Another Comparison

Beltre’s 2004 was the best (in terms of wins) non-Bonds season in the last 7 years. A-Rod and Pujols’ best seasons in that time-span barely come within a win of it. Wow.

if you give Adrian 4 more seasons (to catch up to Rice’s total of 16) of his career average .270/.330/.460, then he would have very similar numbers offensively; more doubles and stolen bases, fewer homeruns, rbis, and runs. But then I think Adrian will play well beyond his age 33 season. Plus, he’s played most of the last 2 seasons with a bad thumb/shoulder and been unlucky BABIP-wise, so his offensive numbers could still improve over the next couple years. But does anybody think he’ll end up in the hall of fame unless he does something like end up in the top-10 in doubles? (30 per year through his age 39 season would give him 621, 3 behind Hank Aaron at 10th place)

Come on, I was about to prove you wrong for once.

such as MVP award trophies and car keys.

He’s a good hitter and has almost no defensive skills, but somehow the press has taken a liking to him, he’s gotten some ridiculous MVP voting finishes, and has a reputation that seems to outstrip his actual value. If Morneau manages to improve just a little at the plate, it seems like we could be looking at a similarly erroneous “most feared hitter” argument. Never mind that there are better hitters than Morneau, just chant “most feared, most feared, most feared” and then compare him to Jim Rice, Hall of Fame Inductee.