Links for Friday, as we celebrate the anniversary of Jackie Robinson's MLB debut. Robinson's Hall of Fame career began 64 years ago today, when he broke baseball's color barrier…
- Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos continues to talk to teams about David Purcey and tells Rogers Sportnet's Shi Davidi (Twitter link) that there is "very strong" interest in the left-hander. Purcey was designated for assignment earlier this week, and Anthopoulos said he expects to use all 10 days of Purcey's DFA period exploring trades.
- The Mariners are still searching in vain for a cleanup hitter to anchor their lineup, writes Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times.
- Jonah Keri of Fangraphs looks at some players who parlayed "a small sample of greatness — a stretch-run tear, monster playoff performance, even a single game or play — to big paydays" and how none of these signings worked out for their respective teams.
- Now that Josh Hamilton is on the disabled list, it's Nelson Cruz's chance to carry the Rangers, Jon Paul Morosi writes at FOX Sports.com.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports points out that the Rays figure to have a tougher climb to the top of the AL East standings than the Red Sox.
- Is Troy Tulowitzki the best player in baseball? Rob Neyer of SB Nation asks a legitimate question and says it'd be hard to argue that there's a better player to be found right now.
MLBTR's Mark Polishuk also contributed to this post
“Is Troy Tulowitzki the best player in baseball?”
No
But I will say he is the best shortstop overall.
He needs to stay much healthier and more consistent if he wants to be the best player in the game. He’s not even the best offensive SS; I’m still giving that to Hanley.
I’ll agree and say Hanley is offensively, but that’s why I said overall Tulo is better, mainly because of a very good offense and great defense, as opposed to Hanley who is a great offense and one of the worst defensive SS’s in baseball
if hanley is better offensively, which may be close to a toss up, tulo’s defense makes him the far better player
Indeed
Hanley’s offense is much better though, especially when you put home parks into consideration. Besides, Tulo can’t really stay healthy. It’s close but I’d still rather have Hanley.
It’s better for sure, but Ramirez has a career OPS+ of 135, Tulo’s is 117. The difference isn’t that big, especially when you consider Tulowitzki is one of, if not the best defensive shortstop in the league and Hanley is one of the worst. I’d take Tulowitzki any day of the week over Hanley
Are you kidding? That’s a BIG difference. Here’s their cumulative WAR over the years:
fangraphs.com/graphsw.aspx?playerid2=8001&pla…
Even though Hanley’s defense is not the best, he’s not the worst. His offense, speed, and just his ability to stay on the field for a whole year give him the nudge over Tulo.
yea, the WAR comparison is going to be a little skewed because of games played. not the best choice. neither is OPS
wOBA (which fWAR is based on), adjusted by park, listed by year (starting in 2007)
hanley – .403 .400 .404 .367
tulowit – .374 .331 .400 .401
in short, it’s been neck-and-neck offensively since 2009. given tulowitzki’s vastly superior defense, he is the much better player right now
Yeah, because his ISO is going to stay around .500 the whole season. It’s been half a month. They’ll both regress to their career averages.
If you read my post you should have seen that I noted that Hanley has been healthier. Tulowitzki could be one of those perennially good players whose constant injuries keep him from being great.
? i didn’t say a word about 2011, tough guy. those numbers are from 2007-2010
My mistake, you kinda just commented on my response to some other guy so I thought you were him. But “right now” it is 2011.
Tulo is the best player in baseball RITE NOW.
Just like Mauer was two years ago, it usually changes from year to year lets see if he can stay at the top like ARod or Pujols.
If they’re going based on 2011 stats solely, well then yeah, but we’re 2 weeks into the season only, lots of baseball left.
In all fairness, it’s hard to argue against Tulo for the last couple months of last season, not just two weeks. Still SSS, tho.
-C
Albert is the best player in baseball. He’s just gotten off to a slow start. Tulo is a top 5-6 player.
who is 2, 3, 4, 5?
Are we talking just position players or pitchers included? I’d put my list as Pujols, Halladay, Hamilton (i know i know), Lincecum, Tulo/Hanley as 5/6.
Braun and Cabrera after that?
I was counting pitchers, and your list is about the same as mine. Albert, Halladay, Miggy, Lincecum, Tulo/Ramirez, Felix/Braun. Hamilton is probably 9 or 10.
LMAO at Hamilton before Cabrera…
Cabrera is the second best position player in all of baseball and third overall behind Pujols and Felix. Hamilton is injured way too much to be that high on the list.
I know I know, but Hamilton is the most complete player in the game right now, imo. If he can just stay healthy, I really feel he can be the best player in the game.
