ESPN's 30 Over 30 Middle Infield

Every Monday we've been reviewing ESPN Mobile's 30 over 30, a vote of the best baseball players of the past 30 years, coinciding with ESPN's 30th anniversary. So far for ESPN's 30 over 30, we've looked at Catcher and Designated Hitter and First Base and Third Base. Today we'll look at the middle infielders:

 

Second base:

• Roberto Alomar - .300/.371/.443, 10400 PA, 1508 runs, 2724 hits, 794 XBH, 210 HR, 1134 RBI, 1032 BB, 1140 SO, 116 OPS+
• Craig Biggio - .281/.363/.433, 12503 PA, 1844 runs, 3060 hits, 1014 XBH, 291 HR, 1175 RBI, 1160 BB, 1753 SO, 111 OPS+
• Jeff Kent - .290/.356/.500, 9537 PA, 1320 runs, 2461 hits, 984 XBH, 377 HR, 1518 RBI, 801 BB, 1522 SO, 123 OPS+
• Ryne Sandberg - .285/.344/.452, 9282 PA, 1318 runs, 2386 hits, 761 XBH, 282 HR, 1061 RBI, 761 BB, 1260 SO, 114 OPS+
• Lou Whitaker - .276/.363/.431, 9363 PA, 1310 runs, 2223 hits, 706 XBH, 241 HR, 1024 RBI, 1132 BB, 1028 SO, 118 OPS+

Roberto Alomar will be a really interesting Hall of Fame candidate. Before his trade to the Mets, he was a sure-fire, first-ballot Hall of Famer. He was an All Star for 12 straight years, won 10 gold gloves, came in top 6 in the MVP voting 5 times, and was regarded as the best second baseman in the game. He also had tremendous speed with 474 career stolen bases to only 114 CS Then Steve Phillips traded for him and he forgot how to play baseball. From the time he joined the AL in 1991 until he left in 2001, Alomar had a .313/.389/.477 line with 1,892 hits, 168 home runs and 356 stolen bases. He fizzled out by 2004 and his post-baseball life has been a mess. 

Craig Biggio will be one of the quietest Hall Of Famers in recent memory. He leads all second basemen over the past 30 years in almost every category listed above except for HR and RBI (second in both to Jeff Kent). He was a member of the "Killer B's" and that gave him some protection in the lineup but for 20 seasons with Houston, all the guy did was hit. I know it was the steroids era, but I think 3,000 hits still gets you into the Hall. He's 5th all time in doubles and 13th all time in runs scored. And despite being second all-time in HBP, he was amazingly durable, too: he's 15th all time in games played, 12th in ABs and 10th in PAs.

The Mets traded for Jeff Kent in 1992 for David Cone. It could have gone down as one of the greater trade deadline acquisitions had the Mets not turned around and traded him to Cleveland in 1996 for Carlos Baerga and Alvaro Espinoza. Later that season, the Indians would also give up on him, trading him in a package to the Giants for Matt Williams. Kent would spend 6 years in San Francisco and hit .297/.368/.535 and averaged 32 HR and 124 RBI per 162 games. Not bad a for a second baseman. He would win the MVP in 2000, amidst a greatly crowded field. No second baseman had nearly as many HR as Kent (Rogers Hornsby is next with 301).

If Ryne Sandberg never played for the Cubs, would he have made the Hall of Fame? The Phillies traded Sandberg and Larry Bowa in 1982 to the Cubs for Ivan DeJesus. Why would they do this? I don't know DeJesus was coming off a season in which he hit .194/.276/.233 and hit no home runs. Sandberg won the MVP in 1984 and never looked back, averaging .295/.357/.484 and 24 HR, 27 SB, and 29 2B a season from 1984-1992. His best season came in 1990 where Sandberg led the league in runs, HR, and TB with a OPS+ of 140. He was never the same hitter, though, after 1992 (when he was 32) and was definitely elected to the Hall of Fame on his pre-1993 accomplishments.

"Sweet" Lou Whitaker missed out on 1+ years with the 1979 cutoff, including his Rookie of the Year win in 1978. Whitaker is always one who gets debated amongst Hall voters. He only made 5 All Star Games and in 19 seasons in Detroit, never led the American League in one offensive category. Whitaker, Sandberg, and Alomar all have very similar stat lines that compare to Alan Trammell (Whitaker's double play partner), Barry Larkin, and Joe Morgan.

