[ESPN Page 2] Baseball's most valuable players

My personal nickname for Roy O is Boomhauer, due to the slight resemblance and the speech patterns.

 

nice read. thx.

 

If the writer writes that same article again this time next year, Ensberg's going to be on there as well.

I was kind of surprised he had Dunn ahead of Berkman.

 

Well, Dunn is 4 years younger than Lance, so he does figure to have more years of peak productivity out of him than Lance at this point in time, which was a factor in these rankings.

 

Did he have to gush over Pujols' NLCS homer off Lidge to prove how great Pujols is? I mean, couldn't he have used "youngest player ever to get to [insert statistical milestone here]" instead?

Sorry, but I still get queasy when I think of that moment ...

 

Oswalt has one of the coolest nicknames, though. I think "The Wizard" fits him perfectly.


Plus, he'd look funny in a Merlin's hat.

 

like bloodninja..is it possible that roy is bloodninja?

 

I don't like "The Wizard" for him because that would insiuate that he is "The Wizard of (OWES)" and that doesn't sound right. Plus, that was Ozzie Smith's nickname... see the pronunciation works on that one. I like Boomhauer. or O-Z

 

Carlos Beltran being ranked higher than Berkman is a traveshamockery!

 

wow. i didn't see that. you're absolutely right. that's a joke.

 

"Owes" = 0's = zeroes

As in 000 000 000.

Sounds about right.

 

I agree. That's what I was thinking.

I can see Roy O telling the batter, "You'll get nothing and like it!!!"

 

when you consider beltran's speed and centerfield play, that's not so ludicrous. lance is definitely a better hitter, but he hasn't shown that much more power than beltran, and rbi are pretty close.

 

Jeter's well-rounded? Wasn't he ranked as the worst AL shortstop defensively in The Fielding Bible?

 

hmmm...i think Berkman is a decidedly better hitter. enough so to neutralize the other arguments, particularly considering the astros have played lance out of position for virtually all of his career.

Lance has 3209 AB's..he has a .419 career OBP with a .561 slugging average, a .303 batting average. 635 RBI with 602 runs scored.

Beltran has 4082 AB's (so a little over 800 more AB's)..he has a career .351 OBP with a .480 slugging percentage and a career .281 batting average. 656 RBI wih 712 runs scored.

if i'm starting a team i take lance every single time over carlos.

 

but what you aren't considering is berkman is supposed to hit from first base, the prodcution carlos gives you from centerfield is bonus. a 30 hr, 100 rbi guy who's a pretty darn good centerfielder is more valuable than a .315 35 hr 130 rbi firstbaseman.

imo

 

that's true. maybe you're right.

i would point out that beltran has only hit 30 HR's once in his career, though. he had a below average 2005. let's see how he does this season.

i have a hunch, though...if beltran were playing in houston and berkman were playing in NY...somehow i think they'd be flipped on lists like these.

 

I think if it wasn't for 2 weeks in October 2004, that they would be flipped.