erik lundegaard

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Sunday January 19, 2020

Joe's Top 100: 71-80

After the first 30, Poz has 11 new players that weren't on his early 2010s list. Interesting note? With the exception of Carlos Beltran (No. 98) and Larry Walker (No. 96), they‘re all pitchers and catchers. 

Maybe someone pointed out his first list was short on backstops? From 100 to 32, where he stopped, he’d only picked two (Roy Campanella and Yogi Berra), and there were probably only two more in his top 31 (Johnny Bench and Josh Gibson). On this list, he's added three: Piazza, Gary Carter, and Carlton Fisk. They probably should‘ve been on his first list. Anyway, that evens it out a bit. 

Here’s #s 71-80:

No.  PLAYER CHANGE bWAR ALL-TIME
80 Carlton Fisk NEW 68.5 115
79 Derek Jeter -22 72.4 88
78 Clayton Kershaw NEW 68 120
77 Miguel Cabrera 9 69.6 103
76 Willie McCovey -2 64.5 144
75 Justin Verlander NEW 70.9 93
74 Frank Thomas -13 73.9 81
73 Brooks Robinson -13 78.4 67
72 Robin Roberts 19 85.9 50
71 Bert Blyleven -3 94.4 40

I should take pride, as a Twins fan, that Blyleven is so high up. But if you'd asked 10-year-old me whether you'd want the likes of Willie McCovey/Brooks Robinson or Bert Blyleven on your team, it wouldn't have been a question. But Bert's got the gaudy advanced SABR numbers. He pitched well forever and that matters in WAR. WAR has him the 12th-best pitcher in baseball history. 

Joe's #79 was a bit of a controversy. Most thought he should be higher. Me, I keep wondering which 11 players from his previous list won't make the cut of this one. Six guys who ranked in the 90s on that list haven't been mentioned yet and I assume they‘re gone: Ron Santo, Lou Whitaker, Paul Waner, Craig Biggio, Old Hoss Rabourn and Mark McGwire. Is Tim Raines gone? I can’t believe he'd cut Nolan Ryan, who was 87 previously. My great fear is he‘ll cut Harmon Killebrew, who was 67th on the previous list but who doesn’t have gaudy advanced numbers (WAR: 60.4). It‘ll break my heart. 

I do think the guys he’s ranked in the 80s are better than the guys in the 90s, while the guys ranked in the 70s are better than the 80s. So he seems to be doing something right.  

Posted at 04:11 PM on Sunday January 19, 2020 in category Baseball