MLS 2009 Plus/Minus Data

What is plus/minus? It's a hockey statistic which "...measures the team goal differential when a specific player is on the ice." It's also being used more and more in other sports, such as basketball. In soccer, we haven't seen too much of it yet. I know Dave from Sounder at Heart loves to talk about it, and it was also used on the MLS Cup broadcast. They mentioned that David Beckham had a plus/minus of +10, which was a figure that included the playoffs (he's +7 for the regular season). I'm sure people would discuss it more, except that no one is keeping track of it (at least publicly). Well, I've put an end to that problem. I have gone through every game of the 2009 regular season and figured out the +/- for each player. In doing this, I've decided to only include the minutes played where both teams were at full strength, and only goals scored and allowed during 11 on 11 play are included below. All minutes and goals in a game after a red card has occurred aren't included. Doesn't matter whether it was 11v10, 10v10, 10v9, or 11v9. If you're interested in seeing how many minutes each team played and goals they scored in each of those situations, click here. Why do it that way? I don't think it's fair to include the minutes where one team has a clear advantage. It's also been suggested that maybe the player who gets a red card should be punished somehow, possibly by counting the goals scored later against him. I don't think that's fair either; to me that's the realm of a player rating system, not plus/minus. I've also decided to count own goals just like any other goals. Even if they're the result of a mistake by one player, you still have to take into account the way that the attacking team got into the position to score. Let's break it down by team. When looking at these results, obviously playing time is a huge factor. That's especially true for those teams with a large positive or negative GD. I'm not sure how useful of a stat this is, but it certainly is interesting to look at. It's probably better to compare players who play the same position, or have a similar amount of playing time (since the more you get, the closer you are to the team average). I've also figured out the league leaders in plus/minus per 90 minutes, both in unadjusted and adjusted forms. That's at the bottom of this post. Asterisks indicate that a player played for more than one team in 2009. The team's 11v11 goal differential is in parenthesis. Only regular season games are included below. CHICAGO (-1) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Daniel Woolard 409 8 3 5 1.100 Cuauhtemoc Blanco 1308 21 17 4 0.275 Mike Banner 893 13 9 4 0.403 Justin Mapp 941 12 10 2 0.191 Baggio Husidic 420 3 1 2 0.429 Tim Ward 1469 19 18 1 0.061 Bakary Soumare 1198 17 16 1 0.075 Dasan Robinson 903 11 10 1 0.100 Calen Carr 84 1 1 1.071 Wilman Conde 1400 20 20 0 0.000 Jon Busch 2460 31 32 -1 -0.037 Patrick Nyarko 1777 20 21 -1 -0.051 Chris Rolfe 1711 22 23 -1 -0.053 Gonzalo Segares 768 11 12 -1 -0.117 Marco Pappa 