Quote:
Originally Posted by Rain King
The above is why a stat like WAR is so nice to have.
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I agree. It helps clear off some of the mud. No stat should be the only metric but anything that adds more information to the discussion is of value.
Quote:
Originally Posted by actionjackson
As of right now, he has not spent the majority of his career as a first baseman. 7,883.0 innings played as a catcher. 4,662.1 innings played as a first baseman. I don't hold the DH thing against him because a lot of star players DH for a breather during the season. It really has become a position that you cycle players through to get them off their feet for a day. There are very few true DHs anymore. IMHO, he should be judged as a catcher even if he winds up spending more time as a first baseman because that's where he had his best seasons. We didn't judge Ernie Banks and Rod Carew as first basemen, despite the fact they had more playing time there. We judged them as shortstop and second baseman respectively, so why the double standard for Mauer? Others may disagree. That's fine. It's a free country, or in this case, a free planet.  |
If Ernie Banks and Rod Carew played their entire career as first baseman would they still be hall of famers? In my opinion, without question yes. So I don’t see a double standard there at all. Neither one were fringe hall of famers. Mauer is.
I don’t think he should be judged as a catcher or a first baseman. He should be judged as both. I hope the writers evaluate him as such. He should be compared to both and the weight to either position will be up to each writer/voter to decide.