All-Timers
For some reason, I don't talk a lot of baseball in The Sports Sauna. At least, I don't talk baseball except to release my latest brain fart on PED's. (I'm using PED's as an acronym for Performance Enhancing Drugs. "Stuff" never really caught on.) But tonight is the All-Star Game, and nothing makes me feel like I'm ten years old like racing to the TV in time to see all the All-Star's announced. So let's talk baseball.
Last night I watched the Home Run derby with my dad and my brother. To add to the enjoyment, we had a small wager on the derby and each picked two guys. My dad had first pick. Now heading into the thing, if you had first pick, who would you take? Be honest... Everyone liked Prince, which was a decent pick, but I was thinking defending champ Howard or Pujols. I don't like the first timers, even though Howard won it last year. They tend to be too jumpy. My dad takes Vlady! Then my brother took Prince and I wound up with my top two choices. Of course, you know what happened. I didn't see that coming, but I shouldn't have underestimated Vlady. He's an All-Timer.
I started thinking about how cool it was to watch Pujols and Vlady knock balls to kingdom come. Pujols, when it's all said and done, might be the best hitter of my lifetime. And Vlady is unlike anyone who has ever played the game. They're both special. They're All-Timers.
So let's sort out the All-Star rosters into tiers, with minimal comments. That way, when Griffey steps to the plate tonight for perhaps the last time in an All-Star game, we'll all appreciate it a little more, as we should.
All-Timers
Derek Jeter
Alex Rodriguez
Vlad Guerrero
Manny Ramirez
Ichiro Suzuki
Albert Pujols
Barry Bonds
Ken Griffey Jr.
Hall of Famers
Ivan Rodriguez
Trevor Hoffman
John Smoltz
(or en route)
Chase Utley
Roy Oswalt
Billy Wagner
Johan Santana
Remember Him? He was so...
David Ortiz (clutch)
Torii Hunter (amazing in CF)
Magglio Ordonez (good before he got hurt)
K-Rod (nasty)
Alfonso Soriano (talented)
Brandon Webb (sinkerballin')
Young and Rising (born in the 80s)
Tier 1
Carl Crawford
Grady Sizemore
Justin Morneau
Jose Reyes
Miguel Cabrera
David Wright
Tier 2
Alex Rios
Josh Beckett
Dan Haren
Jon Paplebon
CC Sabathia
Justin Verlander
Russ Martin
Brian McCann
Prince Fielder
Matt Holliday
Cole Hamels
Jake Peavy
Chris Young
If he was on your team, you'd love him
Jorge Posada
Michael Young
Victor Martinez
Carlos Beltran
Solid
Brian Roberts
John Lackey
Derrick Lee
Carlos Lee
Brad Penny
Ben Sheets
JJ Putz
He made the All-Star team??
Placido Polanco
Carlos Guillen
Mike Lowell
Bobby Jenks
Gil Meche
Hideki Okajima
Dmitri Young
Orlando Hudson
JJ Hardy
Freddy Sanchez
Aaron Rowand
Francisco Cordero
Brian Fuentes
Takashi Saito
Jose Valverde
Last night I watched the Home Run derby with my dad and my brother. To add to the enjoyment, we had a small wager on the derby and each picked two guys. My dad had first pick. Now heading into the thing, if you had first pick, who would you take? Be honest... Everyone liked Prince, which was a decent pick, but I was thinking defending champ Howard or Pujols. I don't like the first timers, even though Howard won it last year. They tend to be too jumpy. My dad takes Vlady! Then my brother took Prince and I wound up with my top two choices. Of course, you know what happened. I didn't see that coming, but I shouldn't have underestimated Vlady. He's an All-Timer.
I started thinking about how cool it was to watch Pujols and Vlady knock balls to kingdom come. Pujols, when it's all said and done, might be the best hitter of my lifetime. And Vlady is unlike anyone who has ever played the game. They're both special. They're All-Timers.
So let's sort out the All-Star rosters into tiers, with minimal comments. That way, when Griffey steps to the plate tonight for perhaps the last time in an All-Star game, we'll all appreciate it a little more, as we should.
All-Timers
Derek Jeter
Alex Rodriguez
Vlad Guerrero
Manny Ramirez
Ichiro Suzuki
Albert Pujols
Barry Bonds
Ken Griffey Jr.
Hall of Famers
Ivan Rodriguez
Trevor Hoffman
John Smoltz
(or en route)
Chase Utley
Roy Oswalt
Billy Wagner
Johan Santana
Remember Him? He was so...
David Ortiz (clutch)
Torii Hunter (amazing in CF)
Magglio Ordonez (good before he got hurt)
K-Rod (nasty)
Alfonso Soriano (talented)
Brandon Webb (sinkerballin')
Young and Rising (born in the 80s)
Tier 1
Carl Crawford
Grady Sizemore
Justin Morneau
Jose Reyes
Miguel Cabrera
David Wright
Tier 2
Alex Rios
Josh Beckett
Dan Haren
Jon Paplebon
CC Sabathia
Justin Verlander
Russ Martin
Brian McCann
Prince Fielder
Matt Holliday
Cole Hamels
Jake Peavy
Chris Young
If he was on your team, you'd love him
Jorge Posada
Michael Young
Victor Martinez
Carlos Beltran
Solid
Brian Roberts
John Lackey
Derrick Lee
Carlos Lee
Brad Penny
Ben Sheets
JJ Putz
He made the All-Star team??
