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  • January 14, 2008 08:10 PM ET

Baseball Fan Club Tournament: Week 1 All-time AL Team :DH era (1973-on) and retired players only

Bentley00 - Welcome Schenner (23-6-1) vs thejetstolehome: hiatus? (20-9-4)
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Rules :- Players must have played at least half of career in A.L
- Players must have played a good portion of their career in the DH era (1973-present)
- Players must be retired

My team:

C- Carlton Fisk
1B - Eddie Murray
2B - Roberto Alomar
SS - Cal Ripken Jr.
3B - Wade Boggs
LF - Ricky Henderson
CF - Kirby Puckett
RF - Reggie Jackson
DH - Edgar Martinez

SP - David Cone (Had more years in A.L - was tight though)
SP - Jim Palmer
SP - Jack Morris
SP - Bert Blyleven
SP - Dave Stewart
RP - Dennis Eckersley

Good luck.....


Here's my team:
C-Carlton Fisk
1B-Eddie Murray
2B-Rod Carew
3B-George Brett
SS-Cal Ripken, Jr.
OF-Jim Rice
OF-Carl Yastrzemski
OF-Reggie Jackson
DH-Edgar Martinez

SP-Jim Palmer
SP-Bert Blyleven
SP-Ron Guidry
SP-Dave Stewart
SP-Jack Morris
RP-Goose Gossage

sorry this took a while, good luck. Our differences are 2B, 3B, 2 outfielders, one starter, and the reliever.


OK here we go,

Alomar vs. Carew - Carew was a glorified 2B in his time. But Alomar had better offensive numbers and 10 Gold Gloves to Carew's 0. Here is a break down:
Carew : 92 HR's, 1015 RBI's, .429 SLG %
Alomar : 210 HR, 1134 RBI's, .443 SLG % - In 2 less years played.


Boggs vs. Brett - Brett has the clear advantage in offensive numbers, but Boggs has a W.S title and a better career B.A at .328

LF - Henderson vs. Rice - Ricky's career spanned 25 years, and is the MLB leader in career stolen bases. Not a HUGE difference in offensive numbers, but I took Ricky because he average 59 steals a season, and ended up with
over 1400.

CF - Yaz vs. Kirby - Puckett played almost half of Yaz's career, but still managed the same amount of GG's (6) and better B.A. And icon of the Twins - led them to a W.S victory in 87'.

Cone vs. Guidry - While only playing 3 more season than Guidry, Cone has almost 1000 more SO's then Ron, he also pitched a perfect game in 1999, and he also holds the Yankee record for most K's per 9 inn.

RP - Eck vs. Goose - Eck has 390 sv's to Goose's 310 - he also won the Cy Young and MVP as a closer in '92.


Alomar may have the power numbers over Carew but RC beats him in BA, OBP, and OPS. Per 162 games, Carew averaged more hits(200) than Almoar(185), as well.

George Brett has a lower avg and OBP than Boggs, but he beats him in slugging .487-.443. Brett's superior power is what gives him the advantage, IMO. Despite having a lower avg/obp than Boggs on a 162 game basis, he still managed to rack up 302 TB per 162 as opposed to Boggs' 270. Brett also has the added ability of being able to swipe a base every now and then, averaging 12 per 162.

Jim Rice has a higher AVG, SLG and OPS than Rickey and drove in 300 more runs than Henderson over a shorter period of time. In average 162 game season, Rice'd put up a better BA/SLG/OPS, get more hits and total bases, and seem to match Rickey's base-stealing ability with his power--30 homers and 113 RBI/162 games. Rice was dominant in his time.

Yaz wound up with a higher OBP and OPS than Puckett but i won't include counting stats since their years played is very different. In a 162 game season, Yaz would put up more homers, get on base at a better clip, and strike out much less.

ran out of room, cont'd. in comments.


So Alomar has edge in power, Carew has edge in contact. I would still take Alomar's 10 Gold Gloves over Rod's 0.

I conceded above that Brett may have some better offensive numbers, but Boggs helped lead his Yankees to a World Series championship. Boggs was also more reliable defensively, as Brett got moved to 1B later in his career.

Rice obviously would have better offensive numbers, as he was usually found around the middle of the order. Ricky was a lead-off man, and might have been the best ever. Rice may have been better at the plate, but on the base path's no doubt Ricky was the best. He led the A.L 5X in runs, 4X in walks, and 12X in SB.

Yaz's averages aren't far off of Puckett's, but I would argue that Kirby was more valuable to his team, leading them to two W.S titles, and clinching a Game 6 victory over the Braves with a walk-off HR, paving the way for a game 7 victory the next night.

