Quote:
Originally Posted by David Watts
If you take catching away from him, he's basically Bill Madlock  |
Bill Madlock, Don Mattingly, Keith Hernandez, Jim Edmunds,
They all have 3-5 amazing years, and then an insufficient number of "filler" years that they would have needed to be in the HoF.
Madlock:
-- 3 time All Star
-- Lifetime .305 hitter, with over 2000 hits
-- Won FOUR batting titles
-- Career OPS+ of 123
-- Career OPS of .807
-- Career WAR of only 41, with 49 oWar, and minus 8 dWar
-- No Gold Glovers. Terrible fielder
Mattingly:
-- 6 time All Star
-- Lifetime .307 hitter, with 2153 hits
-- Won ONE batting title
-- Career OPS+ of 127
-- Career OPS of .830
-- Career WAR of only 40, with 47 oWar, and minus 6 dWar
-- Nine Gold Gloves
Keith Hernandez:
-- 5 time All Star
-- Lifetime .296 hitter, with 2182 hits
-- Won ONE batting title
-- Career OPS+ of 128
-- Career OPS of .821
-- Career WAR of 46, 45 oWar, and +1 dWar
-- Eleven Gold Gloves
He's in the Hall of Very Good
Jim Edmunds:
-- Four time All Star
-- Lifetime .284 hitter, with 1949 hits
-- No batting titles
-- Career OPS+ of 132..best of this bunch
-- Career OPS of .903
-- Career WAR of 57...significantly higher than the rest
-- Eight Gold Gloves
Let's now look at Mauer stats:
-- Six time All Star
-- Lifetime .308 hitter, with 2025 hits
-- Three batting titles
-- Career OPS+ of 126
-- Career OPS of .832
-- Career WAR of 53
-- Three Gold Gloves
If you put Mauer in, RIGHT NOW, then you have to put in all five, plus another 15 players I can mention...Dave Parker and Harold Baines, Dale Murphy, Sheffield, Crime Dog, Jim Rice....they're everywhere.
IF Mauer plays another five years, with decent stats, then maybe. He will not get 3000 hits, he will not have a career .300 average, he will not be an All Star again, and his cumulative stats just aren't anywhere near high enough.
His career OPS+ of 126 is very, VERY low for a future Hall of Famer.
His career OPS of .832, as compared to Edmunds' .901, clearly doesn't measure up.
The ONLY advantage Mauer had is his defensive position as a catcher. In this position, his defense sucked so hard (minus career dWar) that he was moved away from being a catcher, into a prime offensive position, DH. I can argue that he sucks as a DH as well..limited power.
The elephant in the room is that Mauer, just once, drove in more than 85 runs. This is TERRIBLE. Yeah..Piazza did it 11 times.
Mauer is in the Hall of Very Good..in no way, shape or form a Hall of Famer.