Results tagged ‘ Ichiro ’
Top Ten Time: Best Position Players of the Decade
Welcome to our weekly top ten, this one about the top ten POSITION players of the decade. To be on this prestigious list you have to be a good hitter,
at least an average fielder, have a strong impact on your team (being clutch),
and also have a good list of awards to prove your case. You might also want a
World Series championship but lots of good players don’t have rings. Most of
the players on this list will have World Series ring because you become great
with championships, or so they say.
1. Albert Pujols
There is no doubt that Pujols is probably the best player in baseball right
now. Why not the best in the decade? He
played 9 years in the 2000′s starting with his debut in 01. In this decade he
has hit 366 homeruns, 1717 hits, 1071 runs scored, a .334 batting average, and
has had 1112 RBIS. He has been proven he can be clutch, proven by his .411
career batting average and 11 grand slams with the bases loaded. And to back this up I will refer to when King
Albert hit a 3 run homer in the top of the ninth of Brad Lidge, in the NLCS, to
keep his Cardinal’s season alive. Phat Albert can also play defense proven by
his excellent .992 fielding percentage in 09. He also won a gold glove in 2006
which starts on how many awards he has won over the amazing decade of his. He
is an 8 time all star, 5 time silver slugger, 06 gold glove winner, 3 time MVP,
01 rookie of the year, along with a World Series championship in 06.
2. Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez was on track to be perhaps the best player in baseball history
at one point but then settled down and Pujols also came along. A-Rod also had
amazing, amazing numbers in this decade with 435 career homers in this decade
alone. He also has 1243 RBI’s, 1190 runs, and 1883 hits. Alexander the Great
has also been proven more clutch than everybody says. Though he was horrible in
the post season up until this past post-season he still sends Yankee fans to
bed with happiness rushing through their head. Some examples of how much better at being clutch then people says
are: All of his grand slams (18), his game tying homeruns off Joe Nathan and
the Twins in the ALDS, his game tying homer off Brian Fuentes and the Angels,
his walk-off homer against Junichi Tazawa and the BoSox, and these are only
from this year. Here come the awards. 9 time all star, 3 time MVP, 9 silver
sluggers, 2 gold gloves, 4 time Hank Aaron award winner, and a World Series
champion.
3. Ichiro Suzuki
There isn’t enough to say about Ichiro. He isn’t a homer guy, but that doesn’t
matter if you have a career batting average of .333. He also has 2030 hits in
just 9 years. He has played over 160 games 5 times and the rest of the season
except for 09, he played at least 155. 341 stolen bases, 6099 AB’s, and 1426
games played. Ichiro is clutch as he is the owner of a .342 average when the
game is tied; a .353 BA when there are 2 outs with RISP, .332 batting average
from the 7th to 9th inning, and has a career, 427 batting
average with the bases loaded. Not good enough? Well too bad. Now here come the awards. He is a 9 time MLB
all star and a 16 time international all star. He has one 4 MVP’s in his time
here and in Japan, he has 9 Gold Glove, 3 silver sluggers and is a 2 time
batting champion. Though Ichiro doesn’t have any World Series rings to show
off, he is still one of the best players of the decade.
4. Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter, also known as Captain Clutch, has had a career that every Major
League Player would like to have. 1940 hits, a 317 BA, and 1088 runs scored all
in this decade. Jeter is also clutch and that is why he was given the name Captain
Clutch. He owns a .308 BA with RISP, a .353 BA with the bases loaded, .318 BA
with runners on second and third, and a .320 with a runner on third and 3 outs.
Though he doesn’t have the best average in the ninth inning, he owns a ********
.325 BA and .449 OBP in extras. To back up that Jeter is clutch, he has a .313
BA in the postseason in 559 AB’s. Like everybody else Jeter has plenty of
awards. He is a 10 time all star, 4 time Gold Glove winner, 4 time Sliver
Slugger winner, 2 time Hank Aaron award winner, and he has 5 championship
rings.
5. Chipper Jones
Chipper Jones has
always been consistent and has a dominated career .307 average. His best year
average wise was just back in 08 when he hit .364 and had a .470 OPS. He has
426 homers, .406 OPS, and 1445 RBI’s. Chipper Jones is clutcher then he seems.
