Best 1B in the League

by BoKnows on Jan 15, 2008 1:43 PM CST

Interesting rankings over at ESPN.com by Neyer. I won't post the entire story (I made that mistake yesterday), but here's a summary.

Ranking the best young 1B in the league by Age (as of July 1, 2008), OBP, SLG and OPS+.

Here's his list:

Pujos (28)
Fielder (24)
Howard (28)
Ortiz
Teixeira (28)
Gonzalez
Pena
Lee (32)
Helton (34)

10.????

Neyer admits to forgetting Morneau. So, who is the next great 1B?

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I would say...

that Morneau slots into sixth place, behind Teixeira. And if David Ortiz counts as a first baseman, so does Travis Hafner.

Next down would probably be guys like Kevin Youkilis, Conor Jackson, and Ryan Garko.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jan 15, 2008 1:51 PM CST reply actions

id probably

put morneau ahead of teix.

12/12/07- We'll miss you Andy Gonzalez

by The Deacon on Jan 15, 2008 1:53 PM CST up reply actions

but then again

im a little biased towards morneau, since he absolutely murders the sox, year in and year out.

12/12/07- We'll miss you Andy Gonzalez

by The Deacon on Jan 15, 2008 1:58 PM CST up reply actions

Heh.

I can understand that, but Teixeira's a lot better.

There are a lot of good first basemen floating around right now.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jan 15, 2008 2:08 PM CST up reply actions

yeah and if

you add the glove into the equation, that definitely seperates teixeira and morneau even more.

12/12/07- We'll miss you Andy Gonzalez

by The Deacon on Jan 15, 2008 2:11 PM CST up reply actions

Yea, glove counts....

by BoKnows on Jan 15, 2008 2:16 PM CST up reply actions

where's berkman?

the answer to your question is probably loney.

by larry on Jan 15, 2008 1:54 PM CST reply actions

Not young enough? 31

Yea...I definitely agree on Loney.

How about Joey Votto?

by BoKnows on Jan 15, 2008 2:17 PM CST up reply actions

Berkman...

is pretty close to Derrek Lee in value. You really have to like Lee's glove a lot to say he's better than Berkman.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jan 15, 2008 2:19 PM CST up reply actions

if lee and helton are young enough

berkman is. i mean, lee is the same age, posted basically the same numbers as berkman last year and, throughout his career, hasn't been as good. and helton is probably marginally better but two years older. odd list, at any rate, and i probably don't really understand the parameters the same as neyer does.

i'd put votto right behind loney, in terms of guys who are coming up right now.

by larry on Jan 15, 2008 2:22 PM CST up reply actions

yea...

It's really odd that he included Helton.

by BoKnows on Jan 15, 2008 2:24 PM CST up reply actions

He might mean...

"who would I want on my team over the next 3-4 years"? The list makes sense in that light - Helton might probably still be pretty productive in 2012, while Carlos Delgado and Jim Thome will probably be sitting at home.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jan 15, 2008 2:26 PM CST up reply actions

he still is an OBP machine

i'd be more inclined, as pointed out, to wonder what the heck david "i play first during interleague" ortiz is doing on the list.

by larry on Jan 15, 2008 2:28 PM CST up reply actions

neyer was writing for ESPN

in this article, so he had to include a red sox or yankees player without some type of explosion from the company and fanbase.....

12/12/07- We'll miss you Andy Gonzalez

by The Deacon on Jan 15, 2008 2:30 PM CST up reply actions

then put youkilis there

he could certainly be defensible at #10.

by larry on Jan 15, 2008 2:33 PM CST up reply actions

you certainly cant compile

a "best" list at espn that doesnt include a red sox or yankee..... but i dont even know if i'd put youklis up there, i'd be more inclined to include loney than youk.... but i value young players with a ton of potential a lot more than a steady, not flashy, vet.

12/12/07- We'll miss you Andy Gonzalez

by The Deacon on Jan 15, 2008 2:36 PM CST up reply actions

you're the one who said they needed one

by larry on Jan 15, 2008 2:39 PM CST up reply actions

it wouldnt be espn

if they didnt include one, thats all im saying. i dont feel they need one, but ESPN does.

12/12/07- We'll miss you Andy Gonzalez

by The Deacon on Jan 15, 2008 2:45 PM CST up reply actions

Here's his reasoning for Ortiz

We should consider David Ortiz, because a lot of teams would be thrilled to play him at first base. He's 32 and not getting any faster, but he does play in the better league, and his three best seasons were his last three.

by BoKnows on Jan 15, 2008 2:57 PM CST up reply actions

Again...

Hafner should be on the list, then.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jan 15, 2008 2:58 PM CST up reply actions

oh, sure, that makes sense

let's throw arod on there, too, because there are lots of teams who would be thrilled to play him at first base. miggy, too. ryan braun would look a heck of a lot better at first, as well. screw it. let's just populate this list with whomever neyer wants and twist the criteria however he wants to.

actually, that's fine. it's his list. silly. but his.

by larry on Jan 15, 2008 3:00 PM CST up reply actions

exactly

i was going to add, lets throw miguel cabrera at the top of the best "LF" list because a ton of teams would love to have him out there at LF everyday, even though he hasnt played there in 2 years.
just stupid reasoning.

12/12/07- We'll miss you Andy Gonzalez

by The Deacon on Jan 15, 2008 3:02 PM CST up reply actions

that's what you get in mid-january

we're talking about it, aren't we?

by larry on Jan 15, 2008 3:03 PM CST up reply actions

yeaarghhh!

AIM: SouthSideCheat

by The Cheat on Jan 15, 2008 3:07 PM CST up reply actions

that is fucking awesome

by larry on Jan 15, 2008 3:08 PM CST up reply actions

lol.

nice.

"God knows I gave my best in baseball at all times and no man on earth can truthfully judge me otherwise."

by Shoeless In SC on Jan 15, 2008 3:10 PM CST up reply actions

Great pic

I voted "Other" because when going through the list I felt there was a natural progression towards "Shark with fricking laser beam attached to its head."

Now if I had known that is what a bear looks like holding a shark... it's a different story altogether.

Caulk the wagon.

by rebstock on Jan 15, 2008 3:15 PM CST up reply actions

another

12/12/07- We'll miss you Andy Gonzalez

by The Deacon on Jan 15, 2008 3:16 PM CST up reply actions

Lists/Power Rankings

are all kind of stupid anyways...but they are definitely fun to debate.

by BoKnows on Jan 15, 2008 3:48 PM CST up reply actions

im a big fan of votto

really liked what i saw last year in his time in the bigs. Had good numbers for the limited time the reds actually gave him. it was a real head scratcher as to why he wasnt called up earlier, i mean what do you really get out of playing scott hatteberg?

12/12/07- We'll miss you Andy Gonzalez

by The Deacon on Jan 15, 2008 2:26 PM CST up reply actions

my top 10 1B, not including DH's who play 5 games

at 1B a year would be...

pujols
Prince
Howard
Teix
Morneau
Berkman
Lee
Helton
Gonzalez
Loney

with Pena, Kotchman, Konerko, Youk, and garko in some order from 11-15.
Not a big Fan of Conor Jackson, he hasnt showed much so far in his big league time, delgado got old really fast, adam laroche was solid after his first month or so and votto didnt have enough time to really be considered.

12/12/07- We'll miss you Andy Gonzalez

by The Deacon on Jan 15, 2008 2:44 PM CST reply actions