Best Player from each MLB team

[Marmel]

So I am thinking of starting an OOTP dynasty with a bit of a twist and I want to figure out who the best player from each team in MLB is. some are obvious, but please post your team's best player ever. Feel free to list as many teams as you want. Arizona and Colorado need not apply for this exercise, sorry.

Go!


Yankees: Derek Jeter

kidding!

[JPhillips]

Currently active or all-time?

Do pitchers count?

[Marmel]

All time, please.

[Marmel]

pitchers count. feel free to list the best batter and best pitcher if you want.

[JPhillips]

Really tough between Morgan and Bench. I'll go with Bench due to position but I'm sure others would take Morgan due to offensive versatility.

The Reds really don't have any great pitchers, but Eppa Rixley probably leads the pack.

[mckerney]

Do you want best in all of franchise history or just period of current team location? I'd say Harmon Killebrew for the Twins, but if you're going to include the time that the franchise was in Washington it would have to be Walter Johnson even though I've never really hard him considered part of, "Twins History."

[Marmel]

The more closely associated with the current team, the better, but use your own judgement

[mckerney]

If that's the case I'd go with this.

Twins: Harmon Killebrew batter, Bert Blyleven pitcher

[Alan T]

For the Braves, it probably has to be Hank Aaron, even though that is more of a longevity award over his entire career he was always super consistent for a very long time.

Probably can't overlook Spahn or Maddux either....

I'd likely go with Aaron though, but if I wanted a darkhorse pick, I could possibly be willing to argue Eddie Matthews as one of the best 3B of all time.

[rowech]

Really tough between Morgan and Bench. I'll go with Bench due to position but I'm sure others would take Morgan due to offensive versatility.

The Reds really don't have any great pitchers, but Eppa Rixley probably leads the pack.

It depends some I guess on if a player has to play the majority of their career with the team. Morgan and Bench are probably the two best to play their positions so they're tough to argue but I would take Frank Robinson before those two.

Pitching wise -- you're right -- tough call but it's not Rixey. It's either Jim Maloney or Paul Derringer. They're 1a and 1b.

[Swaggs]

For the Pirates:
Current: Andrew McCutchen
All-Time: Honus Wagner (although, if you are going for their entire career rather than just his time with the Pirates, you can make a good case for Barry Bonds)

[Lathum]

Pitcher Tom Seaver
Batter- David Wright

[Peregrine]

For the Braves, it probably has to be Hank Aaron, even though that is more of a longevity award over his entire career he was always super consistent for a very long time.

Probably can't overlook Spahn or Maddux either....

I'd likely go with Aaron though, but if I wanted a darkhorse pick, I could possibly be willing to argue Eddie Matthews as one of the best 3B of all time.

For the Braves, I'd say Aaron for sure - I mean going on WAR alone he is #5 for all position players all-time, none of their pitchers or other players, great as they are, approach that.

Career Leaders &amp Records for WAR Position Players - Baseball-Reference.com (http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_bat_career.shtml)
Career Leaders &amp Records for WAR for Pitchers - Baseball-Reference.com (http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/WAR_pitch_career.shtml)

[DougW]

Phew. Cobb/Greenberg/Kaline ... I think I go with Cobb - although, if asked to put a "face" on the franchise, I think I go with Kaline.

P : Newhouser, but I think Verlander is closing.

Cobb/Newhouser.

[cartman]

Texas Rangers:

Fielder - Ivan Rodriguez
Pitcher - Nolan Ryan

[JPhillips]

It depends some I guess on if a player has to play the majority of their career with the team. Morgan and Bench are probably the two best to play their positions so they're tough to argue but I would take Frank Robinson before those two.

Pitching wise -- you're right -- tough call but it's not Rixey. It's either Jim Maloney or Paul Derringer. They're 1a and 1b.

With the pitching I think there's at least five guys all roughly equal, just add Rijo and Gullett to the other three. We can probably agree, though, that a pitcher probably isn't in the top ten Reds.

