AL East by Position: Summary
by Stacey on Mar 14, 2010 5:16 PM EDT
in Commentary & Analysis
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PrintAs suggested by Birdman, here's a tally of the AL East position rankings I've written over the past month and a half. Based on the rankings I'll give each team a final score which, I'm fairly certain, will determine who will win the World Series in 2010. Well ok, maybe not, but it'll be interesting nonetheless. The team with the player in 1st position will get five points, 2nd four points, and so on. If I remember and/or care, maybe I'll revisit these rankings when the 2010 season is over and see just how smart/dumb I am.
Click through to see the totals (the table is too wide for front page action). Given that not all #1s (or 5s) are equal it's not worth much, but it's nice to see the O's hold their own in the final tally. One thing appears to be certain: the Blue Jays are going to have a rough go of it.
| Orioles | Red Sox | Yankees | Rays | Blue Jays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catcher | Matt Wieters - 5 | Victor Martinez - 4 | Jorge Posada - 3 | Kelly Shoppach - 2 | John Buck - 1 |
| First Base | Garrett Atkins - 1 | Kevin Youkilis - 4 | Mark Teixeira - 5 | Carlos Pena - 3 | Lyle Overbay - 2 |
| Second Base | Brian Roberts - 3 | Dustin Pedroia - 5 | Robinson Cano - 2 | Ben Zobrist - 4 | Aaron Hill - 1 |
| Third Base | Miguel Tejada - 2 | Adrian Beltre - 3 | Alex Rodriguez - 5 | Evan Longoria - 4 | Edwin Encarnacion - 1 |
| Shortstop | Cesar Izturis - 2 | Marco Scutaro - 3 | Derek Jeter - 5 | Jason Bartlett - 4 | Alex Gonzalez - 1 |
| Left Field | Nolan Reimold - 4 | Jacoby Ellsbury - 3 | Brett Gardner - 1 | Carl Crawford - 5 | Travis Snider - 2 |
| Center Field | Adam Jones - 5 | Mike Cameron - 2 | Curtis Granderson - 3 | B.J. Upton - 4 | Vernon Wells - 1 |
| Right Field | Nick Markakis - 5 | J.D. Drew - 4 | Nick Swisher - 3 | Matt Joyce - 2 | Jose Bautista - 1 |
| Designated Hitter | Luke Scott - 2 | David Ortiz - 4 | Nick Johnson - 3 | Pat Burrell - 1 | Adam Lind - 5 |
| Total Points: | 29 | 32 | 30 | 29 | 15 |
Going back and looking at the rankings I have a few more comments about my O's ranks. The only one I ranked any higher than I 100% believed was Wieters. He'll ultimately be the best, but maybe not in 2010. But people have been heaping the highest of expectations on him for so long, why not continue in the tradition? I do think that Martinez would be the only one who could outperform him this year.
Given the uncertainty about Reimold's Achilles, I'm not feeling as confident about the #2 rank. If I were to re-rank today based on what's happened so far in Spring Training I might move him down a notch. Of course as I said before, Travis Snider is something of a wild card who could jump to the #2 spot if he puts it together.
For reference, here are the links to the original articles:
| Catcher | First Base | Second Base |
| Third Base | Shortstop | Left Field |
| Center Field | Right Field | Designated Hitter |
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An "AL East Rotation" series like this would be cool
I’d imagine the Orioles wouldn’t be up there in the total points though!
Eh
No disrespect intended – I get that it’s just a for fun thing – but are we really saying that the difference between Evan Longoria and Adrien Beltre is equivalent to the difference between J.D. Drew and Nick Swisher? I’m not buying the straight weights assigned. No disrespect, I just don’t think this table is really worthwhile.
Bedard says he doesn't care and thinks goals are pointless.
Oh I agree
It’s just a fun thing to look at. I don’t think we are actually on par with Rays and “one point” behind the Yanks in terms of talent.
