Originally posted by jacklegniner:
Sorry Andes i'm jumped out for awhile... With all of the guys you have named (Delgado, Wright, Walker, etc...), I don't think you would find 1 expert/analyst to agree with you. Even the other guys like bagwell and thomas, I think most experts would take Jeter. This probably pisses you off, but if someone had to pick one of these guys to have on a team, I think they would go with Jeter. Stats tell a good amount of the story but to me the stats get people talking about the HOF. The rest of it is intangibles, longevity, leadership, etc... it is hard to judge. Jeter without a doubt has all those things and it's why people talk so highly of him. You don't even need to guess that Jeter is a HOFer. But someone like Jim Thome they debate even though he has tons of HR's and RBI's. It's not all about the stats.
It is mostly about stats. But HR's and RBI's are not all stats. I think Stan Musial is one of the 3-5 best players ever and he never hit 40 homers in a season. RBI's is skewed anyways because people who have better players in front of them have more RBI chances. But that's why slugging is a very good statistic. Total bases per at bat. Takes into account how often you get hits and how often you get extra base hits and gives you credit accordingly since, you know, HR>triple>double>single (OPS is a good one too because it takes into account walks, but the only flaw is that grounding into fielders choices or reaching because of an error boosts it). Jeter lovers just don't like it because it doesn't work in their favor. And I already acknowledged all the other stuff. Wright, like I said for Tulowitzki, is for WHEN THEY'RE done. Walker is unquestionably better. And how can you say Delgado isn't? The intangibles/leadership is BS- I'm talking about objective stuff- not fluff. No one would praise Jeter for his almighty leadership if he played in Toronto and never won a ring like Delgado. As for longevity, again, like I said, I believe being good for a million years is not as impressive as being dominant for a shorter amount of time. That's why no one thinks Ricky Proehl>Sterling Sharpe.
[ Edited by andes14 on Jul 11, 2011 at 4:12 PM ]