OT: Where does Miggy Stand?
Well, if you didn't see Miguel Cabrera's dramatic go-ahead ninth inning homerun tonight, here it is:
http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/70087564/v32843503/
I know this is a cheesy radio topic, but where does the back-to-back MVP stand currently amongst the all-time greats? How high can he go by the time he decides to call it quits? I say he has a chance to be among the top three hitters in the history of baseball when it's all said and done.
On the corpses of his enemies
Hearing the lamentations of their women.
Anywhere he wants.
He is one dimensional. He isn't even close to being one of the top 100 baseball players, but stickly as a hitter is a whole different story.
Miggy is right up there. His offense more than makes up for his defense. He's not a terrible defender, just mediocre which is fine with me.
Go take a long walk off a short pier.
A thermonuclear bomb. And yet people insist that they are a big deal.
Wow that was one of the most idiotic statements Ive ever read.
I supposed you think Henry Aaron was "one dimensional" too....or do you even know who that is?
Kinda towards the inside of the batter's box.
He also needs a ring.
To be fair, he did win the World Series with the Marlins in 2003 against the Yanks.
ties him with Aaron in that category.
This isn't the NBA. Not enough is in one player's control to reasonably judge them on championships.
He doesn't have a long way to go to be considered one of the greats. He has already done that. From this point forward he is making his case to be the best ever.
Pretending Cabrera doesn't already have a ring, Hall of Famers such as Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, and Ken Griffey Jr. don't have a ring either. Williams only played in the postseason once. All of those players have been or could be mentioned in arguments about the greatest player of all time. Several other Hall of Famers lack rings as well.
This is obviously subjective to an extent, but if we're wondering if Miggy can be one of the best 3 hitters of all time, isn't Hank Aaron the wrong guy to compare him to? I think there's debate on whether Aaron is one of the top-10 hitters of all time, let alone top 3 (although he is defininitely the "Home Run King"). When top hitters come to mind, I'm thinking (not necessarily in order):
Ted Williams
Ty Cobb
Barry Bonds
Mickey Mantle
Babe Ruth
Joe DiMaggio
Lou Gehrig
Rogers Hornsby
Will Miggy land among the top-3 of those guys? He's got a ways to go, but man he has been good so far.
There may be some debate if you would put him top-10, but Aaron is 1st all-time in RBI and Total Bases, 2nd* in Home Runs and 3rd in Hits. That's a pretty good person to try to stack up against.
The only way there's a debate about Hank Aaron being top ten is if you define "best hitter" to mean "best in his prime." My opinion is that anyone saying Aaron isn't top ten is penalizing him for having his prime last so much longer than everyone else's. Aaron's best single-season numbers don't place him top ten, but a guy who hit .301-40-96 when he was 39, without needles being involved, belongs in the tip-top of the pantheon.
I think Stan Musial deserves a place on that list.
.331 career average. 3,630 hits, 475 HRs, with a stint in the military.
Not top 5 or 10 great yet, but 3 straight batting titles with that level of power + a triple crown pretty much has you enshrined as "great". Also, he has the ring. Let's hope for a couple more.
I was at Camden tonight, I may have squealed like a school girl at a One Direction concert when that ball fell into the O's bullpen. It's a rather meaningless game in May, but this is one of those moments that just shows how special a player Miggy is.
We blend in quite well wearing orange, but ya I went to all 3 games last year and none of them had the fan support like the Tigers fans gave tonight. It wasn't as crazy as it was at Wrigley 2 years ago but every transplanted Michigander seemed to don the D at Camden tonight.
Dan Dickerson would be proud of your daughter's enunciation of Miggy's name =)
http://chirb.it/shfxGw
Watching the player reactions on TV was awesome. They are fired up, they believe in themselves and, while they were well on their way already, that may be the hit to make this a very special year.
I had doubts about the changes at the beginning of the year. I was hopeful but didn't want to get expectations too high. It's clear they believe and they have made me a believer.
There is alot of truth to this, but if you actually listen to him talk he's quite the personable/energetic guy. This was his interview on Intentional Talk last week.
one of their shows in early April and I thought he did very well, his English has definitely improved since he first signed with Detroit in 2008.
As cool as it was to see Miggy goofing around and showing his humor... you have to give it up for Anibal. Holy crap, I want to party with that guy.
