All-Underrated (last 25 yrs)

[RynoRules]

I was thinking about Scott Hatteberg recently and how underrated and undervalued he is. That got me thinking of some of the underrated and undervaluied players of the last 20-25 yrs.

 

Mike Stanley is one my faves. He had a career line .270 / .370 / .458, and a career OPS-plus of 117. His best OPS-plus yrs included a couple of 140's, a couple of 130's, and several in the 110-125 range. Moreover, he could play C, OF, 1B, and 3B, and of course DH. All this production and he was making only 175k in 92', topping out at 3.5 mill with the Red Sox in 2000.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/stanlmi02.shtml

 

Let's see some others if you can think of them.

[SouthSideRyan]

Chris Hoiles.

[Mephistopheles]

Extend it 5 years so we can use Gene Tenace.

 

 

Other than that....how many of you knew that Carlos Guillen was better than Derek Jeter?

[Pushfrog98]

Extend it 5 years so we can use Gene Tenace.

 

 

Other than that....how many of you knew that Carlos Guillen was better than Derek Jeter?

That would be true if Guillen had 1/8th the intangibles that Jeter has in his left pinky.

[Mephistopheles]

The same intangibles that are 0 fer the last 6 years? Whose team was in the WS last?

[Pushfrog98]

The same intangibles that are 0 fer the last 6 years? Whose team was in the WS last?

Sorry, I was playing the role of ESPN analyst...

 

I think Jeter is the 2nd best SS on the Yankees right now.

[SouthSideRyan]

The same intangibles that are 0 fer the last 6 years? Whose team was in the WS last?

 

That was sarcasm, everyone isn't as dumb as you think they are.

 

Of course, that'd probably be impossible.

[chuckywang]

I kinda like Mark Loretta.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/loretma01.shtml

[apete6]

Underrated:

 

Jack Morris--if he was on the Yankees and did what he did in the postseason, he would have his mustach bronzed by now

 

Bert Blyleven: Winning 288 games doesn't happen by accident (even though I hate using wins as a measure for pitchers)

 

Vince Coleman: Changed gameplans for every team in the NL for a decade

 

Kenny Lofton: If he was on 1 team his whole career, he would be getting the Biggio treatment

 

Albert Belle: If he wasn't a complete jerk off the field, he would make the HOF. One of the most feared hitters of a hitters era. Great RBI man.

 

Tim Wakefield: Being on a good team helps, but he has had a pretty productive career

[XZero771679666304]

Extend it 5 years so we can use Gene Tenace.

 

 

Other than that....how many of you knew that Carlos Guillen was better than Derek Jeter?

 

It's been pretty obvious that Guillen is at least his equal, and a cursory look at the numbers tells you Carlos is better.

[RynoRules]

I kinda like Mark Loretta.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/loretma01.shtml

 

Not a terrible choice in light of his slary over the yrs:

 

1995 Milwaukee Brewers $109,000

1996 Milwaukee Brewers $109,000

1997 Milwaukee Brewers $167,500

1998 Milwaukee Brewers $275,000

1999 Milwaukee Brewers $1,495,000

2000 Milwaukee Brewers $2,500,000

2001 Milwaukee Brewers $3,500,000

2002 Milwaukee Brewers $5,000,000

2003 San Diego Padres $1,250,000

2004 San Diego Padres $2,500,000

2005 San Diego Padres $2,750,000

2006 Boston Red Sox $3,250,000

 

Let's get into some numbers here guys, not just rattle off names.

[Ender]

Extend it 5 years so we can use Gene Tenace.

 

 

Other than that....how many of you knew that Carlos Guillen was better than Derek Jeter?

 

It's been pretty obvious that Guillen is at least his equal, and a cursory look at the numbers tells you Carlos is better.

 

Guillen - 23, 8, 26, 18 WS

Jeter - 26, 26, 33, 20 WS

 

Guillen - 102, 42, 107, 89 RC

Jeter - 99, 106, 138, 97 RC

 

Guillen is underrated for sure but he still hasn't been as valuable as Jeter over the last 4 years partially because of the fact he gets banged up some every year but also because OBP is more valuable than SLG and Jeter has had close to .400 OBP over the past 3 years.

[rawaction]

I don't think people realize how great Frank Thomas is/was.

 

.303/.421/.560/.981 OPS.

 

In comparison, Mickey Mantle's career numbers .298/.421/.557

 

Basically the exact same player.

[wolf stansson]

Basically the exact same player.

Well, one was a RF/CF'er, but I agree that Frank is wildly underrated.

[haltz]

Underrated is kind of a nebulous term. Depends on who you're talking to I guess.

 

I'll put forth Devon White though. He was basically a league average hitter with a weak OBP, but he might be the best defensive outfielder of the last 20 years.

 

Basically the exact same player.

Mantle has about a 20 pt EqA advantage. The Hurt's peak was nasty though.

Edited September 4, 2007 by haltz

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Rusty Greer

 

Career .305/.387/.478, 120 OPS+, and consecutive peak years(.332/.397/.530 followed by .321/.405/.531) of 132 and 138 OPS+.

[XZero771679666304]

I don't think people realize how great Frank Thomas is/was.

 

.303/.421/.560/.981 OPS.

 

In comparison, Mickey Mantle's career numbers .298/.421/.557

 

Basically the exact same player.

 

I know. And his first few seasons were awesome. 6 out of his first 7 seasons, he OPS'd over 1.000, once at 1.216.

 

People heap praise on Pujols, but Thomas actually had a better start to his career than Albert has.

 

And look his 1994:

 

.353/.487/.729 (!!)

[rawaction]

Rusty Greer

 

Career .305/.387/.478, 120 OPS+, and consecutive peak years(.332/.397/.530 followed by .321/.405/.531) of 132 and 138 OPS+.

 

That's a good one. How long did Greer play?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Rusty Greer

 

Career .305/.387/.478, 120 OPS+, and consecutive peak years(.332/.397/.530 followed by .321/.405/.531) of 132 and 138 OPS+.

 

That's a good one. How long did Greer play?

 

9 seasons, although only 3 of them had 140+ games. 4420 career PA's.

[haltz]

A couple of 2B, although part of both careers falls outside the last 25 years.

 

Bobby Grich, 125 OPS+

Lou Whitaker, 117 OPS+

Edited September 4, 2007 by haltz

[Alfonso Soriano]

Jason Dubois

[Pushfrog98]

Jason Dubois

According to his wiki page, he's known to be quite overrated...

 

 

(although somebody removed my lovely addition!!!!)

[rawaction]

What about John Olerud?

 

Career: .295/.398/.465, but in his age 23-33 seasons, he was a .305/.410/.483 hitter.

 

His age 24 season in 1993 = .363/.473/.599 (BA, OBP and OPS 30 points higher than anyone else in the AL), led the lead in RC, OPS+, times on base, and int. walks.

 

Career 1275 BB to 1016 Ks

[Pushfrog98]

Todd Hundley anyone?

[fromthestretch]

Shane Mack and to a lesser extent Phil Bradley. Short but productive careers.