Originally Posted by the 'stache
I think a strong case could be made for Mattingly in his prime being the best in the game. He hit for great average, fantastic power, big time run producer, and defensively he might have been without peer in the AL.
My only knock against Donny Baseball, and this is made looking back through the eyes of one that spends a lot of time learning about modern metrics--he didn't walk a lot.
His 162 game averages between 1984 and 1987 are absurd:
108 runs scored, 222 hits, 49 doubles, 3 triples, 32 home runs, 128 RBI, .337 AVG, .381 OBP/.560 SLG/.941 OPS 155 OPS+
And for the record, here's one place where I vehemently disagree with defensive metrics. Obviously, dWAR is about as simple as it gets. I'd really want to get into zone ratings, range factor, etc.
But BBR says in that four year span, Mattingly's dWAR is a composite -1.6. Baseball Reference would have us believe that Mattingly lost 6.2 games, over the course of his career, with his glove.
Not a chance in hell. And Keith Hernandez, the other guy I immediately think of as a godly first baseman? He was worth 1.3 dWAR.
Not every Gold Glove is earned, obviously. Ask Rafael Palmeiro. But Hernandez won 12 Gold Gloves, and Mattingly 9. 21 Gold Gloves, and we're to believe combined they were worth -0.3 dWAR?
Somebody over there is smoking the funny stuff. If my life depended on it, or my family's life depended on having a great glove guy at first, in my lifetime, I'd pick one of them. They were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.
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