17
Peter Bourjos	2.2	4.5	2.3	-0.04	-0.65	-0.12	-1.39	0.83
John Buck	2.1	2.1	0.0	-1.48	-0.23	-1.91	-0.66	-1.00
Jamey Carroll	2.0	1.8	-0.2	0.40	-1.91	-1.33	-2.53	-0.16
Alberto Callaspo	2.0	3.1	1.1	0.65	-1.28	-1.22	-1.16	-0.33
Shane Victorino	1.9	5.8	3.9	0.22	-0.12	1.03	-0.47	0.58
Matt Wieters	1.9	4.0	2.1	-0.36	0.19	-0.29	-0.34	-0.91
Evan Longoria	1.8	5.2	3.4	-1.16	1.14	0.05	1.08	-0.75
Yadier Molina	1.7	4.0	2.3	1.19	-0.44	-1.22	-0.34	-0.66
Omar Infante	1.7	2.5	0.8	0.18	-1.17	-1.22	-1.02	-0.66
Alexei Ramirez	1.7	4.4	2.7	-0.14	-0.33	0.34	-0.11	-0.41
Jhonny Peralta	1.6	5.0	3.4	1.05	0.19	-0.41	0.58	-1.00
Dustin Pedroia	1.6	7.6	6.0	1.08	0.19	1.55	0.76	1.17
Miguel Montero	1.6	4.5	2.9	0.47	-0.02	-0.58	0.67	-0.91
Rickie Weeks	1.6	4.0	2.4	0.04	0.09	-0.01	-1.07	-0.25

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	1.83	2.86	-0.34	1.40	1.79	0.11
Ryan Braun	10	0.42	2.15	-0.12	1.73	1.48	0.63
Jacoby Ellsbury	10	0.42	2.41	-0.10	1.37	1.17	0.87
Jason Kipnis	10	1.13	1.76	-0.06	2.13	1.58	-0.52
Ian Kinsler	10	0.00	1.71	0.41	0.57	1.33	1.46
Jose Constanza	10	0.42	1.14	0.64	0.50	1.58	1.11
Desmond Jennings	10	1.13	0.96	-0.09	1.44	2.15	-0.27
Matt Kemp	10	0.66	2.24	-0.29	2.11	1.12	-0.72
Curtis Granderson	10	0.00	1.81	0.06	2.11	1.94	-0.97
Jose Reyes	10	0.19	1.64	0.00	-1.07	2.25	1.94
Carlos Gonzalez	9	0.89	1.14	-0.29	2.06	1.17	-0.10
Justin Upton	9	1.36	1.71	-0.43	1.07	1.02	0.03
Shane Victorino	9	0.00	1.72	-0.19	-0.01	1.89	1.31
Albert Pujols	9	0.00	1.33	0.14	1.70	-0.16	1.65
Troy Tulowitzki	9	0.66	1.84	-0.13	1.37	-0.06	0.96
Alejandro De Aza	9	0.42	2.66	-0.58	0.55	1.89	-0.34
Jose Bautista	9	0.00	2.47	-0.33	2.41	-0.31	0.34
Howie Kendrick	9	0.42	1.76	0.14	1.35	1.12	-0.22
Robinson Cano	9	0.19	1.37	0.01	1.35	0.87	0.76
Pablo Sandoval	9	1.13	2.09	-0.29	1.24	-0.57	0.84

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. (To read more about Pitcher NERD, click here.)

Name	NERD	xFIP	SwStrk	Strk	Velo	Luck	Age	KN
Zack Greinke	10	2.54	1.66	0.18	0.76	1.31	0.13	0.00
Clayton Kershaw	10	2.06	1.83	0.83	1.10	0.00	1.13	0.00
Roy Halladay	10	2.29	1.66	2.20	0.57	0.00	0.00	0.00
Michael Pineda	10	0.94	2.23	1.33	1.60	0.21	1.38	0.00
Cliff Lee	10	2.31	0.86	2.43	0.37	0.00	0.00	0.00
Madison Bumgarner	10	1.57	0.63	1.56	0.45	0.18	1.63	0.00
Brandon Beachy	10	1.54	2.23	0.46	0.57	0.52	0.88	0.00
CC Sabathia	10	1.77	1.89	1.30	1.26	0.00	0.00	0.00
Justin Verlander	10	1.61	1.31	1.02	1.72	0.00	0.00	0.00
Brandon Morrow	10	0.97	2.06	0.44	1.26	1.27	0.38	0.00
Cory Luebke	10	1.77	1.71	0.88	0.37	0.27	0.38	0.00
Matt Garza	9	1.43	1.89	0.97	1.22	0.12	0.13	0.00
Felix Hernandez	9	1.56	0.51	0.59	1.06	0.32	0.63	0.00
Cole Hamels	9	1.77	1.94	1.00	0.45	0.00	0.13	0.00
David Price	9	1.39	0.40	0.29	1.64	0.10	0.63	0.00
Jonathon Niese	9	1.36	0.17	1.23	0.03	1.13	0.88	0.00
Juan Nicasio	9	1.12	0.34	-0.10	1.37	0.72	0.88	0.00
Anibal Sanchez	9	1.49	1.71	0.67	0.49	0.48	0.13	0.00
Joe Blanton	9	1.33	0.51	1.06	0.00	1.74	0.00	0.00
Liam Hendriks	9	0.72	0.17	0.40	0.00	2.00	1.38	0.00