Robinson is a higher in WAR, but I like Bench because his whole career was with the Reds.

[DougW]

Texas Rangers:

Fielder - Ivan Rodriguez
Pitcher - Nolan Ryan

Hmm. I can't get on board with the Player Ryan/Rangers thing. When I think of him as a player, the Rangers arent' who I first associate him with.

I-Rod for sure though. I'm sure Ranger fans would want the sexy Ryan name, but .. I think the go to guy for top pitcher may be the knuckleballer.

[RedKingGold]

For the Phils, I'd think it'd be Schmidty.

[cuervo72]

Yep, and I don't even think it's close.

[cartman]

Hmm. I can't get on board with the Player Ryan/Rangers thing. When I think of him as a player, the Rangers arent' who I first associate him with.

I-Rod for sure though. I'm sure Ranger fans would want the sexy Ryan name, but .. I think the go to guy for top pitcher may be the knuckleballer.

Well, he went into the Hall of Fame wearing the Rangers hat, and hit the big career milestones with the team.

Charlie Hough is a solid choice, but I'd probably have Kevin Brown or Kenny Rogers ahead of him. In a few years, I hope that Darvish is the one that tops the list.

[DougW]

For the Phils, I'd think it'd be Schmidty.

& Carlton ?

[TRO]

George Brett. Duh.

Or maybe Bill Pecota.

[EagleFan]

For the Phils, I'd think it'd be Schmidty.

Michael Martinez?


;)

[Radii]

Ernie Banks and Fergie Jenkins for the Cubs.

[Desnudo]

Rejubilation!

Ted Williams for the Red Sox

[korme]

Really tough between Morgan and Bench. I'll go with Bench due to position but I'm sure others would take Morgan due to offensive versatility.

The Reds really don't have any great pitchers, but Eppa Rixley probably leads the pack.

HOW DARE YOU

It's between Bench and Rose. Morgan spent half his career in Houston. And Bench was a career average hitter with great HR power in his day. But in the end, it's Pete. ITS FUCKIN PETE MAN!

[Fonzie]

Cardinals:

Stan Musial and Bob Gibson

[Dutch]

I'm not sure the Rays count for this exercise...they don't have anybody from the 60's but here ya go.

Pitcher: David Price (Jamie Shields #2)
OF: Carl Crawford (Longoria #2 with a crowded 3B list)

And they've all played for the Rays in the last 2 seasons. So much for a historical perspective. :)

[Vince, Pt. II]

Willie Mays, though Bonds is closer than most would give him credit for.

[RedKingGold]

& Carlton ?

The knock on Carlton would be he ended his career with different teams whereas Schmidty was always with the Phillies.

But yeah, Carlton is the "no question" No. 2 and best pitcher in the team's history.

[MizzouRah]

Cardinals:

Stan Musial and Bob Gibson

+1

[lungs]

Brewers
Robin Yount
Ted Higuera

[Vince, Pt. II]

Oh, and the Giants' pitcher would have to be Christy Mathewson.

Willie Mays and Christie Mathewson are probably as good a 1-2 punch as you're going to find. Aaron and Spahn/Maddux probably the only ones close.

Edit: Maybe Musial and Gibson.

[General Mike]

Pitcher Tom Seaver
Batter- David Wright

Wrong. Piazza.

[Coffee Warlord]

Ernie Banks and Fergie Jenkins for the Cubs.

I'm torn between between Fergie and Maddux for pitcher. Ernie's a no-brainer though.

[Marmel]

Still looking for:

Seattle - Arod? Griffey?
Oakland - Rickey Henderson?
Dodgers -Koufax?
Angels -
Padres - Gwynn
White Sox - Frank thomas
Indians -
Orioles -Ripken Jr

I have no idea on Angels and Indians.

[Eaglesfan27]

For the Phils, I'd think it'd be Schmidty.

Yep, and I don't even think it's close.

Agreed. 1st one that came to mind and I went through everyone I could think of out of each decade and no one unseats him in my mind.