I was hoping that when they had Leyland in the booth the other day, they'd show him this Zubaz picture to get his reaction.
First is the Rally Monkey.
The Tigers are just such a fun team to watch now, as they can win in so many ways.
Tonight it was a combination of pitching, speed, and 9th inning back-to-back dingers. Aren't 3-run homers grrrrreeaeat!?!
But back to your question--IMO, if Cabrera can continue what he's doing---and has been doing for the last several seasons---he has to be one of the 3 best players of the last 50 seasons. Hands down.
I was a little too young to be able to enjoy the careers of Mays, Mantle, and Aaron, even most of the careers of Al Kaline and Roberto Clemente happened while I was too young to appreciate it. So I'll consider the careers of that group of players to be primarily prior to this last 50 years. But those 5 have to be included in any discussion of baseball's best of the previous 25 or so years (starting with post-WWII thru the 60's).
Trying to ignore PEDs in this discussion, I'd have to say Cabrera, Pujols, Bonds, Clemens, Mariano Rivera, Greg Maddux (off the top of my head) all have to be top ten from the last 50 years. Then assuming Miggy is "clean"? That vaults him to the top of that list along with Pujols (who I'm also assuming is clean).
Quite possible that Miggy might eventually become the Greatest Tiger Ever.
He's not anywhere near an all-timer yet. He has had a great run the past few years but he'd have to keep it up another 5 to even reach the level of, say, Albert Pujols.
He's already probably the greatest Tiger hitter in HISTORY. Yes, better han Kaline, though Kaline did hit in some pitcher dominated years before the mound was lowered so that would have to be factored in to get a totally fair comparison. Of course, Kaline also played in Tiger Stadium, not Comerica Park. Cabrera would probably hit 40-50 home runs every year if he played in Tiger Stadium.
Through 12 years Cabrera is AVERAGING .320 BA .398 OBP 31HR 108 RBI Those are crazy numbers
He's led that AL in batting average 3 times. He's led the AL in OBP twice. He's led the AL in slugging twice. He's a 2-time MVP, and 8-time All-Star
Through age 30, his closest comparable stats are to HANK AARON, who in his first 11 years, hit .320/.376/.567 with 366 HR and 1216 RBI. Miggy has hit .321/.399/.568 with 365 HR and 1260 RBI in almost the exact same number of games.
So basically Miggy is Hark Arron with a few extra RBI and a bunch more walks. Hank was considerably better at stretching doubles into triples, so we can give him that.
MIggy is already an alltime great. The question is really just WHERE on the alltime great list will he end up?
Yeah, it's going to take a herculean effort the rest of Cabby's career to surpass Ty Cobb. He's one the best ever, but he doesn't get brought up because he wasn't a home run hitter.
It's too hard to compare some numbers from different eras. It's also difficult to compare the levels of competition. The most important factor in being an all-time great is to dominate in your own era and Miggy certainly qualifies. .
First of call, comparing whatever Ty Cobb played to the baseball of today is rather ridiculous. It was a completely different game.
Second of all, if you look at the numbers, Cabrera's OPS is actualy slightly superior
Cabrera: .320/.398/.556 ..964
Cobb .366/.433/.512 .945
So you could actually make an argument that Cabrera is the best Tiger ever. I say comparing them makes no sense given that the game of baseball today hardly resembles the game that Cobb played. So I should have said that Cabrera is the best Tiger's hitter in MODERN baseball history. Where modern baseball history actually starts is another argument to have.
Comparing a player of today to Ty Cobb is kind of like trying to compare any current Michigan player to Tom Harmon. It's just not really possible to do it.
but certainly the best Tiger hitter ever. Ruth is widely considered the best ballplayer ever (I'd say Mays), but as late as the 70's Cobb was considered the greatest. I think the switch was because of a general social awakening clashing with Cobb's persona, and because Cobb played so long ago that there is a question as to how well his stats translate.
Miggy has been great for a decade now, not just the past few years. Albert Pujols had 12 great seasons before coming back down to earth last season, Cabrera has had 10 straight great seasons since his solid rookie year. They are two of the all-time greats and much closer than you think.
162 game season averages over their careers:
Cabrera: .320 BA 35 HR 123 RBI
Pujols: .320 BA 41 HR 124 RBI