MattA75 wrote:philpritchard wrote:MattA75 wrote:@SkitchP wrote:MattA75 wrote:Curious how people feel about Ortiz...being a Red Sox fan, I'm biased, but between his numbers and his playoff accomplishments, I don't see how he doesn't get in...
What other PED guys are in though?
I'd counter with what other PED guys have 3 World Series championships and a World Series MVP to go along with all of their numbers? And I get that you can say that Ortiz had some great teams around him, but they absolutely do not win in 2004 or 2013 without him doing what he did in those playoffs.
Also, people in this thread expect Bagwell and Piazza to get in...
Bagwell and Piazza were both far superior players. As for Ortiz, let's wait until Edgar Martinez gets in to have that conversation.
Actually, statistically, Bagwell, Piazza and Ortiz are virtually identical, but Ortiz' playoff stats dwarf the other two in every way imaginable, which should more than make up for the fact that Ortiz is "just a DH."
And you're preaching to the choir about Edgar...the idea that DH has been a position for 40+ years and HOF voters still can't get over it is ridiculous
There should definitely be some stock put in Ortiz's playoff performance since it's been amazing most of the time, but I have a hard time weighting 350 playoff plate appearances too heavily against nearly 10,000 in the regular season. And, for the record, I would put literally zero stock in the number of championships a player has. How the hell did we decide that team success should be a factor in determining an individual honour? If Ortiz had never left Minnesota, would he still be a Hall of Famer?
Anyway, Ortiz's career regular season stats do not even compare with Bagwell. Bagwell doesn't get a lot of credit because of the era in which he played, but he's an all-time great offensive player. His 149 wRC+ is 31st all-time, and his 80.2 fWAR is 35th, in the Dimaggio/Clemente range. Compare that to Ortiz's 138 wRC+ (85th) and 45.9 fWAR (213th, tied with another Red Sox legend, JD Drew!) . So if you take Ortiz's career, make him about 10% better as a hitter, make him an average baserunner instead of one of the worst ever, then make him a very good defensive first baseman instead of a no-defense DH, then you have yourself a Jeff Bagwell!
Offensively, Piazza and Ortiz actually are pretty similar, with Piazza coming out slightly ahead. But then again, Frank Thomas, Edgar Martinez, Jim Thome and Jason Giambi are the four full-time DH's who have a higher career wRC+ than Ortiz. Piazza is the best offensive catcher of all time (though, technically, Posey is currently ahead) and it's not really all that close.