[Marmel]

A couple quick searches on the net give me Chuck Finley for the Angels??? No way.

Indians have Nap Lajoie and Tris Speaker.

[McLovin]

Marlins- Kevin Brown and Miguel Cabrera

[SackAttack]

Willie Mays, though Bonds is closer than most would give him credit for.

Makes me wonder, though; does the nature of the question imply a player who spent his whole career with the team, or are his 'peak years' sufficient? Note that I'm talking about guys here who were great for both teams. Someone like Mays who lit it up for the Giants before going to the Mets to "die" isn't what I'm talking about there.

Wrong. Piazza.

See above.

Bonds and Piazza are a couple dudes who were pretty epic for the teams they began their careers with, as well. Is the question looking for the best player for the franchise regardless of how long they spent with that team, or the best player who was a 'lifer'?

Still looking for:

Seattle - Arod? Griffey?
Oakland - Rickey Henderson?
Dodgers -Koufax?
Angels -
Padres - Gwynn
White Sox - Frank thomas
Indians -
Orioles -Ripken Jr

I have no idea on Angels and Indians.

Pitching-wise I think it has to be Koufax for the Dodgers. His career was short, but the second half of it was incomparable. Hitter-wise, I'm less certain. Probably Duke Snider, but you could make cases for Campanella or Piazza (depending on the answer to the above question) also.

For the Angels, wouldn't the hitter pretty much have to be Mike Trout at this moment in time?

[General Mike]

Bonds and Piazza are a couple dudes who were pretty epic for the teams they began their careers with, as well. Is the question looking for the best player for the franchise regardless of how long they spent with that team, or the best player who was a 'lifer'?


Ok, but I'd still make the argument that Piazza's almost 8 years as a Met are better then Wright's almost 10 or Strawberry's 8, but WAR tells a different story. I stand by my pick tho.

[Alan T]

A couple quick searches on the net give me Chuck Finley for the Angels??? No way.

Indians have Nap Lajoie and Tris Speaker.


For Angels I think it almost has to be Nolan Ryan

[RedKingGold]

Who would it be on the Marlins?

[Vince, Pt. II]

Giancarlo Stanton and ???

[RedKingGold]

I was actually thinking Dontrelle Willis.

[Marmel]

ATBL (OOTP 14) - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?p=2866551#post2866551)

Here are the guys I went with. I didn't put a whole lot of thought into any of this, particularly the story. I just wanted to get the league set up and running.

[OldGiants]

Yankees:

Joe DiMaggio
Whitey Ford

Although considering positions, Yogi might have been more valuable.

[JPhillips]

LOL on Pete Rose still banned.

[Dutch]

Where does Nolan Ryan fit?

[DougW]

Where does Nolan Ryan fit?

I hinted at that question when cartman claimed him for the Rangers. Personally, I don't see his fit as a Ranger, and tend to agree with Alan T as a pick for the Angels. Although, I could see him as an Astro too.

I see Ryan as : Angels, Astros, Rangers, Mets.

I don't really agree with cartmans points of "wearing a Rangers hat in the hall" or "career milestones with Rangers". The milestones were just timing, and not because that's where he was doing his best pitching. That was in California, IMO. That hat thing means nothing to me.

That's my California pitcher = Ryan sales pitch.
Fielder ? : IDK - I'd be entertained with a conversation arguing for Salmon, Guerrero & Fregosi.

[Comey]

The knock on Carlton would be he ended his career with different teams whereas Schmidty was always with the Phillies.

But yeah, Carlton is the "no question" No. 2 and best pitcher in the team's history.

Robin Roberts has a bigger argument than you think.

And Pete Alexander, though he wasn't there too long, had arguably the most dominant pitching run by anyone not named Sandy Koufax in history.

I'm not saying Carlton isn't the best pitcher in team history, but it could easily be Roberts, too.

[DougW]

Oh. And damn you Marmel for making me turn on my OOTP again.

