The 200 Greatest Major League Baseball Players of All Time, 2012 Ed. 111-120

The previous post is here.

111.   Billy Hamilton 1888-1901 OF Phillies/Beaneaters
        66.2
        OPS+141
        .319/.437/.463
        MVPQ=1894
        PA=7600      

112. Carlton Fisk C Red Sox/White Sox 1969-93
        65.8
        OPS+117
        .261/.339/.473
        MVPQ=none
        PA=9850

113. Roy Halladay RHP 1998- Blue Jays 
        65.75
        ERA+138
        193-121
        MVPQ=none
        IP=2500

114. Joe Cronin SS 1926-45 Red Sox/Senators
        65.55
        OPS+119
        .281/.365/.467
         Elite=1930
       PA=8800

115. Larry Walker 1989-05 RF Rockies/Expos
        65.4
        OPS+140
        .293/.384/.533
        MVPQ=none
         PA=8000
     
116. Yogi Berra C Yankees 1946-65
        65.3
        OPS+125
        .286/.343/.514
        MVPQ=none
        PA=8350

117. Mark McGwire 1B Athletics/Cardinals 1986-01
        64.9
        OPS+162
        .270/.399/.618
        MVPQ=1998
        PA=7650


118. Tim Keefe 1880-93 RHP Giants
        64.85
        ERA+127
        185-124
        Inner Circle=1883
        IP=5050
     
119. Bob Caruthers 1884-93 RHP/RF
        64.55
        ERA+123
        OPS+133
        102-81
        .269/.383/.433
         MVPQ=1888
         Elite=1889
         Inner Circle=1886, 1887
         IP=2800
         PA=2900
     
120. Juan Marichal RHP Giants 1960-75
        64.45
        ERA+123
        216-154
        MVPQ=1963
        Elite=1965, 1966
        IP=3500
     
The current all time subjective pitching staff will get shaken up following this section.  Let's start with Hamilton and his all time adjusted OPB of nearly .440; he's the new starting CF.

Fisk and Berra are both in this section; Piazza and Dickey are the current catchers on the roster.  Berra's bat puts him over Fisk and into contention, but I'll stick with Piazza and Dickey; they both had better bats, accumulated value in fewer plate appearances, and better top end seasons.

Cronin and Boudreau are really, really comparable - Boudreau's career was accumulated in significantly fewer plate appearances, so that's not going to change either.

Walker's bat compares favorably to Medwick, currently the backup RF - but Ducky's top end keeps the job.

McGwire and Greenberg are essentially the same player; McGwire's total value gets him the nod.

Now to the pitchers.  Let's rank this group in this order: Halladay, Marichal, Caruthers, Keefe.  Doc doesn't have the top end of any of the other guys, but is the best per inning pitched, Caruthers is the best two way player ever not named George Herman, Marichal and Keefe both hit you with big top ends.  Halladay/Marichal are going to slide into the all time rotation after Newhouser.  If Halladay's 2012 matches his 2011, he'd be just outside the Top 75. Keefe's not going to make it; Caruthers is going to be the 25th man on this team for as long as I can keep him there.

C Piazza
    Dickey
1B McGwire
     Greenberg
2B Robinson
     Gordon
SS Banks
      Boudreau
3B Allen
LF Jackson
      Flick
CF Hamilton
      Smith
RF Heilmann
      Medwick

P Walsh
    Rivera

    Newhouser (LHP)

    Halladay

    Marichal

    Ford

    Rusie

    Vance

   

Utility: Caruthers

We still need a backup third baseman, maybe we'll get one before we are halfway through the list.  And I'm down to 8 pitchers, I'm likely to carry one more.  That would be 26 as opposed to 25, we'll see how that turns out.  

Survivor Series 2011 Preview (Plus the Top 10 Survivor Series Matches ever)

My 2011 Summer Slam preview/recap was here.