Eckersley: A Cy young winner, A MVP, and ALCS MVP, 5th all time in saves (Goose is 17th). Something else to consider, after 1989, Gossage highest save total was 5. Eckersley's was 51. Gossage averaged 20 saves a year over his career, Eck 18 - and he started from '75 - '86

Good TD sir..


Second base is not a terribly important position defensively and Carew wasn't hurting his team playing there. His offense definitely makes up for it and I'll take his contact advantages over Almoar's VERY slight power advantage.

Brett and Boggs are about even fielding. Boggs won one more GG and had a slightly higer FP, but Brett had a better RF. He was making plays on more balls than Boggs was, thus more likely to make an error. The slight defensive gap isn't enough to make up for the power gap in Brett's favor.

Rickey's walk totals are great but the runs, while he is more responsible than others, still depends on the team behind him. Rice was the driving force behind his teams. A power advantage is much better than a speed advantage and Rice finished top ten in SLGx8, OPSX6, RBIX9, hitsx8, HRx7, TBx9, XBHX6, and runs createdx6.

World Series wins are team stats, not personal stats. Does it take away from Yaz's great numbers that he wasn't on a WS winning team? No, not at all. Yaz's 162 game season numbers are better and I'd take him over Puckett every day.

cont'd in comments again.

Comments (16) Add A Comment

January 15, 2008  10:18 AM ET
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So far jet gets my vote mainly for having Brett over Boggs and including Guidry (28 wins in 78 anyone?) plus is outfield is just dominant. But as always, I will change my vote if the arguments warrant it.

January 15, 2008  10:27 AM ET
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woo front page.

January 15, 2008  11:40 AM ET
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Damn ran outta room. I was going to add in that Eck started for 10 years before becoming a closer, who knows what his Save totals would have been like if he had closed games his whole career. He also pitched a no-hitter in '77 while starting.

January 15, 2008  11:49 AM ET
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i guess we always base these on offense so my vote goes to tuna, but dude i am little disappointed, i know Carew a h.o.f but Alomar was the most dominant 2ndbaseman ever that is the only one you lose, also ECK vs Goose is a tossup, if you take away ecks early career, but man both guys put up great arguements,

January 15, 2008  11:56 AM ET
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2nd argument cont'd:

Guidry has a better ERA, better WHIP, and better OPS against than Cone. He also walked fewer per nine and let less on per nine. Both won a CY but Guidry had 6 top ten finishes, edging out Cone's 5.

Goose has a better ERA than Eck and also had a better K/9.

January 15, 2008  12:08 PM ET
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they need to give people more space for arguements in throwdowns

January 15, 2008  12:12 PM ET
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i'd like to see them extend it to 1500 characters, or maybe 2000.

January 15, 2008  12:32 PM ET
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Agreed, I had to eliminate a whole Cone argument so I could fit in another Eck argument.]

Guidry was dominant in a 9-10 yr span, Cone was consistently good throughout his career, even pitching a perfect game in 1999.

Gossage had a better E.R.A - that will happen when you face almost 7000 less batters in your career

January 15, 2008  01:03 PM ET
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3rd argument cont'd:

The saves drop is because he was getting old and was taken out of the closer's role; that isn't his fault. His ERA stayed very good between that time and he kept up a high standard of play.


side note: is anyone else watching the hearings? Rep. Shays is embarassing me as a Connecticucian. he has NO idea what he's talking about.

January 15, 2008  01:04 PM ET
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also, bentley, what are we doing about self-voting? i won't if you won't.

January 15, 2008  01:36 PM ET
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Good TD sir, umm I don't usually vote for myself unless the other person does, so I guess we're good on that.

January 15, 2008  01:47 PM ET
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okay, cool--best of luck!

very good TD.

January 15, 2008  06:54 PM ET
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Great TD from both of you... here's how I broke it down, based on arguments:

ALOMAR > CAREW
BOGGS > BRETT
HENDERSON > RICE
PUCKETT < YASTRZEMSKI
ECKERSLEY > GOSSAGE

Wow... didn't think I saw it that lopsided when I was reading... I guess that is the mark of a great TD, but vote's gotta go to Bentley based on personal breakdown...

January 15, 2008  07:45 PM ET
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wow. Great TD. Excellent arguments. Tough call because I like elements of both teams but I think Im gonna go with Yaz and Carew.

January 16, 2008  10:11 AM ET
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I like Carew better than Alomar, Brett better than Boggs, etc.

 
January 16, 2008  12:52 PM ET
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woo, squeeked that one out. great TD Bentley.

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