Hypothetical: ARam challenges Lee for HR and RBI lead ...

[Elrhino]

Lets say there are two weeks to go in the season and Lee is in the lead for the Triple Crown with ARam breathing right down his neck for the HR and RBI title. If the Cubs were out of contention, would you condone benching A-Ram to ensure Lee got the Triple Crown?

[MeatampPotatoesMan]

no, b/c then it wouldn't be legit in many people's eyes. i don't want to listen to everyone whine about how Lee tainted the Triple Crown.

[Sparkle]

No. That's unsportsmanlike.

[brinoch]

No. And if Aram is breathing down Lee's neck for the RBI and HR lead, I don't think we'll be that far out of it. He'd be like a machine in order to catch up.

[Sparkle]

How would you feel if you were DLee and your teammate was benched in order to give you a title? Not sure how DLee would feel, but I know I would feel like I didn't really earn it.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

There's no way that happens. In fact, I think Lee and Ramirez would enjoy the friendly competition for those titles.

[katway]

I recall when the Yanks had both Winfield and Mattingly going for the batting average tittle and neither one of them was sat for the good of the other. It was great to see them both going for it..it would have been bad for the fans if either of them were to concede.

[TB_11]

Remember Lee is the guy who didn't go for the cycle when he had the opportunity to. He seems like a classy enough guy and enough of a team player that he would enjoy the competition.

 

By, the way, are there any 2 big bats on the same team better this year than Derrek and Aramis? All of the ones I could think of off the top of my head fall short after looking at their stats: Roberts/Tejada don't have the OBP or slugging, neither do Pujols/Edmonds. Same is true for Rodriguez/Sheffield and Ramirez/Ortiz.

[erik316wttn]

Lets say there are two weeks to go in the season and Lee is in the lead for the Triple Crown with ARam breathing right down his neck for the HR and RBI title. If the Cubs were out of contention, would you condone benching A-Ram to ensure Lee got the Triple Crown?

 

No. Lee seems to me like the type of guy who would want to earn it. Say he had the triple crown going into the last series of the season, but Aram beat him in homers, I'm sure Lee would shake his hand in the locker room and say "congratulations."

 

Lee is far too classy to let anything like that happen.

[nilodnayr]

Remember Lee is the guy who didn't go for the cycle when he had the opportunity to. He seems like a classy enough guy and enough of a team player that he would enjoy the competition.

 

By, the way, are there any 2 big bats on the same team better this year than Derrek and Aramis? All of the ones I could think of off the top of my head fall short after looking at their stats: Roberts/Tejada don't have the OBP or slugging, neither do Pujols/Edmonds. Same is true for Rodriguez/Sheffield and Ramirez/Ortiz.

 

Everyone falls short in comparison to a guy going for the triple crown.

[Wheelimus]

Not, it'd be kind of like the epic Mantle/Maris chase back in the day.

[rawaction]

I see what you guys are saying, but Mantle/Maris was for a HR record. The HR title was probably a fun battle for those 2, but they were going after 61, which could have been broken by both. Winfield and Mattingly were going for a simple batting title, you can't justify benching one over the other in that situation and showing favoritism. But the Lee/Ramirez situation would be different if it came down to that. A HR and RBI title is one thing, but when you add the chance of a Triple Crown, it becomes way more monumental than the other 2 situations.

 

If the Cubs are out of it (don't think that will happen til about the final day or 2 if Lee and Ramirez are 1-2 in the HR/RBI races) and they are close, I don't think you bench Ramirez, but I think ARam would hesitate to swing for the fences, and I would bat Lee at leadoff to get him more ABs.

[Scott G. F.]

Ted Williams could have sat out the last day of the season the year he hit .400 ave. preserving he BA. He didn't sit it out. It would have been a bush league league moveif he did. He ended up hitting .406.

 

I say let them play and see what happens. If Lee is meant to have the Triple Crown he's got to earn it all the way!

[katway]

I see what you guys are saying, but Mantle/Maris was for a HR record. The HR title was probably a fun battle for those 2, but they were going after 61, which could have been broken by both. Winfield and Mattingly were going for a simple batting title, you can't justify benching one over the other in that situation and showing favoritism. But the Lee/Ramirez situation would be different if it came down to that. A HR and RBI title is one thing, but when you add the chance of a Triple Crown, it becomes way more monumental than the other 2 situations.

 

If the Cubs are out of it (don't think that will happen til about the final day or 2 if Lee and Ramirez are 1-2 in the HR/RBI races) and they are close, I don't think you bench Ramirez, but I think ARam would hesitate to swing for the fences, and I would bat Lee at leadoff to get him more ABs.

 

One critical notion that's being lost here is that they need each other to perform as they have. If Ramirez is not a homerun threat because he pulls it back a little, then pitchers are less afraid of walking Lee. If Lee bats leadoff, then who is he going to drive in for an RBI? If Ramirez bats too far in back of Lee, who is he going to drive in?

 

In any event, if a player changes his approach to simply bow out for another player, rather it be the triple crown a less substantial HR race, then he has cheated the integrity of the game and tainted any record that comes of it.

[rawaction]

I see what you guys are saying, but Mantle/Maris was for a HR record. The HR title was probably a fun battle for those 2, but they were going after 61, which could have been broken by both. Winfield and Mattingly were going for a simple batting title, you can't justify benching one over the other in that situation and showing favoritism. But the Lee/Ramirez situation would be different if it came down to that. A HR and RBI title is one thing, but when you add the chance of a Triple Crown, it becomes way more monumental than the other 2 situations.

 

If the Cubs are out of it (don't think that will happen til about the final day or 2 if Lee and Ramirez are 1-2 in the HR/RBI races) and they are close, I don't think you bench Ramirez, but I think ARam would hesitate to swing for the fences, and I would bat Lee at leadoff to get him more ABs.

 

One critical notion that's being lost here is that they need each other to perform as they have. If Ramirez is not a homerun threat because he pulls it back a little, then pitchers are less afraid of walking Lee. If Lee bats leadoff, then who is he going to drive in for an RBI? If Ramirez bats too far in back of Lee, who is he going to drive in?

 

In any event, if a player changes his approach to simply bow out for another player, rather it be the triple crown a less substantial HR race, then he has cheated the integrity of the game and tainted any record that comes of it.

 

Point taken. But I wish a sport that has all but endorsed steroid use (until this year) needs to stop bringing up crap about the "integrity of the game". Baseball has no integrity and every record of the last 20-25 years is tainted.

[katway]

Point taken. But I wish a sport that has all but endorsed steroid use (until this year) needs to stop bringing up crap about the "integrity of the game". Baseball has no integrity and every record of the last 20-25 years is tainted.

 

Agreed. The steroid use will be more evident when we look back at the stats 5 years from now and see that no one comes close to Bonds, Sosa's, and McGuire's numbers. The league clearly turned a blind eye to everything going on....