Best of the Decade: Right Field

Mookie Betts leads the pack among right fielders in the 2010s. I gave him the nod over the gentlemen below because Betts has played at an extremely high level since his debut and has simply brought a lot of value to his teams in a short period of time. He has posted at least 6 rWAR in every full season he has played, and he has played between 250 and 400 fewer games than the other guys in this section. Betts is the owner of a .301/.374/.519 career triple-slash and brought the coveted power-speed combo to the Red Sox for the first six years of his career, launching 139 home runs and stealing 126 bags in that time frame. The one-time MVP will now suit up in Chavez Ravine for the Dodgers and look to get this next decade started right. Worth noting, of course, is that he’ll be there for the next 12 years on the heels of a $365 million extension.

Best of the Decade: Left Field

Fangraphs and Baseball Reference agree on the top four left fielders of the past decade though they don’t quite agree on the order. This brings us to a debate of elite quality versus very high quantity; WAR is a counting stat so if you play more games at a high level, you end up with a higher WAR. Still, though, playing fewer games at an elite level is incredibly valuable. I’ll settle the debate.

Best of the Decade: Shortstop

What makes picking the top shortstop of the past decade so difficult is that there isn’t even a WAR consensus between the two websites; Baseball Reference has Andrelton Simmons as the top shortstop of the 2010s but Fangraphs hands Troy Tulowitzki that honor. I actually think that neither of the above was the top shortstop of the decade—it was Francisco Lindor.

Best of the Decade: First Base

An evaluation of a first baseman’s performance starts and ends with offensive production; first basemen do not get high marks for defense and their defense rarely ever makes enough of a difference to matter to the team, so this is solely a bat-first position.

Best of the Decade: Catcher

If you think there was a catcher better than Posey over the last decade, feel free to disagree with me. My handle on Twitter is @metsfanmax and I’d love to get a tweet or DM from you. You’re wrong, but I’d love to tell you personally why that’s the case.

Top 25 MLB Players Under 25 For 2020

Cody Bellinger headlines the list of Top 25 Players Under 25 entering the 2020 season.

No Marte Party, Please

If the Mets were to acquire Marte, it would make logical sense to part with Brandon Nimmo and even potentially Dominic Smith. Sending the Pirates prospects such as David Peterson or Mark Vientos would be a mistake.

Top 25 MLB Players Under 25 For 2019

Alex Bregman headlines the list of Top 25 Players Under 25 entering the 2019 season.

It’s Time for Mets Fans to Get Excited

As a lifelong Mets fan, I know it’s foolish to ever advise Mets fans to get their hopes up. I’ve lived through Game Seven of the NLCS in 2006, the collapses in both 2007 and 2008, and the abomination that was the 2015 World Series—though, to be fair, it was a miracle that the Mets […]

Breaking Down Clayton Kershaw’s Contract Option

Kershaw has had back issues in his career (though he says they are no longer a problem), and he has missed significant time in each of the past three seasons due to various other injuries. From 2010-2015, Kershaw averaged just over 222 innings pitched per season. In the three seasons since, he has averaged fewer than 162 innings, meaning he has not thrown enough innings, on average, to qualify for the ERA title. Of the past three years, he has qualified for the ERA crown in just 2017. He led the majors in ERA that year, of course, but that’s beside the point. Kershaw is looking like a mortal.

Musings of a Baseball Addict

The place to go for the mundane musings of a baseball addict.

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