Epic WAR Graph Wednesday today.
It’s the SCRAPGraph. Or GRITGraph. Whichever you prefer.
We’ve got Nick Punto. We’ve got Aaron Miles. We’ve got Craig Paquette. And just for good measure, The Secret Weapon, Jose Oquendo.
And believe it or not, there are some fascinating things to be seen (isn’t that always the case with WAR Graphs?)
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Jose Oquendo is well ahead of the pack in cumulative WAR, aided by one big season (more on that later). Punto isn’t far behind, perhaps a shot at catching Oquendo if he can scrap out another couple of seasons bolstered by an above average glove hand.
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When we view by Nth best season, things start to get interesting (at least for me, I can find entertainment in most any of these graphs).
Punto and Oquendo separate themselves pretty clearly from Miles and Paquette here, and especially that one big season from Oquendo (we’ll get to that, relax).
Because of his legacy being versatility, I often forget how good of a second baseman Oquendo was. He wasn’t necessarily much to hang your hat on at the plate, but the guy could handle himself with a mitt. We see above that Punto falls somewhat in that category, albeit without the one big year (patience, my friends).
Paquette and Miles separate themselves toward the wrong end of the spectrum. If it weren’t bad enough that I was already starting to like Punto some, this makes him even more appealing. Sheesh.
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So about that one big year for Jose…
He was decent with the bat in 1989 (and by decent, for Jose, I mean that he almost reached .750 OPS) – but he was silly in 156 games at second base. 20 defensive runs saved. 346 putouts. 500 assists.
1989 was Jose Oquendo’s Career Year. Highs in both oWAR and dWAR. The Secret Weapon indeed.
Interesting to note that Oquendo never posted a negative WAR season while with the Cardinals. The same cannot be said for our two slack-scraps, Paquette and Miles.
Get well soon, Nick Punto. You’ve got some work to do.
[All graph images courtesy FanGraphs.]
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