[cuervo72]

Brian Downing! ;)

[BYU 14]

Yankees:

Joe DiMaggio
Whitey Ford

Although considering positions, Yogi might have been more valuable.

Curious why you took DiMaggio over Ruth? Lots of great offensive players in the Yankee fold, but Ruth changed the game and was a legit 5 tool player early on before he gained a bunch of weight.

Pitching is tough for this franchise and the offense usually carried them, but I agree with Ford, he was consistent and was the recognized ace for many years. A couple of dominant single season performances by Yankee pitchers (Chesbro in '04 and Guidry '78) but nothing sustained.

[Lathum]

You can certainly say Piazza for the Mets and not get an argument from me. I think it is splitting hairs and I like Wright better.

As for the Mariners I think it has to be Junior and Randy Johnson.

[Chief Rum]

I hinted at that question when cartman claimed him for the Rangers. Personally, I don't see his fit as a Ranger, and tend to agree with Alan T as a pick for the Angels. Although, I could see him as an Astro too.

I see Ryan as : Angels, Astros, Rangers, Mets.

I don't really agree with cartmans points of "wearing a Rangers hat in the hall" or "career milestones with Rangers". The milestones were just timing, and not because that's where he was doing his best pitching. That was in California, IMO. That hat thing means nothing to me.

That's my California pitcher = Ryan sales pitch.
Fielder ? : IDK - I'd be entertained with a conversation arguing for Salmon, Guerrero & Fregosi.

Ryan is wearing a Rangers hat in the Hall because it was in his contract to do so when he signed with the Rangers. It's pretty BS that he's wearing a Rangers hat in the Hall.

[Chief Rum]

Brian Downing! ;)

Downing was awesome. :)

My personal choices would be Tim Salmon for hitting and Chuck Finley for pitching, but you could make an argument for many players. The Angels are strangely devoid of truly top end players who played primarily for them.

The short list would probably be...

Pitchers: Ryan, Mike Witt, Finley, Jim Abbott, Troy Percival, Jered Weaver, maybe Mark Langston or John Lackey.

Hitters: Jim Fregosi, Don Baylor, Bobby Grich, Rod Carew, Downing, Salmon, Garrett Anderson, Darin Erstad, Vladdy.

Obviously, in a few years, Trout probably trumps them all, if all goes well.

[OldGiants]

Curious why you took DiMaggio over Ruth? Lots of great offensive players in the Yankee fold, but Ruth changed the game and was a legit 5 tool player early on before he gained a bunch of weight.

Pitching is tough for this franchise and the offense usually carried them, but I agree with Ford, he was consistent and was the recognized ace for many years. A couple of dominant single season performances by Yankee pitchers (Chesbro in '04 and Guidry '78) but nothing sustained.

Dimaggio could do it all, Ruth didn't pitch for NY and was a defensive liability for most of his time there, something that doesn't get all that much mention but is true, nonetheless. I'd take Gehrig over Ruth, too.

[Lathum]

Edmonds had some monster years for the Angles.

[General Mike]

Dimaggio could do it all, Ruth didn't pitch for NY and was a defensive liability for most of his time there, something that doesn't get all that much mention but is true, nonetheless. I'd take Gehrig over Ruth, too.

I'd take Mantle over DiMaggio, but I'd still take Ruth over all of em. As far as their pitcher goes, I know it's unconventional, but I think you can make a strong argument for Rivera.

[JPhillips]

It's Ruth and nobody but Ruth. When he was 37 he had an OPS+ of 201. That wasn't even in his top ten years and was below his career average of 206. There's never been another player so far out in front of the rest of the game.

[jbergey22]

Clearly Ruth. Best player of All Time.

For the Twins
Killebrew or Mauer would work if you needed a catcher.

[Atocep]

It's Ruth and nobody but Ruth. When he was 37 he had an OPS+ of 201. That wasn't even in his top ten years and was below his career average of 206. There's never been another player so far out in front of the rest of the game.

