2007 Baseball Player All-Star Rankings - Methodology

Offensive Measures:
∆SLG = Slugging Percentage (for player, 2006) - Slugging Percentage (for player's league)

HRP = Home run Premium = 25% of Average Player Salary (2006)*Home runs (2006)

Defensive Measure:
∆FP = Fielding Percentage (for player, 2006) - Fielding Percentage (for player's league)

3. Worth - The philosophy behind the new statistic, "worth" , created by Jason Anastasopoulos at the Labor & Worklife Program at Harvard Law School is that a player's "true worth" should be a function of the average MLB salary (AVGS) plus a premium (P) for superior offensive (O) and/or defensive (D) performance and an additional premium for homeruns (HRP).

Offensive performance is weighted more heavily than defensive (80% [40% from Home run premium, 40% from ∆SLG]  v. 20% , respectively) because differences in Fielding Percentage often vary greatly according to the position that a player is in.  The formula is below:

                        Players Worth = AVGS + P  = AVGS + [O + D + HRP]

                        = AVGS + [(0.4)*∆SLG*AVGS + (0.2)*∆FP*AVGS + (0.4)*HRP*AVGS]

4. How Players Were Ranked - After calculating Worth, it was determined whether players were overpaid/underpaid by using this formula:

                        Overpaid/Underpaid = Player's 2006 Salary - Player's Worth

Using this measure , players were then ranked from lowest to highest. Those players that had a (-) dollar amount meant that they were getting "less than they were worth" given their performance and the average MLB salary in 2006 and thus were underpaid.

Those with (+) dollar amounts using this formula meant that they were getting "more than they were worth" given their performance and the average MLB salary in 2006, thus they were "overpaid".