Way to justify your point with comments from the Star.

And don’t forget CWARRDM (Consequential Wins Above Real Replacement, Dayton Moore), which is a calculation based on the amount of wasted dollars a team led by Dayton Moore spends trying to make up for a traded player, times a multiplier of runs gained (or most likely lost) by the real replacement player(s).

Two separate issues are being confused here: 1) The value of Crisp to the Royals, specifically, which involves playing time and positional issues within the team, and 2) the value of Crisp to all teams general, which, whatever his value ot the ROyals specifically, is what he’s worth on the open FA/trade market.

1) THere are cases to be made about whether or not Crisp was really an upgrade over. I was one of the more vocal critics of the trade at the time (and about the only one on either side this site to back it up with statistical evidence re: offensive and defensive projections at the time, if I may toot my own horn) because Crisp isn’t as good overall as DDJ. I backed off my fierce attack (inspired in part by my affection for DDJ and RamRam), although I’m still ambivalent about it.

However, the issue isn’t just DDJ vs. Crisp for the outfield… there are other players involved. Who would be the third outfielder? I think it’s clear to everyone here that Jose Guillen is the worst player ofr DDJ-Crisp-Teahen-Hoagy, and it was at the time. But we knew that Guillen because he thought Jose Guillen was the Royals best hitter (can you imagine?). So is Crisp-DDJ better in the outfield than Teahen-DDJ? I didn’t think so at first, but after the trade better stats and projections became available re: OF defense, and I backed off.

The funny thing is, in any case, that DDJ isn’t really the issue. Crisp was (at the time of his trade and up until his injury) certainly one of the best three OFs (all performance issues considered) on the team — it’s Jose Guillen that’s the continual issue, as I’m sure everyone who understands WAR knows — his surprisingly average hitting is more than offset by being the worst defender in baseball according to UZR+position per innings this season.

I’m a bit off track here, but the point is this: RamRam aside, even on this team, Crisp can still be measured against replacement level (well, in Guillen’s case, replacement level would be a significiant improvement) — because Guillen is the one playing, and the guy who’s playing in Gordon’s absence with Crisp gone is Maier, another replacement level schlub.

2) But all this if of partial relevance when evaluating the trade. Nturally, when trading with other teams or negotating with free agents, they don’t really care about the Royals specific needs to who is displaced. WAR is also an economic concept — generic value over a “free” player. Sure, the Royals need to consider if they have room for the player, but if they could get over THE BEST HITTER ON THE ROYALS (Jose Guillen, supposedly), they’d see that there was a place for Crisp — he still provides marginal value commensurate with his WAR. But that’s what I discussed in 1). My point here is that when evaluating a trade or FA acquisition, you still have to consider that you have to offer something as if it’s on the open market…

Does this mean it was a smart trade? Not necessarily. But confusing things with CWARRDM and other stuff, while worth looking at, doesn’t really make the case against the trade any stronger.

And if you think I’m blindly defending Dayton Moore, then take some time out from fantasizing about threesomes with Jose Guillen and Kyle Farnsworth and think again.