Wednesday, February 27, 2013

MLB's Top 100 Players right now list is insane.

Each year MLB network airs a series of specials revealing their top 100 players coming in to the new season. Below is the complete list but before that, some initial thoughts:

Why is Ryan Howard here at all? I am just going to go ahead and say this, Ryan Howard is not a good baseball player. 9 years ago he was very good, he had one stellar year and then a few very good years. In the last three seasons he has been average at best and terrible at worst (his last three seasons WAR were -.1.0, 1.7 and 1.4). He strikes out constantly, can't hit lefties, doesn't get on base a lot and his power numbers are trending lower every year, yup that's your 100th best player in baseball.

Snubs : Obviously with a list of 100 guys you won't get too many flat out snubs but I see two glaring omissions here - Aaron Hill and Ben Zobrist. Hill posted a slash of .302/.360/.522 with 26 home runs while barely missing any games, I am guessing the knock against him is that he only had a great 2012 and the list is supposed to factor in three seasons but c'mon, Trout is # 1. The Zorilla remains a great player. He puts up above average offensive stats and continues to be the Shane Battier of baseball who kills it with stellar base running, defense and other hard to quantify stats.

They got #1 right: Mike Trout is the best player in baseball and should have been MVP this year. I am glad MLBN acknowledged this.

What will it take for R.A. Dickey to get some mother lovin' respect? Anybody who read this blog knows that it is largely devoted to trying to get people to respect how good Dickey is. R.A had quietly excellent seasons in 2010 and 2011 after which I felt he was one of the best pitchers in baseball, many people disagreed. The guy then comes out in 2012, wins a Cy Young, has one of the most dominant months of any pitcher ever, essentially invents a new kind of knuckleball, throws multiple one hitters and leads the leauge in IP and K's and comes in second for ERA and Wins. But how does MLBN rank him on their list...50. 50? 50! 50!!!

I mean this is honestly absurd. By any metric over the last three years R.A has been one of the best pitchers in baseball and was top 3 in 2012 and the best they can do is 50? For what it's worth, I think R.A. is the best pitcher in baseball, I can accept arguments that Verlander and King Felix are better but anyone else is not in the conversation. Even more so, in 2013, Dickey is going to be even better than last year.

Dickey rant over. The full list is below, shoot me tweets or comments with your thoughts.

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100. Ryan Howard – 1B – Philadelphia Phillies