2145 30 32 -2 -0.084 Brian McBride 1765 22 24 -2 -0.102 John Thorrington 1485 16 18 -2 -0.121 Peter Lowry 654 9 11 -2 -0.275 Logan Pause 2083 25 28 -3 -0.130 Stefan Dimitrov 119 3 -3 -2.269 Brandon Prideaux 1308 15 19 -4 -0.275 C.J. Brown 1412 14 19 -5 -0.319 Austin Washington 349 1 6 -5 -1.289 To no one's surprise, Blanco comes off looking pretty good here. The Fire was +4 when he was on the field, and -5 when he wasn't. CHIVAS USA (+3) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Mariano Trujillo 1395 21 11 10 0.645 Justin Braun 1127 19 10 9 0.719 Zach Thornton 2124 29 21 8 0.339 Carey Talley 2179 31 24 7 0.289 Eduardo Lillingston 1191 17 11 6 0.453 Jesse Marsch 1613 23 18 5 0.279 Atiba Harris*** 880 12 7 5 0.511 Michael Lahoud 765 12 7 5 0.588 Sacha Kljestan 1829 24 21 3 0.148 Shavar Thomas 1270 17 14 3 0.213 Jonathan Bornstein 2028 27 25 2 0.089 Yamith Cuesta 733 10 8 2 0.246 Jorge Flores 302 3 2 1 0.298 Paulo Nagamura 2039 25 25 0 0.000 Maykel Galindo 1322 17 17 0 0.000 Gerson Mayen 361 6 6 0 0.000 Jim Curtin 127 2 2 0 0.000 Claudio Suarez 90 0 0.000 Bobby Burling*** 106 1 -1 -0.849 Jesus Padilla 686 6 8 -2 -0.262 Maicon Santos 634 8 10 -2 -0.284 Bojan Stepanovic 632 7 9 -2 -0.285 Chukwudi Chijindu 350 2 4 -2 -0.514 Alecko Eskandarian*** 177 1 3 -2 -1.017 Ante Jazic 1001 13 17 -4 -0.360 Marcelo Saragosa*** 603 6 10 -4 -0.597 Lance Parker 262 2 7 -5 -1.718 Sasha Victorine 420 1 10 -9 -1.929 Now here's a team with some extreme swings in the numbers, thanks to the great start. I'm not sure any player in this entire post comes off looking worse than Victorine. A -9 in 420 minutes of action, for a team that was +3 overall. And maybe Preki should've played the Mexicans Lillingston and Trujillo when it counted most. COLORADO (-3) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Jacob Peterson 1030 15 10 5 0.437 Jamie Smith 165 5 1 4 2.182 Facundo Diz 77 4 4 4.675 Matt Pickens 1539 25 22 3 0.175 Terry Cooke 373 6 3 3 0.724 Colin Clark 1288 21 19 2 0.140 Michael Holody 66 3 1 2 2.727 Ugo Ihemelu*** 1586 24 23 1 0.057 Gregory Richardson 11 0 0.000 Ross Schunk 4 0 0.000 Scott Palguta 1602 22 23 -1 -0.056 Cory Gibbs 1454 23 25 -2 -0.124 Ty Harden 72 2 -2 -2.500 Jordan Harvey 2380 32 35 -3 -0.113 Omar Cummings 2258 33 36 -3 -0.120 Nick LaBrocca 2201 31 34 -3 -0.123 Pablo Mastroeni 2021 29 32 -3 -0.134 Julien Baudet 769 9 12 -3 -0.351 Pat Noonan*** 757 9 12 -3 -0.357 Conor Casey 1934 28 32 -4 -0.186 Drew Moor*** 675 7 11 -4 -0.533 Kosuke Kimura 1724 23 28 -5 -0.261 Preston Burpo 928 10 16 -6 -0.582 Greg Dalby 232 3 9 -6 -2.328 Mehdi Ballouchy 1991 23 32 -9 -0.407 No Rapids fan will be shocked to see Ballouchy with the worst +/- on the team, -9. It's highly amusing to see Diz at +4 in only 77 minutes, through little or no contribution of his own. Too bad many of the top players here got injured (Peterson, Pickens, Clark) or they probably would've made the playoffs. COLUMBUS (+11) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Eric Brunner 1952 31 17 14 0.645 Danny O'Rourke 2209 36 25 11 0.448 Steven