He has a .301 BA with RISP, .321 BA with the bases loaded, a .369 average with
runners on 2nd and 3rd, and a .372 with runners on third
with 2 outs. Lastly, Chipper has less awards then everybody else but still has
a decent amount of awards. 2 x Silver Slugger, 6 x All-Star, NL MVP in 1999,
and has a World Series ring in 95.
6. Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds was a very, very good player up until he started steroids. He
was a skinny fast outfielder that had potential to steal A LOT of bases. Then he started taking steroids and became
fast, and big, and his defense became much worse. He hit many more homeruns and
became a liar. Even though Bonds is perhaps the biggest enemies of the decade,
he is one of the best. He has the MLB record for homeruns and walks. He has
1996 RBI’s and 2935 hits. A career .298 BA, .444 OPB, and a .607 slugging.
Barry Bonds isn’t the clutchest player ever but he makes up for that with his
enormous amount of homers and RBI’s. Here come the plenty of awards Bonds has
won. 14 time All Star, 8 time Gold Glove winner, 12 time Silver Slugger, 7 time
MVP along with all the MLB records.
7. Manny Ramirez
Man-Ram is a very different character on the baseball field. His left field
door in the Green Monster and Mannywood in LA, Manny is admired by plenty of
fans. His fan-base isn’t the only reason that Manny is one of the best players
of this decade. He is very talented proven by his stats. Manny has 348 homers,
1106 RBI’s, and a .313 BA in this decade. Manny is clutch backed by his .327
average with RISP, .317 average with a runner on 3rd and 2 outs, and
a .329 BA with the bases loaded. Here come the awards. 12 time All Star, 9 time
Silver Slugger, 2 time Hank Aaron Award winner, a he is a 2 time World Series
champion. Manny being Manny.
8. Todd Helton
Todd Helton was overshadowed by all the other amazing first baseman in the
NL mainly in 08 and 09. Helton has always be an over average 1st
baseman on defense and offense. He has 260 homers, 981 RBI’s, 1 856 hits, and
.350 BA in this decade. Here comes how clutch Todd Helton is. He has a .325 BA
with 2 outs, a .365 BA with the bases loaded, and a .341 BA with runners in
scoring position. If you need more let me give you an example. With the Rockies
down 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs against Takashi Saito and the
Dodgers, Todd Helton hit an emotional 2 out, 2 strike homer to keep the Rockies
season alive in 2007. Todd Helton is also a 5 time all star, 3 time Gold Glove
winner, and a 4 time Silver Slugger winner. He is also the only person ever to
hit 35 doubles in his first ten complete season.
9. Carlos Beltran
Carlos Beltran is debatably the best center fielder in baseball. He is a 5
tool player with power and phenomenal defense. He isn’t the best guy when it
comes to hitting for average but has hit 275 career homers and has 286 stolen
bases. Beltran is a very good fielder with a career .986 fielding percentage
and 104 assists from the outfield. He also has 3989 PO. Moving on to how clutch
he is. He has a .305 BA with RISP, a
.290 average and 10 homers with the bases loaded, and ******* .396 BA with a
runner on third and 2 outs. Lastly Beltran has 5 All Star births, 3 Gold
Gloves, and 2 Silver Sluggers.
10. Vladimir Guerrero
To finish off our top ten players of the decade we have Vladimir Guerrero
who used to hit amazingly back in his prime. In 09 he cooled off after an
injury. Vlad has 315 homers, 1037 RBI’s, and 1751 hits this decade. Vlad also
has a .321 BA this decade. How clutch is Vladimir Guerrero? Well we saw him
this past post-season and he impressed me at least. He has a career .323 BA in
the ALDS and had a .370 BA in the past ALCS. Vlad has a career .306 average
with the bases loaded, a .326 average with a runner on third and 2 outs, and a
.321 average with RISP. To wrap up our top ten we will list Vlad’s numerous
awards. 8 time all-star, 2004 AL MVP, 7 time silver slugger, and the 07 homerun
derby winner just to say.
I am sure that we will have an amazing next decade full of plenty of amazing
games, players, and homers. Any comments, questions, disagreements? Feel free
to comment and tell us you opinion.
