Take Your Favorite Baseball Team and Give the Best Season by a Player at Each Position

[calsnowskier]

Aurilla's 2001 offense was so much better than any of Crawford/Vizquel's seasons in SF that even if you include defense, I don't think it's close.

I mean, Aurilla had an OPS+ that was 29% better than Crawford's career high and 47% higher than Vizquel's best as a Giant.

And, while Aurilia was no gold-glover, he wasn't exactly stone hands either. You are probably right.

 

[DragonfromTO]

Yes, it does. That was truly a TEAM season. I could have picked Willie Hernandez over Valverde, and maybe should have. He only had 32 saves, but pitched a ridiculous 140 innings out of the pen that year. His ERA (1.92) and WHIP (0.941) were also better than Valverde's. Yeah, I probably would put Willie in place of Valverde, now that I rethink it.

I would take John Hiller '73 over both of them.

 

[DragonfromTO]

My personal rule was no more than one appearance per player.

Blue Jays

C Ernie Whitt (1983)
1B John Olerud (1993)
2B Roberto Alomar (1993)
3B Josh Donaldson (2015)
SS Tony Fernandez (1986)
LF George Bell (1987)
CF Lloyd Moseby (1983)
RF Jose Bautista (2011)
DH Paul Molitor (1993)

SP: Roger Clemens (1997), Roy Halladay (2003), Dave Stieb (1984 I guess? Many choices here), Pat Hentgen (1996), Jimmy Key (1987)

RP: Mark Eichhorn (1986)

 

[Chewbaccer]

I'm curious, why 1957 Hank Aaron? 1963 Hank Aaron had nearly identical numbers at the plate but also stole 31 bases and played 10 more games. Plus, league offensive output in 1963 was about 8% lower than 1957, so theoretically his offense was more valuable in 1963.

I just went with the WS and the MVP season.

 

[TJL]

I'm a Rays fan, they all fucking suck

 

[Chewbaccer]

I think Chewy did it off the top of his head, which is completely reasonable given all the work it takes to look at each season from every player. I thought his list was pretty damn good

Not completely off the top of my head. Had to look up a few things like what year Rogers Hornsby was a Brave and things like that. Also couldn't remember the season Berger played mostly left field. Things like that. I didn't look up Aaron's numbers. Just went with the MVP and WS season.

 

[soxfan1468927]

I just went with the WS and the MVP season.

Yeah I figured. I posted right after saying that I assumed that was why. So many to choose from with that guy.

 

[Howie115]

I would take John Hiller '73 over both of them.

Spoken like a true Canuck. (Hiller was born in Toronto.)

You could easily make that case. Hiller was used a lot, as his 125 innings and 10-5 record out of the bullpen would suggest. He posted a 1.44 ERA with an Adjusted ERA+ of 285 -- best in Tigers history. Relief pitching was different back then. Hiller's 38 saves in '73 were a major league record at the time.

The biggest areas I see where Hiller falls below Willie Hernandez in '84 are WHIP (1.02 versus 0.94 for Hernandez) and the fact that Hiller blew 4 saves. Hernandez converted his first 32 save opportunities before blowing his only save in the last week of the season...in a meaningless game after the Tigers had clinched. The '84 Tigers also had the luxury of using Aurelio Lopez (14 saves) as a closer, which is why Willie's saves total isn't that high.

Hernandez also made a whopping 80 appearances to Hiller's 65.

 

[Omar 382]

Spoken like a true Canuck. (Hiller was born in Toronto.)

You could easily make that case. Hiller was used a lot, as his 125 innings and 10-5 record out of the bullpen would suggest. He posted a 1.44 ERA with an Adjusted ERA+ of 285 -- best in Tigers history. Relief pitching was different back then. Hiller's 38 saves in '73 were a major league record at the time.