Lenhart 1020 17 7 10 0.882 Gino Padula 2213 33 24 9 0.366 Emmanuel Ekpo 1839 30 21 9 0.440 Eddie Gaven 2276 34 26 8 0.316 Brian Carroll 2184 34 26 8 0.330 William Hesmer 1628 25 18 7 0.387 Chad Marshall 1496 24 17 7 0.421 Robbie Rogers 1624 24 18 6 0.333 Alejandro Moreno 1520 24 18 6 0.355 Jed Zayner 1355 19 14 5 0.332 Frankie Hejduk 1242 18 13 5 0.362 Andy Gruenebaum 826 14 9 5 0.545 Adam Moffat 503 8 4 4 0.716 Emilio Renteria 167 3 3 1.617 G. Barros Schelotto 1706 23 21 2 0.106 Kevin Burns 340 3 2 1 0.265 Duncan Oughton 194 5 4 1 0.464 Pat Noonan*** 166 3 2 1 0.542 Alex Grendi 127 2 1 1 0.709 Jason Garey 691 10 10 0 0.000 Andy Iro 599 9 9 0 0.000 Kenny Schoeni 90 1 -1 -1.000 Cory Elenio 17 1 -1 -5.294 Schelotto has the worst +/- of all the Crew starters. They did play pretty well without him, remember that stretch in the middle of the season? Also, compare Lenhart and Moreno. Did Warzycha make the right moves in game one against RSL? DALLAS (+1) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 George John 1142 26 15 11 0.867 Ugo Ihemelu*** 686 19 11 8 1.050 Dario Sala 1109 25 18 7 0.568 Jair Benitez 1079 26 19 7 0.584 Daniel Hernandez 525 13 6 7 1.200 Jeff Cunningham 1823 38 32 6 0.296 Brek Shea 656 16 10 6 0.823 Atiba Harris*** 977 23 18 5 0.461 Dax McCarty 2240 42 39 3 0.121 Heath Pearce 477 9 6 3 0.566 Eric Avila 265 7 5 2 0.679 Marvin Chavez 233 6 4 2 0.773 Alvaro Sanchez 141 3 1 2 1.277 David Ferreira 2472 44 43 1 0.036 Pablo Ricchetti 1738 34 33 1 0.052 Kyle Davies 762 12 12 0 0.000 Anthony Wallace 442 7 7 0 0.000 Peri Marosevic 47 0 0.000 Michael Dello-Russo 162 1 3 -2 -1.111 Bruno Guarda 139 1 3 -2 -1.295 Aaron Pitchkolan*** 45 2 -2 -4.000 Dave van den Bergh 2289 35 39 -4 -0.157 Marcelo Saragosa*** 551 6 10 -4 -0.653 Kenny Cooper 1190 16 21 -5 -0.378 Blake Wagner 699 8 13 -5 -0.644 Steve Purdy 338 2 7 -5 -1.331 Ray Burse 1363 19 25 -6 -0.396 Daniel Torres 722 9 16 -7 -0.873 Andre Rocha 1163 15 23 -8 -0.619 Drew Moor*** 1719 22 32 -10 -0.524 You can easily tell from this list which players featured in the first and second halves of the season. When you combine his minutes with Chivas and Dallas, Harris is at +10 in 1,857 minutes. DC UNITED (-1) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Fred 1341 23 18 5 0.336 Luciano Emilio 2001 33 30 3 0.135 Jaime Moreno 1170 22 20 2 0.154 Thabiso Khumalo 357 7 5 2 0.504 Steve Cronin 172 3 1 2 1.047 Christian Gomez 1612 25 24 1 0.056 Louis Crayton 521 9 8 1 0.173 Ange N'Silu 452 8 7 1 0.199 Devon McTavish 427 6 5 1 0.211 Clyde Simms 2368 36 36 0 0.000 Bryan Namoff 2270 38 38 0 0.000 Marc Burch 2114 36 36 0 0.000 Chris Pontius 2035 37 37 0 0.000 Greg Janicki 411 7 7 0 0.000 Brandon Barklage 98 3 3 0 0.000 Danny Szetela 90 1 1 0 0.000 Dejan Jakovic 2018 33 34 -1 -0.045 Josh Wicks 1635 25 26 -1 -0.055 Ben Olsen 1339 19 20 -1 -0.067 Julius James*** 640 8 9 -1 -0.141 John DiRaimondo 45 1 -1 -2.000 Francis Doe 40 1 -1 -2.250 Avery John 344 5 7 -2 -0.523 Rodney Wallace 2201 33 36 -3 -0.123 Milos Kocic 283 5 8 -3 -0.954 Lawson Vaughn 193 1 4 -3 -1.399 