All-Decade Team

[backwardsk]

Going off the top of my head, I’d go with:

1B Cabrera

2B Cano

3B Beltre

SS Simmons

OF Trout, Stanton, Cain

C Molina

DH Ortiz

P Kershaw, Scherzer, Hamels, Hernandez, Grienke

Who did I omit?  Where am I way off?

[Frobby]

Cain?  He’d be way down my list.   Off the top of my head I’d replace him with McCutchen, but there may be others to consider.   

[Frobby]

At 1B, in terms of WAR during the decade:

Votto 52.1

Cabrera 43.5

Goldschmidt 43.1 (only played 9 years).    

It’s hard to ignore Miggy’s triple crown though.   
 

[Frobby]

On the pitching side, I’d have to go with Verlander over King Felix, who fizzled badly the last several years of the decade.   

[backwardsk]

27 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Cain?  He’d be way down my list.   Off the top of my head I’d replace him with McCutchen, but there may be others to consider.   

I was having trouble with OF after Trout.  Cain’s rWAR is close to McCutchen’s while McCutchen really tapered off in the last half of the decade.

I was thinking about Harper, but he didn’t play in 2010-11 and had two poor years even though he had one great year.

I like your pitching suggestion.

[Frobby]

Just now, backwardsk said:

I was having trouble with OF after Trout.  Cain’s rWAR is close to McCutchen’s while McCutchen really tapered off in the last half of the decade.

I was thinking about Harper, but he didn’t play in 2010-11 and had two poor years even though he had one great year.

I like your pitching suggestion.

There’s also Betts, who accrued 42 rWAR in merely 6 years.

[Moose Milligan]

I'll go with whatever the WAR leaders are at each position.

[Frobby]

17 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

I'll go with whatever the WAR leaders are at each position.

I’m sure that’s your only criterion.  

To humor you:

1B Votto 52.1 rWAR

2B Cano 54.2

3B Beltre 51.0 

SS Simmons 36.9

C Posey 42.2

OF Trout 72.5

OF Betts 42.0

OF MCutchen 41.2

DH Ortiz 25.3

P Kershaw 59.3

P Scherzer 56.1

P Verlander 56.1

P Hamels 46.2

P Sale 45.4

 

You’re welcome.

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’m sure that’s your only criterion.  

To humor you:

1B Votto 52.1 rWAR

2B Cano 54.2

3B Beltre 51.0 

SS Simmons 36.9

C Posey 42.2

OF Trout 72.5

OF Betts 42.0

OF MCutchen 41.2

DH Ortiz 25.3

P Kershaw 59.3

P Scherzer 56.1

P Verlander 56.1

P Hamels 46.2

P Sale 45.4

 

You’re welcome.

My team would beat your team.  

 

[Frobby]

8 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

My team would beat your team.  

 

Maybe not now.    Beltre, Ortiz and a few others might bog your team down.    

[Moose Milligan]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Maybe not now.    Beltre, Ortiz and a few others might bog your team down.    

I didn't say a baseball game, Frobby.  When it comes to bashing phones in dugouts, my team wins.

[Frobby]

18 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I didn't say a baseball game, Frobby.  When it comes to bashing phones in dugouts, my team wins.

You got me there!

Kind of tangential, but here’s a list the top 10 in salaries for the decade (it’s possible I missed someone):

Cabrera $242 mm

Greinke $241 mm

Verlander $220 mm

Fielder $217 mm

Hernandez $213 mm

ARod $210 mm*

Pujols $200 mm

Mauer $197 mm

Kershaw $196 mm

Cano $180 mm*
 

* Excludes salary forfeited during PED suspension.    

[Moose Milligan]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

You got me there!

Kind of tangential, but here’s a list the top 10 in salaries for the decade (it’s possible I missed someone):

Cabrera $242 mm

Greinke $241 mm

Verlander $220 mm

Fielder $217 mm

Hernandez $213 mm

ARod $210 mm*

Pujols $200 mm

Mauer $197 mm

Kershaw $196 mm

Cano $180 mm*
 

* Excludes salary forfeited during PED suspension.    

Yikes, a lot of those just...haven't ended up well.  

Going back to the decade/WAR team, I wonder what team from what decade someone could assemble to put the highest WAR together for one decade.  Obviously you couldn't count a players career total, just what they accumulated for that decade (Willie Mays up to 1959 for the 50s team and then his WAR totals for the 60s if he were to play for the 60s team). 

I have a hunch it'd be a team compiled from the 1950s (Mantle, Mays).  IIRC, Mantle's 1956 and 1957 seasons are the two highest WAR total seasons ever. 

[MongoBoy]

On 12/18/2019 at 10:19 AM, Frobby said:

Cain?  He’d be way down my list.   Off the top of my head I’d replace him with McCutchen, but there may be others to consider.   

I don't know.  Ya think he enjoyed playing?

 

[Frobby]

22 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Yikes, a lot of those just...haven't ended up well.  

Going back to the decade/WAR team, I wonder what team from what decade someone could assemble to put the highest WAR together for one decade.  Obviously you couldn't count a players career total, just what they accumulated for that decade (Willie Mays up to 1959 for the 50s team and then his WAR totals for the 60s if he were to play for the 60s team). 

I have a hunch it'd be a team compiled from the 1950s (Mantle, Mays).  IIRC, Mantle's 1956 and 1957 seasons are the two highest WAR total seasons ever. 

Drungo should weigh in here, but I believe it would be a very early decade.    The reason is that WAR is relative to the players playing at the time, so the more variance there is between the quality of the best and worst players, the higher the top WAR players will be.     In general terms, the quality of players has homogenized over time.     Obviously you can still get outliers like Trout, but in general I think a group of 10-15 top WAR players from an older decade should typically be higher than in more recent times.    Maybe this weekend I’ll noodle around on this.