23 thoughts on “2010s All-Decade Team: Outfielders and DH”

1. Paul E December 23, 2019 at 5:30 pm

   LF: Yelich, Upton, Brantley
   CF: Trout, McCutchen, Blackmon
   RF: Betts, Stanton, Harper
   DH: Ortiz, Cruz, Encarnacion

   FWIW, I probably could be convinced that Springer is no worse than the 7th best OF’er overall, however, I don’t know that he’s better than 4th at RF. It’s also likely that there is a “recent peak” bias to my OF selections

   Reply ↓
2. Dr. Doom December 23, 2019 at 6:57 pm

   Doug, what determined positional eligibility? I’m curious, since Pujols has appeared at two positions.

   Reply ↓
   1. Doug December 23, 2019 at 7:20 pm

      It’s 3000 PA and 50% of games at one position, except I made it 500 games at DH since there are so few full-time DH players. So Pujols qualifies with 50% of games at 1B, and also for 500 games as DH.

      Reply ↓
3. Chris C December 23, 2019 at 11:44 pm

   LF: Yelich, Braun, Upton
   CF: Trout, McCutchen, Cain (very weak competition for 3rd)
   RF: Betts, Stanton, Harper
   DH: Cruz, Ortiz, Encarnacion

   Reply ↓
4. koma December 24, 2019 at 9:18 am

   LF
   1. Bret Gardner
   2. Ryan Braun
   3. Alex Gordon

   CF
   1. Mike Trout
   2. Lorenzo Cain
   3. Andrew McCutchen

   RF
   1. Mookie Betts
   2. Giancarlo Stanton
   3. Bryce Harper

   DH
   1. David Ortiz
   2. Nelson Cruz
   3. Edwin Encarnacion

   Reply ↓
5. Dr. Doom December 24, 2019 at 9:37 am

   Fun Fact: best CF seasons by WAR of the players listed above:

   1. Mike Trout, 2012, 10.5
   Mike Trout, 2016, 10.5
   3. Mike Trout, 2018, 10.2
   4. Mike Trout, 2015, 9.4
   5. Mike Trout, 2013, 9.0
   6. Mike Trout, 2019, 8.3
   Jacoby Ellsbury, 2011, 8.3
   8. Andrew McCutchen, 2013, 7.9
   9. Carlos Gomez, 2013, 7.8
   10. Mike Trout, 2014, 7.6

   Surprise, surprise: Mike Trout was dominant this decade – 7 of the top 10 seasons belong to him. But more significant, I think, is that Carlos Gomez’s 2013 season was ridiculously good… and completely out-of-step with his position in the rankings. Over a third of his WAR for the decade came that one year, and he played the whole decade! Of course, Cutch won the NL MVP that year, but Gomez could just as easily have been the winner. Baseball-Reference sees only a hair’s breadth between them; to this Brewers fan at the time, I would’ve had Gomez all the way! (Of course, while Ryan Braun won in 2011 and Christian Yelich in 2018, I would’ve had Brewers MVPs in 4 other years this decade: Braun in 2012, Gomez in 2013, Jonathan LuCroy in 2014, and Yelich in 2019. Braun in 2012 is the biggest stretch of the group, but Gomez was only 0.1 off the WAR lead in 2013, LuCroy led all NL position players in ’14, and we all know about Yelich this year. I’ve often said that, if we could’ve just managed to have a few of those guys have their best year TOGETHER, there would’ve been a World Series in Milwaukee. Alas, it wasn’t to be.

   Reply ↓
   1. Paul E December 24, 2019 at 11:24 am

      Doom,
      It’s “The Curse of the Car Dealer”. Right up there with the Bambino and that poor goat that couldn’t get served in Chicago. The talent they had in 1982 was superior to the Cardinals and that group in the late 50’s was as talented as any and only had one world title to show for the four peak years from 1956 – ’59. Aaron, Spahn, Mathews, Burdette, Adcock, geeze
      As far as Carlos Gomez, that has to be one of the weakest offensive seasons ever by an OF’er with that much WAR, no?

      Reply ↓
      1. Dr. Doom December 24, 2019 at 2:26 pm

         Gomez, 2013 – 128 OPS+, 7.8 WAR
         Ozzie Smith, 1989 – 97 OPS+, 7.3 WAR
         Brett Gardner, 2010 – 105 OPS+, 7.4 WAR

         I think it happens, in other words. Those were the first two players I thought to check. I think the really good way to check would be OPS+ divided by WAR. For Gomez, it’s 16.4; for Gardner, it’s 14.1; for Smith, it’s a pretty incredible 13.3. Finding players with even lower numbers should be possible, too. There are six seasons more extreme than Smith’s among batting title qualified players, but I’m not a PI subscriber, so I couldn’t tell you who they were.

