Quote:
Originally Posted by Palaaemon
Bird,
So, I have to ask, could you please do a comparison on Bobby? I do realize he is far from unique but I am curious who he might compare to best in the WPK and the history of the MLB.
Also, where is he now and how does he fare?
Thanks for your time brother.
Have a Great night!
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Hey Palaaemon,
So to answer your last question first, Bobby is still out there on the free agency market. Although the scouting reports still indicate he has some skills (at least a useful backup player, minor league depth piece, pinch-hitter/pinch-runner), he is wrecked and disruptive and so far nobody seems to be interested in him. (The current date in the WPK, as I type this, is August 6th, 1985.)
Here are his WPK comparables:
So that's a pretty solid group to be associated with. Maybe no Hall of Famers but a good deal of Hall of the Very Good type players.
His top comparable, Danny Sanchez, won an SJL MVP award in 1968 and was a 7-time All-Star, who put up 58.0 WAR over his 14 WPK seasons. Sanchez has been on the HOF ballot for 2 years now, with vote percentage totals of 8.8 and 9.4. Good enough to stay on for now, but likely to fall off the ballot soon.
David Beane was a 4-time All-Star, won 1 Gold Glove as a right fielder, played for 8 different WPK teams over the course of 18 seasons, putting up a total of 57.1 WAR. Although he played for a great number of teams (and did have low loyalty) he was never considered a disruptive clubhouse influence the way Bobby is. He was also a member of 3 championship teams, although the last 2 were as a part time player in his final two WPK seasons (at age 43 and 44!), with San Antonio and finally Portland. His first was with Columbus in 1975 when he had a 4.6 WAR season.
Power-hitting first baseman Drew Johnson played for a little over 14 seasons, amassing 27.8 WAR and being named an All-Star 4 times and a Silver Slugger award winner twice. He was a very good player in his 20's and then hung around in his 30's playing mostly part time and not adding much value (though he did have a 2.1 WAR season 1981 at age 36, the last year he played full time).
Ricky Salinas is certainly a Hall of the Very Good type player, having won a league MVP in 1974 while playing for Jacksonville, being named an All-Star 3 times, while also winning 4 Gold Gloves as a right fielder, being part of 3 championship teams (he was the 1969 KCS MVP), and once winning a Silver Slugger award. Salinas led the league in batting average once, when he hit .352 in 1974 and finished his career with a .300/.342/.418 slash line and 47.8 WAR. He was a hard-working, well-liked teammate but almost surely falls short of Hall of Fame induction.
Josh Schultz is still playing at age 37, though in a very limited fashion, as a member of the Chicago Fire. He is a 7-time All-Star, 2-time Gold Glove winning first baseman, won 1 Silver Slugger award, and was the 1971 SJL Rookie of the Year. He has put up 48.6 WAR over the course of 14 plus seasons but looks to be at the end of the line. His younger brother, Quincy Schultz, is a center fielder for the Portland Wild Things and one of the best players in the game and won the MGL MVP award last season, but has injury-proneness issues.
Jason Janes was one of the best power-speed combo players of the early days of the WPK, and somewhat underrated. He was a 4-time All-Star and finished his 13-year WPK career with 213 home runs and 245 stolen bases, and 53.7 WAR. He led the league in runs scored once and doubles once. He has been on the HOF ballot for 2 years and jumped from 6.6% representation on ballots to 12.0% last year. It's not likely he will ever make it to the required 75% though.
Trevor Leach though does have a chance to make the Hall, even if more of a borderline chance than a great chance. After the two Jesus's- Hernandez and Casiano- Leach was the best third baseman of his generation. And a great leader also (Captain). He was a 10-time All-Star, 1-time Gold Glover, 1-time Silver Slugger (competing with now HOF'er Casiano for years suppressed this total), and has one championship ring, from 1978 when he played for the El Paso Dawgs and was the KCS MVP. He retired after 14 plus productive seasons in the WPK with a career WAR of 64.8.
I am pulling for Jose "Swan" Gutierrez to make the Hall eventually. He is a current player still, and remains a star (and team Captain) at age 33 as a member of the El Paso Dawgs. He is a 7-time All-Star, 1-time Gold Glove center fielder (although he has been playing left field for the past several years now), a 2-time Silver Slugger, and he was the MGL Rookie of the Year in 1974 as a member of the Charlotte Sting. He has 56.0 WAR and counting (on pace for 4.2 this season). He's a borderline HOF candidate at this point but a few more solid seasons and he might just make it. I hope he does.
And finally, Antonio Sosa, who retired in 1977 after playing 13 seasons in the WPK (he was already 29 when the league started), earning 63.7 WAR in a fine career. He was a 7-time All-Star, 1-time Silver Slugger as a center fielder. He was another great leader, team Captain- so quite a few of Bobby's top comps are with players who had much different clubhouse intangibles than he does. Sosa has been on the Hall of Fame ballot for 3 years now, starting with 9.4% of the voters including him on their ballots his first year of eligibility, seeing that rise to 12.2% the next year, but then fall to 6.5% most recently as he just hung on. A Hall of the Very Good player.
I haven't yet looked to see what MLB players Bobby might be comparable to but I'll try to get to that eventually.
Thanks for asking, and taking an interest in the WPK, as always.