Just a general list, not the 10 best players of 2012.  Who makes yours?

1. Mike Trout
2. Buster Posey
3. Ryan Braun
4. Andrew McCutchen
5. Miguel Cabrera
6. Joey Votto
7. Matt Kemp
8. Justin Verlander
9. Evan Longoria
10. Robinson Cano

Jason Heyward > Harper

DocK16 wrote: Just a general list, not the 10 best players of 2012.  Who makes yours?

1. Mike Trout
2. Buster Posey
3. Ryan Braun
4. Andrew McCutchen
5. Miguel Cabrera
6. Justin Verlander
7. Robinson Cano
8. David Wright
9. Stephen Strasburg
10. Bryce Harper (will be top 3 after this season)

I love Wright, but I don't know if he's a top-10 player.  I think he's top-20, but top-10 might be a bit of a reach.  I could see David Price easily being on this list though, probably in Harper's spot.  IMO it is too early for him to be on this list.  While the potential is obviously there, his numbers were only .270 w/22 HR, 59 RBI in 533 AB.  Solid numbers for a rookie, but at this point he should be nowhere near this list.

dgLuvsTheMets wrote: Jason Heyward > Harper

Last season, sure.  Going forward, I think Harper will be the better player.  He just had a historic season for a 19-year-old (4.9 WAR) and projects to be one of the 2-3 best players in baseball sooner than later.  And while Heyward is clearly a very good defender, I can't see him putting up consistent 21.5 UZR seasons.  Nobody is that good.  Once his bat reaches .380 wOBA+, he'll belong in the discussion.  A .351 wOBA from a RFer isn't top 10 caliber imo, even a RFer as well-rounded as Heyward.

Few things before i put mine out...

- I can't have a pitcher as one since they impact 30 or so games per year.

- LOL at Harper as one already, he's good but not quite yet.

- I know this is a Mets board but Wright over Albert AND Hamilton?!?!

Here's mine in no order.

- Mike Trout
- Ryan Braun
- Miguel Cabrera
- Josh Hamilton
- Albert Pujols
- Robinson Cano
- Andrew McCutchen
- Evan Longoria
- Buster Posey
- Joey Votto

Penningtana wrote:

DocK16 wrote: Just a general list, not the 10 best players of 2012.  Who makes yours?

1. Mike Trout
2. Buster Posey
3. Ryan Braun
4. Andrew McCutchen
5. Miguel Cabrera
6. Justin Verlander
7. Robinson Cano
8. David Wright
9. Stephen Strasburg
10. Bryce Harper (will be top 3 after this season)

I love Wright, but I don't know if he's a top-10 player.  I think he's top-20, but top-10 might be a bit of a reach.  I could see David Price easily being on this list though, probably in Harper's spot.  IMO it is too early for him to be on this list.  While the potential is obviously there, his numbers were only .270 w/22 HR, 59 RBI in 533 AB.  Solid numbers for a rookie, but at this point he should be nowhere near this list.

My ranking of Wright was based on the player I think he can still be versus the player he has been since the Mets moved to Citi.  He was top 5 in WAR last season, and even though he clearly benefited from an unsustainably higher UZR, I think he can post a couple more 6.5+ WAR seasons going forward with his improved defense and my expectation that he'll be more consistent offensively as the lineup and team become more stable.  I think Wright is clearly a player who is impacted by his surroundings, so as the team becomes more talented I think his production will stabilize a bit.

Forgot about Longo.  He should definitely be on the list.  I think there's also a very good case that can be made for Hamilton.  The main reason I left him out is because he never really seems to be healthy.  Another injury-plagued season by Longo and I might think the same abou thim.

Pujols hasn't been top 10 caliber since 2010.

Heyward4MVP wrote: Few things before i put mine out...

- I can't have a pitcher as one since they impact 30 or so games per year.

- LOL at Harper as one already, he's good but not quite yet.

- I know this is a Mets board but Wright over Albert AND Hamilton?!?!

Here's mine in no order.

- Mike Trout
- Ryan Braun
- Miguel Cabrera
- Josh Hamilton
- Albert Pujols
- Robinson Cano
- Andrew McCutchen
- Evan Longoria
- Buster Posey
- Jose Bautista

I like this list but i would remove Longoria and Bautista for Votto and Kemp

Completely forgot about Votto and Kemp too.

