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- 02/24/2011, 01:42PM ET
Oh Canada
Argos. said 02/24, 01:42 PM
Canada has produced the best two current 1B. No country has a better two 1B is what I'm trying to say.
I don't know who you will pick, cause I didn't do any research on other countries, so I'll just go on on how amazing Joey Votto and Justin Morneau are.
First Morneau...
Morneau last season was the leading candidate for the MVP prior to his injury. Through exactly half the season (81 games for those who math isn't their strong points) last year, Morneau had the following stat line:
.345 BA / .437 OBP / .618 SLG / 1.055 OPS / 183 OPS+
18 HR / 56 RBI / 53 R / 25 doubles
He had a 5.4 WAR (9th best in the AL) despite only playing half the season! If he had been qualified, he would have been 2nd in the league in BA, 1st in OBP, 3rd in SLG, 1st in OPS, 1st in OPS+.
And if he kept his pace, he would have been among the league leaders in HR, RBI, R, and doubles.
Those are some crazy numbers!
Morneau already has 1 MVP. His 162 game averages have him with 116 rbi and 31 hr per 162.
Then you have the raining NL MVP Joey Votto, the best 1B in baseball. Votto is just amazing, only Pujols can rival him, but Votto is better...
Golden Grillz said 02/24, 02:33 PM
Ok, you say current best 1B. So I have to point out the obvious about Morneau first, he has not been officially cleared to play yet.
Regardless of his previous feats on the diamond. Currently he's worth nothing more than moral support and hitting coach. A guy is only as valuable as what he can produce on the field. Morneau currently offers nothing.
If you want to change it from current though, let me know... there a few old timers from the US I would love to put in here...
I digress. 2 from the same country, and I am going to have to go with USA you dirty Canuck:
Mark Teixera & Ryan Howard
Teix's stats:
'10 (down year)
125 OPS+
.846 OPS
Career averages for 162 games
121 RBI
37 HR
Ryan Howard (also a former NL MVP)
'10
128 OPS+
.859 OPS
Career for 162 games
138 RBI
47 HR... 47!
Votto
Career averages
106 RBI
32 HR
Votto is the worst of the 4 players in this TD over career. He had a great 2010, but can he repeat it? He had career highs last season, and not by a little but a lot.
He increased his RBI total from 84 to 113
HR from 25 to 37
Teix and Howard are at least proven & healthy. Next up Defense... aka gold gloves
Argos. said 02/24, 04:44 PM
First thing first, Morneau will be back for this season and I was making the assumption he will play.
Both those guys are OVERRATED!
First Howard:
The man who strikes out 192 times a season.
Howard's WAR last season was an incredibly low 2.1
To steal something I read from Mr.Posnanski recently:
"Ryan Howard the last three years hit .269/.350/.541. He was 10th among 1B in WAR over those three years, closer to Overbay (Howard???s 9.7 WAR) than Joey Votto (13.7)"
Ryan Howard has stop taking walks (down from 108 his MVP year to 59 this past).
He can't hit lefties either, a .232 average against them.
Last years WAR/OPS+ for all four last season (using baseball-reference):
Votto: 6.2 / 174
Morneau: 5.4 / 184
Howard: 2.1 / 128
Tex: 4.2 / 125
The Canucks are at a totally different level.
Tex is the best defender out of the four, but Morneau would be second and Votto third with Howard being the worst defender out of the four. Balances out.
And Votto can repeat. He had a very similar season to his '09 year last year, just stayed healthy, and as a rookie in '08 he was pretty darn good.
Votto's '09 was better than Tex's '09 season.
Golden Grillz said 02/25, 08:17 AM
While I too expect Morneau will be back this season, the point of concern is at what level?
Will he be able to play day to day?
Historic data indicates no. While like the football counterparts, most of the baseball players have ignored the concussion issues. As more players report this injury the information on the after affects will become a little easier to predict.
