Best in Baseball, Part I

This is Part I of a four-part series in which I will choose the best in baseball. How will I do this? Well, I'll just pick the best position player from each team (Part I), then the best pitchers (starting and relief) from each team (Part II). Then I'll compare the best at each position in each league (Part III), and finally end up with the best AL and NL All-Star teams possible (Part IV). Why would I do this? Well, partly because I'm too unoriginal to come up with anything else, and partly because I have fun doing this sort of stuff. Anyway, if you think I'm wrong (and I probably will be on some of these), by all means, verbally abuse me.

Part I

In this part, I'm going to take each team in baseball and pick their best positional player. Designated hitters count (DH is a position too, but you have to be a damn good DH to make this list), and some positions are more highly valued than others. For instance, the physical rigors of being a catcher is more heavily valued than the wear and tear that left fielders take. Also, past performance counts for more than raw ability and potential. By that standard, rookies really shouldn't be the best player on any team (Of course, I'm going to violate that at least once).

AL East

• Baltimore Orioles: Miguel Tejada, SS
  • Come on, this was easy. Tejada is a ton of fun to watch, he has missed exactly zero games in the past six seasons, and he's an RBI machine even on a crappy team.
• Boston Red Sox: David Ortiz, DH/1B
  • It came down to either Big Papi or Manny Ramirez. Basically, Ortiz is a better hitter, and Manny is very bad in left field, so that he's not going to overcome the difference between him and Big Papi. Plus, Manny's bonkers, so that kind of counts against him.
• New York Yankees: Alex Rodriguez, 3B
  • It's got to be A-Rod. First off, he's going to go down as maybe the best player in baseball history. And I think Derek Jeter, captain of the Yankees, is overblown. He hasn't won a World Series since the days of Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez. I've got to give the edge to A-Rod.
• Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Carl Crawford, LF
  • The Devil Rays have the most young talent in the majors right now, with Elijah Dukes, Delmon Young, and B.J. Upton all having tremendous upsides. Right now, Crawford's number one on the D-Rays, and is one of the more under-appreciated players in all the game.
• Toronto Blue Jays: Vernon Wells, CF
  • This guy does it all. He's got power (32 HR, 106 RBIs in 2006), speed (17 SBs), and defense (3 Gold Gloves from 2004-2006), and a nice new $126 million contract.

AL Central

• Chicago White Sox: Jermaine Dye, RF
  • I was going to go with either Paul Konerko or Dye here. I struggled with both of them, and they're close enough together talent-wise that the only thing I could find to separate them was Dye's Silver Slugger award last season, so he barely edges Konerko.
• Cleveland Indians: Grady Sizemore, CF
  • Sizemore has just absolutely phenomenal talent. I know Travis Hafner is the best DH in the league, and he can absolutely rake, but he'd have to be the second coming of Babe Ruth to outweigh all 5 of Sizemore's tools.
• Detroit Tigers: Carlos Guillen, SS
  • Guillen, much like Crawford, is very underrated. He was one of the most important reasons for the Tigers' resurgence last year, and almost nobody noticed. Sheffield is still scary, but mainly because I'm scared his bat will kill somebody during an at-bat gone horribly wrong.
• Kansas City Royals: Alex Gordon, 3B
  • I said I'd end up putting at least one rookie as a team's best player. The Royals are filled with aging players who are past their prime, and so I took the player with the most promise and talent.
• Minnesota Twins: Joe Mauer, C
  • I had a really hard time with this choice. This is where the weighted positions come into play. I mainly believe that Mauer and Justin Morneau are both really great players, and the catcher's daily physical beating just has to count for something.

