25 for 25: Padres
I am actually a St. Louis Cardinals fan, but over the past few months I've been working on a roster for each franchise in the National League, composed of players over the last 25 years. The way this works is that I pick one player from each season and I have to fill out an entire roster (2 catchers, 2 infielders at each position, 6 total outfielders, 5 starting pitchers, 4 relievers). I can't take more than one player for each year, I have to take one player each season even in the bad years, and I can't use the same player for multiple positions. If a player played the majority of his games at one position, I can't use that season for another position even if he's played it before. And I used basically minimums of 60 innings or 250 PA's (prorated for strike seasons).
The interesting part with this are the decisions that have to be made, whether it is, "Dang there are some really nice outfielder seasons to choose from, who gets left out?", or, "Does this team even have two decent catchers in a 25-year span?", or, "This guy had so many great years - which one do I choose?" Sometimes a great year gets left out, sometimes a fluke, partial season gets tabbed for the team.
I actually posted the entire NL East and NL West on the SB Nation site Viva El Birdos, as well as a fully researched extended version for the Cardinals from 1910 to 1934 and (eventually) a post just like this at all of the other NL sites. You're welcome to pick apart my choices and make suggestions of your own. I'm looking forward to hearing from everybody.
P.S. After completing the whole process and receiving comments last week, I realized that I should have utilized both BP's WARP1 and B-R's WAR numbers instead of just WARP1 along with Win Shares and OPS+/ERA+. (Fangraphs' WAR numbers only go back to 2002, so that would not have helped.) There were a couple players with differences of 2+ wins, so there might be a couple head-scratchers. My apologies.
C – Benito Santiago (1987), Brad Ausmus (1995)
1B – Fred McGriff (1992), Adrian Gonzalez (2009)
2B – Roberto Alomar (1988), Mark Loretta (2004)
3B – Ken Caminiti (1996), Phil Nevin (2001)
SS – Garry Templeton (1985), Damian Jackson (2000)
OF – Tony Gwynn (1986), Phil Plantier (1993), Steve Finley (1997), Greg Vaughn (1998), Brian Giles (2005), Mike Cameron (2006)
SP – Ed Whitson (1990), Andy Benes (1991), Andy Ashby (1994), Brian Lawrence (2002), Jake Peavy (2007)
RP – Mark Davis (1989), Trevor Hoffman (1999), Rod Beck (2003), Mike Adams (2008)
Notable exceptions: Ramon Hernandez (2004), Jack Clark (1989), Ryan Klesko (2001), Quilvio Veras (1998), Randy Ready (1987), Garry Sheffield (1992), Tony Fernandez (1991), Khalil Greene (2004), Kevin McReynolds (1986), Bip Roberts (1990), Bruce Hurst (1989), Joey Hamilton (1994), Greg Harris (1990)
This FanPost was written by a member of the Gaslamp Ball community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gaslamp Ball managers or SB Nation.
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I see 1996
and I know Caminiti was 7.6 WAR that year, did you leave the name out by mistake?
Isn't it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you? ◔ヮ◔
Uncommon Sportsman :: Absurdity in play
Looks like it
Fixed
I was reading about how countless species are being pushed toward extinction by man's destruction of forests. Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. - Calvin, Scientific Progress Goes "Boink", Watterson
Awesome project!
#FightingOffTheUrgeToCallYouSunsphincterSinceYouDidSomethingReallyRadAndYouLikeCalvinAndHobbes SoYouSeemPrettyCoolInMyBookEvenThoughYouLikeThoseDamnBirds #thanksforpostingthis
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"jbox does not drink coffee, as it makes him clean house big time." ~Kev
Biggest surprise
For me, is Damian Jackson. I would have expected Ozzie Smith, Tony Fernandez, or Khalil Greene.
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They were basically overruled
Ozzie’s a little early to be on this list.
Fernandez ’91 (4.9 WARP1 / 2.0 WAR) was damn good, but probably not better than Benes (5.3 / 4.3); Tony ’92 (2.2 / 0.7) not so much.
Loretta was so much better (9.4 / 6.8) than Khalil (3.5 / 3.6) or anybody else in 2004; same deal for Peavy in ’07 (8.5 / 6.7 vs. 2.7 / 3.6).
Jackson was 2nd by WARP1 and 4th in WAR in 2000, plus had the 3rd best WARP1 among the shortstops. Just working the numbers.
I was reading about how countless species are being pushed toward extinction by man's destruction of forests. Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. - Calvin, Scientific Progress Goes "Boink", Watterson
Schilling?!?!
www.FriarsOnCardboard.blogspot.com
"jbox does not drink coffee, as it makes him clean house big time." ~Kev
Take out Phil Plantier in 1993
Change Tony Gwynn to 1993
Add Kevin McReynolds 1986 (.288/.358/.862 26 HR and 96 RBI)
"No matter what you do, you're gonna die brotha." ~~ Desmond Hume
Damn I didn't realize how great a season Plantier had in 1993
34 HR / 100 RBI (.240/.335/.843) – 1.6 WAR
McReynolds had a 4.6 WAR though in 1986
"No matter what you do, you're gonna die brotha." ~~ Desmond Hume
by All Things SD on Aug 4, 2010 6:38 PM PDT up reply actions
JACKET
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"jbox does not drink coffee, as it makes him clean house big time." ~Kev
by TheThinGwynn on Aug 4, 2010 11:45 PM PDT up reply actions
I thought it would be more important to celebrate Gwynn
Gwynn in ‘86 hit thirty points lower than ’93, but he hit basically the same otherwise (more HR, less 2B) with more speed (3B & SB) and good defense. ’86: 8.5 WARP1 / 6.2 WAR; ’93: 4.1 / 2.7
I took Plantier because I had to. Going down the WARP1 list, Gwynn had a down year, Benes was better in ’91, Greg Harris wasn’t competitive at SP, Plantier posted a 3.6 WARP1, and Phil Clark was OK for a part-timer, but not enough to vie for a spot on the roster.
I already pointed out that I didn’t use the WAR numbers to make my decisions here, but if I had, I might have switched it around this way: move Benes to 1993 and take Darrin Jackson. Andy was actually better by WAR and Darrin was a 3.0 WARP1 / 4.4 WAR in less than 400 PA’s.
It still doesn’t get you Kevin McReynolds on the team (Santiago made sure of that by taking ’87 away from Gwynn), but you do improve in the outfield and the rotation.
I was reading about how countless species are being pushed toward extinction by man's destruction of forests. Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. - Calvin, Scientific Progress Goes "Boink", Watterson
It's too bad
That Kevin Brown’s 1998 season couldn’t make it, but it’s hard to argue against Vaughn there.
Also, I’d have liked to have seen Chris Young as well, possibly over Cameron in ‘06, but that might be because I’ve never much liked Cameron.
Distaste for players
You should see the comments about Bobby Bonilla on the ’93 Mets and Kevin Orie at 3B for the ’97 Cubs, nevermind leaving Brad Lidge off the team in favor of Cole Hamels.
I was reading about how countless species are being pushed toward extinction by man's destruction of forests. Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. - Calvin, Scientific Progress Goes "Boink", Watterson
Rec'd for being a total stat geek fest
He brought some of the lurker closet geeks out of the woodwork.
"Savvy Chicks Dig the Bullpen"

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