Santino Quaranta 1711 26 32 -6 -0.316 Andrew Jacobson 834 13 19 -6 -0.647 Fred and Emilio come out on top of the DC list. Many United fans seem ready to dump both of them and move on. HOUSTON (+10) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Bobby Boswell 2248 34 22 12 0.480 Geoff Cameron 2290 34 23 11 0.432 Stuart Holden 2020 32 21 11 0.490 Andrew Hainault 1425 25 14 11 0.695 Pat Onstad 2380 35 25 10 0.378 Brad Davis 1934 26 17 9 0.419 Brian Ching 1390 22 13 9 0.583 Kei Kamara*** 1605 20 12 8 0.449 Ricardo Clark 1804 25 19 6 0.299 Brian Mullan 1713 23 18 5 0.263 Richard Mulrooney 1197 14 10 4 0.301 Craig Waibel 669 10 6 4 0.538 Dominic Oduro*** 667 13 9 4 0.540 Luis Angel Landin 278 4 2 2 0.647 Cam Weaver*** 263 5 3 2 0.684 Ryan Cochrane*** 245 6 4 2 0.735 Corey Ashe 1124 16 15 1 0.080 Wade Barrett 880 12 11 1 0.102 Mike Chabala 843 13 12 1 0.107 Julius James*** 490 9 9 0 0.000 Ade Akinbiyi 229 2 2 0 0.000 Danny Cruz 107 1 1 0 0.000 Erik Ustruck 40 0 0.000 Chris Wondolowski*** 264 3 4 -1 -0.341 Abe Thompson*** 46 1 2 -1 -1.957 Eddie Robinson 30 1 -1 -3.000 Hard to look bad playing for Houston, though some are barely in the positive like Ashe/Barrett/Chabala. KANSAS CITY (-10) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Michael Kraus 98 3 1 2 1.837 Zoltan Hercegfalvi 220 5 4 1 0.409 Chance Myers 98 2 2 0 0.000 Kevin Souter 59 0 0.000 Kurt Morsink 141 2 3 -1 -0.638 Abe Thompson*** 107 1 -1 -0.841 Matt Marquess 85 1 2 -1 -1.059 Roger Espinoza 566 6 8 -2 -0.318 Jimmy Conrad 1663 21 24 -3 -0.162 Kei Kamara*** 351 3 6 -3 -0.769 Jonathan Leathers 778 8 12 -4 -0.463 Graham Zusi 445 6 10 -4 -0.809 Rauwshan McKenzie 406 1 5 -4 -0.887 Josh Wolff 1926 22 28 -6 -0.280 Santiago Hirsig 1655 17 23 -6 -0.326 Michael Harrington 1365 15 21 -6 -0.396 Adam Cristman 201 6 -6 -2.687 Claudio Lopez 2021 23 30 -7 -0.312 Herculez Gomez 1274 14 21 -7 -0.495 Lance Watson 1244 10 17 -7 -0.506 Matt Besler 1771 19 27 -8 -0.407 Aaron Hohlbein 1540 13 21 -8 -0.468 Davy Arnaud 1705 19 28 -9 -0.475 Kevin Hartman 2171 23 33 -10 -0.415 Jack Jewsbury 1991 20 30 -10 -0.452 Conrad (-3) stands out as the best of the Wizards' regulars. Meanwhile, ouch: Cristman is at -6 in only 201 minutes. LOS ANGELES (+8) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Omar Gonzalez 2354 34 26 8 0.306 Todd Dunivant 1901 28 20 8 0.379 Landon Donovan 1887 29 21 8 0.382 Eddie Lewis 1690 21 13 8 0.426 Gregg Berhalter 2053 27 20 7 0.307 A.J. DeLaGarza 1523 21 14 7 0.414 David Beckham 875 15 8 7 0.720 Donovan Ricketts 1987 27 22 5 0.226 Stefani Miglioranzi 1609 22 17 5 0.280 Edson Buddle 1177 18 13 5 0.382 Alecko Eskandarian*** 213 5 5 2.113 Sean Franklin 1043 14 10 4 0.345 Alan Gordon 975 16 12 4 0.369 Jovan Kirovski 1060 13 10 3 0.255 Chris Birchall 521 6 3 3 0.518 Josh Saunders 395 7 4 3 0.684 Josh Tudela 481 8 6 2 0.374 Leonard Griffin 16 1 1 5.625 Dema Kovalenko 1082 13 13 0 0.000 Chris Klein 961 15 15 0 0.000 Bryan Jordan 377 5 5 0 0.000 Kyle Patterson 124 4 4 0 0.000 Tristan Bowen 1 0 0.000 Mike Magee 1373 17 18 -1 -0.066 Tony Sanneh 524 