Previews of Top 10 at each position?

[JoeCoolMan24]

Quote: Originally Posted by capnharry

In regards to Pujols: Regression? Slight nod? 'Bounce back year' in '11? I normally don't get involved in these discussions but did we watch the same 2010 season? What are you basing your idea of regression on? WAR alone? I'm guessing so because that, along with UZR, is the stat you've used to defend all of your arguments. If so Pujols was still a full point higher than Votto in '10 so I don't know how he gets just a slight nod. He regressed yet still led the league in HR and RBI and came in 3rd in AVG? He won a Gold Glove at his position AND the Silver Slugger. I hope he regresses every year if that's regressing. He'll be dominating well in to his 40s if so. He is by far the best player in the game and its not even close right now. Sure he was 2nd in MVP voting but that was clearly a case of Votto leading a winning team. What does he need to do to 'bounce back' next year? The man nearly won the Triple Crown. I'm very confused.

Pujols was not a full point higher than Votto, considering Votto has the better WAR. Pujols had a 7.3 WAR and Votto had a 7.4.

Technically Pujols is in a regression. It's his 2nd straight down year in a row. Just because he is regressing doesn't mean he isn't amazing still. And most people would argue that Votto could have a better 2011 since is is 27 and improving, and Pujols is 30 and regressing, but since it's Pujols and he has been a damn machine over his whole career, I'd still give him the nod over Votto, but the gap is not very big at all.

And to answer your "what does he need to do to have a "bounce back" year?". Well, simple, he needs to do better in 2010 than he did in 2011, that's how. HOWEVER, he could have a similar year in 2010, and still win the MVP because that's how insanely great he was a couple years ago. Remember, just because he is regressing doesn't mean he isn't one of the best players in baseball anymore. When you are heads and shoulders the best in the game, you can afford to regress and still hold the crown.

And by the way, how was he close to a Triple Crown in 2010? He was 24 pts behind CarGo in average. Yes, he led the other 2 categories, but those go hand-in-hand, while 24 pts in average is a LOT. I mean, Votto was just as close then. He was 5 HR and 5 RBI short of Pujols (HRs would take care of the RBIs), and would only be 3 pts behind CarGo in average.

[Curyy94]

Quote: Originally Posted by capnharry

In regards to Pujols: Regression? Slight nod? 'Bounce back year' in '11? I normally don't get involved in these discussions but did we watch the same 2010 season? What are you basing your idea of regression on? WAR alone? I'm guessing so because that, along with UZR, is the stat you've used to defend all of your arguments. If so Pujols was still a full point higher than Votto in '10 so I don't know how he gets just a slight nod. He regressed yet still led the league in HR and RBI and came in 3rd in AVG? He won a Gold Glove at his position AND the Silver Slugger. I hope he regresses every year if that's regressing. He'll be dominating well in to his 40s if so. He is by far the best player in the game and its not even close right now. Sure he was 2nd in MVP voting but that was clearly a case of Votto leading a winning team. What does he need to do to 'bounce back' next year? The man nearly won the Triple Crown. I'm very confused.

It's ok, the guy who said that also thinks Alexei Ramirez is the next Derek Jeter.

[JoeCoolMan24]

Quote: Originally Posted by Curyy94

It's ok, the guy who said that also thinks Alexei Ramirez is the next Derek Jeter.

I don't recall saying that Alexei Ramirez would be one of the worst defensive SS in the history of baseball, but whatever.

[mrhenry209]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoeCoolMan24

I don't recall saying that Alexei Ramirez would be one of the worst defensive SS in the history of baseball, but whatever.

Oh, snap!
ANYWHO...
Everyone's Top 10 list will be subjective to the way they analyze baseball. Metric freaks will likely include players that traditional fans would never dream of including in their top 10 list. In a way, SCEA is playing moderator when they release their top 10 previews.

