Top 10 Living Baseball Players
Derrick Goold makes a list of the top 10 living baseball players. Not a bad list, although I think he has the wrong catcher whose name starts with "B," and I think that Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens or Greg Maddux should be on there instead of Sandy Koufax.
over 1 year ago
Adam J. Morris
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Yeah, I don't agree about the pitchers
Clemens (outside of the steroids problem – and he included Bonds so that isn’t a disqualifier) is clearly the best pitcher alive today by about whatever metric you want to use (ERA+ – 143; K’s – 3rd all time). He’s probably one of the best 2-3 starting pitchers of all time.
Seaver and Koufax are his two guys – one for a full career (Seaver) and one for a burst of greatness (Koufax). Give me Clemens and Pedro please. I like Maddux a lot, and think he’s probably the rough equivalent of Seaver. Randy Johnson is also debatable for consideration.
Also, I’d put Mariano Rivera on there somewhere. We don’t really know how to properly evaluate closers (they’re overrated in individual seasons, but I think underrated over careers). Rivera’s numbers are just stupid and insultingly good.
Go Rice Owls!
There's a lot of great SP out there
I can’t really complain about excluding any of those guys, but they’ve all got great arguments to be on that list
By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.
"I am one of the biggest Texas Ranger fans out there but I'm also one of the smartest. Deal with it."
-The Outlaw
Naw...too obvious.
I’m still in my three-point stance.
"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."
"The Influence continues." Josey Wales (1/18/10)
"Don't become the '82 Milwaukee Brewers."
I think this guy nailed it.
I could see the case for Clemens/Pedro, but I don’t know who I would push out.
'Waiting for a girl and she gets me into fights
Waiting for a girl we get drunk on Friday night'
I'm with AJM.
Give me Bench over Berra.
"The Angels are like the villain in the movie that isn't dead until he's been stabbed 150 times in the bath tub, yet he still might come back up one more time." - Eric Nadel
This is always a tough one. They're pretty damn even.
Some crazy Berra nuggets:
1950-56 finished top 4 in MVP voting all 7 years. Nobody else has ever done that.
Had more HRs than Ks in a season 5 times
1950 28 HRs, 12 Ks
7 seasons where he struck out 25 or less times. Only Gwynn has done that since.
And I know a lot of people don’t believe in clutch. I do.
From 1950-56
Avg w/ nobody on base .258
With runners on .318
In the late innings of close games .327
He was the underrated bridge for Dimaggio to Mantle. Between Joe’s introvertedness and Mick’s partying, Yogi was the leader of all those champion teams. Obviously, he’s now more known for his malapropisms.
'Waiting for a girl and she gets me into fights
Waiting for a girl we get drunk on Friday night'
No Bob Gibson?
And from a St. Louis writer, to boot.
Where is Mick Kelleher when we need him?
by 3744nsheffield on Nov 21, 2010 12:55 PM CST reply actions
I can't believe that Derek Jeter isn't on the list
I mean the guy won a Gold Glove at SS at age 36 with the range of Michael Young playing 3rd. I didn’t think there could be a list like this without Derek Jeter on it. Maybe the Yankees can go buy this list like they buy every free agent (Cliff Lee). I bet Brian Cashman will be on a private jet to see this guy with a big check full of Yankee zeros & this list will be updated tomorrow.
by FBH22 on Nov 21, 2010 2:16 PM CST via mobile reply actions
Apparently Jeter's agent
is also in disbelief. Apparently 3/45 is a “baffling” offer for someone of Jeter’s magnitude.
"I wanted to go out there and punch Julio" - Ron Washington
so Jeter would go from 18M/yr to 15M/yr and he's 10 years older
I’m in disbelief as well.
A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.
It's so funny
because it’s not like he is ever going to get a bigger offer from any other team. All he can do is whine in the press.
"I wanted to go out there and punch Julio" - Ron Washington
That's what made me laugh
when people said he could get whatever he wanted. The Yankees have no motivation to drastically overpay him; the market for him is relatively small.
this is getting really good.....
/ rubs hands together /
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby
by GhostofSteveFoucault on Nov 21, 2010 7:34 PM CST up reply actions
Is it bad that i would pretty much be ok with signing
Jeter to a 20 mil/year deal just to make him do odd tasks and rarely if ever play. He could be our utility infielder and designated back/foot washer of the team. He could also be in charge of team laundry. There would be a webcam broadcasting all of it for us to watch, brilliant.
my better is better than your better.
by rangerjake on Nov 22, 2010 7:52 AM CST via mobile up reply actions
Koufax, etc.
