He was selectively productive. The counting numbers are nice - but he was a mostly lousy offensive player that year. The 21 HRs are more than negated by the .306 OB%, which indicates he made *a lot* of outs. A lot. I don't know what the rest of the NL 2Bmen did that year (nor, for that matter, do I know what Phillips did pre-ASB) - but he posted a 102 OPS+, which is right at league average so, yeah, based on the entire year, he probably wasn't deserving.
concerning the thread topic, the end of his career and the six points or whatever that dropped on his career OB% were barely relevant when you brought them up and they're not very relevant several posts later, either. You and I have discussed Biggio v. Alomar before, and you make good points. I see them as either equal or slight edge to Biggio, especially considering the longevity.
then how can you comment on whether he was deserving? if his were the best numbers among NL 2Bmen, and you don't like them, should they then bring in a 3B or SS to play 2B?