The biggest areas I see where Hiller falls below Willie Hernandez in '84 are WHIP (1.02 versus 0.94 for Hernandez) and the fact that Hiller blew 4 saves. Hernandez converted his first 32 save opportunities before blowing his only save in the last week of the season...in a meaningless game after the Tigers had clinched. The '84 Tigers also had the luxury of using Aurelio Lopez (14 saves) as a closer, which is why Willie's saves total isn't that high.

Without looking it up and just from reading your post, I would comment that saves and blown saves are largely due to luck. A guy can give up two runs and record a save, vs. another guy giving up the same two runs and recording the save. Also, the fact that the '84 Tigers also had Lopez closing games tells me they had another guy they could go to in key situations that may have allowed some rest for Hernandez. Lastly, WHIP is not an overly important statistic, and a 0.08 difference isn't huge either (it's not negligible by any means, but I don't think it makes or breaks a case for Hiller).

 

[Omar 382]

Aurilla's 2001 offense was so much better than any of Crawford/Vizquel's seasons in SF that even if you include defense, I don't think it's close.

I mean, Aurilla had an OPS+ that was 29% better than Crawford's career high and 47% higher than Vizquel's best as a Giant.

I don't really care about PED's, but I could see someone leaving Aurilla off the list because he most certainly juiced. He had a career 98 wRC+ (with '01 factored in, I'm not taking the time to remove it), and yet had a wRC+ of 144 that year (in '01 with the Giants). His wRC+ never was above 114 in any other season with 450 PA.

 

[Howie115]

Without looking it up and just from reading your post, I would comment that saves and blown saves are largely due to luck. A guy can give up two runs and record a save, vs. another guy giving up the same two runs and recording the save. Also, the fact that the '84 Tigers also had Lopez closing games tells me they had another guy they could go to in key situations that may have allowed some rest for Hernandez. Lastly, WHIP is not an overly important statistic, and a 0.08 difference isn't huge either (it's not negligible by any means, but I don't think it makes or breaks a case for Hiller).

Good points, all. Valverde had some incredibly lucky saves in 2011. Hernandez played for an outstanding team in '84 with good depth in the bullpen. The '73 Tigers were pretty crummy, and likely had few decent bullpen options outside of Hiller.

 

[Howie115]

Also, the fact that the '84 Tigers also had Lopez closing games tells me they had another guy they could go to in key situations that may have allowed some rest for Hernandez.

Hernandez: 140.1 innings
Lopez: 137.2 innings

I don't think either guy got much rest. ;^)

Of course, abusing relief pitchers was a trademark of Sparky "Captain Hook" Anderson.

 

[broncosmitty]

Just seems odd to not have a single player from that 1984 team.

Trammell is on there for his 87 season.

 

[broncosmitty]

Yes, it does. That was truly a TEAM season. I could have picked Willie Hernandez over Valverde, and maybe should have. He only had 32 saves, but pitched a ridiculous 140 innings out of the pen that year. His ERA (1.92) and WHIP (0.941) were also better than Valverde's. Yeah, I probably would put Willie in place of Valverde, now that I rethink it.

John Hiller in 73 or 74 for me.

 

[soxfan1468927]

Trammell is on there for his 87 season.

Yes 1987 is a different year than 1984.

 

[TJL]

lol, so I seriously tried to do this, with the fucking Rays, and I keep coming to the same conclusion, they all fucking suck.

 

[broncosmitty]

Yes 1987 is a different year than 1984.

Yeah.

Guess I don't understand what was strange then.

 

[soxfan1468927]

Yeah.

Guess I don't understand what was strange then.

Because that was such an excellent team, that it's surprising that no single season from that team would make the lineup or rotation. Shows how complete of a team that was.

I'm not sure why that would be confusing, the guy I quoted was not confused clearly.

 

[broncosmitty]

Because that was such an excellent team, that it's surprising that no single season from that team would make the lineup or rotation. Shows how complete of a team that was.

I'm not sure why that would be confusing, the guy I quoted was not confused clearly.

I guess I'm just stupid er sumthin

 

[soxfan1468927]

I guess I'm just stupid er sumthin

Clearly