The Sodfather is worth 2-4 wins???

White Sox head groundskeeper Roger Bossard: "A good groundskeeper can be worth 2 to 4 games."

— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) June 30, 2020

I had to listen to this interview myself, which was actually a fun one with Roger Bossard on the McNeil and Parkins show on 670 The Score. He’s like a modern day Carl Spackler.

The claim though, seems outrageous….big league regulars are worth about 2 Wins (or WAR as it is often referred to, we’ll use bWAR or Baseball References version of the statistic) and 4 Wins or bWAR are reserved for all-star level players. It seems that the Sodfather is implying he’s as valuable as those types of on-field talent. Now, it doesn’t appear Baseball Reference has a tracking of his bWAR since he became head groundskeeper back in 1983, but I think we can piece together what his career bWAR might look like….

I wasn’t expecting this….look how he lines up career bWAR.

You’d have to think he might have made a real run at Maddux and Matthewson if it weren’t for those two strike shortened seasons. Regardless, I’m kinda thinking Jerry Reinsdorf and Tony LaRussa were barking up the wrong tree with their strong veterans committee campaign for Harold Baines (whom I fucking loved as a player, one of my faves as a kid) recently and should’ve been trying to shove for the Sodfather, he’s got the stat-head community vote for sure if my numbers are even close to correct.

Just another example of “baseball people” missing the point when it comes to how these games are won.

-BeefLoaf