And the winner is…
Well the award season is over and we have many deserving winners and many non-deserving winners as well. We will quickly go through all of the winners and tell you why they won it. 
So, let’s get started!
Most Valuable Player: AL: Joe Mauer, NL: Albert Pujols
Joe Mauer had an amazing season. He led the league in batting average, slugging, on-base percentage, and on-base+slugging. Do I need to say more?
King Albert is amazing. He hit 30 homers in the first half of the year and ended with 47. He was an early favorite to get a triple crown. See why he deserved it?
CY Young Award: AL: Zack Grienke, NL: Tim Lincecum
Zack Grienke’s ERA was under 2.30 and he had 216 strikeouts. Enough said. It is an obvious winner
Did Tim Lincecum deserve the CY Young? Well we don’t know and we don’t think so but this is something we can allllllll agree on. He had a very good season. 262 K’s and an ERA under 3. Pretty dang good for someone who does something illegal.
Rookie of the Year: AL: Andrew Bailey, NL: Chris Coghlan
In the NL Coghlan would be the unanimous c
hoice if not for JA Happ or Tommy Hanson. Chris Coghlan had the most hits after the all star break with 100+ hit. He hit .321 as well which led all NL outfielders. Not impressed? Well you should be.
In the AL Andrew Bailey shined from the ninth inning role with 26 saves in 30 chances. He had an ERA of 1.84 and got 6 wins from that closer spot. Pretty good for someone in his first season ever.
Manager of the Year: AL: Mike Scioscia, NL: Jim Tracy
In the AL Mike Scioscia won Manager of the Year because of how he managed his team after the tragic death of rookie Nick Adhenhart. After coming off of this sad, sad event Mike Scioscia managed his team to the ALCS.
When Jim Tracy became the Rockies manager, everybody thought they were gone. At the end of the year, the Rockies were in the playoffs.
Comeback player of the Year: AL: Aaron Hill, NL: Chris Carpenter
In the AL Aaron Hill went to the All Star game and won a silver slugger. What more can you ask for right? But he was coming back from a season ending concussion!
In the NL Chris Carpenter had an injury plagued 2008 and in 2009 he finished 2nd in the CY Young award ballot but really should have won it.
Delivery man of the year: Our very own Mariano Rivera is the DHL Delivery man of the year because he had the best ERA out of closers and had 42 saves and blew only 2. He is automatic.
Silver Sluggers:
AL and NL
C: Joe Mauer and Brian McCann
1B: Mark Teixeira and Albert Pujols
2B: Aaron Hill and Chase Utley
3B: Evan Longoria and Ryan Zimmerman
SS: Derek Jeter and Hanley Ramirez
OF: Torii Hunter and Ryan Braun
OF: Ichiro and Andre Ethier
OF: Jason Bay and Matt Kemp
DH/P: Adam Lind and Carlos Zambrano
All these guys had fantastic, amazing seasons when it came to hitting. The guys who didn’t hit .300 had 30 homers. And the guys that didn’t have 30 homers had an average over .300. (Except Zambrano) See what I mean?
Gold Glove:
AL and NL
C: Joe Mauer and Yadier Molina
1B: Mark Teixeira and Adrian Gonzalez
2B: Placido Polanco and Orlando Hudson
3B: Evan Longoria and Ryan
Zimmerman
SS: Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins
OF: Ichiro and Matt Kemp
OF: Adam Jones and Michael Bourn
OF: Torii Hunter and Shane Victorino
P: Mark Buehrle and Adam Wainwright
These guys kept making web gem after web gem. If it is Torii Hunter robbing a homer to Adrain Gonzalez covering home on a play that seemed impossible. But web gems weren’t everything of course. They all didn’t make errors when it seemed to matter the most. They made the big play when they mattered most.
Thank you, thank you, and thank you. All these guys deserved what they got. Most of them anyways…
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Congratulations to the 2009 AL Sliver Slugger Winners!
Gold is
good, but for some reason I want some Silver…
The 2009 silver sluggers have been announced and 2 more
Yanks are in the mix for the AL. Here they are. Familiar faces from our Gold
Gloves.
C: Joe Mauer
1B: Mark Teixeira
2B: Aaron Hill
3B: Evan Longoria
SS: Derek Jeter
OF: Jason Bay
OF: Torii Hunter
OF: Ichiro
Now here come our analysis
Catcher: Joe Mauer
Our Prediction: Joe Mauer
Joe Mauer ran away with the Silver Slugger this year hitting
.365 with 28 homers and 96 RBI’s. He struck out just 63 times in 523 AB’s. He
had a .444 OBP and a .587 SLG. No question this is Joe Mauer’s award.
First baseman: Mark Teixeira
Our prediction: Mark Teixiera
Tex won it not only because of his 39 homers and 122 RBI’s
but because these were his numbers after that dreadful April where he hit under
.150 with just 2 or 3 homers. Then the rest of the season he was amazing. He
finished the year with a .290 average, .383 OBP, and a .569 SLG. Bravo Tex,
bravo. The only competition he had was Miguel Cabrera who had better than him
in .OBP and average. But Tex won because of his league leading HR and RBI’s
Second Baseman: Aaron Hill
Our prediction: Robinson Cano
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–THIS IS NOT BECAUSE WE ARE YANKEE FANS! We did not choose
Cano because he is a Yankee. We chose him because he had a better average and
hit constantly from the 7th order in the lineup. Cano had the best
average out of any second baseman. He had a 40 point higher batting average
than Hill. Hill did have more power (36 HR’s to 25) than Cano and more RBI’s (108 to 85) but he was batting
in the third spot in the lineup. Cano was batting in the 7th hole.
Hill was coming off a concussion so all we can say in congratulations for your
first Silver Slugger Aaron Hill!
Third Baseman: Evan Longoria
Our prediction: Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez did deserve the Silver Slugger because he had
just 3 less homers, 13 less RBI’s, a better batting average (.286 to .281)
better OBP (.402 to .364) better SLG (.533 to .525) better OPS (.933 to .889)
and finally less strikeouts (97 to 140). A-Rod also missed a month of the year
and still put up his 12th straight 30 homer, 100 RBI season.
Amazing. The only reason Longoria won is because A-Rod missed a month of the
year.
Outfield: Jason Bay, Torii Hunter, Ichiro
Our Prediction: Jason Bay, Adam Lind, Ichiro
Jason Bay obviously would win it because of his 36 homers
and 119 RBI’s so that story is over. Adam Lind won in the DH but he did play
enough games to qualify in the outfield. Torii Hunter’s numbers were good just
not as mind blowing as Adam Lind’s 35 HR’s and 114 RBI’s. Finally Ichiro’s .352
average gave him the Silver Slugger. 11 HR’s, 225 hits, and .851 OPS is good for a
Silver Slugger
Designated Hitter: Adam Lind
Our Prediction: Hideki Matsui
We knew Adam Lind would win something, just we didn’t think
he would win the DH Sliver Slugger. Hideki’s number’s were really good (28
HR’s, 90 RBI’s, .509 SLG) and would have won it if not for Adam Lind (35 HR’s,
114 RBI’s, .305 average). Something that would have backed Matsui is his
horrible, injury plagued 2008 season (9 HR’s, 45 RBI’s). Matsui probably would
have won it if it wasn’t for Adam Lind
These were the 2009 AL Silver Slugger winners. Tune in on
Saturday for the NL Gold Gloves and on Sunday for the 2009 NL Sliver Slugger
winners with analysis of course.
Godzilla Ain’t Red
+ 
= impossible
Godzilla ain’t red. Period.
The Red Sox (yes the Red Sox) are preparing the offer Hideki Matsui, our world
series MVP, and multi-year contract to be their
left fielder. You are probably thinking that we are joking, but would we really
waste our precious time writing an article on something that isn’t true??? Can
you really imagine Matsui with the word BOSTON across his chest, coming to
play at Yankee Stadium? I wonder, would Yankee fans throw stuff at him and boo
him as he sprints into left field? Or would they cheer for him like loyal Yankee
fans? Oh yeah that’s the next part, Godzilla would have to play left field.
David Roidtiz is over in the DH spot. Mike Lowell/ Kevin Youkilis at third,
Kevin Youkilis/ Victor Martinez over at first so Matsui cant DH! That is the
good thing for Yankee fans. Matsui can’t play left field because of his knees. Next the Mariners (the only other team interested in Matsui and the only team other team Matsui might go to because of Ichiro) outfield is booked with Ichiro, Franklin Guttierez, and Endy
Chavez with Ken Griffey Jr. DHing. That leaves only one team for him to go to.
The Yankees. You may be thinking what about the other 11 American league teams?
None of them would be a fit for Hideki. Therefore the Yankees
look like the only team he can go to (yay).
Congratulations to the 2009 AL Gold Glove winners
If you play
good defense, then you get an award. That award is a Golden Glove.
The AL Gold Glove winners have been released! Here is a list
of the winners
C: Joe Mauer
1B: Mark Teixeira
2B: Placido Polanco
SS: Derek Jeter
3B: Evan Longoria
OF: Torii Hunter
OF: Ichiro Suzuki
OF: Adam Jones
P: Mark Buehrle
Now we will analyze it like Vignesh and Mrinal do…
Catcher: Joe Mauer
Our prediction: Gerald Laird
Joe Mauer did have a very good defensive season making just
3 errors in 758 chances, but he threw out only 26% of baserunners. He allowed
54 SB and threw out 19 a big drop from last year when he threw out 30. Gerald
Laird on the other hand made 3 errors in over 200 more chances. He had 78
assist compared to Joe Mauer’s 31 and allowed 59 SB but did throw out 42 men
which is about 41% of all men thrown out. Therefore Gerald Laird is deserves
the Gold Glove
First Baseman: Mark Teixeira
Our prediction: Mark Teixeira
Tex is back in the picture with his first Gold Glove since
06. He made just 4 errors in 1275 chances, had 1222 putouts and his fielding
percentage was .997%. Tex constantly dived for ground balls and saved the
Yankee infielders many errors. He saved many runs for the Yankees and who knows
how many games they would have lost without him. It seemed like in extra innings
he was always making an amazing play to keep the game tied. This is clearly
worthy of a Gold Glove.
Second Baseman: Placido Polanco
Our prediction: Placido Polanco
Placido Polanco is back after Dustin Pedroia “borrowed” the
award last year. Polanco made just 2 errors this year in 731 chances this year.
His fielding percentage was .997% and he took part in 112 DP’s. He had over 400
assist as well topping off his amazing defensive year.
Third Baseman: Evan Longoria
Our prediction: Michael Young
Evan Longoria deserved the Gold Glove this year. He made 13
errors in over 420 chances. Michael Young, our pick, made nine errors but had a
little less than 300 chances. Young’s fielding percentage was .969%. Though
this was Young’s first full season playing third base, Longoria deserved it.
Shortstop: Derek Jeter
Our prediction: Derek Jeter
DJ definitely had one of the best years of his career in
2009 and part of that was his defense. When the Yankees got Mick Kelleher
(first base coach) he not only came with good hands, he also impacted the
Yankees defense (It wasn’t all Tex!). He helped DJ during Spring Training and
boy did it help. Jeter made the least amount of errors he had ever made in his
career. DJ won gold gloves in 04-06 but made 10+ errors in those seasons. He
made just 8 errors this year in 554 chances. That is worthy of a Gold Glove.
Outfielders: Torii Hunter, Ichiro, Adam Jones
Our Prediction: Jason Bay, David Dejesus, Torii Hunter
Torii Hunter won his ninth straight Gold Glove with 1 error
in over 300 chances. Pretty good. Then
Ichiro won it with 4 errors in over 300 chances and Adam Jones won it with 5
errors in over 300 chances. Not so good. That is why we said Jason Bay and
David Dejesus. They had 0 errors each in over 350 and 300 chances respectively.
They also played over 144 games both had over 12 assists each. Bay with 15 and
Dejesus with 13.
Pitcher: Mark Buehrle
Our Prediction: Mark Buehrle
Buehrle wasn’t perfect when it game to fielding but he was
pretty good. He made 1 error (6 starting pitchers didn’t make 1) but he had
nearly twice as many chances as anybody that had zero. He started the most
double plays out of any pitcher (5) and had the most assists (41) he had the
best range factor as well. So Mark Buehrle does deserve the AL Gold Glove at
pitcher.
Those were the winners and our predicted
winners. Check out our NL Gold Glove winners in 3 days.
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