Hobbled Cabrera Ranked Last Defensively Among Third Basemen

In previous posts, I looked at the Revised Zone Rating (RZR) and Out-of-Zone Plays (OOZ) metrics listed at FanGraphs.  Links to these posts are provided below:

• Conversion of RZR, OOZ to runs (from 2012)

• Shortstops

• Second basemen

Now, I'm going to to do the above conversion for third basemen.  Table 1 below contains the following information for 24 MLB third basemen with 800 or more innings in 2013:

• Inn = Innings

• RZR = Revised Zone Rating

• OOZ = Out-of-Zone Plays

• PIZAA =  Plays in Zone Above Average

• OOZAA = Out-of-Zone Plays Above Average

• PMAA = Total Plays Above Average

• RSAA = Runs Saved Above Average

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado was the MLB leader in RSAA (+42) followed by Nolan Arenado of the Rockies (+39).

Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera finished dead last with -27 RSAA which means he cost the Tigers an estimated 27 runs compared to an average third baseman given the same opportunities.  Cabrera was about equally as bad making plays in the zone (-16 plays below average) as out of zone (-18).  There is no doubt that part of that was due to his second-half injuries, but he also finished last in 2012 when he -18 runs worse than average.

Cabrera fared a little worse on this measure than an other advanced metrics, but there was universal agreement that he was well below average in 2013: -12 according to Baseball Prospectus' FRAA,  -17 on Total Zone and -18 on Defensive Runs Saved. 

With Prince Fielder traded to the Rangers, it is likely that Cabrera will go to first base in 2014, a move that should help the Tigers defensively at two positions.  At the moment, it appears that rookie Nick Castellanos is the leading candidate to replace Cabrera at third.  I've heard mixed reviews on Castellanos and he may be no better than a healthy Cabrera defensively, but should be better than the 2013 version.  Meanwhile, Cabrera should do significantly better as a first baseman than Fielder, but that's the topic of a later post in this series.

Table 1: Runs Saved by MLB Third Basemen According to RZR, OOZ, 2013

Player	Team	Inn	RZR	OOZ	PIZ AA	OOZ AA	PMAA	RSAA
Manny Machado	BAL	1,390	.818	73	29	24	53	42
Nolan Arenado	COL	1,110	.799	67	21	28	49	39
Pedro Alvarez	PIT	1,328	.754	74	10	27	37	30
Juan Uribe	LAD	900	.830	46	23	14	37	30
David Wright	NYM	1,003	.747	47	5	11	16	13
Martin Prado	ARI	881	.789	34	13	3	16	13
Matt Dominguez	HOU	1,312	.730	55	2	9	10	8
Brett Lawrie	TOR	888	.764	31	8	-0	7	6
Todd Frazier	CIN	1,256	.730	49	1	4	5	4
Placido Polanco	MIA	849	.734	30	1	-0	1	1
Evan Longoria	TBR	1,289	.742	42	5	-4	1	1
Josh Donaldson	OAK	1,373	.738	40	3	-9	-5	-4
Conor Gillaspie	CHW	940	.699	34	-6	1	-5	-4
Chase Headley	SDP	1,235	.738	33	3	-11	-7	-6
Chris Johnson	ATL	1,020	.714	28	-3	-8	-11	-9
Adrian Beltre	TEX	1,289	.704	37	-6	-9	-15	-12
Trevor Plouffe	MIN	1,035	.727	21	0	-16	-15	-12
Ryan Zimmerman	WSN	1,245	.668	45	-17	1	-16	-13
David Freese	STL	1,050	.658	36	-15	-1	-16	-13
Michael Young	- -	890	.662	29	-14	-3	-16	-13
Pablo Sandoval	SFG	1,152	.665	38	-14	-3	-17	-14
Mike Moustakas	KCR	1,129	.724	22	-0	-18	-18	-15
Kyle Seager	SEA	1,425	.697	39	-10	-11	-22	-17
Miguel Cabrera	DET	1,234	.656	26	-16	-18	-33	-27

Data source: FanGraphs.com