         Reply ↓
         1. Doug December 24, 2019 at 3:20 pm

            OPS+ under 100 and under 15*WAR.
            99 – Kevin Kiermaier 2015 (7.5)
            98 – Ozzie Smith 1988 (6.6)
            97 – Ozzie Smith 1989 (7.3)
            90 – Devon White 1992 (6.2), Andrelton Simmons 2013 (7.0)
            86 – Darin Erstad 2002 (6.4)
            81 – Luis Aparicio 1960 (5.6)
            71 – Ozzie Smith 1980 (5.1)
            64 – Mark Belanger 1975 (5.0)

            There are 24 qualified seasons with OPS+ under 15*WAR, ranging from Belanger’s 5.0 WAR to Cal Ripken’s 11.5 in 1991. Smith, Simmons and Ripken are the only players with more than one. Here’s the list.
            http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/5h87Q

            Reply ↓
            1. Paul E December 25, 2019 at 10:07 am

               A little further piling on here but, Carlos’ 19.1 batting runs are the 2nd lowest all time, behind only Willie Davis, for seasons of 7.8 WAR or greater by a CF since 1901. I believe it was a list of 63 seasons.
               Oddly, his 7.8 WAR was best in the NL that season per b-ref.
      2. Paul E December 24, 2019 at 2:28 pm

         Doom,
         Piling on here: Most dWAR, >/= 7.8 WAR CF, 51% G, 1901-present
         1 Carlos Gomez 3.9 7.8 2013
         2 Ken Griffey Jr. 3.4 9.7 1996
         3 Willie Davis 3.4 8.3 1964
         4 Lenny Dykstra 3.2 8.9 1990
         5 Andruw Jones 2.7 8.2 2000

         There were 68 seasons of 7.8 WAR or greater. Gomez’s 128 OPS+ is 3rd worst amongst the 68 with only Willie Davis (111) and Andruw Jones (122) below Carlos

         Reply ↓
6. John December 24, 2019 at 3:31 pm

   LF: Gardner, Yelich, Marte
   CF Trout, McCutchen, Cain
   RF: Stanton, Harper, Betts
   DH: Ortiz, Pujols, Martinez.

   Can I vote for Trout first, second and third for CF? Braun is such a poor fielder that I cannot vote for him. Even with my obvious Cubs bias, I couldn’t vote for J-Hey with his poor hitting. Ortiz defined DH for this generation.

   Reply ↓
7. Doug December 27, 2019 at 6:39 pm

   LF: Yelich, Gardner, Gordon
   CF: Trout, McCutchen, Cain
   RF: Stanton, Betts, Harper
   DH: Ortiz, Encarnacion, Cruz

   Reply ↓
8. Richard Chester December 27, 2019 at 9:59 pm

   LF: Yelich, Braun, Holliday
   CF: Trout, McCutchen,Jones
   RF: Stanton, Betts, Harper
   DH: Ortiz, Cruz, Encarnacion

   I will be away on vacation for a couple of weeks so I will most likely not be voting in the next round.

   Reply ↓
9. Dr. Doom December 28, 2019 at 9:59 am

   Due to so many players having BIG seasons, but incomplete decades, this ranking became difficult for me. So I decided I would try something a little different. I have a way of evaluating peak-WAR. So I took the AVERAGE season, acted as if there were ten of them, then took the geometric means of those two numbers. Here’s what I came up with:

   LF: Christian Yelich, Brett Gardner, Ryan Braun
   CF: Mike Trout, Andrew McCutchen, Lorenzo Cain
   RF: Mookie Betts, Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Bautista
   DH: Nelson Cruz, Edwin Encarnacion, David Ortiz

   Unlike some others, I don’t have a real problem with CF. Trout, obviously, has been outstanding – as good as the second and third players put together. HOWEVER, McCutchen and Cain would’ve been top-3 contenders at any other outfield positions, so I don’t have a problem with them. It DOES get awfully thin once you get past those two, though, so it’s not exactly a strong field in center. Right is obviously the strongest of the three positions… who knows why. That just happens sometimes, I guess! I just BARELY ranked Encarnacion over Ortiz; that was the closest one in this round of voting, for me. Gardner over Braun was close, though. Excited for pitchers/catchers next!