8 12 -4 -0.687 Looking at this makes me wonder how a healthy Eskandarian would've changed the Galaxy's season. Magee, Klein, and Kovalenko don't come off looking good, while Sanneh was a liability on the field. NEW ENGLAND (-1) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Kevin Alston 2087 27 21 6 0.259 Matt Reis 1975 25 20 5 0.228 Emmanuel Osei 1750 23 19 4 0.206 Steve Ralston 1348 20 16 4 0.267 Taylor Twellman 109 5 1 4 3.303 Shalrie Joseph 2072 30 28 2 0.087 Kenny Mansally 1562 20 18 2 0.115 Mauricio Castro 203 3 1 2 0.887 Jeff Larentowicz 2242 27 26 1 0.040 Chris Albright 90 2 1 1 1.000 Nico Colaluca 105 1 1 0 0.000 Stephane Assengue 37 0 0.000 Darrius Barnes 2448 30 31 -1 -0.037 Kheli Dube 1608 16 17 -1 -0.056 Pat Phelan 973 13 14 -1 -0.092 Jay Heaps 1959 26 28 -2 -0.092 Edgaras Jankauskas 567 3 5 -2 -0.317 Sainey Nyassi 1740 19 23 -4 -0.207 Wells Thompson 1523 19 24 -5 -0.295 Chris Tierney 1044 10 16 -6 -0.517 Brad Knighton 473 5 11 -6 -1.142 Michael Videira 418 2 8 -6 -1.292 Amaechi Igwe 596 4 12 -8 -1.208 Playing in that 0-6 demolition at RSL certainly affected some of the bottom players here. But it didn't stop Joseph from finishing in the positive. NEW YORK (-15) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Walter Garcia 81 4 4 4.444 Carlos Johnson 871 11 8 3 0.310 Bouna Coundoul 675 8 7 1 0.133 Khano Smith 449 5 4 1 0.200 Alec Dufty 70 0 0.000 Matthew Mbuta 192 2 4 -2 -0.938 Leo Krupnik 135 2 -2 -1.333 Dominic Oduro*** 58 2 -2 -3.103 Danleigh Borman 1221 12 15 -3 -0.221 Macoumba Kandji 1577 21 25 -4 -0.228 Andrew Boyens 1072 11 15 -4 -0.336 Ernst Oebster 157 4 -4 -2.293 John Wolyniec 710 5 10 -5 -0.634 Juan Pietravallo 174 5 -5 -2.586 Albert Celades 1146 16 22 -6 -0.471 Sinisa Ubiparipovic 1103 14 20 -6 -0.490 Alfredo Pacheco 976 12 18 -6 -0.553 Carlos Mendes 693 5 11 -6 -0.779 Danny Cepero 982 11 19 -8 -0.733 Jon Conway 643 6 14 -8 -1.120 Juan Pablo Angel 1858 23 32 -9 -0.436 Kevin Goldthwaite 1206 14 23 -9 -0.672 Seth Stammler 2023 22 32 -10 -0.445 Dane Richards 1758 18 28 -10 -0.512 Jorge Rojas 1321 12 23 -11 -0.749 Jeremy Hall 1823 20 32 -12 -0.592 Mike Petke 1381 13 27 -14 -0.912 Luke Sassano 989 7 21 -14 -1.274 Nick Zimmerman 726 3 17 -14 -1.736 Yes, Khano Smith was in the positive. That's not a mistake. There's still "hard man" Pietravallo to laugh at, though. Zimmerman, just like his fellow Philadelphia Union expansion draft pick Jacobson for DC, finished last on his team. REAL SALT LAKE (+10) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Jamison Olave 1890 35 20 15 0.714 Nick Rimando 2070 38 26 12 0.522 Nat Borchers 2367 40 29 11 0.418 Andy Williams 736 19 8 11 1.345 Will Johnson 2054 36 26 10 0.438 Tony Beltran 1728 30 20 10 0.521 Chris Wingert 2169 40 31 9 0.373 Fabian Espindola 1377 24 15 9 0.588 Kyle Beckerman 1928 31 24 7 0.327 Clint Mathis 1767 28 21 7 0.357 Yura Movsisyan 1548 25 18 7 0.407 Ned Grabavoy 701 16 10 6 0.770 Robbie Findley 1559 29 25 4 0.231 Javier Morales 1833 25 22 3 0.147 Luis Miguel Escalada 94 4 1 3 2.872 Raphael Cox 177 3 1 2 1.017 Ian Joy 