How Good is Jay Gibbons?

There is debate amongst Orioles followers regarding the value of Jay Gibbons to the Baltimore Orioles. Gibbons supporters claim he is a hustling ballplayer with adequate range in right field and a moderately powerful left handed hitter. Gibbons detractors claim he is mediocre at best in all facets of the game and would represent almost no loss if the Orioles didn't have him.

Gibbons has been absent from the O's lineup most of the past month due to the death of his father followed immediately by a trip to the DL (where he remains as of today).

For this season, Gibbons offensive production is as follows:

Player	Games	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	OBP	AVG
Gibbons	48	190	22	52	12	10	29	10	.312	.274

Using a "Run Production per Game" formula of (Runs + RBI - HR), Gibbons produced .85 Runs per Game.

Gibbons has hit behind Miguel Tejada and ahead of Ramon Hernandez for most of those 48 games. Tejada's offensive production looks like this:

Player	Games	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	OBP	AVG
Tejada w/Gibbons	48	195	39	62	8	13	35	16	.370	.318
Tejada w/o Gibbons	27	114	15	33	6	3	19	9	.339	.289

Tejada has produced 1.27 runs per game with Gibbons hitting behind him and 1.14 runs per game w/o Gibbons behind him. So, sans Gibbons, the O's lose his .85 runs per game plus .13 runs per game from Tejada for a total Gibbons Effective Runs per Game value of .98.

Ramon Hernandez offensive production looks like this:

Player	Games	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	OBP	AVG
Hernandez w/Gibbons	43	157	20	49	4	8	36	16	.383	.312
Hernandez w/o Gibbons	27	106	9	25	10	4	15	7	.281	.236

Ramon has a 1.12 Runs per Game with Gibbons in front of him and .74 runs per game w/o Gibbons for a differential of .38 runs per game bringing Gibbons Effective Runs per Game to 1.36.

The Orioles, as a team, have scored 5.17 runs per game with Gibbons in the lineup and 4.39 runs per game w/o Gibbons in the lineup (a difference of .78 runs per game). So, the O's have managed to replace .58 effective runs per game of Gibbons 1.36 effective runs per game contribution.

The bottom line is that Gibbons is twice as productive as anyone the Orioles have to take his place and he improves the productivity of Tejada in front and Hernandez behind him. It's enough for me to wish for Gibbons' speedy recovery.