I write a quarterly preview of each of the big four WWE PPVs; Survivor Series has been the smallest of those big four, almost to the point of disappearing as of a couple of years ago.  Probably as part of the liberal elite's war on Thanksgiving. But this year, the 25th Survivor Series features the return to the ring of the biggest mainstream celebrity ever to come from the company, The Rock.



It was Survivor Series '96 where the Rock made his PPV debut, like this show, that show was at Madison Square Garden, but unlike this year, Kirk Hiner, for whom I write these quarterly previews, and I attended that show.

We saw the best match in Survivor Series history that night.

It is unlikely anything Sunday will approach 1996.  Here's the card.

1. Rock/John Cena v. Miz/Killings
-When last we left, John Cena was the company's top babyface, still booed by a sizeable percentage of the fanbase for the same reason that Kirk Hiner hated Madonna back in 1995.  Here, he's teaming with a returning Rock, in his first match in 7 years, in a program that's designed to build momentum for the Mania main event.  WWE unsurprisingly frittered away all of CM Punk's heat from the summer; some of which went to Killings and Miz, who became the primary "anti-establishment" mouthpieces; thereby converting what was edgy babyface criticism of the company into neutered, pretty typical heel whining.  Punk learned his lesson.  Trying to get people interested in WWE again.  Asshole.

In effort to stop that whining, Cena felt the need to request that his mortal enemy, Rock, join him for this match, and Rock, for reasons that escape sensible analysis, accepted.  If you're asking why WWE would spend Rock's first match in 7 years on a thrown together tag at Survivor Series against Ron Killings, it's a fair question.

Miz and Killings presumably go over when Rock and Cena fall apart; Rock getting pinned by Miz would both allow for a launching point to Mania and give Miz something to crow about in promos for the rest of his career.  The MegaPowers teaming  is probably the only reason why anyone will buy this show, but this is not a match likely to yield a lot of workrate.(3 stars, they put the babyfaces over, Rock getting the fall. It was fine. Crowd killed Cena; they played into it; Rock Bottom postmatch.)

2. WWE Title Match: Alberto Del Rio © vs. CM Punk
-When last we left, Punk and Cena were blowing off their feud with a 4 star title v title match at Summer Slam that immediately segued into Alberto Del Rio's cashing in his money in the bank briefcase to take the belt.  Del Rio and Cena switched and switched back subsequent, meaning Del Rio is on his second stint as WWF Champ.  Del Rio actually regained the belt by pinning Punk in a 3 way with Cena, so its following multiple pinfall losses to Del Rio on PPV that Punk gets this rematch.  No, not a lot of steam behind this match, no.  Punk's own fault; he's only been in 4 of the 10 best matches in WWE this year.  He looks like a Waffle House cook by the way.  


This will be the best match of the night; a title switch makes sense, and then a switch back to Del Rio next month in time for him to give it back to Cena before Mania.  (3 1/2 stars and a spot at the back of the the all time Survivor Series list; Punk went over; a little shorter than ideal.)


3. Smackdown Title Match: Mark Henry © vs. The Big Show
-When last we left, Christian was dropping the Smackdown title to Orton in what has been the second best WWE match in 2011; Orton then dropped to Henry, getting a monster heel push.  As part of that push, he put the Show out of action; he has now returned, and here we are.  This will not be a good match.  I'll say Henry keeps; it would not surprise if Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson, the best wrestler in the hemisphere) unsuccessfully attempted to cash in his money in the bank briefcase, which would probably serve as a heel turn.  I'd say it would be a burial, but that would imply he was currently above ground.  (No Danielson presence, outside of chants from the crowd; no Foley presence either, even though he's back and they were at MSG.  Henry kept, they did an injury angle with him postmatch.  This was not good to watch.)