[berenjena]

Quote: Originally Posted by SomeRandomDude

My List: (NOT IN REAL LIFE, IN THE GAME!!) Starting Pitching: 1 - PHI - Roy Halladay 2 - SFG - Tim Lincecum 3 - SEA - Felix Hernandez 4 - NYY - CC Sabathia 5 - PHI - Cliff Lee 6 - STL - Adam Wainwright 7 - BOS - Jon Lester 8 - SFG - Matt Cain 9 - STL - Chris Carpenter 10 - FLA - Josh Johnson Relievers 1 - NYY - Rafael Soriano 2 - BOS - Daniel Bard 2 - SDP - Mike Adams 4 - CWS - Matt Thorton 5 - TEX - Darren O'Day 6 - BOS - Bobby Jenks 7 - LAA - Scott Downs 8 - ATL - Peter Moylan 9 - OAK - Brian Fuentes 10- DET - Joaquim Benoit Closers 1 - KCR - Joakim Soria 2 - SFG - Brian Wilson 3 - NYY - Mariano Rivera 4 - SDP - Heath Bell 5 - OAK - Andrew Bailey 6 - CHC - Carlos Marmol 7 - TEX - Neftali Feliz 8 - BOS - Jonathon Paplebon 9 - MIN - Joe Nathan 10 - CIN - Fransisco Cordero Catchers 1 - MIN - Joe Mauer 2 - ATL - Brian McCann 3 - DET - Victor Martinez 4 - SFG - Buster Posey 5 - STL - Yadier Molina 6 - PHI - Carlos Ruiz 7 - CWS - A.J. Pierzynski 8 - BAL - Matt Wieters 9 - CHC - Geovany Soto 10 - TOR - Mike Napoli First Basemen 1 - STL - Albert Pujols 2 - CIN - Joey Votto 3 - BOS - Adrian Gonzalez 4 - DET - Miguel Cabrera 5 - MIN - Justin Morneau 6 - NYY - Mark Teixeira 7 - MIL - Ryan Howard 8 - MIL - Prince Fielder 9 - LAA - Kendry Morales 10 - CWS - Adam Dunn Second Basemen 1 - PHI - Chase Utley 2 - NYY - Robinson Cano 3 - BOS - Dustin Pedroia 4 - CIN - Brandon Phillips 5 - TEX - Ian Kinsler 6 - MIL - Rickie Weeks 7 - ATL - Dan Uggla 8 - TOR - Aaron Hill 9 - PIT - Neil Walker 10 - BAL - Brian Roberts Shortstop 1 - COL - Troy Tulowitzki 2 - FLA - Hanley Ramirez 3 - NYM - Jose Reyes 4 - NYY - Derek Jeter 5 - PHI - Jimmy Rollins 6 - CWS - Alexei Ramirez 7 - TEX - Elvis Andrus 8 - AZD - Stephen Drew 9 - LAD - Rafael Furcal 10 -TOR - Yunel Escobar Third Basemen 2 - NYM - David Wright 2 - TBR - Evan Longoria 3 - WAS - Ryan Zimmerman 4 - BOS - Kevin Youkilis 5 - NYY - Alex Rodriguez 6 - TEX - Adrian Beltre 7 - CHC - Aramis Ramirez 8 - BAL - Mark Reynolds 9 - SFG - Pablo Sandoval 10 - MIL - Casey McGehee Left Fielder 1 - TEX - Josh Hamilton 2 - STL - Matt Holliday 3 - MIL - Ryan Braun 4 - BOS - Carl Crawford 5 - MIN - Delmon Young 6 - CHC - Alfonso Soriano 7 - NYY - Brett Gardner 8 - LAA - Bobby Abreu 9 - NYM - Jason Bay 10 - TBR - Manny Ramirez Center Fiedler 1 - LAD - Matt Kemp 2 - PIT - Andrew McCutchen 3 - NYY - Curtis Granderson 4 - PHI - Shane Victorino 5 - TBR - B.J. Upton 6 - LAA - Torii Hunter 7 - HOU - Michael Bourn 8 - CIN - Drew Stubbs 9 - STL - Colby Rasmus 10 - LAA - Vernon Wells B Right Fielder 1 - COL - Carlos Gonzalez 2 - LAD - Andre Ethier 3 - WAS - Jayson Werth 4 - TEX - Nelson Cruz 5 - TOR - Jose Bautista 6 - CLE - Shin-Soo Choo 7 - NYY - Nick Swisher 8 - CIN - Jay Bruce 9 - MIL - Corey Hart 10 - SEA - Ichiro

