C Gary Carter Gets the nod over Carlton Fisk
1B Eddie Murray Apologies to Don Mattingly
2B Ryne Sandberg Over the criminally underappreciated Lou Whitaker
3B Mike Schmidt Tough to leave George Brett and Wade Boggs out
SS Cal Ripken Jr. Thought long and hard about Robin Yount. Alan Trammell also deserves consideration
OF Rickey Henderson
OF Dave Winfield
OF Dale Murphy Barely edges out Dwight Evans and Tim Raines
DH Paul Molitor Even though he spent more time in the outfield
RHP Nolan Ryan beats out Jack Morris, who was a workhorse but is lacking in strikeouts and ERA
LHP Fernando Valenzuela over Steve Carlton
CL Dan Quisenberry Five top-5 AL Cy Young finishes from 1980-1985
MATTINGLY.
ReplyDeleteTo say it again, MATTINGLY.
It definitely hurt to leave Donnie Baseball (and Wade Boggs) out, but I can't justify picking Mattingly over Murray when Steady Eddie is a) a Hall of Famer and b) was an excellent all-around player in his own right.
ReplyDeleteMattingly, when healthy (key word), was one of the best hitters I ever saw. Complete package for about 5-6 years: BA, HRs, RBI, and an absurdly low K rate for a guy with power.
ReplyDeleteProblem is he didn't stay healthy for enough years and durability has something to do with how we measure greatness.
Eddie Murray was able to play a ton of games and produce very good numbers in his own right.
Have to go with Tyler on this choice.
Jack Morris over Dave Steib is a crime.
ReplyDeleteMorris 162-119 with a 3.66 ERA and 105 pitching runs
Steib 140-109 with a 3.32 ERA and 220 pitching runs
I'd pick Murray over Mattingly as well. I don't think it's close. To take Mattingly would be like taking Koufax over Spahn. For 5 seasons sure, absolutely... but not for the long run.
Interestingly I've never heard of Stieb, and am willing to bet many fans never have. I feel like Morris would be the consensus choice though.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you have never heard of DAVE STEIB should disqualify you from making anymore lists!!!
DeleteHave you heard of Dave Stewart, Bob Welxh, Teddy Higuera, Gubizca, Saberhagen, Cone, Nieves etc...? Ps I do like your lists generally.
Ps
I know about half those names--stewart, welch, cone and sabes
DeleteThat's disconcerting to say the least. Steib is vastly underrated! He was a great Blue Jays starter in 70's and 80's. Look up his stats, especially his WAR. It will surprise you!
DeleteI believe Dwight Evans is underrated and just misses the standard for Cooperstown. He doesn't get the recognition he deserves for his ability in the field and for his unbelievable throwing arm.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. He just fell short of several key milestones such as 400 homers, 1,500 runs, 2,500 hits, and 500 doubles. There were also factors beyond his control, like the player's strike in '81 cutting one of his best seasons short and Boston's bullpen (not Bill Buckner) blowing the '86 World Series in which he had a strong case for series MVP, though Bruce Hurst probably would have won it. He's also hurt by the fact that he made only three All-Star teams in his 20 seasons and didn't fare well in the MVP voting, collecting just 1.05 shares.
ReplyDeleteHow the heck do you choose Cal Ripken over Yount? First, Ripken didn't even become a starter until 1982 (the year Yount was the AL MVP, by the way). So he only played in 8 of the 10 years for the period you're considering. And over that period, Yount was better.
ReplyDeleteCompare their numbers side by side, it shouldn't really be a contest:
Yount .305 AVG, .365 OBP, .485 SLG, .850 OPS, 135 OPS+
Ripken .277 AVG, .347 OBP, .461 SLG, .808 OPS, 123 OPS +
Yount had two MVPs to Ripken's one. Yount had more hits in the 80's than any other hitter in the Major Leagues, 1,731, and only Rickey Henderson scored more runs than Yount's 957 in the decade.
There's no denying that Yount was the superior offensive force, but Ripken played better defense. Plus Yount moved to center field halfway through the decade...
Deletetyler. i love all of your choices, but I have to say for someone so obviously educated about baseball, i'm shocked you've never heard of Dave Stieb. Look him up!
DeleteWTF on not even giving Ozzie a mention at SS? He had 1 5-WAA, 4 4-WAA and 3 more 3-WAA seasons; or 1 7-WAR, 3 6-WAR and 1 5-WAR. His stats aren't that much different than Tramm or Yount, and that's with the admitted difficulty of assessing defense.
ReplyDeleteYount played the whole second half of the decade at OF, and was getting significant DH time before that. He shouldn't even have been considered.
And Oz was ahead of him in runs above average, anyway.
Psst, the coffee's over here. Wake up and smell it.
Superlative defense but the mediocre offensive numbers don't do it for me
ReplyDeleteAmun who hasn't heard of Dave Stieb is hard to take seriously.
ReplyDeleteAnyone
DeleteHow do you not know Dave Steib!?!?! It is a good list in general, but I don't understand how you can miss him.
ReplyDeleteGary Carter over Lance Parrish
ReplyDeleteForget Don Mattingly who started in 1984, Eddie Murray over Keith Hernandez
Lou Whitaker over Ryne Sandberg
Alan Trammell over Ripken, Yount played CF after '86
Nolan Ryan?? Dave Steib was the best pitcher of the decade. Steib over Blyleven.
Fernando over John Tudor.
Again Lf, Cf, Rf, R. Henderson, Murphy, and Dwight Evans
Ripken and Yount are neck and neck for me here.
ReplyDelete