Also, Felix over Doc?!
joey votto has been a better player than miguel cabrera for the past 3 seasons
HAHAHAHA You’re kidding right?
wOBA, adjusted by park, since 2008:
m-cab: .369 .402 .427
j-vott: .371 .417 .437
every defensive metric in existence rates votto over cabrera
the end
2008: Votto 24 HR; 84 RBI; .297/.368/.506
2009: Votto 25 HR; 84 RBI; .322/.414/.567
2010: Votto 37 HR; 113 RBI;.324/.424/.600
2008: Cabrera 37 HR; 127 RBI; .292/.349/.537
2009: Cabrera 34 HR; 103 RBI; .324/.326/.547
2010: Cabrera 38 HR; 126 RBI; .328/.420/.622
Votto has never had a better season than Cabrera. The end.
HR, RBI, batting average
you win
i may have been wrong about defense too now that i have remembered your precise and advances statistics. let me go check for errors
You gave me one stat that I relly don’t believe in using. I gave you 5 that are used more often than any other stat and they do not need a formula to tell you how they would do if moved to another park. Cabrera plays in a pitchers park and put up those numbers. Votto played in a hitters park and did that. I’m sensing a lot of sarcasm in your comment.
really? that’s kind of a crazy comment. if you adjust OPS (OBP+SLG) for park factors, votto’s is 152 to cabrera’s 150 over that 3 year period. meaning one of the stats and factors you just mentioned favors votto
as i said, the only difference you indicated in cabrera’s favor was in HR, RBI, and batting average. that’s very weak
are you going to tell me why you “don’t believe in using wOBA”? i’ve got a hunch you don’t know what it is. but i’m be happy to be proven wrong. i like cabrera a lot
(the 152 and 150 numbers are OPS+, which is OPS adjusted for park and scaled to league averages)
Again, I do not believe in formulas that say how a player will magically do if he played in another park. And a two point difference is not that huge. I would be willing to say that average is a tie with them since Cabrera has a one point lead. But everything else is a win for Cabrera. With wOBA, They practically match each other. In my oppinion, Cabrera is in the top 3 hitters in all of baseball with Pujols in front of him and Hamilton right behind him. Then Votto and Mauer etc.
if you don’t believe in adjusting for park factors, perhaps you should not have just commented on the parks in which they hit. i mean i really don’t know how you could “not believe” in something you know exists (park differentials) unless you don’t know how to do the math
anyhow, if you don’t use adjusted OPS, and you use regular OPS instead, votto is ahead by 4 points instead of 2. votto > cabrera defensively, so votto > cabrera overall
unless you are going to build you argument on HR, RBI, and batting average
Cabrera’s defense is very underrated and unless you’ve seen him play everyday, you would not know that. My dad is from Ohio so I get to see the Reds play a lot. When comparing the two, Cabrera blows Votto right out of the water. This is coming from someone who sees about 150 Tigers games and about 75 Reds games every year.
WATCH THE GAMEZZZ!!!!
I’m sure you don’t believe in WAR either because, you know, it’s not RBI or batting average, but since ’08 there are 16 players who have put up more WAR than Cabrera. Maybe you’d like OPS better though (straight OPS, none of that wacky + stuff), since ’08 there are three players ahead of Cabrera: Pujols, Youkilis, and Votto. HRs? 5th best. RBI? 3rd. AVG? T-6th. He’s good sure, but second best (even ignoring the defense argument) there’s no way.
I might get lampooned for saying this but Tulowitzki is definitely not the bast player in baseball. The only reason it is even suggested is because he is a shortstop.
Playing great D at SS has something to do with it, but the guy is 26 entering his prime can hit 30 plus HRs with 20 plus SBs hit .300 that is probably why people think he is the best all around player in baseball.
He plays a premier position and plays it well
He also is one of the top offensive players in the game.
Aside from Pujols, I’d have to think he’s the next best player.
I think you could make a case for next most valuable, but when someone says “best” it generally means actual talent. He hits well and plays good defense, but he’s not the best hitter or best defender. Him playing SS makes his hitting and ‘D’ more valuable but it doesn’t make it better.
of course it does because his position is an important defensive position..
If he played 1st base then your argument is fine, there is plenty of good offensive 1B.. there are not a lot of good offensive SS who can play defense as well..
That’s my point though, his position makes it more valuable, but it doesn’t make it better; his .408 wOBA is still .408.
but the debate is whether he is the best player in baseball, not best hitter.
I get that but a big reason he is considered so good is because he hits well as a shortstop. Longoria, Zimmerman, and Utley have all arguably been better all around players, but they don’t get the same consideration because they don’t do it as a shortstop.
but again, it goes back to Tulo playing a more difficult position .
Again, that makes him more valuable but not better. Since ’07 he has been about as valuable as Pedroia, but in ’08 he had a really bad year and was injured, so we can use ’09-’10. In ’09-’10 he was the 8th most valuable player in the game based on WAR (which even takes into account the fact that he plays SS) so I still don’t see how he is the best player in the game.
He did that in only 122 Games, so there’s that.