With that said, I found two articles on the subject matter that help give some idea of what to expect from Morneau this season, and it doesn't look good in 2011.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/concussion-injury-information/
In this article you will notice that the players were not to Morneau's caliber. So sure the drop off won't necessarily be to those exact numbers, but I would expect the numbers to go down none the less.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2007-06-18-focus-concussions_N.htm
The information is out there from all sports and spreading to the athletes. NFL, NHL, NBA, and NASCAR are all taking this more serious. Especially with recent deaths (Dave Duerson, Chris Henry) players are more cautious.
Expect a down year for Morneau in 2011.
Argos. said 02/25, 11:02 AM
Even if Morneau does not repeat his first half of last season, which was incredibly amazing, he is still better than the two Yankee doodles you picked.
And as for the concussions, baseball players have bounced back before. Jim Edmonds suffered a concussion in '07, a year in which he batted .252, the next two seasons after he batted .235 and .276 (although he did decline as an overall player, it was a normal decline for a player over the age of 38).
One more thing on Morneau, keep in mind he had those great numbers last year in a very unfriendly hitters park, which is especially unkind to lefties.
Time to trash Tex.
He only batted .256 last year with an OBP of .365, in a hitters friendly park. His BA has been in the decline each of the past three seasons (.308, .296, .256), as well as his OBP and OPS.
In his best career year in '09, he wasn't even better than Joey Votto in only his second season in the bigs in '09.
Tex's strikeouts have also been increasing rapidly over the past three seasons (93, 114, 122).
This past season according to BR, he batted .186 late in close games, compared to Howard at .280, Morneau at .313, & Votto at .370.
Canucks > Yankees
Golden Grillz said 02/25, 11:53 AM
Guess what, Morneau is going to continue to play in the not so hitter's friendly park making his numbers that much more likely to decline.
So with the focus on Tex. First off, as you have conceded, he's the best defensive player of the four. Having won his 2nd consecutive Gold Glove last season.
But let's focus on the Offense. Tex was truly the tale of two seasons last year:
Apr-June:
299 AB
.231 BA
.343 OBP
13 HR
48 RBI
July-Sept
288 AB
.288 BA
.397 OBP
20 HR
59 RBI
His final 3 months are pretty on par with his career average for 162 games:
.286 BA
.377 OBP
I wouldn't be so quick to say Tex is done. He had a bad beginning of the season, but finished strong, and should continue to do so.
Morneau on the other hand... I think it is safe to say he did not finish on a high note.
So while Votto is better than Tex and Howard. He's only have of the Canadien duo. Morneau is where the average comes down making Tex and Howard better than those two hosers from the North, eh.
To show there's no hard feelings, I provide you now with a trailer to the greatest Canadien movie ever, eh.
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Comments (26) Add A Comment
I just looked at 3 previous Votto tds I did, I lost them all.
They were:
Votto is better than Mark Texieria, done prior to Votto's MVP year last year and lost to Outlaw.
Votto is a top five 1B, done early last season, lost to Foos.
Votto is the MVP front runner, done around the All-Star break, lost to Cain.
I'm not like my chances in this TD, but I have Morneau this time!
Argos.
Total Comments (5415)
I was going to do a TD saying the Jays will have the best starting rotation this upcoming season, but I knew I would get killed, even though I will be right in the end.
Argos.
Total Comments (5415)
I suspect the USA gets picked with Teixeira and Adrian. But they don't stand a chance.
The only research I did for this TD was to make sure Miguel Cabrera and Pujols weren't from the same country.
Argos.
Total Comments (5415)
I wasn't going to go that route considering Adrian played for Mexico in the World baseball classic.
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<Sighhhhhh>
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Do you know what Argos and Alex Trebek have in common...?
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I thought about Pujols and Carlos Pena, but Pena had such a Mendoza-esque like season in 2010. I just couldn't pull the trigger.
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Who are two people that have never been in my kitchen?
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Are you sure about that? You must have built your house on your own...
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I'll get to Tex being overrated next argument.
Argos.
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When I said Votto's '09 was better than Tex's '09, it is based on this argument.
Votto was better across the board in 2009 than Tex (a career year for him).
Argos.
Total Comments (5415)
So Votto has been better for two straight years than Tex.
Argos.
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They're both hosers :^D
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Leaning left.
Win this one for Canada, Argos.
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Cliff Clavin...nice!
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