Our labelmate Mike Carminati is undertaking a cool data-gathering project. He wants to assemble all of the free agent contract information from 1976-1984. Mike still has a ways to go, but he’s already compiled a boatload of great information. If anyone can help him fill in the blanks, head on over to his site and drop him a line. Meanwhile, here is a list of the Yankee free agent signings (for players who amassed ten Win Shares the year before inking a new deal):
| playerID | Name | YearID | WinShares | ToTeam | Contract Yrs | Contract $ |
| winfida01 | Dave Winfield | 1981 | 22 | NYA | 10 | $15,000,000 |
| kempst01 | Steve Kemp | 1983 | 22 | NYA | 5 | $5,450,000 |
| hunteca01 | Catfish Hunter | 1975 | 27 | NYA | 5 | $3,750,000 |
| baylodo01 | Don Baylor | 1983 | 13 | NYA | 4 | $3,700,000 |
| guidrro01 | Ron Guidry | 1982 | 10 | NYA | 4 | $3,600,000 |
| gossari01 | Rich Gossage | 1978 | 26 | NYA | 6 | $3,600,000 |
| jacksre01 | Reggie Jackson | 1977 | 25 | NYA | 5 | $3,500,000 |
| collida02 | Dave Collins | 1982 | 14 | NYA | 3 | $2,400,000 |
| watsobo01 | Bob Watson | 1980 | 16 | NYA | 4 | $1,500,000 |
| johnto01 | Tommy John | 1979 | 12 | NYA | 3 | $1,200,000 |
| eastwra01 | Rawly Eastwick | 1978 | NYA | 5 | $1,200,000 | |
| mayru01 | Rudy May | 1980 | NYA | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
Rudy May? Rawly Eastwick? Ah, dem wuz duh daze. Thanks, Mike.
1. Steve Kemp?
shudder
2. This is sweet. I wonder how much data he'll be able to compile?
I'd like to see Win Shares per contract dollar graphed for all of MLB and for individual teams, as well as against the Consumer Price Index, and maybe (this would be a real chore) against the average TV revenues by market or something like that.
I'd be curious to see just how much the market is out of whack against the economy, and just how badly the Yanks have signed FA's...
3. Please forgive my ignorance, but my knowledge base of baseball statistics was mostly formed as a kid in the eighties. (These days I feel lucky to understand this newfangled OPS what everyone keeps trumpeting.)
That said, could someone help me out with this "Win Shares" jazz?
Cheers!
4. Win Shares are a stat of Bill James' construction used to dole out shares of team wins to individual players based on batting, fielding, and pitching. See James' book of the same title.