   Happy Holidays, everyone!

   Reply ↓
10. Josh Davis December 28, 2019 at 3:49 pm

    LF: Braun, Yelich, Brantley
    CF: Trout, McCutchen, Blackmon
    RF: Betts, Bautista, Stanton
    DH: Ortiz, Cruz, Encarnacion

    I’m trying to balance numbers with who is really going to be remembered.

    Reply ↓
11. Dr. Doom December 30, 2019 at 1:55 pm

    I’m not sure exactly how many players Doug is keeping on the team, but here are the vote totals, as I have them. Players are listed in order of finish, with point totals in parentheses:

    LF – Yelich (31), Gardner (16), Braun (15), Upton (4), Brantley & Gordon (2), Marte & Holliday (1)
    CF – Trout (40), McCutchen (22), Cain (7), Blackmon (2), Jones (1)
    RF – Betts (32), Stanton (28), Harper (8), Bautista (4)
    DH – Ortiz (34), Cruz (23), Encarnacion (11), Pujols (3), Martinez (1)

    My guess would be that Yelich, Trout, Betts, and Ortiz make it as starters. Stanton is for sure one of the reserves. I think McCutchen would take a spot as a 5th outfielder… although technically Nelson Cruz has more vote points… but I’m not sure if we would actually want a second DH rather than a 5th outfielder. Maybe Doug is going to go with 2020 rules and have a full roster of 26. 😉

    Cutch definitely benefits from weak-ish competition at CF. He received no votes at #1, but he was #2 on 7/8 ballots, which ends up working out pretty darn well for him in comparison to other players.

    Not eligible by Doug’s rules, but worthy of consideration, I would think, was Curtis Granderson. Granderson totaled 26.1 WAR in the decade. Unfortunately for him, his split at these four positions (in order) was 269/656/587/39 – or 17.3%/42.3%/37.8%/2.5%, making him closest to eligibility in center, but below half his games at every position. Center is also the only position in which his WAR total would’ve ranked in the top-half of the candidates, so he might’ve even garnered a few votes there. Granderson finished #4 in MVP votes in 2011, so that might’ve earned him votes. That season, he led the AL in RBI (119) and all of MLB in runs (136 – 2nd highest of the decade, behind Charlie Blackmon’s 137 in 2017). He banged out 41 HR and 25 SB and his career-high 142 OPS+. Point is, Curtis Granderson was an interesting player, and it’s a little bit too bad that he didn’t get to participate in this process, so I’m trying to make up for that with a long paragraph about him!

    Reply ↓
    1. Dr. Doom December 30, 2019 at 11:27 pm

       Ugh. I am dumb. Here I thought the deadline was SUNDAY, and I thought I was being helpful. Instead, I’m a dummy. Oh well. Curtis Granderson comment stands! Doug, you’re welcome to delete both of these comments. Thanks.

       Reply ↓
    2. Doug January 1, 2020 at 5:48 am

       In the next vote, we’ll elect pitchers, catchers and specialists, the last being a utility player and a pinch hitter. Grandy will qualify for the utility position.

       Reply ↓
12. Doug January 1, 2020 at 5:46 am

    Happy New Year everyone.

    If you’d like to vote, please do so by end of day tomorrow (Thursday).

    Reply ↓
13. Rob P January 2, 2020 at 11:18 am

    LF: Yelich, Cespedes, Gardner
    CF: Trout, Cain, McCutchen
    RF: Harper, Betts, Stanton
    DH: Cruz, Encarnacion, Ortiz

    Reply ↓
14. Paul E January 2, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    Saw this on MLB Trade Rumors website….I guess everyone is celebrating the end of the decade

    https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/01/the-all-decade-lineup.html

    Not too disimilar results, thus far, from our polling

    Reply ↓
15. Doug January 4, 2020 at 4:06 pm

    Here are the results, showing points and (first place votes).
    LF: Yelich 36 (6), Gardner 17 (2), Braun 15 (1), Upton 4, Cespedes 3, Brantley 2, Gordon 2, Holliday 1, Marte 1
    CF: Trout 45 (9), McCutcheon 23, Cain 10, Blackmon 2, Jones 1
    RF: Betts 35 (5), Stanton 29 (3), Harper 13 (1), Bautista 4
    DH: Ortiz 35 (6), Cruz 28 (3), Encarnacion 14, Pujols 3, Martinez 1

    So, elected to the team are Yelich (LF), Trout (CF), Betts (RF), Stanton (OF) and Ortiz (DH).

    Reply ↓