anything not worth doing is worth doing badly
― qualx, Tuesday, 8 August 2017 04:39 (six years ago) link
Machado's really come on since the break; should have included him, and obviously he would have been automatic before the season started.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 8 August 2017 05:09 (six years ago) link
if Tino Martinez had been the best defensive third baseman when he played, he'd have been great
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 8 August 2017 11:21 (six years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Friday, 11 August 2017 00:01 (six years ago) link
I voted Altuve, as it looks like most people will. After Trout, I put him, Harper, and Goldschmidt in the #2 group; if talent’s arranged like a pyramid, you can put Betts and four others in the #3 group. The distance between Trout and the #2s is probably greater than the distance between the next two groups.
Part of me wanted to vote for Goldschmidt, he’s such a complete player and still under-publicized (starting to change, will change more if he and Arizona have a good postseason). But, unless you’re talking about peak-era Pujols, it’s hard to put a first baseman who does everything ahead of a second baseman who does everything. The highest seasonal WAR for a second baseman since Morgan was Biggio’s 9.4 in ’97. Altuve’s on track for 9.2, and an unadjusted batting line that’ll be somewhat similar to Morgan’s in ’76--more hits, more doubles, fewer walks, fewer stolen bases.
I think Correa will join the second group next year.
― clemenza, Friday, 11 August 2017 00:48 (six years ago) link
Write-in vote for Judge.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 11 August 2017 07:09 (six years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Saturday, 12 August 2017 00:01 (six years ago) link
Gary Sanchez hit his 27th this afternoon in another partial season. May have to add him to the second tier soon--a catcher who might hit 40-45 in a full year with (going by dWAR, anyway) pretty good defense would be pretty irreplaceable.
― clemenza, Thursday, 24 August 2017 21:46 (six years ago) link
I shouldn't have left Machado off this list--gave in to the having-an-off-year fallacy.
― clemenza, Sunday, 13 May 2018 23:22 (five years ago) link
(That is, the fallacy that someone his age having an off year has something to do with his actual ability.)
― clemenza, Sunday, 13 May 2018 23:24 (five years ago) link
Right now, after Trout, I might put Lindor. If you look at his career box on Baseball Reference, he's never had an oWAR or dWAR less than 1.2, or a WAR less than 4.6. He's got power, hits for average, draws a decent number of walks, steals bases at an 80%+ success rate, gold-glove defense...I can't see a weakness anywhere. Betts or Yelich is probably #2 among position players, but Lindor's so good.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 18:05 (four years ago) link
I'm biased here but Yelich since the 2018 ASB has basically been Barry Bonds
― frogbs, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 21:31 (four years ago) link
If first-half Mike Trout and second-half Mike Trout were separate players they'd arguably be 1 and 2
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 7 August 2019 23:09 (four years ago) link
In WAR its got to be Scherzer over the last 3 seasons.
― Van Horn Street, Thursday, 8 August 2019 03:44 (four years ago) link