Jeff Bagwell and Lance Berkman WAR comparison

that Bagwell had begun his career decline after year 6. I looked up the years beyond the graph to confirm that his WAR continues to decline if you were to draw the line after the graph end point. I think Jeff Bagwell’s shoulder problems are a big part of the rather rapid decline. His defensive numbers get worse, which is surely shoulder-related, and his arthritic shoulder most likely affected his hitting ability too.

Berkman’s WAR has been more erratic from year to year. A siginficant part of the inconsistency is the erratic defensive performance from year to year…some positive seasons followed by negative seasons. I will speculate that Berkman’s defensive performances were not helped by the team’s decisions to use him at multiple positions, often in the same season, during his career. Berkman had his peak season (so far) last year, which obviously contrasts with Bagwell who was well into decline at that point. Berkman’s peak was aided by a career high +10 on defense. I would like to think that Berkman was “settling in” at first base last season. Last year was the first season in which he did not split time in the outfield.

I never really thought about it much but it does surprise me that Bagwell was quit a bit better than Berkman for that stretch. Yet Berkman has the potential to have a more productive career.

Can you say Bagwell was declining? Years 6,7,8,9,&10 are all hire then the rest of his years with the exception of an outlier (year 4). I wouldn’t call it a decline until 2000 as much as inconsistancy (although I don’t think that word fits right)

Lance should come down some because he had an above average year.

comparison is misspelled in the headline.