While I'll always love the 98 team as they represented the pinnacle of the franchise to that point... this golden era has trumped all of those teams in a lot of ways (and then some), and would be hard pressed to say the 2018 and 2019 Astros wouldn't have been able to beat the 98 Padres in a short series. Also the 98 team got Kerry Wood'd, Kevin Brown'd, Bud Selig'd, Greg Vaugn'd and Sterling Hitchock'd in one season.
Now that Alvarez will be an Astro for a long time, it seems, I wonder where his career numbers will end up.
Bagwell had a ops of over a 1 on 3 separate occasions. I was disputing the opinion that Alvarez has already surpassed bagwell in playoff production. Yordan plays for a much better team than bags ever did and he has more protection in lineup than bags ever did. I hope yordan is better than bags bc that would mean we have a heck of a player but I don't think he has gotten there yet.
Yordan already has more HR,XBH,Runs,Walks,Hits and Wins while having a higher slash line across the board. Bagwell has one more RBI, that's literally it. There is no argument that Yordan hasn't already passed Bagwell in postseason production, none. He has performed better by every standard
Are you counting the 2 at bats in the 2005 NLDS as one of those 3 times? Talk about a small sample size.
When discussing volume in terms of total home runs and RBIs, you have to see how many games you have appeared in and what type of expectation you had during they time along with the type of protection you have in the lineup. Yordan has already had 5 more plate appearances, 6 more abs and has played in 1 more playoff game than bagwell. He also has not been the guy most teams have pitched around (before this season). Teams made it a point to not let bagwell beat them whereas it can be argued that yordan has been 3rd or 4th feared hitter in his playoff appearances so alot less pitching around.
Well, there is that defensive production. Not to say he will not get there but that is a pretty substantial hill he has yet to climb.
Baggs played first base. It's not like it's a premier defensive position. Don't get me wrong, Baggs was great, but you really have to grade these guys based on how good they were against their contemporaries. Bagwell played in an ERA where everyone in the top 10 in OPS had an OPS above 1.
Consistency over time is lacking. He can't help that since he's only turns 25 this month. But you only have to look at Bregman to see how quickly the worm can turn. For whatever reasons, he went from HOF caliber to above average journeyman after two years. Looking back further, Dickie Thon, Don Wilson, J. R. Richard...
Career ruined by bean ball? Career ruined by suicide? Career ruined by stroke? Apples to oranges comparisons.
Precisely my point. You never know ahead of time how the career will play out. I hope he winds up as the greatest of all time. But it's premature to say it will be. Just that it could be.
If my memory serves me correctly (somewhat suspect at this point), none of the examples was something that was expected ahead of time. But perhaps Cedeno is better because one attempt to beat a throw to 1B, didn't end his career, but certainly changed it's arc. He still had an outstanding year afterward, just not consistently.