4. US Title: Dolph Ziggler v. John Morrison
-Speaking of burials.  When last we left, Dolph Ziggler (managed by Eddy's widow) was US Champion, where he remains.  He lost a recent TV match to John Morrison, who, like Bryan, hadn't been so much doing a losing streak gimmick as he had just been losing.  Morrison's gotten in trouble for dating the wrong person, tweeting the wrong ideas, and generally being a good wrestler in the wrong ways - his deal apparently is coming to an end, so either he re-ups and wins this match or (more likely) a loss here finishes up his run.  He heads to TNA, gets pushed for a month, loses to Bischoff's kid and then gets sentenced to the X division ghetto.  (3 stars, Ziggler keeps in a short match; Zach Ryder gets bigger pop than he deserves in a postmatch run in)


5. Survivor Series Elimination Match: Randy Orton , Mason Ryan, Kofi Kingston, Sin Cara, Sheamus vs. 
Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger & Hunico


-Orton captains the babyface team; Ryan is a typical crappy gassed up WWE superstar; Kingston is half of the tag champs, his partner, Evan Bourne (Matt Sydal) is currently on a drug suspension, Sin Cara is Mistico, who had been on a drug suspension, and Sheamus is good and pale.  


They will win.  Maybe Orton, Ryan, Sheamus all survive.  


-Barrett's a good enough heel, as is Cody, a legit injury to Christian moves Ziggler into his second match of the evening along with Swagger (they are now stablemates, both managed by Vicki, echoing a partnership I've been doing for a couple of years now in the Counterfactual). .  Hunico was the fake Sin Cara during his suspension, then lost his mask and is now just a guy in a wifebeater.  


They will lose. (They didn't; Cody and Barrett survived a long mediocre match; Mistico blew out his knee in the first highspot.)


6. Women will also wrestle.  (I didn't watch).  


You gotta really want to see the Rock to be interested in buying this show; if given time Ziggler/Morrison would be good, and it's entirely possible that Punk/Del Rio will wind up cracking the below list of the ten best Survivor Series matches of all time. Those are the matches I'll be looking for (that and who I get to use for the Counterfactual) but the buyrate is solely about the Rock.  


Here's the list.


Top 10 Survivor Series Matches of All Time:
1. Bret Hart d. Steve Austin ('96)
2. Bret Hart d. Shawn Michaels ('92)
3. Bret Hart d. Diesel ('95)
4. Shawn Michaels d. Bret Hart ('97)
5. Eddy/Chavo d. Angle/Benoit and Edge/Rey ('02)
6. Jericho/Christian/Orton/Steiner/Henry d. Michaels/RVD/Booker/Dudleys ('03)
7. Sid d. Shawn Michaels ('96)
8. Strike Force/Young Stallions/Rougeaus/Bees/Bulldogs d. Hart Foundation/Islanders/Demolition/Bolsheviks/New Dream Team ('87)
9. Bob Backlund d. Bret Hart ('94)
10. CM Punk d. Alberto del Rio ('11)

I Pick Every NFL Game in 2011 - Week 11

I'm 70-71-5 ATS, 97-49 straight up.  I'm likely to edit before kick.

Jets -6.5 Denver(loss/loss)
Bills +2 Miami (loss/loss)
Ravens -7 Bengals(push/win)
Browns over Jags(win/win)
Raiders -1 Vikes(win/win)
Detroit -7 Carolina(win/win)
GB -14 TB(loss/win)
NYG -3.5 Philly(loss/loss)
Wash +8 Dall (Dall wins game)(win/win)
Niners -9.5 Arizona(win/win)
Rams -2 Seattle(loss/loss)
Tenn +6 Atl (Falcons win game)(push/win)
Bears -3.5 SD(win/win)
NE -14.5 KC(win/win)

7-5-2, 77-76-7
10-4, 107-53

2011 College Football Picks, Week 12

I'm 64-65 with like 3 pushes.

UAB v SMiss under 62.5(loss)
Toledo v. CMich under 74.5(win)
Ok St. v. Iowa St. under 67(loss)
WMich +2 Miami(win)
Louisville over UConn(win)
Rutgers +3 Cin(win)
Northwestern -15 Minnesota(push)
Iowa -2.5 Purdue(win)
Rice v. Tulane under 60(win)
Temple -13.5 Army(win)
LA Tech +7.5 Nevada(win)
FIU+1.5 ULMonroe(win)
Tenn +1.5 Vandy(win)
Houston v SMU under 76(win)
KSt +9.5 Tex(win)
USC +15 Oregon(win)
ArizSt  -10.5 Ariz (loss)

13-3-1
77-68-4

The 200 Greatest Major League Baseball Players of All Time, 2012 Ed. 121-130

The previous post is here.