That's the worst list I've seen

[joshtree14]

clay Buchholz should crack the top 10. was the best pitcher on the sox this year. 2.33 era and had 40 more innings pitched than hits allowed

[capnharry]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoeCoolMan24

Pujols was not a full point higher than Votto, considering Votto has the better WAR. Pujols had a 7.3 WAR and Votto had a 7.4. Technically Pujols is in a regression. It's his 2nd straight down year in a row. Just because he is regressing doesn't mean he isn't amazing still. And most people would argue that Votto could have a better 2011 since is is 27 and improving, and Pujols is 30 and regressing, but since it's Pujols and he has been a damn machine over his whole career, I'd still give him the nod over Votto, but the gap is not very big at all. And to answer your "what does he need to do to have a "bounce back" year?". Well, simple, he needs to do better in 2010 than he did in 2011, that's how. HOWEVER, he could have a similar year in 2010, and still win the MVP because that's how insanely great he was a couple years ago. Remember, just because he is regressing doesn't mean he isn't one of the best players in baseball anymore. When you are heads and shoulders the best in the game, you can afford to regress and still hold the crown. And by the way, how was he close to a Triple Crown in 2010? He was 24 pts behind CarGo in average. Yes, he led the other 2 categories, but those go hand-in-hand, while 24 pts in average is a LOT. I mean, Votto was just as close then. He was 5 HR and 5 RBI short of Pujols (HRs would take care of the RBIs), and would only be 3 pts behind CarGo in average.

We must be using different sources to track WAR because baseball reference has Pujols with a 7.4 WAR and Votto with a 6.2 WAR. PLEASE explain to me how Pujols had a down year? What statistics are you using to indicate this 'regression'? Is it simply because he is older than Votto? Pujols is 31 in '11 Votto is 27 in '11, I can hardly say Pujols is declining because of age at 31. Are you basing this on AVG, HR, and RBI? Sure those numbers were lower than the previous season but that HARDLY indicates a down year. You have to look at what everyone else in the game is doing. 42 HR were a lot more difficult in 2010. 2010 was the first year that the Major League average for homeruns per game was below 1.0 (0.95 in '10) since 1993. And I'm sorry but to say Votto was just as close as Pujols in the Triple Crown race isn't accurate. With 14 more hits, Pujols would have had the batting title. I'm not saying that's a small feat, but Votto not only needed 12 points in AVG he also needed to make up 5 HR which is by far tougher to make up than 14 hits. A 14 hit increase would indicate a 7.7% increase in production in hits for Pujols. Votto needed a 4% increase in hits PLUS 13.5% increase in HR and I'll leave the RBI out of it since you seem to think RBI go hand in hand with HR (I don't necessarily agree, see Barry Bonds, et al). The batting title was a close race until the last few weeks or so when CarGo hit a streak and separated himself. That could've easily been the case for Pujols or Votto for that matter. So again what would indicate a better '11 vs '10 for Pujols, RELATIVE to the rest of the league? He could hit 45 HR next year and have a .320 average but I would argue that does not necessarily indicate a better year than 2010 by any means. And you said at one point in your post he is 'head and shoulders the best in the game' shortly after saying 'the gap is not very big at all' between him and Votto. Not making much sense there. And as far as Votto having a better '11? You're basing that on one great year. Pujols has had TEN of them. Every year he has played he's had .300+ 30+ 100+. Votto has done that once. Over his CAREER, Pujols has AVERAGED .331, 41, and 123. Votto hasn't even put up those numbers in a SINGLE SEASON yet. I'll take Pujols over Votto in '11 every single time and I'm sure most people would.

And I haven't even mentioned defense...

[Chrisksaint]

I'm really curious to see how they rate Mike Stanton. Already started to show his power in the MLB and surprisingly he was a very solid defender in RF.