[Jason Moyer]

I should also note that Win Shares very rarely tells you something that you don't know. When it does, it is interesting.

For instance, you would assume the Phillies best player last year was Bobby Abreu, right? Well, not according to Win Shares:

1. Scott Rolen 29
2. Bobby Abreu 26
3. Jimmy Rollins 20 (by the way, this is an incredibly high total for a rookie - most rookie of the year winners have somewhere around 10-15 win shares - unfortunately, Jimmy picked up 20 win shares the same season Pujols picked up 29)

Thinking about their hitting stats, that doesn't really seem right. But if you look on a closer level, here are their runs created and outs:

1. Scott Rolen 102 RC 417 Outs
2. Bobby Abreu 126 RC 454 Outs
3. Jimmy Rollins 89 RC 503 Outs

Looking at it in terms of RC/12 outs:

1. Scott Rolen 2.94
2. Bobby Abreu 3.33
3. Jimmy Rollins 2.12

That's pretty close. Jimmy is a full RC/12 behind, but Bobby wasn't that much more productive than Scott was as the plate, in terms of actually creating offense for his team (and offense is measured in runs right? homeruns and batting average don't win games, creating runs does).

Throw in the defensive win shares, and this is a no brainer. Whether you use win shares or just watch baseball, you know that Scott is the best defensive third baseman in baseball right now and over the last 4-5 years, if not ever. Bobby is a good right fielder, but he's not the outfield equivalent of Scott Rolen. Likewise, Jimmy gets a boost because he was much better with the glove than even the Philadelphia scouts and management had expected (Bowa and several analysts even said this several times last summer, so it's no surprise that Win Shares backs this up).

Even something in Win Shares that seems kinda odd, at first glance, comes back looking pretty good when you sit and analyze it.

Jason