20 Greatest Brewer Seasons Ever (according to WAR)

[Glennron]

Cirillo was always my favorite player growing up because I played 3B in Little League and he seemed like such a cool dude. I don't think I ever realized he put up that great of a season. 6.8 WAR could definitely at least contend for MVP in certain years.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I still find it unbelievable that Sheets went 12-14 in '04. Imagine what his record would've been with the current offense. He would've easily won 20 games and the Cy Young.

[nate82]

I still find it unbelievable that Sheets went 12-14 in '04. Imagine what his record would've been with the current offense. He would've easily won 20 games and the Cy Young.

MVP type year if you go by what Verlander did this year. The year Sheets had in 2004 was probably the most dominant year by a pitcher not to win a Cy Young award. I believe that in the last 11 years there has only been one pitcher who had a more dominant season than Sheets and that was Pedro Martinez in 2000 and Curt Schilling in 2002 had a season almost as good as Sheets did. As for 2004 it should have been in the NL either Sheets or Johnson as Clemens wasn't even the best pitcher on his team Oswalt was a little bit better than he was that year.

Sheets

2004

ERA 2.70; FIP 2.65; K/9 10.03; BB/9 1.22

Verlander

2011

ERA 2.40; FIP 2.99; K/9 8.96; BB/9 2.04

Pedro Martinez

2000

ERA 1.74; FIP 2.17; K/9 11.78; BB/9 1.33

Curt Schilling

2002

ERA 3.23; FIP 2.40; K/9 10.97; BB/9 1.15

Randy Johnson

2004

ERA 2.60; FIP 2.30; K/9 10.62; BB/9 1.61

[Baldkin]

If the Internet was in full swing back in '89, the 'Sierra was robbed' whiners would have been out in full force. Nothing like the Kemp whiners though.

Meh, Rickey and Boggs would've been the guys the Internet would've championed.... Boggs moreso as Rickey got traded mid season.

[DuWayne Steurer]

It's easy to overlook, but Yount's 1982 season might have been, at the time, the single best offensive season a shortstop had had in league history. Obviously the glut of offensive minded shortstops over the last 15 years have overshadowed that to a large degree, but other than maybe a few seasons from Ernie Banks, it's hard to find a shortstop who had an overall season that compares to 1982.

[prophet]

I don't care about the production of a replacement player.

war! Hhuh, good God Ya'll! what is it good for? absolutely nothin'!

Fixed it for you.

[prophet]

I saw the 1989 Bosio year on there. Forgot about that one till this list came out. That was Cal Eldred's rookie year right? I know him and Bosio were awesome that year, but any idea what Eldred's WAR was?

 

Edit: never mind, it was 1991 was his rookie year. Great rookie year, good second year, then arm troubles. My bad.

[reillymcshane]

I saw the 1989 Bosio year on there. Forgot about that one till this list came out. That was Cal Eldred's rookie year right? I know him and Bosio were awesome that year, but any idea what Eldred's WAR was?

Eldred had a WAR of 2.7 his rookie year (1992). Only 100 inning pitched, however, so it's deceiving.

 

He had a 3.3 WAR in 1993 (threw 258 innings that year), then flailed around after that, fluctuating between -0.4 to 2.1 WAR throughout his career.

[thumperden]

Eldred was a beaten war horse that year and was never the same. It was unnecessary to do that to guys like him, Higuera, etc.

[RockCoCougars]

Eldred, Bosio and Navarro were all studs down the stretch in '92. I don't think that Eldred even came up until mid to late July. I believe that Garner ruined him in '93.

[brettac1]

I think I remember someone on here who wrote up a piece about Eldred being wrecked.

[Baldkin]

I think I remember someone on here who wrote up a piece about Eldred being wrecked.

'Ole Scrap Ironbroke him.

[brettac1]

Yup. That was the one.

[pingman]

I"m surprised Tommy Harper's 1970 season wasn't higher....a 30-30 season in the pitching dominated era is impressive....and even more impressive when you consider that Harper had NO protection in that batting order (other than Danny Walton's amazing 1st half)

[RightFieldCoder]

As for 2004 it should have been in the NL either Sheets or Johnson as Clemens wasn't even the best pitcher on his team Oswalt was a little bit better than he was that year.

Johnson stole the thunder from Sheets 18k game. The next game the Braves played was a Big Unit no-no. How many times does a guy strike out 18 in a game and not even get pitcher of the week honors? Sheets was just unlucky his entire career. It didn't help that he couldn't do anything with the bat and had Bad Chad Moeller as a catcher.

[topper09er]

It's easy to overlook, but Yount's 1982 season might have been, at the time, the single best offensive season a shortstop had had in league history. Obviously the glut of offensive minded shortstops over the last 15 years have overshadowed that to a large degree, but other than maybe a few seasons from Ernie Banks, it's hard to find a shortstop who had an overall season that compares to 1982.

I think that honor generally goes to Honus Wagner, 1908.

.354/.415/.542, OPS+ = 205. The average NL line that year was .239/.299/.306.

He led the league in the following categories (second place)

BA .354 (.334)

OBP .415 (.402)

SLG .542 (.452)

OPS .957 (.816)

Hits 201 (198)

TB 308 (268)

2B 39 (30)

3B 19 (18)

RBI 109 (106)

SB 53 (48)

OPS+ 205 (155)

 

Good for 11.6 WAR, however Yount's 1982 is the AL SS record and 2nd all-time according to bb-ref WAR. Here are the only double digit WAR seasons by a SS:

 

Rk	Player	WAR/pos ?	Year	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Honus Wagner	11.6	1908	151	641	568	100	201	39	19	10	109	54	22	53	.354	.415	.542	.957
2	Robin Yount	11.5	1982	156	704	635	129	210	46	12	29	114	54	63	14	.331	.379	.578	.957
3	Cal Ripken	11.0	1991	162	717	650	99	210	46	5	34	114	53	46	6	.323	.374	.566	.940
4	Alex Rodriguez	11.0	2000	148	672	554	134	175	34	2	41	132	100	121	15	.316	.420	.606	1.026
5	Honus Wagner	10.6	1905	147	616	548	114	199	32	14	6	101	54	54	57	.363	.427	.505	.932
6	Lou Boudreau	10.5	1948	152	676	560	116	199	34	6	18	106	98	9	3	.355	.453	.534	.987
7	Honus Wagner	10.0	1907	142	580	515	98	180	38	14	6	82	46	37	61	.350	.408	.513	.921
8	Honus Wagner	10.0	1906	142	590	516	103	175	38	9	2	71	58	31	53	.339	.416	.459	.875
9	Ernie Banks	10.0	1959	155	671	589	97	179	25	6	45	143	64	72	2	.304	.374	.596	.970

Its cool that Yount and Wagner had the same OPS, however Yount's was only good for a 166 OPS+ because the league average line was .264/.328/.402

[brettac1]

As for 2004 it should have been in the NL either Sheets or Johnson as Clemens wasn't even the best pitcher on his team Oswalt was a little bit better than he was that year.

Johnson stole the thunder from Sheets 18k game. The next game the Braves played was a Big Unit no-no. How many times does a guy strike out 18 in a game and not even get pitcher of the week honors? Sheets was just unlucky his entire career. It didn't help that he couldn't do anything with the bat and had Bad Chad Moeller as a catcher.

It was actually a perfect game, I think.