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Baseball Math Ain't THAT New Yet -- A Lesson in Subtraction & Addition

The following tables should be considered when discussing the Red Sox' acquisition of Adrian Gonzalez.

Batting stats in 2010 for Adrian Beltre
Hits Doubles Homers RBI
189 49 28 102

Batting statsin 2010 for Victor Martinez
Hits Doubles Homers RBI
149 32 20 79

Batting stats in 2010 for Gonzalez
Hits Doubles Homers RBI
176 33 31 101

Add Tables 1 and 2 and subtract table 3 and we see that the Sox have not quite replaced the power hitting represented by free agents Martinez and Beltre by trading for Gonzalez. That doesn't make it a bad trade, practically nothing could. But it does indicate that one hitter, no matter how talented, seldom equals the production of two pretty good ones.

Doesn't save much money, either, if we can believe the numbers Gonzalez is said to be getting from the Sox.

posted by Michael Gee @ 12:13 PM