Revised list:

1. Mike Trout
2. Buster Posey
3. Ryan Braun
4. Andrew McCutchen
5. Miguel Cabrera
6. Joey Votto
7. Matt Kemp
8. Justin Verlander
9. Evan Longoria
10. Robinson Cano

1. RA Dickey
2. Bored now

oct271986 wrote:

Heyward4MVP wrote: Few things before i put mine out...

- I can't have a pitcher as one since they impact 30 or so games per year.

- LOL at Harper as one already, he's good but not quite yet.

- I know this is a Mets board but Wright over Albert AND Hamilton?!?!

Here's mine in no order.

- Mike Trout
- Ryan Braun
- Miguel Cabrera
- Josh Hamilton
- Albert Pujols
- Robinson Cano
- Andrew McCutchen
- Evan Longoria
- Buster Posey
- Jose Bautista

I like this list but i would remove Longoria and Bautista for Votto and Kemp

Forgot about Votto.

I need to see Kemp repeat his season from 2 years ago.

Adrian Beltre and Aramis Ramirez are so under appreciated.

Adrian Beltre is really, really good.

Votto is the best hitter, I know that much.

Where is Reyes? I think he has to at least be in the discussion.

roanokemetsfan wrote: Where is Reyes? I think he has to at least be in the discussion.

Agreed.  A healthy Reyes is better than Cano.

roanokemetsfan wrote: Where is Reyes? I think he has to at least be in the discussion.

Jose's my favorite player in the game, but I think he's somewhere between 11 and 20, not in the top 10.

Fun fact: Mike Trout is 14th in fWAR among position players from 2011 through 2012. And he only played for 5 months.

DocK16 wrote:

Penningtana wrote:

DocK16 wrote: Just a general list, not the 10 best players of 2012.  Who makes yours?

1. Mike Trout
2. Buster Posey
3. Ryan Braun
4. Andrew McCutchen
5. Miguel Cabrera
6. Justin Verlander
7. Robinson Cano
8. David Wright
9. Stephen Strasburg
10. Bryce Harper (will be top 3 after this season)

I love Wright, but I don't know if he's a top-10 player.  I think he's top-20, but top-10 might be a bit of a reach.  I could see David Price easily being on this list though, probably in Harper's spot.  IMO it is too early for him to be on this list.  While the potential is obviously there, his numbers were only .270 w/22 HR, 59 RBI in 533 AB.  Solid numbers for a rookie, but at this point he should be nowhere near this list.

My ranking of Wright was based on the player I think he can still be versus the player he has been since the Mets moved to Citi.  He was top 5 in WAR last season, and even though he clearly benefited from an unsustainably higher UZR, I think he can post a couple more 6.5+ WAR seasons going forward with his improved defense and my expectation that he'll be more consistent offensively as the lineup and team become more stable.  I think Wright is clearly a player who is impacted by his surroundings, so as the team becomes more talented I think his production will stabilize a bit.

I agree with that.  I expect him to become that .310-.320, 25-30HR guy he was back in the late 2000's.  As far as the WAR stuff goes, I have no idea what any of that **** means and I refuse to learn.  All this advanced stat stuff makes my brain pop.  Maybe it's not as complicated as it looks, but I'll probably never know.

1. Mike Trout
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Ryan Braun
4. Buster Posey
5. Justin Verlander
6. Robinson Cano
7. Andrew McCutchen
8. Matt Kemp
9. Joey Votto
10. Evan Longoria

PhilaMet wrote: 1. Mike Trout
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Ryan Braun
4. Buster Posey
5. Justin Verlander
6. Robinson Cano
7. Andrew McCutchen
8. Matt Kemp
9. Joey Votto
10. Evan Longoria

I don't know if Wright deserves to be in the top-10 list, but if he doesn't IMO there is no way Longoria does either.  Wright has been a better player than Longoria pretty much his entire career.  The only year Longoria had better numbers was in 2011, Wright's down year, in which his .255 avg was still higher than Longoria's .244.

Other than that, Wright's numbers are just flat out better.  Even though he's been in the league 4 more years, he still has a better career AVG(.301 vs .276), better career OBP(.381 vs .361) and a slightly better career OPS(.887 vs .877).  Longoria's SLG is slightly better(.516 vs .506), although they both have the same career high in HR, and have both reached the 30 mark twice.  Wright has a pretty big lead in SB as well.

Longo is younger, so maybe that is why people are putting him ahead of Wright.  But as far as who has been the better player, IMO it's Wright and it really isn't that close.