130. Willie Randolph 2B WAR+WARP=127.5
1975-92
Yankees
Translated BA/OBP/SLG .295/.393/.394
OPS+ 104
MVPQ (none) Best season 1980 (11.8)
Second Basemen on the list so far (Doerr, Gordon, Herman, Robinson) You'd rank Gordon/Jackie together above the other two given how short were their careers. Similar to Sutton, Randolph was solid but never spectacular over a very long career. That's valuable, I prefer in considering career rank career over peak value, but he wasn't as good a player at his best as was Joe Gordon.
129. Jesse Burkett LF 127.5
Spiders/Cardinals
1890-05
OPS+ 140
.316/.403/.488
MVPQ 1901 (17.9)
Burkett just misses the .300/.400/.500 club, but with that 140 OPS+ the tremendous bat sticks him here.
128. Wee Willie Keeler RF 127.6
1892-1910
Yankees/Orioles/Dodgers
OPS+126
.333/.387/.449
MVPQ 1897 (16.8)
Keeler's value is in that batting average, his translated BA the second best of anyone on the list so far. If you guess Shoeless Joe as the best, you win the prize.
127. Bid McPhee 2B 127.6
1882-99
Reds
OPS+ 106
.251/.339/.390
MVPQ none, Best season 1892 (11.9)
Bid's here for his glove.
126. Mike Piazza C 127.8
1992-07
Dodgers/Mets
OPS+ 142
.319/.386/.568
MVPQ 1997 (18.9)
Piazza's here for his bat.
125. Harry Heilmann RF 127.9
1914-32
Tigers
OPS+ 148
.317/.386/.549
MVPQ 1923 (18.3)
-The translation knocks him down; in raw numbers Heilmann was 3/4/5, but he misses our translated .300/.400/.500 club which thusfar is JJackson/Flick/WClark/Allen/JRobinson
124. Ted Lyons RHP 128.6
1923-46
White Sox
ERA+ 118
MVPQ none, Best season 1997 13.1
123. Kevin Brown RHP 129.3
1986-05
Rangers/Dodgers
ERA+ 127
MVPQ 1996 (16)1998 (16.4, with Padres)
-That's a really, really solid career; two MVPQ seasons and an ERA+ 25% above average; we're almost 80 down now, here is every pitcher thusfar with accompanying ERA+
Vance 125, Bunning 114, Halladay 136, Mullane 118, Griffith 122, Saberhagen 126, Tanana 106, Caruthers 123, John 111, Tiant 115, Feller 122, Palmer 126, Galvin 108, Newhouser 130, Marichal 123, Ruffing 110, Rusie 129, Sutton 108
18 pitchers and the only ones with a better ERA comparative to the league are Halladay, Newhouser and Rusie. I don't know where a reasonable HOF cutoff should be, but I think it's below Brown.
122. Ed Walsh RHP 129.5
1904-17
White Sox
ERA+ 146
MVPQ 1907 (18), 1908 (22.5), 1910 (22.1), 1911 (17.2), 1912 (22.2)
-And here was Walsh in his only WS, 1906 (2-0, 15 IP, 1ER, 17K, 6BB)
Ed Walsh is the greatest baseball player on the list so far. 5 MVPQ seasons, a six year run from 1907-12 that isn't approached by anyone on the list so far. He averaged 375 IP during that run - and that was it. His untranslated career ERA was 1.82 - the best in baseball history (his career WHIP was 1, second best in history). Walsh is all peak - but there is just no question you take him and his spit ball over every arm on the list so far. If you're drafting any player in the top 80, with the possible exception of Shoeless Joe, whose bat is a cut above the rest, you're taking Ed Walsh.
121. Larry Walker RF 129.7
1989-05
Rockies/Expos
OPS+ 140
.289/.381/.531
MVPQ none, Best season 1997 (14.1)
80 down. 120 to go. I'll be back next week.
