Average WAR for 2013 Hall of Fame Candidates
December 6, 2012 by TheUmpire
Led by Barry Bonds, this year's ballot features five avgWAR 5+ players. Sammy Sosa ain't one of 'em, despite his 609 career home runs.
Jeff Bagwell leads the pack of first-year candidates.
José Mesa looks to be this year's Lenny Harris.
We have converted a baseball player's career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) into a rate statistic which indicates the average number of wins above replacement a player would give his team per single season (avgWAR). Baseball-Reference.com uses the following scale for WAR values:
- 8+ MVP Quality
- 5+ All-Star Quality
- 2+ Starter
- 0-2 Reserve
- <0 Replacement Level
It is our proposal that players having an avgWAR of 5.0 or higher are worthy of induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
| Player | avgWAR |
| Barry Bonds | 8.58 |
| Roger Clemens | 6.43 |
| Jeff Bagwell | 5.78 |
| Larry Walker | 5.68 |
| Curt Schilling | 5.15 |
| Edgar Martinez | 5.07 |
| Mark McGwire | 5.07 |
| Kenny Lofton | 5.00 |
| Mike Piazza | 4.75 |
| Alan Trammell | 4.74 |
| Tim Raines | 4.29 |
| Rafael Palmeiro | 3.78 |
| Sammy Sosa | 3.77 |
| Don Mattingly | 3.61 |
| Bernie Williams | 3.58 |
| Craig Biggio | 3.53 |
| Reggie Sanders | 3.35 |
| Jeff Cirillo | 3.21 |
| Fred McGriff | 3.17 |
| Dale Murphy | 3.16 |
| David Wells | 2.91 |
| Rondell White | 2.80 |
| Shawn Green | 2.61 |
| Julio Franco | 2.54 |
| Steve Finley | 2.53 |
| Woody Williams | 2.53 |
| Jack Morris | 2.48 |
| Ryan Klesko | 2.29 |
| Lee Smith | 1.83 |
| Aaron Sele | 1.57 |
| Sandy Alomar | 1.36 |
| Jeff Conine | 1.30 |
| Royce Clayton | 1.26 |
| Roberto Hernandez | 1.15 |
| Todd Walker | 1.04 |
| Mike Stanton | 0.77 |
| José Mesa | 0.58 |
Stats from Lahman's Baseball Database and Baseball-Reference.com.