Missing from this list? Chase Utley (who has only 3578 PA but leads all second-basemen in ESPN Era with a .909 OPS) and Alfonso Soriano (who doesn't play 2B anymore, but has an OPS ahead of Alomar, Biggio, Sandberg or Whitaker and will soon pass Biggio in HR)

Special mention: Bobby Grich (had OPS ahead of Alomar, Biggio, Sandberg or Whitaker in the last 30 years)

My winners and runners up: My winner is Craig Biggio with Jeff Kent edging himself out from the rest of the crowd as the runner up

 

Shortstop:

• Derek Jeter - .316/.387/.548, 9561 PA, 1536 runs, 2669 hits, 706 XBH, 217 HR, 1046 RBI, 861 BB, 1429 SO, 121 OPS+
• Barry Larkin - .295/.371/.444, 9057 PA, 1329 runs, 2340 hits, 715 XBH, 198 HR, 960 RBI, 939 BB, 817 SO, 116 OPS+
• Cal Ripken - .276/.340/.447, 12883 PA, 1647 runs, 3184 hits, 1078 XBH, 431 HR, 1695 RBI, 1129 BB, 1305 SO, 112 OPS+
• Ozzie Smith - .262/.339/.329, 10110 PA, 1188 runs, 2308 hits, 475 XBH, 27 HR, 747 RBI, 1025 BB, 546 SO, 87 OPS+
• Omar Vizquel - .273/.338/.355, 11198 PA, 1374 runs, 2686 hits, 581 XBH, 77 HR, 900 RBI, 974 BB, 992 SO, 83 OPS+
• Robin Yount - .290/.352/.451, 9380 PA, 1326 runs, 2425 hits, 793 XBH, 225 HR, 1154 RBI, 818 BB, 1043 SO, 122 OPS+

I have a little bias having watched Derek Jeter since he came up as a 21-year-old in 1995. He has to get extra points for being near the top of a ton of post-season categories too including most post-season hits. But he also is on pace to really move up the all-time hits list. Barring injury or slump, he should finish this season ahead of Lou Gehrig and Tony Perez on the all-time hits list and with 300 steals. And he should be close to 3,000 hits near June of 2011. Many though that last year my be a sign he was slowing down but he's bounced back again this season and still does not have a full season with an OPS+ under 101. Only one of the "Holy Trinity of Shortstops" to still be playing the position as Nomar and A-Rod have been moved elsewhere.

Barry Larkin was a 12-time All-Star and played his entire career in Cincinnati. He won the 1995 MVP and had 379 career steals. Injuries may be what keeps him out of the running for this (and maybe out of the Hall of Fame as well) as he had only 4 seasons of 150 games or more. Has the highest OPS of any non-Trinity member, though.

I know this is going to get under the skin of some people, but I think Cal Ripken Jr's "Iron Man" streak is one of the most overrated ever. He was an elite player in this league through his MVP in 1991. After that? I think he hurt his team. I will go into this more in a future post, but after hitting .323/.374/.566 with 34 HR and 114 RBI and a 162 OPS+ to win the MVP, he had 7 seasons out the next 10 where he was a below average hitter and only one season where he was above average. And his defense at SS suffered so much that I think his refusal to allow his team to rest him or move him off of the position cost his team a World Series in the mid-90s. In the end, that means his consecutive game streak just helped to increase his reputation, not allow his team to win. I guess I needed some harsh words for someone who is so glorified by so many and I think needs to be knocked down a peg or two.

Ozzie Smith (AKA "The Wizard of Oz") is in the Hall of Fame because of his defense, not his bat. Although he missed out on his rookie season (because it was in 1978) where he stole 40 bases, he still finished the 30 years with 540 SB which is really good. Otherwise, nothing offensively puts Ozzie near the rest of the group. I mean Neifi Perez has a better OPS and more HR.

Omar Vizquel is also on the list solely for his glove. Although he did rack up 2686 hits, the guy has an adjusted OPS worse than Ozzie's and only once (1999) had a season that can be considered above average. He's on here for his glove alone as he won 11 Gold Gloves, though some of the later ones he won on reputation alone.

I'm not sure how Robin Yount is a shortstop in this system but A-Rod is not. Yount was a full-time OF by 1985. Still, if we consider him on this list, he fares pretty well. He won two MVPs in this stretch and has more XBH than Jeter or Larkin. His biggest problem is that he had played 5 years before 1979 started...oh, and that he wasn't a shortstop anymore by the time ESPN came around.

Missing from this list: Alex Rodriguez (played over 60% of his games at SS and, hate him or love him, he is one of the greatest players ever) and Nomar Garciaparra (his peak was short, but he was one of the top players in the game from his rookie year in 1997 until 2003, averaging .325/.372/.557)

Special mention: Miguel Tejada (280 career HR, 2002 MVP) and Alan Trammell (above average SS throughout 80s)

My winners and runners up: I know he won't win, but my winner is A-Rod followed by Derek Jeter, Cal Ripken, and, if you consider him a SS, Robin Yount (if not, Larkin)

 

Update: The winners are posted. At second base, Ryne Sandberg and Roberto Alomar just edged out Craig Biggio. At shortstop, Cal Ripken, Jr. blew away the rest with 41.5% of the vote with Ozzie Smith barely edging out Derek Jeter for second. The fact the Derek Jeter and the Craig Biggio weren't in the top two for their positions are pretty awful, but that's one of the downfalls of mobile voting.

Next week: the outfield