He’s also the second youngest in the top 10, so there’s that.
and there’s a few players ahead of him who had incredible outliers, bautista, beltre
Can you provide anything statistical that shows that he’s the best, or even second best?
He had the 8th bet war last year in a short year at age 25 at a premier position… I think Albert pujols is the best player in the league.. But if I had to pick 1 player moving forward to have a top 5 war for the next 5 years it would be him.. So far none of your arguments have disproved that
None of my arguments have disproved that you would chose him to be top 5? How am I supposed to disprove your opinion? Regardless, you do realize that he has never been in the top 5 in WAR right? Are you predicting him to be better going forward than he ever has been in the past? You can do that but he doesn’t have the history to support it. Even if he is that guy going forward he hasn’t been that guy to this point and you can’t say a guy is the best (or second best) player in the game based on what you think he’ll do in the future.
Look I know Tulo is a great player, he’s easily top 10 and probably top 5. I just don’t think he has done enough to show that he is #1 or 2.
had he played a full season or close to it last year he would have been top 5.
and is it so ridiculous to suggest that as he comes in to his prime years that he will not in fact get better?
but granted its just my subjective opinion.
No it’s certainly not ridiculous to suggest that he’ll likely get better as he enters his prime, in fact it might be ridiculous to suggest that he wont, but that doesn’t make him the second best player in the game now which should be based on what he has actually done, not what he should do in the future.
If Tulo wasn’t having a great April people wouldn’t call him the best player in baseball. So I’m not calling someone the best player in Baseball because of how he’s playing in April. Lets the Rockies get to the postseason and we’ll see where he stands then where it matters. He is a terrific player though.
^ This
He did sorta kinda ok in the last month or two of 2010.
He hit the cover off the ball but it was September and they weren’t exactly in meaningful games. Stats in September are to be taking lightly because of the rosters being expanded and teams trying new things. And I’m not saying he’s not great or he’s not right there. He is. He’s an amazing player. But I want to see how he does in the Playoffs before I call him the best in the game.
Tulo is good but saying someone is the best player in baseball is hard to swallow.
I can’t even imagine A-Rod in a Red Sox uniform. Nor can I imagine Boston fans really loving him.
i like tulo and everything but i mean come on the best player in baseball? hes never even had 100 rbi in a season
neither did Rickey Henderson
that’s b/c he hit leadoff
RBIs are stupid to use anyway because they are dependent on how well the people in front of you get on base. Maybe the people in front of Tulo just don’t get on base often enough, and that wouldn’t make him a bad player right?
as a grad student you should be smart enough to realize that a lead off hitter is only guaranteed to hit with the bases empty once per game.
hitting leadoff means that 7-8-9 hitters are hitting in front of you
in 2000 darrin erstad became the first batter to collect 100 rbi as a leadoff hitter. he broke the record of 98 rbi previously held by Nomar Garciaparra in 1997. Jimmy Rollins holds the record in the NL for 94 RBI in his 2007 MVP year.
Thanks for proving my point…
Regardless of where you hit in the lineup. RBI’s are dependent on the guys hitting in front of you.
Which goes back to my original point that RBI’s are as useful at judging a players success as Wins is for judging a pitchers success.
It is quite obvious that it is Cargo. Look at those RBi
ABSOLUTELY. it is about time people realize just how good cargo is. he plays rf, lf, cf, has speed, and is amazing in the clutch. at the end of the season, ppl will be saying he is the best player in the game.
Can I play the SSS game too? Lets throw Matt Kemp in there as well.
Nice observation Rosenthal… Do the Cardinals have a better shot than the Pirates too?
Who is this player? .804 OPS Tulo is the best player in the game…please. .924 at home(COORS), .804 away for his career. Hardly best in the game. Maybe in terms of fantasy baseball.
oh no a .804 OPS is something to be such ashamed of!
Nothing to be ashamed of, but, certainly not the best in the game.
If I’m a team, I would take Purcey on (won’t cost much) and turning him back in to a starter.
If I am a batter, I am licking my chops to face Purcey as a starter.
You lick your chops over walks?
Purcey back as a starter? I had the unfortunate experience of watching him start a few of the games I went to a few years ago. I can never get that time back again.
Your comment would also be better if it read “I’m a take Purcey on…”..
He’s still young, and has a really strong arm.
Lots of power pitchers take a little bit longer before everything clicks..
Randy Johnson wasn’t that awesome until his late 20’s. Obviously not say that Purcey will turn in to a Cy young winner, just saying the talent and arm is there, its worth a chance.
He’s not really all that young. He’s 28 years old.
28’s not exactly ancient, plus there isn’t a lot of miles on the arm..
Tulo is the best ss in baseball slighty over hanley for Defense purposes but best in the game is tough because he’s off to a awesome start. Im a mets fan but alot his damage came against us as well. I think the position and the right now has people saying this. I say give it a few months and we’ll be remembering why pujols is the man.