MLB Top 32

@Rick, I see your point. I just don't think he's the game's best player.
@dreunc1542, I should've written a single dominanting player in the game.

 

probably about $1.0336 of an American born player.

 

I admire Chase Utley as much as Joe does, but I really question putting a player on the top guys of the year list when there's a real question if he's going to play in that year.
If you could take the 32 GMs, shoot them up with truth serum, and have them have a fantasy draft, I'd love to see their 32 picks. I bet they'd be about 24 which were just like Joe's, a few surprises, and a few howlers.

 

Two things.

1. I don't care how much you claim it's, "Like, my opinion, man," if you say Albert Pujols isn't dominant, you're wrong. On the facts.

2. As good as Miguel Cabrera is -- and he is, and he is underrated -- he is not arguably the best hitter in baseball. Because Albert Pujols is the best hitter in baseball. He's No. 1. There's no 1A.

 

Pujols didn't have the best year for a hitter last year, and he's 31, so I don't think it's unreasonable to project he might not be the best hitter this year.

 

These discussions often go nowhere, but I'll bite. Who was the best hitter? Cabrera?

 

In the NL, Votto had a very slight edge last season. As to whether you think Pujols is a better bet to "rebound" than Votto is to repeat his performance... That's arguable, I suppose.

 

A lot depends on how you define "hitter", and I understand that power is a factor, but you can certainly make a case the Ichiro is the best hitter in baseball.

 

No you can't

 

[quote author=secretariat]
Because we don't use stolen bases to measure the best player. Otherwise, Juan Pierre wouldn't suck.

[/quote]

Funny you should mention this. We have a guy on our staff who just went through a huge big deal taking Juan Pierre's career stats over the 11 seasons he's been in the bigs and comparing them to the stats over the same period (first 11 seasons) for three players who are in the Hall of Fame (Lou Brock, Rod Carew and Ozzie Smith).

You would be astounded (I sure as hell was) to learn that Juan Pierre stacks up pretty favorably with all three. I'm not suggesting that Juan Pierre is anywhere close to being a Hall of Fame candidate, but the stats are what they are.

 

Juan Pierre is one of those guys who's pretty good for three years and then sucks for two. Hard to gauge what he'll give you.

 

A lot of outs