7 0 0.000 Kyle Reynish 6 0 0.000 Tino Nunez 1 0 0.000 Jean Alexandre 54 1 -1 -1.667 Chris Seitz 312 3 5 -2 -0.577 Rachid El Khalifi 165 2 4 -2 -1.091 Pablo Campos*** 353 5 8 -3 -0.765 David Horst 86 1 4 -3 -3.140 Robbie Russell 1286 17 22 -5 -0.350 Russell looks awful compared to the rest of the regulars. Nobody will remember that now, though. But how do you play that much time on a +10 team and up -5? On the other hand, Williams really came on at the end of the season, didn't he? That's an amazing number for that amount of playing time. SAN JOSE (-15) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Andrew Weber 180 4 3 1 0.500 Ryan Cochrane*** 171 4 3 1 0.526 Davide Somma 4 0 0.000 Antonio Ribeiro 496 5 6 -1 -0.181 Ramon Sanchez 838 11 13 -2 -0.215 Chris Wondolowski*** 823 10 12 -2 -0.219 Quincy Amarikwa 587 9 11 -2 -0.307 Cornell Glen 436 6 8 -2 -0.413 Andre Luiz 431 4 6 -2 -0.418 Bobby Burling*** 562 6 9 -3 -0.480 Michael Zaher 744 12 16 -4 -0.484 Pablo Campos*** 601 7 11 -4 -0.599 Brandon McDonald 1509 20 25 -5 -0.298 Aaron Pitchkolan*** 573 8 13 -5 -0.785 Jason Hernandez 1333 17 24 -7 -0.473 Simon Elliott 1225 15 22 -7 -0.514 Darren Huckerby 1001 12 19 -7 -0.629 Cam Weaver*** 471 5 12 -7 -1.338 Ramiro Corrales 2057 26 34 -8 -0.350 Shea Salinas 1236 13 21 -8 -0.583 Ryan Johnson 2197 32 41 -9 -0.369 Nick Garcia*** 1071 14 23 -9 -0.756 Kelly Gray 632 5 14 -9 -1.282 Eric Denton 794 8 18 -10 -1.134 Bobby Convey 2134 27 38 -11 -0.464 Chris Leitch 2458 31 44 -13 -0.476 Arturo Alvarez 1826 23 37 -14 -0.690 Joe Cannon 2441 29 45 -16 -0.590 Nobody ended up looking good here, it seems. McDonald leads the starters. Not beginning the season with Denton and Gray in the back line would've helped. SEATTLE (11) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Kasey Keller 2286 35 22 13 0.512 James Riley 2100 31 19 12 0.514 Jhon Kennedy Hurtado 2137 32 21 11 0.463 Tyrone Marshall 1898 31 20 11 0.522 Brad Evans 2006 30 20 10 0.449 Freddie Ljungberg 1691 27 17 10 0.532 Fredy Montero 2013 29 21 8 0.358 Nate Jaqua 1998 30 22 8 0.360 Osvaldo Alonso 1886 26 18 8 0.382 Sebastien Le Toux 1300 21 13 8 0.554 Zach Scott 408 8 2 6 1.324 Steve Zakuani 1805 23 18 5 0.249 Nathan Sturgis 368 6 3 3 0.734 Roger Levesque 259 5 2 3 1.042 Sanna Nyassi 247 4 1 3 1.093 Patrick Ianni 933 11 9 2 0.193 Tyson Wahl 797 12 10 2 0.226 Leo Gonzalez 887 10 9 1 0.101 Stephen King 386 6 6 0 0.000 Ben Dragavon 2 0 0.000 Peter Vagenas 640 8 9 -1 -0.141 Chris Eylander 90 2 -2 -2.000 Just imagine what Zakuani's number would be if he finished all the good chances he had. TORONTO (-8) 11v11 Min GF GA Plus/Minus Per 90 Nick Garcia*** 1085 17 16 1 0.083 Johann Smith 47 1 1 1.915 Danny Dichio 746 11 11 0 0.000 Amadou Sanyang 297 2 2 0 0.000 Fuad Ibrahim 204 3 3 0 0.000 Lesly Fellinga 137 3 3 0 0.000 Gabe Gala 3 0 0.000 Greg Sutton 135 1 2 -1 -0.667 Stefan Frei 2241 34 37 -3 -0.120 Chad Barrett 2055 29 32 -3 -0.131 Marvell Wynne 1836 28 31 -3 -0.147 Ali Gerba 494 6 9 -3 -0.547 O'Brian White 440 6 9 -3 -0.614 Carl Robinson 1717 25 29 -4 -0.210 Nana Attakora 1638 22 26 -4 -0.220 Kevin Harmse 805 13 17 -4 -0.447 Emmanuel Gomez 487 3 7 -4 -0.739 Rohan Ricketts 316 4 8 -4 -1.139 Brian Edwards 270 2 6 -4 -1.333 Amado Guevara 1999 30 35 -5 -0.225 Pablo Vitti 1610 22 27 -5 -0.280 Marco Velez 780 10 15 -5 -0.577 Sam Cronin 2309 31 37 -6 -0.234 Julian de Guzman 450 4 10 -6 -1.200 Jim Brennan 2428 34 41 -7 -0.259 Adrian Serioux 2187 31 38 -7 -0.288 Dwayne De Rosario 2390 35 44 -9 -0.339 Now I know Garcia was a flop for TFC. But the numbers don't lie, they actually had a positive GD with him out there. Of course, his secret was to play so bad that he didn't start in the final game in NY and have those five goals count against him. Unadjusted League Leaders Per 90 Minutes (1,000 minutes minimum) Obviously these will be filled with players from the best and worst teams, but let's see the results anyway. Top 25 Per 90 11v11 Min Plus/Minus 1 Steven Lenhart CLB 0.882 1020 10 2 George John DAL 0.867 1142 11 3 Justin Braun CHV 0.719 1127 9 4 Jamison Olave RSL 0.714 1890 15 5 Andrew Hainault HOU 0.695 1425 11 6 Eric Brunner CLB 0.645 1952 14 7 Mariano Trujillo CHV 0.645 1395 10 8 Fabian Espindola RSL 0.588 1377 9 9 Jair Benitez DAL 0.584 1079 7 10 Brian Ching HOU 0.583 1390 9 11 Dario Sala DAL 0.568 1109 7 12 Sebastien Le Toux SEA 0.554 1300 8 13 Freddie Ljungberg SEA 0.532 1691 10 14 Nick Rimando RSL 0.522 2070 12 15 Tyrone Marshall SEA 0.522 1898 11 16 Tony Beltran RSL 0.521 1728 10 17 James Riley SEA 0.514 2100 12 18 Kasey Keller SEA 0.512 2286 13 19 Stuart Holden HOU 0.490 2020 11 20 Atiba Harris CHV/DAL 0.485 1857 10 21 Bobby Boswell HOU 0.480 2248 12 22 Jhon Kennedy Hurtado SEA 0.463 2137 11 23 Eduardo Lillingston CHV 0.453 1191 6 24 Brad Evans SEA 0.449 2006 10 25 Danny O'Rourke CLB 0.448 2209 11 Bottom 25 Per 90 11v11 Min Plus/Minus 1 Mike Petke NY -0.912 1381 -14 2 Jorge Rojas NY -0.749 1321 -11 3 Arturo Alvarez SJ -0.690 1826 -14 4 Kevin Goldthwaite NY -0.672 1206 -9 5 Darren Huckerby SJ -0.629 1001 -7 6 Marcelo Saragosa DAL/CHV -0.624 1154 -8 7 Andre Rocha DAL -0.619 1163 -8 8 Jeremy Hall NY -0.592 1823 -12 9 Joe Cannon SJ -0.590 2441 -16 10 Shea Salinas SJ -0.583 1236 -8 11 Drew Moor DAL/COL -0.526 2394 -14 12 Chris Tierney NE -0.517 1044 -6 13 Simon Elliott SJ -0.514 1225 -7 14 Dane Richards NY -0.512 1758 -10 15 Lance Watson KC -0.506 1244 -7 16 Herculez Gomez KC -0.495 1274 -7 17 Sinisa Ubiparipovic NY -0.490 1103 -6 18 Chris Leitch SJ -0.476 2458 -13 19 Davy Arnaud KC -0.475 1705 -9 20 Jason Hernandez SJ -0.473 1333 -7 21 Albert Celades NY -0.471 1146 -6 22 Aaron Hohlbein KC -0.468 1540 -8 23 Bobby Convey SJ -0.464 2134 -11 24 Jack Jewsbury KC -0.452 1991 -10 25 Seth Stammler NY -0.445 2023 -10 Steven Lenhart & Mike Petke are first and last for 2009. Now, what if I adjust the per 90 stat by comparing it to the plus/minus for each team? For example, the Crew played 2,544 full strength minutes and had a +11 differential. So the team's per 90 stat is 0.389. If you subtract that from Lenhart's 0.882, he gets an adjusted total of 0.493. This allows us to see