If "greatest"means most dominant, Koufax (and Gibson, during his prime) far exceeded Martinez, Clemons or Maddux. I’m old enough to have seen all of both of their careers, and lucky enough to have seen thm both pitch live (and, yes, there was YV then). Koufax hung it up in his prime, but he was the best I’ve ever seen in the 5 or so years before then.
As to catchers, I’d take Berra, too. He was Mr. Clutch and a very good catcher (fielding rating “9” on APBA, for those who knew what that was (Kind of saber before saber)
Maybe an age bias both ways: mine for the icons of my youth (or semi-youth) and yours for the players you’ve seen, versus those before your time.
You are biased
by saying Koufax and Gibson’s dominance far exceeded either of those three. At the least, it’s close and definitely debate-worthy.
the problem is the quality of the opposing batters
Take Pedro – his peak of dominance was during the most offensive era in baseball history. Bob Gibson’s was in the peak of pitching dominance.
Go Rice Owls!
I don't see how anyone can say...
…Koufax or Gibson at their peaks far exceeded Pedro Martinez at his peak.
by Adam J. Morris on Nov 21, 2010 7:44 PM CST up reply actions
Over a 7 year stretch...
…from 1997-2003, when offense was at its highest levels just about ever, Pedro Martinez had a 2.20 ERA and a 213 ERA+.
That’s mind-boggling.
by Adam J. Morris on Nov 21, 2010 7:51 PM CST up reply actions
fun Pedro stat
in 2000, when he led the league with a 1.74 ERA; #2 on the list was Roger Clemens… at 3.70. He had better that HALF the ERA of the 2nd best in the league that year.
Basically, if Pedro Martinez in 2000 had given up twice as many runs, he still would have been the favorite to win the Cy Young…
Go Rice Owls!
You have an agenda...Morris.
"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."
"The Influence continues." Josey Wales (1/18/10)
"Don't become the '82 Milwaukee Brewers."
by Josey Wales on Nov 21, 2010 11:05 PM CST up reply actions
Josey finds a way.
It involves ignoring the points you make, claiming that Pedro is a pussy, and then boasting about winning the argument.
by AsDevilsRun on Nov 22, 2010 12:17 AM CST up reply actions
If you need somebody to throw down a 80 year old Don Zimmer
and then STBF in a post-season game, Pedro is your man.
I’d rather win a ring with Koufax.
"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."
"The Influence continues." Josey Wales (1/18/10)
"Don't become the '82 Milwaukee Brewers."
by Josey Wales on Nov 22, 2010 12:27 AM CST up reply actions
The fact that he threw down Don Zimmer makes me like him more
The old fart charged the guy. He has to defend himself.
Go Rice Owls!
Too bad Pedro ended up losing that game.
"Dying ain't hard. It's living that's hard."
"The Influence continues." Josey Wales (1/18/10)
"Don't become the '82 Milwaukee Brewers."
come on now....
you’d toss an old man to the ground? I’d just run from him and laugh the whole time.
"Sometimes you just want to sit back and watch somebody throw 100." - Jeff Passan on Neftali Feliz
"Baseball's all that's real" - JB
A little twist on the rankings...Who's the best baseball player you've ever met?
Hank Aaron for me, albeit extremely briefly at a charity function.
I’ll have to think for a bit who’s someone rated highly that I’ve had the chance to visit more substantially with than to say, “I’m a big fan.”
I’m thinking, I’m thinking…Jim Sundberg? At spring training last spring. Little bit of a gap there between Aaron and Sunny, at least in on the field talent.
well, at least you can say that Sundberg was a better defensive catcher than Aaron would have been if he had caught
that’s something…
Go Rice Owls!
That is something.
I was actually just as excited to meet Sundberg as Aaron. Sundberg played during the formative years of my youth.
Greg Maddux is who I’d love to shoot the bull with. Always loved the way he went about pitching. Would love to hear him ruminate about his approach to games.
I met Pete Rose at a card show back in the 80s
But he was too busy watching a college basket ball game to say more than 3 words to me (now that i think of it, maybe he had money on that game….lol)
Quote from Yankees GM about the Texas Rangers Beating them in the 2010 ALCS "They manhandled us," Cashman said. "It was like a steamroller. We couldn't stop them."
yes
and when I construct my top ten players from the ‘90s, I’ll maybe think of giving him a call.
Go Rice Owls!
You'll "maybe think" of him? That's absurd.
No, he shouldn’t be on the linked list, but he ought to be on the your hypothetical 90’s list.
by Giant Space Ants on Nov 22, 2010 11:13 AM CST up reply actions
When a writer references RBI
my eyes start rolling and I immediately begin discounting the piece. I realize this is likely snobbish and close-minded, but I can’t seem to help it.
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