Bball's "I Can't Do This On My Own" Players

Which batters are single-handedly carrying their teams' otherwise substandard offense? Here are some of the players who might be wondering if the rest of the team is on the same page as them(in no particular order).

Before anyone says, "Where's Alex Rodriguez?" I'll answer. He is doing far better than anyone in the league, let alone his own team, but he is not the only one on the Yankees offense putting up big numbers. Posada, Jeter, and Giambi are all playing at a high-level, so even though ARod is playing at an even higher level, he is not, by any stretch of the imagination, "doing this on his own."

Batters

David Ortiz - Ortiz's OPS is nearly 180 points higher than the next closest player, Mike Lowell. The only other two players with OBPs over .360, Kevin Youkilis and J.D. Drew, are lacking in power.
Derrek Lee - Lee is the only Cubs regular with an OBP over .380, and it is waaaay over .380, at .496! Lee only has 2 HRs, but he is pounding out doubles left and right to go with his ridiculous OBP.
Jim Thome - Thome has only played in 19 games, but no one on the offense is anywhere near him in value. Dye leads all eligible players on the team with a .747 OPS. Thome doesn't have the at-bats to qualify, but his OPS is 1.233. Outside of Thome's .553 OBP, the best player is Tadahito Iguchi at .337.
Vladimir Guerrero - Guerrero's OPS: 1.155. 2nd best, Matthews: .763. Guerrero's HR: 9. 2nd best: 2. Guerrero's RBI: 30. 2nd best, Cabrera: 14. Enough said.
Nick Swisher - Mike Piazza was second best in OBP on Oakland with a .339 OBP, trailing Swisher by 78 points. Now, Piazza is injured and Swisher is even more alone. None of the qualifying players besides Swisher (.583) have a SLG over .400.
Ryan Doumit - Doumit has only 34 at bats; yet, he has been the most valuable player on the Pirates offense. In his limited time, Doumit has hit .441/.500/.765. Pittsburgh's franchise player, Jason Bay, is hitting .265/.344/.444, which gives him the second-best line on the team behind Doumit. Pittsburgh has been the worst offense in the league, by far, but the blame cannot fall on Doumit.
Barry Bonds - He's back! After struggling (by Bonds' standards) for the last two seasons, Bonds is looking like his old video-game stat self. Bonds .529 OBP blows the rest of the team out of the water. No one else on the team has over a .350 mark. For years, Bonds has been carrying the Giants franchise. 2007 is not an exception to this rule.
Chris Duncan - The Cardinals' representative would normally be Albert Pujols, but Duncan has been doing the heavy lifting so far in '07. His .323/.391/.545 line is clearly the most impressive one on the team. Other than Duncan and Pujols, none of the qualifying batters have an OBP over .282.
Ryan Church - The Nationals have a zero chance of breaking .500 this season, but don't tell Church. He is reaching base at a .392 clip, while his team can only muster a sub-.310 number.
B.J. Upton - With Aki down for awhile, Upton's .660 SLG and .425 OBP are helping to cover up the holes created by dissapointing performances by Delmon Young and Rocco Baldelli.
Ian Kinsler - Only Sosa is keeping pace in HRs (Kinsler - 9, Sosa - 7), but no one else on the team has the combination of on-base ability and power that Kinsler has.

I'll be back soon with the pitcher's who have been throwing strikes, while the rest of their rotation is still looking for the strike zone.

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KMcRaeSoccer Kid

939 days ago

Score 2

Very interesting post. Good job man.

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Davis21wylieMVP

939 days ago

Score 2

Good stuff! Inspired by your column, let's create a stat called the "ICDTOMO Index", which would be Runs Created Over Teammates -- (player OBP - team OBP w/o player) * (player SLG - team SLG w/o player) * player AB. The leaders thus far:

Rk	Player		Team	pos	ab	OBP	SLG   ICDTOMO
1	bonds,barry	gian	OF	74	0.533	0.784	6.9
2	guerrero,vladim	ange	OF	102	0.476	0.686	5.7
3	thome,jim	whit	DH	50	0.560	0.680	4.4
4	helton,todd	rock	1B	108	0.522	0.556	4.3
5	lee,derrek	cubs	1B	116	0.496	0.612	4.2
6	doumit,ryan	pira	1B	34	0.500	0.765	3.0
7	upton,b.j.	devi	3B	97	0.425	0.660	2.9
8	glaus,troy	blue	3B	54	0.485	0.741	2.7
9	rodriguez,alex	yank	3B	120	0.414	0.775	2.6
10	swisher,nick	as	OF	84	0.422	0.583	2.4
11	ordonez,magglio	tige	OF	110	0.421	0.618	2.1
12	duncan,chris	card	OF	100	0.387	0.540	2.1
13	knott,jon	orio	OF	4	0.800	1.500	2.1
14	hudson,orlando	diam	2B	129	0.411	0.512	2.0
15	holliday,matt	rock	OF	135	0.403	0.570	1.9
16	cabrera,miguel	marl	3B	106	0.439	0.604	1.9
17	rowand,aaron	phil	OF	117	0.444	0.564	1.6
18	church,ryan	nati	OF	110	0.388	0.473	1.6
19	hunter,torii	twin	OF	110	0.379	0.645	1.5
20	jones,chipper	brav	3B	117	0.403	0.632	1.4
21	cruz,jose	padr	DH	84	0.394	0.583	1.4
22	hafner,travis	indi	DH	104	0.455	0.529	1.4
23	gonzalez,adrian	padr	1B	131	0.370	0.557	1.4
24	cora,alex	rsox	SS	37	0.463	0.757	1.4
25	mauer,joe	twin	C	102	0.450	0.480	1.3
26	sanders,reggie	roya	OF	49	0.436	0.612	1.3
27	ortiz,david	rsox	DH	114	0.412	0.596	1.3
28	kinsler,ian	rang	2B	98	0.366	0.602	1.3
29	johnson,kelly	brav	OF	109	0.445	0.541	1.3
30	reyes,jose	mets	SS	135	0.425	0.548	1.2

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