That's the $64k question though. On balance, for me at least, he's one of the better offensive 2B of all time. At least power-wise.
But, he had one of those funky Steroid Era late-bloomer peaks, where he was just serviceable until his age 29 season, in which he went to San Fran and joined Barry the Juicer Bonds. Testing was nil back then, but might he have found a "fountain of youth" in San Fran? We may never know.
Also, not sure if you remember, but he had some well-publicized disagreements with Barry Bonds when they were teammates and was even accused of being a racist against black players, that I'm not sure was substantiated by other players, but there were accusations. He was moody by all accounts, and I guess questionable as a teammate is fair to say.
Also, despite his 377 HR and 1500+ RBI at 2B, his career WAR/peak WAR/JAWS all come up well short of the average 2B in Cooperstown according to BR (likely somewhat due to him being a late bloomer).
Interestingly, Kent's top 5 similarity score comparables include: 1. Dave Parker (not in HOF), 2. Jim Rice (probably shouldn't be in HOF, East Coast bias), 3. Scott Rolen (likely not going to HOF), 4. Luis Gonzalez (lol), and 5. Miguel Tejada (just mentioned). So, he's really borderline according to who his stats compare to most closely.
I'm not even sure if I'd say yes or no on him, but I don't think he's a lock.
Comment