who really stood out compared to the team's overall performance. Adjusted League Leaders Per 90 Minutes (1,000 minutes minimum) See explanation in the previous paragraph. In order to get adjusted per 90s for the eight qualifying players who played for two teams, I first got their adjusted totals with each team. Then I multiplied the adjusted per 90s by the minutes played for each of two teams, added them together, then divided by the number of total minutes. So for example, Ugo Ihemelu had the following adjusted totals: DAL: 1.013 in 686 minutes COL: 0.166 in 1,586 minutes (1.013*686) + (0.166*1,586) ÷ (686 + 1,586) = 0.422 That explains that. Top 25 Adjusted Per 90 Per 90 Team Per 90 1 George John DAL 0.830 0.867 0.036 2 Justin Braun CHV 0.606 0.719 0.113 3 Jair Benitez DAL 0.547 0.584 0.036 4 Jacob Peterson COL 0.546 0.437 -0.109 5 Mariano Trujillo CHV 0.532 0.645 0.113 6 Dario Sala DAL 0.532 0.568 0.036 7 Steven Lenhart CLB 0.493 0.882 0.389 8 Ugo Ihemelu COL/DAL 0.422 0.357 9 Atiba Harris CHV/DAL 0.412 0.485 10 Fred DC 0.370 0.336 -0.034 11 Danleigh Borman NY 0.348 -0.221 -0.570 12 Macoumba Kandji NY 0.341 -0.228 -0.570 13 Eduardo Lillingston CHV 0.340 0.453 0.113 14 Jamison Olave RSL 0.337 0.714 0.377 15 Andrew Hainault HOU 0.317 0.695 0.378 16 Cuauhtemoc Blanco CHI 0.312 0.275 -0.037 17 Steve Ralston NE 0.304 0.267 -0.037 18 Kevin Alston NE 0.296 0.259 -0.037 19 Matt Pickens COL 0.285 0.175 -0.109 20 Matt Reis NE 0.265 0.228 -0.037 21 Jeff Cunningham DAL 0.260 0.296 0.036 22 Eric Brunner CLB 0.256 0.645 0.389 23 Jimmy Conrad KC 0.252 -0.162 -0.415 24 Colin Clark COL 0.249 0.140 -0.109 25 Emmanuel Osei NE 0.242 0.206 -0.037 Bottom 25 Adjusted Per 90 Per 90 Team Per 90 1 Robbie Russell RSL -0.727 -0.350 0.377 2 Marcelo Saragosa DAL/CHV -0.700 -0.624 3 Andre Rocha DAL -0.655 -0.619 0.036 4 Drew Moor DAL/COL -0.522 -0.526 5 Chris Tierney NE -0.480 -0.517 -0.037 6 Ante Jazic CHV -0.473 -0.360 0.113 7 Ray Burse DAL -0.433 -0.396 0.036 8 Kenny Cooper DAL -0.415 -0.378 0.036 9 Mike Magee LA -0.368 -0.066 0.302 10 Mike Petke NY -0.343 -0.912 -0.570 11 Dema Kovalenko LA -0.302 0.000 0.302 12 Corey Ashe HOU -0.298 0.080 0.378 13 Mehdi Ballouchy COL -0.297 -0.407 -0.109 14 G. Barros Schelotto CLB -0.284 0.106 0.389 15 C.J. Brown CHI -0.282 -0.319 -0.037 16 Santino Quaranta DC -0.281 -0.316 -0.034 17 Wells Thompson NE -0.259 -0.295 -0.037 18 Brandon Prideaux CHI -0.239 -0.275 -0.037 19 Javier Morales RSL -0.230 0.147 0.377 20 Julius James HOU/DC -0.224 -0.080 21 Dave van den Bergh DAL -0.194 -0.157 0.036 22 Jorge Rojas NY -0.180 -0.749 -0.570 23 Arturo Alvarez SJ -0.175 -0.690 -0.515 24 Sainey Nyassi NE -0.170 -0.207 -0.037 25 Steve Zakuani SEA -0.167 0.249 0.417 Compared to the rest of their teammates, George John and Robbie Russell come out looking best and worst. I think it's exciting to look at this in adjusted form, because you get results like Danleigh Borman and Mac Kandji at 11th and 12th in the top 25. They may have had negative numbers themselves, but they were much better than the average Red Bull.