2003 New York Yankees Baseball Graphs Review

The Yankees started out the season incredibly strong and, by late April, it looked like they were totally going to run away with the title. But they slumped in May and into June, were challenged by the Red Sox (and the Blue Jays, for a while) but eventually won the division with a combination of very good hitting, outstanding pitching down the stretch, and lousy fielding.

The Yankees had the best pitching in the league and the worst fielding in the league. Period. Luckily for them, pitching is more important then fielding. So they were fourth in the league in Runs Allowed.

Even Jeff Weaver's FIP was better than average (1.02). But the DER of balls hit off him was .663. Pitcher? Fielders? Luck? You decide.

Mussina's FIP was an excellent 0.05; Rivera's was negative (-0.81) and Clemens, Petitte and Wells were all below 1.00 (0.3, 0.5 and 0.8, respectively)

On the field, Posada had decent catching stats, Ventura and Boone were solid at third, and Soriano somehow came out fourth in fielding Win Shares at 2b. But that's about all you can say.
How to Read this Graph

The Yankees' April was the best month in the league (20-6; tied with Arizona's June for best in the majors). As mentioned, they came back down to earth in May but picked it up again in June, when they were 20-7. Both the pitching and hitting hit their best levels in April, against some decent competition.

The offense slipped badly in May, but bounced back in June and sort of found its level the rest of the summer.

The Yankees' pitching was phenomenal in September, allowing them to fend off the competition. Jose Contreras, in particular, was awesome down the stretch. Every starter except Mussina pitched well that last month. Mussina was only average. But it must be said that September was perhaps the easiest portion of New York's schedule -- they played 18 of their last 21 games against the Tigers, Devil Rays, and Orioles.

New York Yankees' Win Shares

Player          Team    Pos     Hit     Field   Pitch   Sum     WS 	
--------	-----	----	----	----	-----	-----	---	
J Posada        NYY     C       20.22   7.53    0.00    27.75   28	
J Giambi        NYY     1B      26.04   1.63    0.00    27.68   28	
A Soriano       NYY     2B      20.71   6.67    0.00    27.38   27	
H Matsui        NYY     OF      16.40   2.49    0.00    18.89   19	
M Mussina       NYY     P       0.00    0.00    18.62   18.62   19	
D Jeter         NYY     SS      16.45   1.36    0.00    17.81   18	
M Rivera        NYY     P       0.00    0.00    17.49   17.49   18	
R Clemens       NYY     P       0.00    0.00    15.47   15.47   15	
A Pettitte      NYY     P       0.00    0.00    14.62   14.62   15	
N Johnson       NYY     1B      13.31   1.18    0.00    14.49   14	
D Wells         NYY     P       0.00    0.00    14.46   14.46   14	
B Williams      NYY     OF      10.29   2.84    0.00    13.13   13	
R Ventura       NYY     3B      5.81    3.49    0.00    9.31    9	
R Mondesi       NYY     OF      5.65    1.58    0.00    7.23    7	
C Hammond       NYY     P       0.00    0.00    7.04    7.04    7	
J Contreras     NYY     P       0.00    0.00    6.78    6.78    7	
A Boone         NYY     3B      3.12    2.71    0.00    5.83    6	
K Garcia        NYY     OF      3.68    0.92    0.00    4.60    5	
J Rivera        NYY     OF      3.58    0.69    0.00    4.27    4	
A Osuna         NYY     P       0.00    0.00    3.66    3.66    4	
J Flaherty      NYY     C       1.20    1.73    0.00    2.92    3	
T Zeile         NYY     3B      1.20    1.39    0.00    2.59    3	
R Sierra        NYY     OF      2.38    0.15    0.00    2.53    3	
J Weaver        NYY     P       0.00    0.00    2.08    2.08    2	
E Wilson        NYY     SS      0.87    1.18    0.00    2.05    2	
F Heredia       NYY     P       0.00    0.00    1.60    1.60    2	
J De Paula      NYY     P       0.00    0.00    1.56    1.56    2	
J Nelson        NYY     P       0.00    0.00    1.52    1.52    2	
G White         NYY     P       0.00    0.00    1.47    1.47    1	
A Reyes         NYY     P       0.00    0.00    1.26    1.26    1	
A Benitez       NYY     P       0.00    0.00    1.20    1.20    1	
E Almonte       NYY     SS      0.86    0.30    0.00    1.16    1	
B Claussen      NYY     P       0.23    0.00    0.89    1.11    1	
S Hitchcock     NYY     P       0.00    0.00    1.01    1.01    1	
J Anderson      NYY     P       0.00    0.00    0.85    0.85    1	
C Latham        NYY     OF      0.32    0.04    0.00    0.36    0	
M Hernandez     NYY     C       0.23    0.12    0.00    0.34    0	
D Dellucci      NYY     OF      0.00    0.26    0.00    0.26    0	
D Henson        NYY     3B      0.00    0.15    0.00    0.15    0	
D Miceli        NYY     P       0.00    0.00    0.13    0.13    0	
B Trammell      NYY     DH      0.00    0.12    0.00    0.12    0	
C Gipson        NYY     OF      0.02    0.06    0.00    0.09    0	
C Pride         NYY     OF      0.00    0.04    0.00    0.04    0	
L Sojo          NYY     2B      0.00    0.03    0.00    0.03    0	
F Seguignol     NYY     1B      0.00    0.03    0.00    0.03    0	
J Acevedo       NYY     P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
R Choate        NYY     P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
J Orosco        NYY     P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
B Prinz         NYY     P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
	

The Yankees' big three of Giambi, Soriano and Posada were the heart of the team. And it must be remembered that although Jeter can be criticized for his fielding, he is still one of the best offensive shortstops around.

Of the top 18 pitchers ranked by Win Shares, five were Yankees. 'Nuff said.

Starting in June, the Yanks made a number of moves to improve the team. These included a trade for Ruben Sierra (3 Win Shares), Armando Benitez (1 Win Share on his way to Seattle, in exchange for...) Jeff Nelson (2), Karim Garcia (5) and Aaron Boone (5). Along the way, they traded away several contributors, including Raul Mondesi, Robin Ventura and Todd Zeile. It's not clear that any of this wheeling and dealing helped.

Regardless, the Yankees had another great year, punctuated by stretches of outstanding baseball.