Bruce Springsteen rules.
not at all
not even a little bit
This just in: adorableness on the rise, family copes with child getting schooled. Film at 11. -daveh873
The O's outfield is looking dominant
although I’m nervous about its ability to stay healthy.
"Whether your name is Gehrig or Ripken, DiMaggio or Robinson, or that of some youngster who picks up his bat or puts on his glove, you are challenged by the game of baseball to do your very best day in and day out. That's all I've ever tried to do."
Pretty much right on
Id move Reimold down a bit, I think Ellsbury and Snider are probably better bets right now but he’s a solid 2 or 3. Id also move Weiters down a spot below Martinez. The pitching will be the big difference maker for the division.
Aaron Hill is the worst 2B in the AL East? Seriously?
Wow – worst rating that I have read on the internet in history and I spend A LOT of time on the internet. All that I am going to say is let’s re-visit this article at season’s end and we’ll see how this rating works for you. Aaron Hill is the best 2B in MLB right now, let along the AL East. Period.
Chase Utley and Ian Kinsler say hi
Also, you should read the actual article. I found the AL East second basemen very hard to rank and said in there that I could see the order going almost any way. And with Brian Roberts’ injury getting more and more troublesome, he’s dropping down the list for sure.
This just in: adorableness on the rise, family copes with child getting schooled. Film at 11. -daveh873
Just to look at it a little more closely
Aaron Hill – with the best season of his entire life (including little league) still only managed an OPS+ of 117 and has a career OPS+ of 102. Robinson Cano had an OPS+ of 129 and a career OPS+ of 113. Dustin Pedroia had an OPS+ of 110 and has a 111 for his career. Roberts OPS+’d 111 and has a career OPS+ of 105 (of course he has steals which the others don’t). Zobrist had an OPS+ of 146 last year. So…unless we’re just ranking in order of most HRs Hill doesn’t really fall too high on the list. He had a great year, but even in the best year he’s ever had he was still only the 3rd most productive 2B in the AL East (and really by a good margin).
As far as best in MLB (haha!) Chase Utley had an OPS+ of 136 last year and 129 for his career.
With all the reading you do on the internet you might want to mix in some baseball reference time.
No, YOU look at it a little more closely
To O’sFan21: Telling someone to look at something more closely and then concentrating solely on one statistic to “prove” your point, does not make a lot of sense. Hill won the Silver Slugger Award in 2009 and was tied for third best fielding percentage for all MLB 2B (behind only Polanco and Eckstein) although he played more games. I have taken your advice, truly looked more closely, and have cemented my original statement.
To Stacey: BTW, I did read the actual article, but at the end of the day, you have still ranked Aaron Hill as the worst 2B in the AL East, so I am not sure how you can recover from that statement, no matter how you hard you backpeddle now.
I'm not back peddling
Perhaps Aaron Hill will prove me wrong. But what you call “back peddling” I call the fact that I blatantly said it was one of the toughest rankings to do because they’re all good. So, whatever dude.
If you honestly think that Aaron Hill is a better 2B than Chase Utley (or Dustin Pedroia for that matter), then you sir are high.
This just in: adorableness on the rise, family copes with child getting schooled. Film at 11. -daveh873
A Second Chance for Stacey
Stacey – that is horrible journalism – so, you’re telling me that as long as you throw in a clause along the lines of “it’s tough”, you can get away with anything? At the end of the day, you still stated that a player who won the Silver Slugger Award and is top 3 in MLB fielding percentage is the worst at his position in the AL East. That is what I am calling you out on. If you were to simply admit that you were mistaken, this debate would be over. I am not asking you to admit that he is best in the division (although in my opinion, he is), just to admit that you were wrong and that he is not the worst. Here’s another chance to redeem yourself – if you were to “re-do” your article, how would you rank Aaron Hill among 2B in the AL East?
I'd still put him last
LAST
This just in: adorableness on the rise, family copes with child getting schooled. Film at 11. -daveh873
Coincidence
That’s the same ranking that I would give the quality of your article, your journalistic ability, and your baseball knowledge.
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