Take Our minds off the abyss
by Willie Mays Hayes on Aug 6, 2008 3:43 PM EDT
8 comments
Underperforming lineups and tiring pitchers are starting to wear me down.
Let's have a little fun and come up with a line up using the best outfield (3 players),
best infield (4 players) and catchers(up to 2). The best pitching staff (4 starters or 5 if you can find 5 with 3 relievers).
The players must have performed on the same team for the same year. e.g. the 1988 SF Giants out field, 1985 SL Cards infield, the 1986 Dodgers Starting Staff, the 1996 NYY relievers and the 02 LA Dodgers catchers. Point out the stats and reasons why.
I limited myself because of time to the last 25 years.
The outfield:
1990 Pittsburgh Pirates:
Barry Bonds LF .301/.406/.565 32/3/33 52 SB .983 FP
Andy Van Slyke CF .284/.367/.465 26/6/17 .977 FP
Bobby Bonilla RF .280/.322/.518 32 HR's 12 E in RF ouch! .962 FLD 71 extra base hits.
Infield:
1999 Cincinnati Reds
Sean Casey .332/.399./.539 42/3/25 .995 FLD
Pokey Reese .285/.330/.417 37/5/10 38 SB .991 FLD
Aaron Boone .280/.330/.445 26/5/14 .958 FLD
Barry Larkin .293/.390.420 30/4/12 30 SB ..978 FLD
Catchers
1995 LA Dodgers
Mike Piazza .346/.400/.606 17/0/32 .990 FLD 25 % runners caught.
Starting Pitchers
1995 Atlanta Braves
Tom Glavine 16-7 3.08 127 K 66 BB
John Smotz 12-7 3.18 193 K 72 BB
Greg Maddux 19-2 1.63 181 K 23 BB
Kent Mercker 7-8 4.15 102 K 61 BB
Relievers:
1990 Oakland A's
Dennis Eckersley 4-2 0.61 48 SV 73 K in 73 IP 606 ERA+
Rick Honeycutt 2-2 2.70
Gene Nelson 3-3 1.57
Batting order:
Larkin
Bonds
Casey
Piazza
Bonilla
Van Slyke
Boone
Reese
Pitcher
Obviously, there are alot to choose from. I tried to find a good mix with better than average fielding.
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How about
I’d reccomend a switch to the
1995 Indians OF
LF Belle .317/.349/.690
CF Lofton .310/.362/.453
RF Manny .308/.402/.558
2000 Athletics
1B Giambi .333/.476/.647
2B Valarde .278/.354/.400
3B Chavez .277/.355/.495
SS Tejada .275/.349/.479
1997 Mike Piazzas (Only played 112 games in 95, 152 in 97)
C Piazza .362/.431/.638
Batting Order
Lofton
Manny
Giambi
Piazza
Belle
Tejada
Chavez
Valarde
Pitcher
A little Righty dominant, but the key word is dominant.
IFs also considered: 2007 Yankees, 2004 Cardinals, 2002 Rangers (managed by Jerry Narron)
Bruce Bonser? Boone Bonser? Boot Bonser? BOOSE BONZER?
'90s on
IF – ‘94 Astros (avg/obp/slg/sb/ops+):
Bagwell .368 .451 .750 15 213
Biggio .318 .411 .483 39 138
Caminiti .283 .352 .495 4 123
Cedeno .263 .334 .418 1 100
For the OF, Cleveland ‘96:
Belle .311 .410 .623 11 158
Lofton .317 .372 .446 75 107
Ramirez .309 .399 .582 8 146
‘90 A’s was pretty good too.
R Henderson .325 .439 .577 65 188
Henderson .271 .331 .467 3 125
Canseco .274 .371 .543 19 158
I know it's a shortened season, but I'd take the '94 Indians outfield just for Albert's monster season alone
Belle: .357/.438/.714/193 OPS+
Lofton: .349/.412/.536/144 OPS+
Ramirez: .269/.357/.521/124 OPS+
For infield, I’d say 1994 Astros because of their defense, but the 2007 Yankees can pound it:
Eyechart – .277/.349/.440/107 OPS+
Cano – .306/.353/.488/120 OPS+
Jeter – .322/.388/.452/121 OPS+
ARod – .314/.422/.645/177 OPS+
Of course, defensively, they suck.
All I’ve ever done was be Juan Pierre," he said. "I don’t know why, for some reason, they’re just sticking it to me this year."
You know it is against my nature to ever pick a Yankee.
Wow that Indians OF put together three fantastic years!
Who can go wrong with Manram and Joey? Manram that is one cool nick name. I bet you would never catch him in a pink shirt.
1st Cincinnati Reds Player: These guys don't look so tough.
2nd Cincinnati Reds Player: Yeah, that's what Custer said when the Indians took the field.
-Eight Men Out
by Willie Mays Hayes on Aug 7, 2008 1:19 AM EDT up reply actions
I actually looked at the A's 1990
outfield, they were pretty crappy fielders. I tried to balance the two. The outfield was the hardest for me to locate.
1st Cincinnati Reds Player: These guys don't look so tough.
2nd Cincinnati Reds Player: Yeah, that's what Custer said when the Indians took the field.
-Eight Men Out
by Willie Mays Hayes on Aug 7, 2008 1:15 AM EDT up reply actions
Going way back
The Big Red Machine has a very strong case for best infield (especially if you include catcher), but here’s some other contenders. The 1939/1940 Reds, nicknamed The Jungle Club. Here are their OPS+ for the two years. They won it all in ‘40 but SS Billy Myers slumped that year.
'39 '40
1B Frank McCormick 131 132
2B Lonney Frey 124 101
3B Billy Werber 108 113
SS Billy Myers 104 65
Bonus points for Ernie Lombardi at catcher (120/138). I still don’t get why catcher should be considered separate from the infield.
Another strong contender is the Philadelphia A’s from 1911-1914 when they won 2 World Series and another AL pennant (the gang wasn’t all around for the Series they won in 1910).
'11 '12 '13 '14
1B Stuffy McInnis 121 136 136 117
2B Eddie Collins 162 156 164 176
3B Home Run Baker 149 173 167 151
SS Jack Barry 90 95 111 81
The 1913 champion club is probably best thanks to SS Jack Barry’s big season. These guys all routinely stole 30+ bases and although records are sketchy, apparently they got caught stealing just as much. Must have been a fun time.
The early 50’s Dodgers loom large with (catcher) Roy Campanellis, Gil Hodges and Jackie Robinson. Pee Wee Reese was past his prime by then though.
No reason for separating out the catcher
just gave more options.
1st Cincinnati Reds Player: These guys don't look so tough.
2nd Cincinnati Reds Player: Yeah, that's what Custer said when the Indians took the field.
-Eight Men Out
by Willie Mays Hayes on Aug 7, 2008 9:56 AM EDT up reply actions
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