What is the value of a home run?

18 games into the season and ARod has 14 home runs. A pretty incredible feat for any baseball player, but consider that he has more home runs than 8 teams in MLB. The Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics and Arizona Diamondbacks only have 12 apiece, the Los Angeles Dodgers have 11, the Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants, and Minnesota Twins have 10, and the Colorado Rockies, who play at the launching pad of Coors Field, have only 7. I think it is pretty impressive to have hit more home runs than 8 teams of 25 men.

But then look at the records related to those teams and that man. ARod's Yankees are sitting at 8-10, 2 games under .500, and 4 games behind the hated Red Sox. That's not so hot considering their payroll and even just how much they are paying Alex. The Nationals are at 6-12 and the Rox are at 8-12, but other than those 2, the teams with fewer home runs than ARod have better records than the Yanks. The Angels come in closest to NY at 9-10 followed by Arizona at 10-10. San Francisco and Oakland are only a game over .500 at 9-8 and 10-9 respectively, but Oakland leads the AL West. Once you get beyond them, you get some respectable records with the Twins at 11-8 and the Dodgers leading the NL West at 13-6.

So while ARod may be having the best start ever in the history of MLB, his team has very little to show for it. While he has hit a HR in each of the teams 8 wins, he has "wasted" 2 multi HR games in losses.

So how much are his 14 homes runs really worth?

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DNLLegend

950 days ago

Score 5

Lining up an individual's homers with his team's wins makes no sense. There are simply too many factors outside of the player's control to have him shoulder all the blame or credit for a win.

Here are two concrete examples: Imagine a player who grounds out into a triple play twice in the same season. His team is pathetic, going 58-104 over the course of the year. However, in both games that he was tripled up, his team won. Are you suggesting that it's good if the player grounds out into more triple plays?

Another, more real-life example: On July 6, 1986, Bob Horner hit four homers in the same game. Went 4 for 5 with 6 RBI. The only AB he had where he didn't homer, there was one guy one. So, let's say he went 5-5 with 5 homers and 8 RBI.

Well, his Braves lost the game, 11-8, to the Expos. Even if Horner had homered every at bat, they'd have lost (albeit 11-10). It's not his fault, though, that Zane Smith gave up 8 runs in 4 IP. No, the Braves didn't lose because of Horner's bombs; they lost in spite of the homers.

The same thing is true for ARod's.

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Bball3345Draft Pick

950 days ago

Score 2

^What he said...

I'm thinking the 8-10 record may have a little more to do with a starting rotation including Jeff Karstens and Chase Wright...

A home run is the single most valuable play in baseball and it is the most desirable outcome of any at bat. Angels Fan, don't try and take away from what ARod is doing.

What is the value of a home run?

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