UTK Special 4/3/20

Let's all play Pop Goes The Weasel ...

At least this isn’t one of those viral questions that’s basically trying to socially engineer security information like your birthday, old addresses, and the like. This one’s from ol’ pal John Perrotto who asks “If you were to pick an all-MLB team from your lifetime (i.e. I was born in 1964, so from that point on) who would be on it?”

Ok, I’ll use my birth year (and not tell you) and select the team. I’m using Fangraphs (which could use your help) to determine it using their fWAR.

C Gary Carter

It figures. The first game I ever went to at Wrigley Field, Gary Carter hit a home run to beat the Cubs, breaking my heart and sealing my hatred for him. I would have picked Pudge Rodriguez, who is the best catcher I’ve ever seen over a career. Early Benito Santiago was an absolute shock to the system with his arm, but he didn’t last. Now I’m wondering if Santiago really was that good. I know we don’t have Statcast on him, but do we have anything like pop times or radar readings?

1B Albert Pujols

Can’t argue this at all, even with his late career decline. Maybe moving to the Angels didn’t work, but who’s to say he wouldn’t have done exactly the same thing in Seattle. There’s going to be a great book someday written about how Pujols ended up in Anaheim and the consequences for everyone and I hope someone like Jeff Pearlman is the one to do it. If half of the off-record whispers about that negotiation are true, hoo-boy. Here’s something else - Pujols played an inning at third in 2019? Man, I need to go back and see that. Please tell me someone hit a ball that way.

2B Joe Morgan

He was a good player. I’d have selected Ryne Sandberg here, but he’s 21 WAR south of Morgan’s total and there’s some great players like Bobby Grich, Craig Biggio, and Roberto Alomar in between the two.

SS Alex Rodriguez

Debated for a second about putting him at third, but nah, when I think of him, I think of him at shortstop. It’s those early years in Seattle that come to mind and just how mature he was. I had the chance to interview him back in ‘03. The Rangers were at Wrigley, back when interleave was a big deal. I watched him take questions from a gaggle. He talked about Ernie Banks and imitated his hitting style. He talked about how the park affected both hitting and fielding, showing a remarkable level of detailed knowledge on the wind. I half expected someone to ask him how to solve the Middle East issues and he’d probably have answered. The guy, more than almost anyone else and definitely more than anyone in baseball, had that “it.” He glowed. The only one I’ve ever interviewed that had more? Tony Hawk.

3B Mike Schmidt

This is why I didn’t shift A-Rod to third. Schmidt was one of those players who I saw play, but didn’t appreciate. He was an absolute institution at third and as a Phillie, there just wasn’t anyone better. I’m not sure why he doesn’t get the credit he should, or why those early 80’s Phillies teams aren’t cited among the best. Era adjustments, I’m sure. When I think of baseball, I hear the two Harrys: Caray and Schmidt. When I hear Kalas, I think of him saying “Michael Jack Schmidt” and I can’t think of any other players where I flat out know their middle name. If you’re around my age, you just heard that voice too.

LF Rickey Henderson

Bill James was, to me, what Elvis was to Chuck D. However, he had a great line when it came to Henderson. “If you cut Rickey in half, you’d have two Hall of Famers.” True. Henderson was an era-defining player. Speed before it became a power game and the best of the go-go speed era of the late 1970s and early 1980s. (Sure, it was clean then, uh huh.) I’m not sure Henderson couldn’t have played longer. I’m not sure he couldn’t still be playing today, honestly. And when I interviewed Henderson on the field, he didn’t refer to himself in the first person once.

CF Barry Bonds

No surprise here. The best hitter I ever saw leads all players in my lifetime in fWAR. And not by a little either. His 164.4 is FIFTY better than Rodriguez’s 113.7. That’s kind of insane when you think about wins, value, or any other measure. If you want to say all of that is steroids, well, fine, it’s your life. For me, Bonds is one of the ten best players of any era and I was lucky to see him play.

I will say that I’m a bit surprised that Ken Griffey Jr is still slightly ahead of Mike Trout in fWAR. I thought Mike Trout would have overtaken him by now, which is pretty amazing considering where Trout is in his career. Trout has a legitimate chance at catching Bonds, especially if his game shifts more to power as we regularly see with great players as they age. This is no knock on Griffey, who was absolutely special.

RF Larry Walker

I’m a bit surprised in two ways. First, I expected Walker to be dinged for park-adjustment more. He’s a no-doubt Hall of Famer, but given the rest of the talent at the position, I’m surprised he’s the top guy. Second, Walker is #25 overall, making RF the last spot in the lineup to fill. He’s just a bit ahead of Manny Ramirez, Dwight Evans, and the guy I would have thought would be here, Tony Gwynn. The difference is that Walker was slightly positive on defense and everyone else was … decidedly not.

DH Frank Thomas

Can’t argue with this one at all. I could argue a bit, I guess, and say that Wade Boggs or Cal Ripken or Adrian Beltre all have higher fWAR than Thomas and could certainly play DH, but Thomas actually did. I remember seeing Thomas hitting batting practice with a metal bat - not one of these down-tuned bats you see in college now, but a piece of aluminum that was literally deadly in his hands. L-Screen or not, I wouldn’t have thrown to him and I know I did not want to be in the bleachers at whatever they called the stadium in those days. Lasers. How is there not a YouTube of that?

RHP Roger Clemens

Zero argument here. I got to see the two best right handed pitchers of all time while I was alive - Clemens and Greg Maddux - and a handful of the top ten. You want to pick Pedro Martinez or Curt Schilling or Kevin Brown here? You’d be wrong, but you’d at least be able to make a case. I don’t think most people realize that if you look at the history of baseball, most of the great pitchers are ones that have existed in my lifetime.

LHP Randy Johnson

Again, absolute no-brainer, but there’s guys like Tom Glavine, CC Sabathia, and Steve Carlton who belong up here as well. But Johnson might not even get the credit he deserves, being almost THIRTY WAR better than Carlton and FORTY FIVE WAR better than his contemporary, Glavine. That’s about the difference between last year’s Yankees and last year’s Orioles, if we truly equate 1 WAR with 1 win.

RP Mariano Rivera

Duh. He’s way above everyone, but with a couple guys like Dennis Eckersley and John Smoltz, you have to separate out the relief from the starts. Only Goose Gossage is within 10 WAR of him. Only Trevor Hoffman did the same role nearly as well. (Actually, Billy Wagner has better career numbers than I remembered.) All that said, the 38 WAR for Rivera is so far below every other player on this list that it bears notice. Cool song though.

You know what’s interesting from this era? Not a single one of these guys has a good nickname. No, “A-Rod” is not a good nickname; it’s lazy. One heck of a Strat team to boot.