With no games to talk or write about, it’s become the season to debate. Who’s the G.O.A.T. in hoops, Michael or LeBron? Who is the best NFL quarterback of all-time? Who makes the list of the “best of all-time” for Major League Baseball?
A recent article in The Athletic gave us the “100 Greatest Baseball Players of All-Time” according to one well-educated opinion.
Great for dissecting.
Obviously every single “list” like this that gets published is totally subjective. There are numerous placements to debate and argue about. For example, who was Oscar Charleston and how on earth is he the fifth greatest baseball player of all time? Better than Mickey Mantle, who is way down at No. 11, and Roberto Clemente, who is seemingly an afterthought at No. 40? I never saw Charleston – a star in the Negro Leagues – play, but I have a hard time believing he was better than Mantle and Clemente.
So, whether or not you think (No. 3) Barry Bonds belongs ahead of (No. 4) Henry Aaron, or if Alex Rodriquez is really the 16th greatest player ever, you have something to debate, which beats the heck out of watching more daily episodes of “As the Virus Turns.”
Interestingly, there are just a half dozen active players on this Top 100 list: Albert Pujols (No. 23), Mike Trout (No. 27), Justin Verlander (No. 75), Miguel Cabrera (No. 77), Clayton Kershaw (No. 78) and Max Scherzer (No. 90) all made it.
Surprises? Perhaps. Only Trout is in his prime and positioned to move up next time they churn out a list like this. Should he continue at his current pace, he might surpass Babe Ruth (#2) and Willie Mays for the top spot…ever.
Hopefully we have this one to debate for a long time. But by the time the next great pandemic closes down the world and puts sports on the sidelines, there will be new names available for the follow up list. So, who are the six active players who aren’t on this list who could be on the next one?
Start with this group: Jacob deGrom, Manny Machado, Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Nolan Arenado, Mookie Betts, Yadier Molina, Walker Buehler, Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Kris Bryant, Shohei Otanai, Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich.
Who makes it?
From that list of 15 candidates, it’s a very tough call, but it narrows down to these six guys:
Arenado:
If he is going to go down in history as the greatest third baseman ever – and there’s an excellent chance that happens – then it stands to reason that Arenado ends up on the next list with Mike Schmidt (No. 20), Adrian Beltre (No. 52) and Brooks Robinson (No. 73.) Nolan is the best in the game right now because of his unparalleled defense and awesome offensive numbers. Should he leave Colorado after next season and land in a place that’s not viewed as a hitter paradise, his stature will grow even more.
deGrom:
It’s really hard to put a pitcher on any of these lists anymore with the glut of arm injuries, the way they are used and the potential for short careers. deGrom is a little different, though. He didn’t spend his formative years throwing his arm out for a club travel team. Instead, he came into the big leagues with relatively few miles on his arm. If he can put up a few more Cy Young worthy seasons, he will certainly rank right up there with contemporaries Verlander and Scherzer.
Harper:
He’s got the security of a long-term contract and is free to swing away and put up nice individual numbers, even if he’s only occasionally on a contending team. Harper signed so young that he should be able to produce big stats for the next eight years or so. At age 27 he’s almost halfway to 500 homers. If he gets there in the era of PED testing, how do they keep him off the next list?
Machado:
Like Harper, he made the big leagues very young. He’s got the glove, he’s got the bat, and he’s already played eight years at age 27. Playing out his career in easy going San Diego should allow him to continue to put up big numbers in a low pressure environment for most of the next decade. Gold Glove awards and a legit chance to hit 400+ career homers. He’ll be on the next list.
Molina:
A nine-time All-Star, he’s already established as one of the best catchers ever and could easily end up grouped in with Johnny Bench (No. 30), Yogi Berra (No. 43), Carlton Fisk (No. 80) and Gary Carter (No. 86). He’s already better than Mike Piazza (No. 89), who made this list. Molina is also a two-time World Series winner and consistently finds himself in the postseason. That matters.
Otanai:
Japanese great Sadaharu Oh (No. 85) made the list while playing his entire career in Japan. Ichiro Suzuki also squeezed in (No. 100) after coming to MLB just after the midway point in his. Otanai is a freak of nature – a full-fledged two-way player – who if he were just a pitcher (3.31 ERA in 2018) would have missed all of last season. Instead he hit .286 with 18 homers while rehabbing his pitching elbow. His multiple skills draw him all the attention he needs to crack the next list.
Of course, some other wonder kid could come out of nowhere and take baseball by storm during the next decade. If that happens, let’s hope we get to watch he and his contemporaries actually play the game, rather than just reading about them.
Listen to Mark Knudson on Monday’s at 12:30 with Brady Hull on AM 1310 KFKA and on Saturday mornings on “Klahr and Kompany” on AM 1600 ESPN Denver.
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- Bouncing back in 2021: A Sports Odyssey – So many games, so little time
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