Placido Polanco
Carlos Guillen
Mike Lowell
Bobby Jenks
Gil Meche
Hideki Okajima
Dmitri Young
Orlando Hudson
JJ Hardy
Freddy Sanchez
Aaron Rowand
Francisco Cordero
Brian Fuentes
Takashi Saito
Jose Valverde
Labels: All-Star Game, MLB
posted by Prof. A at 5:42 PM
7 Comments:
I love the concept of your list. Brilliant distinction between "Remember him?" and "Hall of Fame."
Although, reading your lists, I definitely thought to myself, "Paul clearly overvalues his fantasy players."
I wish I had somebody who knew baseball, but didn't know your fantasy teams. I'd like to hand them your list, ask them to re-rank the players, and see what percentage of the re-ranked players have been on your keeper league fantasy roster in the last 24 months.
Justin? You out there still?
Also: No justice for Santana or Peavy. Beckett on the same level as Peavy? Seriously? Ouch.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alright -- I'll bite. My all-timers are a little more selective though; with only 227 players in the hall to date, I don't think there ought to be more than one complete all-star roster's worth of "all-timers" among those worthies. (We'll go with the inflated 31-man roster, if you guys want to try and pick them. cough. hint.)
With minimal comment ---
All-Timers:
Alex Rodriguez
Barry Bonds
Trevor Hoffman
Potential All-Timers
Albert Pujols
Vlad Guerrero
Johann Santana
HoF’ers
Ken Griffey, Jr.
Derek Jeter
Ivan Rodriguez
John Smoltz
Manny Ramirez:
Manny Ramirez
Remember Him?
Ichiro Suzuki (Think he’ll have 3,000 hits? I don’t think he’ll get enough years in the league. He’s at 1477 and he’s 33.)
Billy Wagner (Defines “You’d love him if he was on your team”)
David Ortiz (clutch)
Young and Rising: Tier One:
Chase Utley
Justin Morneau
Jose Reyes
David Wright
Miggy Cabrera
Jake Peavy
Justin Verlander
Russell Martin
Prince Fielder
The "10 and 5"-track crowd:
Torii Hunter
Roy Oswalt
Magglio Ordonez
Alfonso Soriano
Brandon Webb
Jorge Posada
Derrick Lee
Carlos Lee
Carlos Beltran
Young & Rising: Tier Two:
Victor Martinez
Colbert Hamels
JJ Hardy
Dan Haren
Grady Sizemore
You'd love them if they were on your (fantasy) team:
Jon Papelbon
K-Rod
JJ Putz
Matt Holliday
CC Sabathia
Ben Sheets
Like Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson…
Brad Penny
Josh Beckett
Carl Crawford
Brian McCann
John Lackey
Mike Lowell
Remember Him Part II: (the "that guy from junior high" version)
Alex Rios
Placido Polanco
Carlos Guillen
Bobby Jenks
Gil Meche
Hideki Okajima
Dmitri Young
Orlando Hudson
Chris Young
Michael Young
Freddy Sanchez
Aaron Rowand
Francisco Cordero
Brian Fuentes
Takashi Saito
OK. I saw some people fall in Justin's list who I expected would. I just posted the URL to the blog in my home fantasy league, though, so I'm going to reserve further comment.
Anybody from our league want to take a crack?
I was talking about Ichiro's HOF credentials with my brother, and I think he's a lock. He's been the best singles hitter in the league every single year he's been in the majors. He's got a ROY and an MVP. He's a plus defender in both arm and range. And we haven't even started to talk about his speed.
Also, this is the Baseball Hall of Fame, not the MLB Hall of Fame. His achievements in Japan count for something and should balance out his shortened MLB career.
Another thought on my tiers of young players... I think you need to reserve judgment more when discussing young pitchers. It's far easier to predict continued success for a hitter than a pitcher, isn't it? That's why Peavy is tier 2. A couple more years of this and he'll move onto the HOF en route with Utley.
First, I love the list. I love it. I think it's a perfect way to start a fun argument.
The one name that really popped out at me, though, was Chase Utley. I couldn't believe he was on par with Santana/Oswalt/Wagner, guys who are clearly on their way to the Hall. Utley might be, yes, but clearly? In my mind, he fits in much better with the Tier 1 guys. If anything, I'd argue he's less accomplished than all of the non-Mets you put there. Utley's track record is so short.
My other major "whoa" moments were with Alex Rios, Brian McCann and Russell Martin. Same level as Matt Holliday and Jake Peavy? They've been doing it for years.
...Looking at that list, maybe it would be easier to say that Holliday and Peavy were underrated. Peavy's a stud, dude. He's at least Tier 1. Minimum.
I also think Ichiro makes the Hall. For one thing, he loves the Hall. I've read three of four stories about how Ichiro is the active MLB'er who visits Cooperstown the most. The other day, I was listening to the Mariners radio broadcast from KC. The announcers had spent the day at the Negro League Hall of Fame. They ran into Ichiro, which shocked them all. He's a historian. And although his career is short and he is old, he's clearly historic.
Go team!
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