99. Sergio Romo – CL – San Francisco Giants

98. Yu Darvish – SP – Texas Rangers

97. Elvis Andrus – SS – Texas Rangers

96. Chase Utley – 2B – Philadelphia Phillies

95. Adrian Gonzalez – 1B – Los Angeles Dodgers

94. Jacoby Ellsbury – OF – Boston Red Sox

93. Victor Martinez – C/DH – Detroit Tigers

92. Jordan Zimmermann – SP – Washington Nationals

91. Michael Bourn – CF – Cleveland Indians

90. Aroldis Chapman – P – Cincinnati Reds

89. Adam Wainwright – SP – St. Louis Cardinals

88. Jon Lester – SP – Boston Red Sox

87. Mike Moustakas – 3B – Kansas City Royals

86. Brett Lawrie – 3B – Toronto Blue Jays

85. Michael Morse – 1B/LF – Seattle Mariners

84. Allen Craig – 1B – St. Louis Cardinals

83. Torii Hunter – RF – Detroit Tigers

82. Carlos Beltran – RF – St. Louis Cardinals

81. Carlos Ruiz – C – Philadelphia Phillies

80. Brian McCann – C – Atlanta Braves

79. Miguel Montero – C- Arizona Diamondbacks

78. Curtis Granderson – CF – New York Yankees

77. Jim Johnson – CL – Baltimore Orioles

76. Jason Motte – CL – St. Louis Cardinals

75. Ian Desmond – SS – Washington Nationals

74. Chase Headley – 3B – San Diego Padres

73. Adam LaRoche – 1B – Washington Nationals

72. Yovani Gallardo - SP - Milwaukee Brewers

71. Madison Bumgarner – SP – San Francisco Giants

70. Alex Gordon – LF – Kansas City Royals

69. B.J. Upton – CF – Atlanta Braves

68. James Shields – SP – Kansas City Royals

67. David Freese – 3B – St. Louis Cardinals

66. J.J. Hardy – SS – Baltimore Orioles

65. Kyle Lohse – SP – St. Louis Cardinals

64. Wade Miley – SP – Arizona Diamondbacks

63. Johnny Cueto – SP – Cincinnati Reds

62. Jonathan Papelbon – CL – Philadelphia Phillies

61. Mariano Rivera – CL – New York Yankees

60. David Ortiz – DH – Boston Red Sox

59. Jason Heyward – RF – Atlanta Braves

58. Austin Jackson – CF – Detroit Tigers

57. Zack Greinke – SP – Los Angeles Dodgers

56. Chris Sale – SP – Chicago White Sox

55. Billy Butler – DH – Kansas City Royals

54. Bryce Harper – LF – Washington Nationals

53. Derek Jeter – SS – New York Yankees

52. Starlin Castro – SS – Chicago Cubs

51. Troy Tulowitzki – SS – Colorado Rockies

50. R.A. Dickey – SP – Toronto Blue Jays

49. Gio Gonzalez – SP – Washington Nationals

48. Matt Wieters – C – Baltimore Orioles

47. A.J. Pierzynski – C- Texas Rangers

46. Roy Halladay – SP – Philadelphia Phillies

45. Matt Cain – SP – San Francisco Giants

44. Pablo Sandoval – 3B – San Francisco Giants

43. Josh Willingham – LF – Minnesota Twins

42. Yoenis Cespedes – LF – Oakland Athletics

41. Matt Holliday – LF – St. Louis Cardinals

40. Ian Kinsler – 2B – Texas Rangers

39. Edwin Encarnacion – 1B – Toronto Blue Jays

38. Joe Mauer – C – Minnesota Twins

37. Jered Weaver – SP – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

36. Jay Bruce – RF – Cincinnati Reds

35. Justin Upton – LF – Atlanta Braves

34. Dustin Pedroia – 2B – Boston Red Sox

33. Paul Konerko – 1B – Chicago White Sox

32. Aramis Ramirez - 3B Milwaukee Brewers

31. Brandon Phillips – 2B – Cincinnati Reds

30. Carlos Gonzalez – LF – Colorado Rockies

29. Ryan Zimmerman – 3B – Washington Nationals

28. Jose Bautista – RF – Toronto Blue Jays

27. Craig Kimbrel – CL – Atlanta Braves

26. Stephen Strasburg – SP – Washington Nationals

25. Jose Reyes – SS – Toronto Blue Jays

24. Yadier Molina – C – St. Louis Cardinals

23. Adam Jones – CF – Baltimore Orioles

22. David Wright – 3B – New York Mets

21. Buster Posey – C – San Francisco Giants

20. Cole Hamels – SP – Philadelphia Phillies

19. Cliff Lee – SP – Philadelphia Phillies

18. CC Sabathia – SP – New York Yankees

17. Andrew McCutchen – CF – Pittsburgh Pirates

16. Evan Longoria – 3B – Tampa Bay Rays

15. Giancarlo Stanton – RF – Miami Marlins

14. Albert Pujols – 1B – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

13. Adrian Beltre – 3B – Texas Rangers

12. David Price – SP – Tampa Bay Rays

11. Prince Fielder – 1B – Detroit Tigers

10. Josh Hamilton – RF – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

9. Joey Votto – 1B – Cincinnati Reds

8. Robinson Cano – 2B – New York Yankees

7. Felix Hernandez – SP – Seattle Mariners

6. Ryan Braun - LF - Milwaukee Brewers

5. Clayton Kershaw – SP – Los Angeles Dodgers

4. Matt Kemp – CF – Los Angeles Dodgers

3. Miguel Cabrera – 3B – Detroit Tigers

2. Justin Verlander – SP – Detroit Tigers

1. Mike Trout – LF – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim



6 comments:

  1. Lists like these are totally subjective, so ill only point out the ones i think are egrigious.

    Sabathia is a bit too high. I wouldn't put him at SP#5.

    Jay Bruce at 36? Way too high. Didn't even deserve the AS appearance last year.
    Same argument can be said for Kinsler at 40.

    Jered Weaver is way too low. I'd take him over Hamels and Lee for next year. Same thing for Matt Cain.

    Of course Dickey is obviously too low. No reason he shouldn't be top 10 for next year. Especially after they put Trout #1(which i wouldn't have considering he has only done it 1 year)

    Jeter at 53 is a joke. Coming off ankle surgery and old. Very poor defender too.

    Pretty much anyone could have beef with all the rankings past 50. I can see a lot of Philly bias in this list. Ruiz is missing 25 games to start the year. That should knock him out of the top 100. Utley at 96? This guy can't stay on the field. Howard is also not a top 100 player for the reasons you listed.

    I prefer seperate lists for each position rather than a list for all players. Comparing positions is like comparing apples and oranges.

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    1. Could not agree more Derway, Jeter is the official poster boy for people who hate stats though so you know MLBN was going to feature him for his various degrees of leadership, grit, class and poor defense which still earns gold gloves.

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  2. Obviously more Mets should have been on this list, we should have had at least 5 of the top 10

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    1. Dont you mean more Blue Jays?

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    2. I think Ike Davis deserves to be on this list. I'm sure most fans would take him over Howard in a heartbeat.

      Niese/Harvey also are on the cusps of making the list.

      Also noticed a few more players who don't deserve the list. Mike Moustakas? What has he done to be on the list? Jon Lester? Kid had a 4.82 ERA. Major doubts going into next season should not be ranked that high.

      Seems like this list prefers one year wonders and high profile names.

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