MLBN - Top 10 Right Now

[icehole3]

Nice feature, theyve done 1stbasemen and catchers (I'll try to get the catchers up soon) was wondering if you guys agree. The Shredder is all the numbers crunched together. Bill James and Sean Casey also had their top 10 guys. Just wondering what you guys think about their list. Or what's your list looking like?

[757690]

Might have to use this as my screensaver. Thx!

[Tony Cloninger]

If James wants to put Pujols over Votto...I understand but Fielder? The guy is a DH playing 1B. Some Defense counts for something in these rankings.

[wolfboy]

Originally Posted by Tony Cloninger

If James wants to put Pujols over Votto...I understand but Fielder? The guy is a DH playing 1B. Some Defense counts for something in these rankings.

Did he give his rationale for placing Pujols and Fielder over Votto?

[MikeThierry]

Originally Posted by wolfboy

Did he give his rationale for placing Pujols and Fielder over Votto?

I thought his rationale was surprising. One of the factors was RBI total, which was odd coming from Bill James. I think part of it is the fact that he probably thinks Pujols will have a good year this year. He pointed out that Pujols had 50 doubles last year, which I didn't know until I looked at the stats. He had a pretty good year considering how bad he started and probably James thinks Pujols will bounce back. I still wouldn't have Fielder over Votto though.

[RedsManRick]

Here's the last 3 years' top 10 1B according to Fangraphs WAR (though B-R's WAR basically agrees)

Rk  Name	PA	wOBA	fWAR	rWAR
1.  Cabrera	2033	.428	20.6	20.3
2.  Votto	1842	.425	20.1	18.5
3.  Pujols	2021	.388	16.4	17.0
4.  Gonzalez	2092	.378	15.2	14.0
5.  Fielder	2096	.396	13.5	10.0
6.  Teixeira	1920	.360	10.4	10.5
7.  Napoli	1359	.377	10.4	 8.4
8.  Youkilis	1461	.368	 9.1	 9.5
9.  Konerko	1868	.391	 8.9	 8.4
10. Butler	2030	.368	 7.9	 7.6

Obviously this is different than "right now", but it provides interesting perspective. With Cabrera sliding over to 3B and Pujols taking a step back the last two years, Votto is really unmatched on the list.

If you were giving me the next 3 years of anybody at 1B, I'd probably go:

1. Votto
2. Gonzalez
3. Fielder
4. Teixeira
5. Pujols

After that it gets a lot tougher, but for me it's really those top 5 as reliables and then all sorts of guys who could step up as high as #4 including Goldschmidt, Alonso, Freeman and Hosmer and some mid-late peak, position switch types who could be surprisingly reliable like Craig, Encarnacion, Napoli and Swisher.

[goreds2]

1. Votto

1-A. Pujols

[MikeThierry]

I have a feeling that Pujols is going to have a monster year with a full year of Trout hitting in front of him and a legit power hitting cleanup guy hitting in back of him. Rolen, Edmonds, and Holliday did very well in the 4 spot behind him but I don't think he's ever had a cleanup hitter behind him with the quality that Hamilton brings to the table. Still, Votto is #1 on my list until someone proves they are better this year.

On a side note, I really think they have Teixeira too high on this list. Obviously he is still a very good defender but I think the days of him being a good hitter are behind him. Allen Craig, for example, had a higher WAR than Tex did while Craig played in less games. I'm surprised that Adam LaRoche wasn't put on this list instead of Teixeira.

[icehole3]

here are the catchers

[icehole3]

James comments on Hannigan, "most under rated player in baseball, great OBP, great arm, 3.04 ERA when catching."

[Superdude]

Originally Posted by icehole3

James comments on Hannigan, "most under rated player in baseball, great OBP, great arm, 3.04 ERA when catching."

Doesn't he know catcher's ERA is useless? That guy will never make it.

[wheels]

Bill James always seems to come off as mundane and droll whenever they ask him to elaborate on his picks.

I really don't think he likes Baseball anymore.

[MikeThierry]

Originally Posted by wheels

Bill James always seems to come off as mundane and droll whenever they ask him to elaborate on his picks.

I really don't think he likes Baseball anymore.

I think he comes off as quirky and doesn't like to be filmed. That said, he still does fine work.

[icehole3]

Originally Posted by wheels

Bill James always seems to come off as mundane and droll whenever they ask him to elaborate on his picks.

I really don't think he likes Baseball anymore.

what was odd was he wouldnt look into the camera or at the interviewer, he seemed very sad about something

[mattfeet]

I don't think he's "sad" about anything. I just think that he's someone who always loved baseball and was never able to physically play it, or play it well. Because of that, I feel that he poured himself into what he IS good at when it comes to baseball and devoted himself to it.

-Matt