Greatest Red Sox hitter of all-time

What I love about this poll, though, is that when it was being constructed, with a voter only receiving one vote, that Mike could have looked at this and thought, "I gotta include Dewey Evans. Somebody just might want to vote for him over Ted."

 

Babe. Ruth. [/ducking.]

 

Are you fucking kidding me? What would his numbers have been like without Ortiz? Ortiz became a full-time starter in June 2003, more than 2.5 years after Manny signed with Boston. Without Ortiz in 2001, he was .306 BA, 41 HR, 125 RBI and a 1.014 OPS. In 2002 Manny was .349, 33, 107 and 1.097. In 2003 he was.325, 37, 104 and 1.014 OPS again. Since 2004 Manny has hit cleanup and has provided protection for Ortiz, who has batted third. Ortiz has benefited far more from Manny's presence than Manny has benefited from Ortiz's. To think otherwise is laughable. Ortiz has had a great run over the 4.5 years, but it's not the 15-year Hall of Fame-caliber career that Manny has enjoyed. Ortiz was released by the Twins following the 2002 season and was behind Jeremy Giambi, Shea Hillenbrand and Kevin Millar on the depth chart to begin the 2003 season for the Red Sox.

And Manny is a lousy player? He has a lifetime fielding percentage of .978. He led the AL in outfield assists in 2005 and has one of the quickest throwing releases I've ever seen. Is he a great defensive outfielder? Certainly not. But he is, at the very least, an adequate left fielder who makes an impressive play a half-dozen times a year.

He had a nine-year streak of 30 HR, 100 RBI seasons. During that span---and this may be the most impressive statistic of all---he only batted under .300 twice. He now has 501 career home runs and has almost 2500 hits. Ramirez has earned one World Series MVP, a LCS MVP and will be viewed as a clutch postseason hitter.

As for the hustle thing, which I'm sure you will raise in your counter-argument, he gets a bad rap. Manny hustles just as fiercely as Ortiz or even Mike Lowell. Ramirez usually runs the bases well. And Manny is a durable player, too, which, especially in comparison to Ortiz, is extremely important. Manny's 36 to Ortiz's 32. Which one is in better shape?

I could go on and on, but to call him a lousy player is a really, really stupid thing to say. Manny has had the best career of any slugger we have seen during the past two decades (except for Barry Bonds, who will be discredited by most). If Manny doesn't get a first-ballot entry to the HOF, I don't know who is actually deserving of it.

Ted Williams is the best hitter in Sox history. Then Manny. And then you have to decide whether a short tenure like Foxx or a long career like Yaz's makes any difference.

 

Evans would make (and probably win) as the best fielder in Red Sox history.

This poll, not so much.

 

Manny's career slugging percentage is top-10 all time.

Unless he hangs on until he is 43 (and killing the above stat) and moving from team to team, he is a first ballot HOF and one of the all-time hitters.

But still behind Williams by a good distance.

 

1. Ted.

2. Yaz.

3. The field.

 

I don't care if he hangs around long enough to hit 600 or 700 home runs, he's still behind Williams on this list.

 

All right, so I f'd up. Big deal. Corrections have been made. Let's get all hot and bothered about something stupid, shall we?

 

You are right, but before this thread started, I honestly did not think as a hitter Manny was so strong when comapred with the greats of the game.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/SLG_career.shtml

Notice who sits at #2, but #8 did suprise me.

 

I still don't see Glenn Hoffman up there.

So yes, I am bothered, but not really hot.