Who's the third B? Did Derek Bell and Operation Shutdown get retconned out, officially, in favor of Berkman? What about Berry/Bruntlett/Beltran/Burke?
95/96/97/98/99 OPS+ Derek Bell: 126/98/107/125/67 (had a couple of really good years at the plate, was a really solid RF...that's all I got) Sean Berry: 131/121/95/136/Milwaukee (slashed .283 .342 .476 .819 in 3 yrs, 330 games with Houston) Bill Spiers: NYM/93/145/100/92 (.375 OBP with Houston) I loved the Berry/Spiers platoon.
I remember Berry and Bell both being included when the term was coined. Killer B's (Houston Astros) - Wikipedia Every single player with a B first or last name got included at some point. The wiki article lists a dozen players. Which is why I thought it was weird that they referenced "one third of the killer Bs" in the article. Unless you look at it like Biggio and Bagwell were the lynchpins, and the remaining group collectively filled out a third.
Remember now, they protected Derek Bell (with a big contract) instead of Bob Abreau in the Expansion Draft. Hunsicker bemoans that and Santana in the Rule 5 as the worst moves of his career
Talk about an overachiever. He's below average at everything aside from the ability to work a walk, and he's somehow carved out a career.
Not sure if it was random luck or an improvement, but Grossman pulled the ball a lot this past season dramatically increasing his power to about average. Average power, above average contact, and well above average walks is a very nice hitter. If it sticks, Tigers will flip him at the deadline. If not, he will at least walk.
