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The last player to lead the Cardinals in multiple years bWAR was Albert Pujols. I thought this was an interesting statistic.

Pujols (2011?)
Goldschmidt
Arenado
Donny
Winn or Willson 2024?
Carpenter
Yadi
wainwright
Edman

who are we missing?

Catfish4U wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 13:09 pm The last player to lead the Cardinals in multiple years bWAR was Albert Pujols. I thought this was an interesting statistic.

WAR is not a statistic.

Parity!

Oh wait…

Melville wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 14:40 pm

Catfish4U wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 13:09 pm The last player to lead the Cardinals in multiple years bWAR was Albert Pujols. I thought this was an interesting statistic.

WAR is not a statistic.

ME ville speaks and ... no one listens

The stars have gone out in STL. Donovan would be the 15th different bWAR leader in 15 years.

The Cards have had at least one player with 5.0 bWAR every season since 1994... until 2023.

1994 3.1 hard hittin' Mark Whiten (short season, scales to 4.4)

2011 5.3 Albert Pujols
2012 7.2 Yadier Molina
2013 6.6 Matt Carpenter, 6.5 Adam Wainwright, 6.2 Yadier Molina
2014 6.4 Adam Wainwright, 5.8 Jhonny Peralta
2015 7.0 Jason Heyward, 5.7 John Lackey
2016 6.1 Carlos Martinez
2017 6.3 Tommy Pham
2018 5.3 Miles Mikolas
2019 5.9 Jack Flaherty, 5.4 Kolton Wong, 5.3 Paul DeJong
2020 2.0 Paul Goldschmidt (short season, scales to 5.6)
2021 6.4 Tyler O'Neill, 5.9 Paul Goldschmidt
2022 7.9 Nolan Arenado, 7.7 Paul Goldschmidt, 6.2 Tommy Edman
2023 3.3 Willson Contreras
2024 4.9 Masyn Winn
2025 2.9 Brendan Donovan (so far, scales to 4.8 )

20 different players posted 5.0bWAR in the 2011-2022 seasons. Molina 2, Wainwright 2, Goldschmidt 3 did it multiple times.

We have seen 2.6 seasons now without anyone with 5.0 bWAR.

cardstatman wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 17:25 pm The stars have gone out in STL. Donovan would be the 15th different bWAR leader in 15 years.

The Cards have had at least one player with 5.0 bWAR every season since 1994... until 2023.

1994 3.1 hard hittin' Mark Whiten (short season, scales to 4.4)

2011 5.3 Albert Pujols
2012 7.2 Yadier Molina
2013 6.6 Matt Carpenter, 6.5 Adam Wainwright, 6.2 Yadier Molina
2014 6.4 Adam Wainwright, 5.8 Jhonny Peralta
2015 7.0 Jason Heyward, 5.7 John Lackey
2016 6.1 Carlos Martinez
2017 6.3 Tommy Pham
2018 5.3 Miles Mikolas
2019 5.9 Jack Flaherty, 5.4 Kolton Wong, 5.3 Paul DeJong
2020 2.0 Paul Goldschmidt (short season, scales to 5.6)
2021 6.4 Tyler O'Neill, 5.9 Paul Goldschmidt
2022 7.9 Nolan Arenado, 7.7 Paul Goldschmidt, 6.2 Tommy Edman
2023 3.3 Willson Contreras
2024 4.9 Masyn Winn
2025 2.9 Brendan Donovan (so far, scales to 4.8 )

20 different players posted 5.0bWAR in the 2011-2022 seasons. Molina 2, Wainwright 2, Goldschmidt 3 did it multiple times.

We have seen 2.6 seasons now without anyone with 5.0 bWAR.

Good work. No superstars for quite a while.

ClassicO wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 17:30 pm

cardstatman wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 17:25 pm The stars have gone out in STL. Donovan would be the 15th different bWAR leader in 15 years.

The Cards have had at least one player with 5.0 bWAR every season since 1994... until 2023.

1994 3.1 hard hittin' Mark Whiten (short season, scales to 4.4)

2011 5.3 Albert Pujols
2012 7.2 Yadier Molina
2013 6.6 Matt Carpenter, 6.5 Adam Wainwright, 6.2 Yadier Molina
2014 6.4 Adam Wainwright, 5.8 Jhonny Peralta
2015 7.0 Jason Heyward, 5.7 John Lackey
2016 6.1 Carlos Martinez
2017 6.3 Tommy Pham
2018 5.3 Miles Mikolas
2019 5.9 Jack Flaherty, 5.4 Kolton Wong, 5.3 Paul DeJong
2020 2.0 Paul Goldschmidt (short season, scales to 5.6)
2021 6.4 Tyler O'Neill, 5.9 Paul Goldschmidt
2022 7.9 Nolan Arenado, 7.7 Paul Goldschmidt, 6.2 Tommy Edman
2023 3.3 Willson Contreras
2024 4.9 Masyn Winn
2025 2.9 Brendan Donovan (so far, scales to 4.8 )

20 different players posted 5.0bWAR in the 2011-2022 seasons. Molina 2, Wainwright 2, Goldschmidt 3 did it multiple times.

We have seen 2.6 seasons now without anyone with 5.0 bWAR.

Good work. No superstars for quite a while.

Fangraphs defines All-Star level production as 4-5 fWAR. I went back looking for the last homegrown Cardinals player to have two or more >= 4 WAR seasons. Turns out it was Matt Carpenter (he did it four times), and he fully matriculated from the farm system in 2012.

Catfish4U wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 13:09 pm The last player to lead the Cardinals in multiple years bWAR was Albert Pujols. I thought this was an interesting statistic.

Very interesting and certainly without precedent in Cardinal history. I can see you used Baseball-Reference's franchise pages. Another way Baseball-Reference designates the top player is by posting pictures near the top of each season's summary.

Let me call your attention to the 2023 season. Goldy is pictured first, indicating he was the top player. He is followed by Nootbaar and Contreras. However, the franchise page lists Contreras as the top player. B-R only shows WAR rounded to tenths so all we can see is that all three players had bWAR 3.3 for 2023. When this is calculated more precisely, I don't know which player had the highest bWAR for that year. Contreras is named in the franchise pages, yet Goldy is pictured first.

Incidentally, until recently, Baseball-Reference credited both Goldy and Contreras with bWAR 3.4 for 2023. They were both pictured ahead of Nootbaar whose 3.3 bWAR is unchanged.

Goldy is a two-time leader according to fWAR. According to fangraphs, he was the top Cardinal in 2020 and 2023.

dugoutrex wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 17:16 pm

Melville wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 14:40 pm

Catfish4U wrote: ↑16 Jul 2025 13:09 pm The last player to lead the Cardinals in multiple years bWAR was Albert Pujols. I thought this was an interesting statistic.

WAR is not a statistic.

ME ville speaks and ... no one listens

Worth noting that one cannot listen to a typed post.
Also worth noting posts are read - which, of course, you did.
In fact, you undoubtedly search and read every one of mine.
A wise practice.