+1

Dimaggio was a great player and an easy hall of famer, but he's one of the most overrated players to play.

Gehrig was one of the 20 or so greatest players to ever play and still doesn't hold a candle to Ruth.

[Warhammer]

Angels fielder, gotta give it to #4 Bobby Grich. He is one of the all time under rated players in my opinion...

[BYU 14]

Dimaggio could do it all, Ruth didn't pitch for NY and was a defensive liability for most of his time there, something that doesn't get all that much mention but is true, nonetheless. I'd take Gehrig over Ruth, too.

Ruth at worst was an average fielder, in fact his career fielding percentage was .968 to .978 for DiMaggio and he arguably had a better arm with 50+ more assists. The area DiMaggio is markedly better is range factor 2.71 to 2.04. Given the league fielding average for outfielders when Ruth played was .966, he was far from a liability.

He dwarfs Joe in all offensive categories and stole 100+ more bases. Joe is a top 5 Yankee, but I have to put Ruth #1 easily and also would take Gehrig and a healthy Mantle over him.

[ISiddiqui]

It's Ruth and nobody but Ruth. When he was 37 he had an OPS+ of 201. That wasn't even in his top ten years and was below his career average of 206. There's never been another player so far out in front of the rest of the game.

Yep, that's it right there.

And yes, DiMaggio is overrated as well. Mantle was a better player.

[AENeuman]

Bill Bryson's new book on the summer of 1927 does an excellent job of explaining how great and unparalleled Ruth was.

[cuervo72]

Angels fielder, gotta give it to #4 Bobby Grich. He is one of the all time under rated players in my opinion...

He really is - thought that when CR brought up his name.

[Oilers9911]

For the Blue Jays it would be Alomar and Halladay...although a case can be made for Stieb.

[BishopMVP]

Ted Williams for the Red SoxYup. As great as Yaz was for a couple years, and as many years as he played, it's still not even close.

Pitcher's interesting. WAR gives it to Clemens. Cy Young is also right there in most counting stats categories despite only arriving in Boston at age 34 and pitching 8 seasons, and there's an argument to be made for Pedro's utter dominance while he was here. Pedro only pitched 7 seasons, but finished top 4 in CY voting 6 of them (making only 18 starts the 7th). Clemens had a similar stretch of dominance from 86-92, finishing top 3 in CY voting 5 years and 6th another, but then had 4 average seasons to close out his career with the Sox, before leaving and getting in shape/taking steroids and winning 4 CY's the next 7 seasons.

[DaddyTorgo]

Yup. As great as Yaz was for a couple years, and as many years as he played, it's still not even close.

Pitcher's interesting. WAR gives it to Clemens. Cy Young is also right there in most counting stats categories despite only arriving in Boston at age 34 and pitching 8 seasons, and there's an argument to be made for Pedro's utter dominance while he was here. Pedro only pitched 7 seasons, but finished top 4 in CY voting 6 of them (making only 18 starts the 7th). Clemens had a similar stretch of dominance from 86-92, finishing top 3 in CY voting 5 years and 6th another, but then had 4 average seasons to close out his career with the Sox, before leaving and getting in shape/taking steroids and winning 4 CY's the next 7 seasons.

Pedro.

Clemens is a schmuck (as much as it pains me as a kid who idolized him growing up during that 86-92 era).

[JeeberD]

You combined the Astros and Rangers and went with Pudge? Jeff Bagwell kicks the shit out of Pudge...

[sterlingice]

You combined the Astros and Rangers and went with Pudge? Jeff Bagwell kicks the shit out of Pudge...

This.

SI

[Marmel]

You combined the Astros and Rangers and went with Pudge? Jeff Bagwell kicks the shit out of Pudge...

No argument here. You should have posted a few days ago though. ;)
I'll get him in the next batch of players.

[JeeberD]

No argument here. You should have posted a few days ago though. ;)
I'll get him in the next batch of players.

:thumbsup: