So MLBN had their "Prime 9" lists of the decade for every position, franchise, and individual team. This is a little old but here they are, with my comments on them.
Remember when I used to do stuff like this for movies? Thank you, home, for getting me re-obsessed with baseball.
FRANCHISES
9. Arizona Diamondbacks
8. Chicago White Sox
7. Minnesota Twins
6. Atlanta Braves
5. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Los Angeles Angels
3. St. Louis Cardinals
2. Boston Red Sox
1. New York Yankees
I think they are very high on the Phillies, but I guess that's what happens when you go to two World Series in a row. I was like, "Diamondbacks, guh?!" but then I remembered they had the best record in the NL as recently as 2007. How times have changed, huh? I hope they stay cellar dwellers forever. /bitter I'd put the Twins a little higher, but the top four is perfect. I love how they said "If the Angels hadn't lost in earlier rounds of the playoffs, they would have been in more World Series." Uh thank you for that, genius.
MLBN's discussion of this was hilarious because they said it should be the Twins because of their farm system. Hahaha. They won the Central five times, which is impressive, but they won one postseason series, often playing really uninspired ball in the postseason (Joe Nathan blowing save after save, Torii Hunter's dumbass dive in the 2006 ALDS that led to an inside-the-park home run, all the awful baserunning gaffes in the 2009 ALDS and leaving approximately 35 men on base in that second game). I know the Twins play in a relatively weak division, but the Tigers got to the World Series, absolutely rolling over the Yankees and Oakland along the way, and the White Sox won the whole shebang. Also, the Twins' GM or whoever traded away Johan Santana for a bag of crap and let Torii Hunter walk. They were both considered the face of the franchise. Makes me wonder what will happen to Joe Mauer (though I do think he'll stay with the new stadium)...
Oakland and Colorado were probably snubbed here. Well, maybe Colorado wasn't, as I don't think they won their division ever and that's really pathetic in the NL West. The As are like the Twins - limited resources producing good teams that make it to the playoffs often but get bumped out early - but stuff like Moneyball changed the way a lot of people look at the game.
INDIVIDUAL TEAMS
9. 2001 Mariners
8. 2000 Yankees
7. 2003 Marlins
6. 2007 Red Sox
5. 2005 White Sox
4. 2008 Phillies
3. 2001 Diamondbacks
2. 2009 Yankees
1. 2004 Red Sox
Hmm. I think this list is a little too skewed toward teams that won the World Series; they weren't necessarily the best teams. It's hard to think of non-Yankee teams (other than that bazillion-win 2001 Mariners team) that were excellent, but didn't win or make it to the World Series. In my list of the top nine individual teams of the decade, I wouldn't include the 2003 Mariners, 2000 Yankees, or 2008 Phillies, no way. I think the oddly snubbed 2002 Angels were better than any of those teams. The 2001 Diamondbacks are borderline and certainly shouldn't be that high. Remember, they won the World Series with two pitchers getting 58% of the outs. I don't think we should place emphasis on the regular season, necessarily, but it should count somewhat and in a regular season format, they wouldn't have done as well as the 2001 Mariners or Yankees. 2004 Red Sox were a really excellent team and are probably my #2 or 3 after the 2007 Red Sox, but they didn't even win their division. It's not too much to ask for to ask for that from the #1 team of the decade, right? 2009 Yankees, bitches. The 2001, 2002, and 2003 Yankees were also excellent.
The 2005 White Sox are very underrated, so I'm glad they're on here. Other than Konerko their offense was pretty much pathetic but their pitching was just insanely good. Buerhle (my one true love) 236.2 IP, 3.12 ERA, 144 ERA+. Garcia 228 IP, 3.87 ERA, 116 ERA+. Garland 221 IP, 3.50 ERA, 128 ERA+. Contreras 204.2 IP, 3.61 ERA, 125 ERA+. Awesome. They also had a very solid bullpen, oh and they moved El Duque there just to be extra badass. There's gotta be some kind of place where you can combine the pitching staff of one team with the offense of another, right? What would the 2009 Yankees' record be like with that pitching staff? The 2005 Astros were also pretty good... save the excellent Berkman and Ensberg they had little offense, but their top three starters - Oswalt, Clemens, and Pettitte ;_; - were probably the best 1-2-3 punch in baseball. 241.2 IP, 2.94 ERA, 144 ERA+ for Oswalt. 211.1 IP, 1.87 ERA, 226 ERA+ for Clemens. 222.1 IP, 2.39 ERA, 177 ERA+ for Pettitte. That's just, like, gross. Clemens' WHIP was 1.008 and Pettitte's was 1.030. Disgusting. 2005 was just a very good year for pitching - it's fitting that the World Series came down to those two teams - and oh hey the Yankees didn't really have any of it that year.
PLAYERS
9. Jeff Kent
8. Chipper Jones
7. Mariano Rivera
6. Ichiro Suzuki
5. Derek Jeter
4. Manny Ramirez
3. Alex Rodriguez
2. Barry Bonds
1. Albert Pujols
I think Ichiro is overrated and Bonds should probably be #1, not Pujols, but this is a very solid list. I think everyone forgot how crazy good Giambi was, but whatever. I would try and put a non-Mariano pitcher on there, but I can't think of who it would be. Randy Johnson hasn't been as insanely dominant since 2005 and Johan Santana and Roy Halladay didn't come around until 2003-ish.
FIRST BASEMEN
9. Jim Thome
8. Mark Teixeira
7. Justin Morneau
6. Prince Fielder
5. Ryan Howard
4. Carlos Delgado
3. Jason Giambi
2. Todd Helton
1. Albert Pujols
Sure. I think Tex should be over Fielder and Howard, but I'm biased and they're all excellent. Morneau winning that 2006 MVP was silly; hell, Mauer was a better choice than Morneau in 2006, nevermind Jeter, but OMG Morneau had more HOME RUNS (at 1B) and RBI!!!!! But he's a very good player and I was quite happy he was out for the ALDS. Maybe Paul Konerko?
SECOND BASEMEN
9. Robinson Cano
8. Craig Biggio
7. Luis Castillo
6. Jose Vidro
5. Brian Roberts
4. Dustin Pedroia
3. Alfonso Soriano
2. Chase Utley
1. Jeff Kent
No arguments. There haven't really been a lot of dominant 2B this decade. Heck, maybe Robbie Cano should be higher. I know Castillo is a good player and all but let's face it, the only thing I will ever remember him for is HE DROPPED THE BALL!!!! Thank you, Luis Castillo. Heh, isn't Soriano in left field now?
SHORTSTOPS
9. Omar Vizquel
8. Edgar Renteria
7. Michael Young
6. Hanley Ramirez
5. Nomar Garciaparra
4. Alex Rodriguez
3. Jimmy Rollins
2. Miguel Tejada
1. Derek Jeter
A-Rod should be #2, no doubt. I pretty much consider him the best shortstop of all time. It's not like I ever saw Honus Wagner, but he blew Cal Ripken Jr. out of the water. Jimmy Rollins is incredibly overrated and not that good but at least he's been notable and has an MVP and whatnot. I was looking for something to seriously nitpick here but I don't think I can. There's been about as many dominant SS as there have been 2Bmen. NOMAHHHHH was crazy good in like 2000, then fell off a cliff. Remember the dumb "Nomar's better!" chants? Heh. Not too many people saying those any more. Maybe Jose Reyes should be on here? Troy Tulowitzski?
THIRD BASEMEN
9. Ryan Zimmerman
8. Mike Lowell
7. Eric Chavez
6. Aramis Ramirez
5. Scott Rolen
4. David Wright
3. Troy Glaus
2. Chipper Jones
1. Alex Rodriguez
Eric Chavez, when he was good, was really terrific. No arguments here, except that Glaus seems a little high.
CATCHERS
9. Bengie Molina
8. AJ Pierzynski
7. Jason Kendall
6. Jason Varitek
5. Victor Martinez
4. Mike Piazza
3. Jorge Posada
2. Joe Mauer
1. Ivan Rodriguez
I think of Yadier Molina more than Bengie, but... whatever. Maybe that's just the Cardinal lovefest of the last couple of years. Posada should be #1; everyone is wayyyy too high on Mauer right now, frankly, and Ivan Rodriguez just isn't that great. Heh, how do you think Varitek feels? He played the whole decade and was on two WS-winning teams and he can't crack the top five. And that's how it should be!
OUTFIELDERS
9. Johnny Damon
8. Andruw Jones
7. Torii Hunter
6. Carlos Beltran
5. Bobby Abreu
4. Vladimir Guerrero
3. Ichiro Suzuki
2. Manny Ramirez
1. Barry Bonds
Yup. Again, Ichiro is overrated, but very good. I think Beltran and Hunter are significantly better than Abreu, especially factoring in defense, but Abreu has been pretty underrated throughout his career.
STARTING PITCHERS
9. Javier Vazquez
8. CC Sabathia
7. Roy Oswalt
6. Roy Halladay
5. Andy Pettitte
4. Roger Clemens
3. Johan Santana
2. Pedro Martinez
1. Randy Johnson
Roy Halladay should be higher than Pedro and Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina, and Mark Buerhle could be on here, but otherwise, yup. Andy!!!! (I took screencaps because I am crazy and semi-pathetic.)
RELIEF PITCHERS
9. Troy Percival
8. Eric Gagne
7. Jason Isringhausen
6. Jonathan Papelbon
5. Francisco Rodriguez
4. Billy Wagner
3. Joe Nathan
2. Trevor Hoffman
1. Mariano Rivera
Good list. Gagne should be higher, probably over Isringhausen and Papelbon, because people forget how INSANELY dominant he was there from 2002-2005, especially 2003. Yeah, that's a short period of time (and he was on all kinds of God only knows what) but that's more time and quality than most relievers get. Bahaha I forgot that he struck out 137 guys in 82.1 IP, that's just video game numbers. I think Nathan is better than Hoffman, but I understand why you'd have Hoffman over Nathan. And yeah - Lidge should be on here. People forget how absurdly dominant he was when he was on. And they forgot Smoltz, because he was an awesome closer for a few years. Uh okay, maybe this wasn't a "very good list." But at least #1 was a serious no-brainer, right? 2.08 ERA, 214 ERA+, 651 games, 713.1 IP, average 40 saves per season, 4.88 SO/BB ratio, 0.960 WHIP. Awesome. Oh and the guy has thrown 12 wild pitches in his entire career and hasn't had a balk since 2002. He is silly. Is there some way I can get Baseball Reference to sum up his career totals, excluding one year in the middle? Because 2007 was pretty much an outlier year for him and I'd be interested to see what his stats look like without that...
Guys, Mariano is really awesome.
