NYaT Readers Pick The Best Hitter of the Decade

I wanted to close out the poll on the right by looking at the results. Thank you to all who voted (and there were quite a few of you this time).

Who Has Been the Best Hitter of the Decade?

		Albert Pujols	55%
		Ichiro Suzuki	20%
		Alex Rodriguez	13%
		Manny Ramirez	0%
		Other	10%

Albert Pujols wins it in a landslide. I have to agree there. He didn't even play in 2000 but has been raking it at an incomparable level ever since.

It was an oversight at first not to put Derek Jeter on here but I wanted to see how many of you voted "other". Not sure if Jeter is the "other" you were trying to vote for, but, regardless, other came in 4th.

Manny Ramirez got zero love from the fans. I wonder what would have happened to him in this poll had the steroid revelations not come out about him this year.

I also wonder what would have happened to A-Rod had he not got caught up in the Spring Training steroids mess. 13% seems awfully low for him considering how good he was this season.

A lot of you value the base hit and Ichiro got a lot of those and 20% of your vote.

But congrats to Albert Pujols who won the NYaT hitter of the decade. We'll take a look at the pitchers of the decade a little later.

MLB's Best of the Decade: Hitters

As the last few weeks of regular season come to a close, it's time to look back at who were the best players of the decade. There's still a little time to gain in these categories with a few weeks to play. Here they are courtesy of Baseball-Reference's Play Index:

• Games - Miguel Tejada (1,568), Bobby Abreu (1,563), Orlando Cabrera (1,519), A-Rod (1,514), Carlos Lee (1,501), Derek Jeter (1,490)
  

• PA - Abreu (6,887), Derek Jeter (6,881), Tejada (6,773), Johnny Damon (6,732), A-Rod (6,731)

• Runs - A-Rod (1,182), Damon (1,113), Jeter (1085), Albert Pujols (1066), Abreu (1054)

• Hits - Ichiro Suzuki (2,015), Jeter (1,925), Miguel Tejada (1,836), Vlad Guerrero (1,741), Damon (1,740)

• 2B - Todd Helton (428), Abreu (406), Pujols (382), O. Cabrera (367), Mike Lowell (366)

• 3B - Jimmy Rollins (94), Carl Crawford (92), Christian Guzman (82), Juan Pierre (77)

• HR - A-Rod (430), Jim Thome (368), Pujols (366), Manny Ramirez (348), Carlos Delgado (324)
  

• RBI - A-Rod (1,228), Pujols (1,105), Manny (1,102), Delgado (1,045), Tejada (1,036)

• BB - Barry Bonds (1,128), Abreu (1,034), Helton (993), Thome (973), Lance Berkman (960)

• SO - Thome (1,429), Adam Dunn (1,421), Mike Cameron (1,411), Pat Burrell (1,385), A-Rod (1,235)

• SB - Pierre (456), Crawford (361), Ichiro (340), Rollins (324), Reyes (301)

• CS - Pierre (155), Luis Castillo (108), Chone Figgins (95) , Abreu (90), Scott Podsednik (84)

• HBP - Jason Kendall (155), Jason Giambi (138), David Eckstein (134), Craig Biggio (132), Delgado/A-Rod (126)

• BA (min. 1000 games played for all average categories) - Pujols (.334), Ichiro (.333), Helton (.330), Vlad (.324), Manny (.318), Jeter (.316)

• OBP - Helton (.436), Pujols (.427), Manny (.419), Giambi (.418), Chipper Jones (.414)

• SLG - Pujols (.630), Manny (.602), A-Rod (.585), Vlad (.570), Helton (.569)

• OPS - Pujols (1.057), Manny (1.021), Helton (1.005), A-Rod (.986), Berkman (.972)

• OPS+ - Pujols (172), Manny (160), A-Rod (154), Giambi (152), Berkman (148)

• ISO - Pujols (.296), Thome (.292), Manny (.284), A-Rod (.282), Dunn (.272)

• Runs Created - A-Rod (1,380), Helton (1,356), Pujols (1,356), Manny (1,246), Berkman (1,232)

• GIDP - Tejada (223), Paul Konerko (193), Vlad (191), Pujols (178), Magglio Ordonez (172)

• Franchises Played For - Rick White (11), Paul Bako (10), Bruce Chen (10), many tied at 9

• 25-homer seasons - A-Rod (10), Pujols (9), Vlad (9), many tied at 8

• 100-RBI seasons - Pujols (9), A-Rod (9), Manny (8), Carlos Beltran (7), Abreu (7), Vlad (7), Delgado (7)

• 200-hit seasons - Ichiro (9), Michael Young (5), Pierre (4), Jeter (4), Tejada (3), Vlad (3)

A few observations:

1. The big race is for the decade's batting title. Pujols is at 0.33379 and Ichiro is at 0.33295. I think Albert has it, but I won't count out Ichiro until it's all over
   
2. Barry Bonds hasn't played in a few years but still has walked more than anyone
3. Albert Pujols was a rookie in 2001, so he missed out on a year there (plus any development he underwent as the years went on). He still will probably end up being second in home runs and at or near the top of most of these lists. Amazing.
4. Ichiro was also a rookie in 2001. So that hit total is missing a year of the decade. He and Pujols have to be the two greatest hitting rookies to come out the same year, right?
   
5. Miguel Tejada and Bobby Abreu were both very durable and very good. I don't think this equates to the Hall of Fame, however. It is not a place for compilers. But each one should get a nice contract this off-season, one would think.
6. A-Rod has been so consistent, but so has Manny. If he didn't have an off year in 2007 for Boston, or get suspended this season, or sit out all of those games pouting, Manny might have run away with this. It makes you actually appreciate A-Rod a little more because despite all his troubles, he always put on the uniform and played, minus the hip injury this season. And even if you look at Manny's season vs. A-Rod's season with the time they both missed, I think you maybe go with A-Rod as having a better season overall.
   
7. I was surprised to see Lance Berkman make it up there on some of those lists. I think it just shows he's more underrated than he should be. And he was a rookie in 2000 and missed a big chunk of this year and 2005. His numbers could be better

Ok...who is your hitter of the decade? Is it A-Rod, Pujols, Manny, Ichiro or someone else? I've put the poll over to the right so make sure to vote!

Not a Good Way To Start a New Year

L'Shana Tova to all our Jewish readers. I saw there was a sign behind home plate at the Yankees game last night wishing everyone in Seattle the same but I figured I'd add my wishes.

Last night's game, however, did not end well for the Yankees. Mariano Rivera blew his first save after 36 straight conversions. Rivera got two easy outs with a one-run lead but allowed a double and then a two-run home run by Ichiro.

(Side Note: For those panicking about Rivera blowing a save, know this: let him blow it now and get it out of his system. Besides Brad Lidge last season, no one who goes into the playoffs with save streaks seems to make it out of it alive. Better he blow it now than Game 7 of the ALCS vs. the Red Sox.)

I have to disagree with Peter Abraham who says that Joe Girardi made the right decision not to walk Ichiro in the 9th. Ichiro has more hits than anyone over the past decade, has set the record for hits in a season and has set the record for consecutive 200-hit seasons all to start his career. There's a runner on second. Most of the time, you don't want to put the winning run on base when that person is as fast as Ichiro. And I know that Mo doesn't like to issue intentional walks...

But a single in that situation ties the game. The rest of the Mariners' lineup is atrocious. Ichiro had been hitting great in the game but made two huge baserunning mistakes that you knew he needed to make up for somehow. You need to walk him in that situation. Put him on base. Let someone else beat you. Normally I'm not a fan of intentional walks at all, but this was one situation that seemed to dictate it.