AL West

• Los Angeles Anaheim Angels of the Southeastern California Seaside Region: Vladimir Guerrero, RF
  • The Angels have a ton of young talent, just like the D-Rays, and their infield will be set for the next few years, what with Casey Kotchman at first, Howie Kendrick at second, Erick Aybar at shortstop, and Brandon Wood moving from short to third. For now though, Vlad the Impaler can still hit home runs on pitches from up his eyes to down in the dirt and can gun down a cheetah on a sacrifice fly.
• Oakland Athletics: Eric Chavez, 3B
  • Chavez isn't what he used to be at the plate, but he's still ridiculously good around the bag, with 6 consecutive Gold Gloves. That puts him ahead of the very mediocre pack of Oakland hitters.
• Seattle Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki, CF
  • Ichiro's not the player he was when he first broke into the league in 2001, winning the MVP and Rookie of the Year. Of course, he's still ridiculously fast and great in the field (like Chavez, Ichiro has also won 6 Gold Gloves in a row).
• Texas Rangers: Mark Teixeira, 1B
  • Teixiera had a slow start last season, but he absolutely tore it up after the All-Star break (24 HRs and 61 RBIs). Keep an eye on 2B Ian Kinsler, he's going to have a monster year.

NL East

• Atlanta Braves: Andruw Jones, CF
  • Andruw (I like him better than Larry Jones) has been around forever, it seems like. However, he's only 29, which is amazing, and he's got great power and will be a free agent in the offseason. Of course, he's one of the best fielders of all time (NINE consecutive Gold Gloves), so he's the winner on this one.
• Florida Marlins: Miguel Cabrera, 3B (OF later)
  • This one's pretty much a no-brainer. Cabrera's already one of the top hitters in the National League, and because his defense leaves much to be desired, he's going to be headed to the outfield at some point later in his career.
• New York Mets: Jose Reyes, SS
  • This was the toughest choice I had to make. Choosing between Carlos Beltran and Reyes was extremely difficult, but I chose Reyes because he has that intangible quality about him. Everyone agrees that Reyes is the most electric player in the game, and he might also be the best overall, now that he's learned to be much more selective at the plate.
• Philadelphia Phillies: Ryan Howard, 1B
  • The reigning MVP (even though Pujols was more deserving) has to be the best player on his team. And even though Jimmy Rollins is a ridiculously arrogant moron, he's not far behind Howard on his team.
• Washington Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
  • This one was a no-brainer, because Zimmerman's good and the Nats suck something awful.

NL Central

• Chicago Cubs: Alfonso Soriano, CF
  • I'm worried about this one. I like Derrek Lee better, but this is for right now, and nobody works a contract year like Soriano (unless it's Adrian Beltre). Don't be surprised if Soriano gets much worse this year playing a new position in a new place with lots of new money.
• Cincinnati Reds: Adam Dunn, LF
  • I'd love to pick Junior, but he's 37 and not that good anymore. Dunn strikes out a ton, but he hits the ball as hard as anyone.
• Houston Astros: Lance Berkman, 1B
  • It's so easy I didn't have to think about it at all. The only other hitter on that team worth mentioning is Carlos Lee, and it's not even close between Berkman and Lee.
• Milwaukee Brewers: Bill Hall, CF
  • The Brewers are another very young team, and I think by this time next year Prince Fielder will be my pick. Hall's also young and he's trying out the center field position for the first time, but he's so athletic that he'll be fine.
• Pittsburgh Pirates: Jason Bay, LF
  • Bay's one of the best outfielders in the NL, and he's also the pride of Canada. I thought it was great that he got to start last year's All-Star Game. Pittsburgh's fans deserve a better team.
• St. Louis Cardinals: Albert Pujols, 1B
  • If I have to explain this one, then you're reading the the wrong post.

NL West

• Arizona Diamondbacks: Orlando Hudson, 2B
  • The O-Dawg gets the nod because of his outstanding defense and because of the relative inexperience of his fellow position players.
• Colorado Rockies: Matt Holliday, LF
  • Until very recently, Todd Helton was the easy answer to this, but he's gotten old and his bat has slowed down. Holliday is a really good hitter who has gone unnoticed for quite some time. I think it's time he got his due.
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Rafael Furcal, SS
  • Furcal is the best player on what is both a very young and very old team. Perhaps they should let the young guys play (James Loney, Andre Ethier) instead of giving out contracts to aging has-beens (Nomar Garciaparra, Luis Gonzalez).
• San Diego Padres: Mike Cameron, CF
  • Cameron is a stellar defensive outfielder and distinguishes himself from his other offensively-challenged colleagues.
• San Francisco Giants: Barry Bonds, LF
  • Sure he's really old, and sure he's running on fumes and probably HGH, but he's the best hitter the Giants have (and that's not a good thing).

Check back later for my list of pitchers.