121.       Eddie Murray 1B Orioles 1977-97 
          64.3
          OPS+129
          293/.367/.501
          MVPQ=none
          PA=12,800
        
122.    Todd Helton 1B Rockies 1997-
           64.2
           OPS+136
           .301/.404/.499
            MVPQ=none
            PA=8700
           

123.    Willie Randolph 2B Yankees 1975-92
           63.75
           OPS+104
           .286/.385/.372
           MVPQ=none
           PA=9400

124.       Dwight Evans RF Red Sox 1972-91
          63.7
          OPS+127
          .268/.370/.480
          MVPQ=none
          PA=10,500

125.       Keith Hernandez 1B 1974-90 Cardinals/Mets
          63.6
          OPS+128
          .306/.397/.479
          MVPQ=none
          PA=8500

126.    Ted Lyons RHP 1923-46 White Sox
           63.45
           ERA+118
           243-211
           MVPQ=none
           IP=4160

127.    Rafael Palmeiro 1B 1986-2005 Rangers/Orioles
           63.4
           OPS+132
           .287/.371/.517
            MVPQ=none
            PA=12,000

128.    Pee Wee Reese SS Dodgers 1940-58
          63.3
          OPS+98
          .275/.367/.397
           MVPQ=none
           PA=9400
          

129.    Jake Glasscock SS 1879-95 Blues
           63.3
           OPS+111
           .293/.350/.431
           MVPQ=1889
           PA=7550
           

130.       Brooks Robinson 3B Orioles 1955-77
          62.85
          OPS+ 104
          .281/.335/.425
          MVPQ=none
          PA=11,800

We almost made it through the entire section without a single MVPQ season, but the 19th century shortstop Glasscock slipped one through.  It's a section with a lot of 10,000+ plate appearance guys, accumulating their career value over lots of years.  For purposes of our all time subjective team...

      No change at catcher.  


       C Piazza
    Dickey

Now let's think about first base.  Greenberg's still the starter with an adjusted SLG over .600 and an OPS+ over 150.  His career value was contained in even fewer plate appearances than Hernandez/Helton, who are the two contenders from this section.  Olerud and Hernandez had very similar careers, but the separation between Olerud and everyone else is those two MVPQ seasons.  He remains the backup.  

1B Greenberg
      Olerud

Jackie Robinson is the new second baseman, he has that adjusted all time 3/4/5 slashline that I love (like Jackson and Flick) has 3 MVPQ seasons (2 of which are elite) and accumulated his value in under 6000 PA.  His career's sort of like Joe Jackson's. No change.

2B Robinson
      Gordon

Lou Boudreau shows up with an inner circle season (10+wins above replacement) the second position player on the list with such distinction (Sosa just got in first).  That's enough to make him the backup at short.  No change.

SS Banks
     Boudreau

Robinson doesn't have the bat to even make it provisionally on the all time team at third base absent even one MVPQ season.

3B Allen

No change in left. 

LF Jackson
      Flick

Or center

CF Smith

Or right.

RF Heilmann
      Medwick

9 pitchers are going to wind up on this roster to make it a 25 man roster.  Ed Walsh has 3 Inner Circle seasons, the most of any player on the list so far, in fact, take any two players on the list so far and they don't have more than 3 Inner Circle seasons.  His adjusted ERA is second thusfar only to Rivera (and no one is passing Rivera).  Those two numbers push him straight to the top. No change.  

P Walsh
    Rivera
    Newhouser (LHP)
    Ford
    Rusie
    Vance
    Radbourn
    Bunning
    Saberhagen 

 Only 120 players left.