Griffey yes Piazza yes Jeter not sure only because I'm not familiar enough with his career numbers. Just on the basis of what I have seen throughout his career, probably yes.
Sid, What's the word on Jeff Samardzja this spring, will he continue in the BP or be given a shot at starting?
Griffey. Yes. He was like Mickey Mantle. Enormous stats as it is but one wonders how they would have re-written the record book if not plagued by injuries. Piazza. No. Hit for average. Had power but not a big HR hitter. Very poor baserunner. Very poor defensive catcher. No arm; teams ran on him throughout his career with absolute impugnity. Jeter. Yes. Lifetime .316 BA. .302 WS BA Will probably end up with over 3,400 hits. Nine time All Star. Four WS rings. Better than average fielder and base stealer. First ballot... no question.
oooooooooooooohhhh. Joe Torre is telling all about his Yankee Years, including that ARods teamates called him A-Fraud. Should be interesting!!
First off, his Mets protection, just look at 95 Mets team. One guy had more RBI's and one had more HR by two. Look at 94...you serious? When did Everett ever bat over .300 for Mets? Look again. Not one same year did Butler (90 games 1995) and Brogna hit over .300. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYM/1995.shtml Your protection players aren't the best..Cleveland he played 39 games. Look at Giants through the years where he stood at HR's and RBI's. Kent has same amount of 100+ RBI's as Griffey (8). Lastly, if you think Kent was around good players, I guess Jeter has no chance in your mind to make HoF. Talk about players around him. He never led one offensive category in any year. Hope I'm not coming off attacking, just looking at stats and all for the fun argument of baseball, so please just fun arguing. Ha I could care less about Kent!
Not at all, that's what this is for. Looking at the 95 season you cited, Everett and Bonilla ran a RF platoon and together combined for 30 HR, 38 2Bs and 107 RBIs. Everett and Bonilla, both in part time roles, walked more times than Kent did. I don't think either of those 2 have ever been praised for their patience at the dish. Rico Brogna had more hits, runs, 2Bs, HRs and RBIs. Any time you face a lineup, there is a strategic approach to pitching to it. That situation is fluid, but it is still used as a guideline. You have your top tier guys that you don't want to let beat you. You have guys you will challenge to beat you on the 2nd tier, and then you have the guys you will flat out attack... giving up anything to these guys leads you to being in trouuble. Of all the lineups he was ever a part of, he'd be in the list of guys you're going to challenge in order to beat you. He may be 'ranked' at the top of that list, but he is a 2nd tier guy who you are going to take your chances with. If he beats you, you lose more often than not... But he has never been 'the guy' in the lineup that you fear.. or even really the 2nd or 3rd guy. 2nd tier guys can make the HOF but it is usually as a guy who is a 'winner' and that certainly isn't Kent by any stretch. As for Griffey, in every lineup, he IS the guy you fear. He is the guy you can't give anything to and he still may find a way to beat you. Unlike Kent, he's had almost zero backup in the lineups he's played for. Jay Buehner should still be sending checks and Christmas cards to the Griffey home.
Corey, IMO you are stretching - aka overthinking - your argument against Kent. I could care less about him and whether or not he gets in, but I believe that based on simple objective comparison to other 2B who are in, he'll be there. I like ndfan's comparative argument with Jeter. Whether or not you agree with him, I think you'd agree that it's nice having another baseball junkie with whom to kick these things around.
Sid, Without a doubt. I don't actually have a problem with it at all. We're talking about my vote, and why I would or would not cast it for a certain person. I really didn't think the MLB channel guy's case holds water. It seemed to indicate that he played on 'bad' teams, which is true but that may well have had as much to do with him as it did anyone else. Those teams were talented and he has a habit of teams getting better when he's gone. If I had the scenario of Griffey at the plate with a runner on 2nd and 2 outs late in the game with Kent on deck, I'd walk Griffey every time to face Kent. If the roles were reversed I'd go after Kent to force Griffey to start the next inning.
You know, Corey, what I forgot to say in my earlier post is that I am impressed with your research and knowledge of the game. I said what I did because of the way I approach things. Knowing that Kent likely will be inducted someday, I just don't want to spend the time digging up facts about his career which point to why his stats were as good as they were. On the other hand, you make a strong case with your research. Nevertheless, when the time comes, the writers will look at his stats compared to the other 2b in the HOF, then they will make him wait a few years because they don't like him, then they will vote him in. The cool thing about the game of baseball is that we can have these conversations ad infinitum and they never get old. Keep bringing it on.
Sid I agree 100%. I love that 77 took it upon himself to get this topic zooming. More than anything, Kent is just a d*ck. I believe he is good, not great, and the combo of his numbers with a decent glove will (sadly) get him in. IMHO, as a player, he's not even in the same world as Griffey Jr.
I see that Manny has nixed the Dodgers 25M 1 year offer. Sports talk has said that he's just not finding any takers. Maybe baseball is tired of the Manny being Manny act.
How are you enjoying the prospect of 2 ND guys born and raised in the state of Indiana on the Cubs staff this year?
Not bad. Heilman did not have a good season last year (5+ ERA), but in the 3 prior seasons he had sub-4 ERAs. His 2007 ERA was 3.03. If he can find his 2007 form I'm sure he can contribute. JS so far has shown he belongs with the big boys. It will be interesting to see how they use him - and Heilman - this season.
Still won't do them any good. Hell, Tim Tebow couldn't even put together a guarantee for the Crubbies... :twisted:
Heilman would be an improvement to the Cards pitching staff. The Cards are one of my 3 favorite teams (Reds the other), but in discussions about the NL Central race I'm on the side of the Cubs. Bring it on, SIR! :lol:
Sid, Love ya like an Uncle....however (Pause for effect)...you can always count on the Cubs to do 2 things; (1) Fall apart like a $2.00 suitcase (2) Choke on the big one like Ms. lovelace 100 YEARS and counting!! MIAMI - CUBS - MOTHER-IN-LAWS MEATLOAF = NASTY... :twisted: :lol:
Until the Cubs win a World Series, I can't dispute your "analysis", although I have no basis to comment on your mother-in-law's meatloaf.