If You Were Starting a Team: MLB

[Big Sexy]

The concept of this thread is simple. If you were starting to build an MLB franchise today and you could choose any player in the league to start it with, who would it be?

With baseball the most important thing to have is a great pitching staff. However, pitchers get injured more then any other position in the game of baseball so if I'm starting a franchise I'm not sure the risk would outweigh the reward in terms of building around an ace. With that said I narrowed my choices to two guys; Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera is the younger of the two by about 3 years and in some ways he is better then Pujols, however, with his drinking problem Cabrera is not as reliable. I really wanted to go with Cabrera but with all things considered I'm going with Albert Pujols.

Pujols just turned 31 which is still relatively young in terms of MLB and he is arguably the best player in all of MLB. Pujols is also the most consistent player in all of baseball. In all 10 of his major league seasons he has hit at least .312, with 32 home runs, and 103 rbi's. He also rarely gets injured and in his 10 years his lowest game total was 143 games. He has led the Cardinals to two World Series appearances and he has won a WS. In terms of youth, consistency, skill, and reliability, Albert Pujols is my choice.

 

[LSN80]

I agree that within the organization of a team, the most important thing is the pitching staff. But in choosing to start a team, its a completely different animal. By selecting a pitcher, no matter how great he may be and even with the guarantee that he would stay healthy, you're only going to get him to go one out of every five days. The days are long gone when the Cy Young's of the world would pitch 2-3 a week, and 40 complete games a year. I would want a player I was getting something out of every single day.

With that said, I'd take Miguel Cabrera. I think that Miguel Cabrera is worth the risk, and as such, he would be my pick. Like you said, he's a full 3 years younger then Pujols. He seems genuinely sincere in his desire to change, and I don't think we'll see another off the field incident from him. Cabrera batted .328 with 38 homers and 126 RBI last year, finishing second in the American League MVP race. Ive heard him referred to as the smartest player in baseball, and he certainly is with his approach at the plate. 30+ HR's in 6 of 7 full seasons 100+ RBI's in all 7 and a career batting average of .313, he might be the safest "on the field" pick. I wouldn't hesitate to take Cabrera as my top pick, with no disrespect to Pujols.

 

[nwocongo]

Joe Mauer I suppose, that being said I would pull a Craig Biggio with him and work him out at ohter positions to save his knees, catching 110+ games will kill him sooner or later. I would probably go with Cabrera as well, but since the other posters have already gone that way I'll throw another name out there. Jason Heyward, he's only 22 and it appears that the sky is the limit for him. Gotta be a little worried about injuries after last season, but I see Heyward winning multiple Gold Gloves and MVP's in his career.

 

[Big Sexy]

With that said, I'd take Miguel Cabrera. I think that Miguel Cabrera is worth the risk, and as such, he would be my pick. Like you said, he's a full 3 years younger then Pujols. He seems genuinely sincere in his desire to change, and I don't think we'll see another off the field incident from him. Cabrera batted .328 with 38 homers and 126 RBI last year, finishing second in the American League MVP race. Ive heard him referred to as the smartest player in baseball, and he certainly is with his approach at the plate. 30+ HR's in 6 of 7 full seasons 100+ RBI's in all 7 and a career batting average of .313, he might be the safest "on the field" pick. I wouldn't hesitate to take Cabrera as my top pick, with no disrespect to Pujols.

Cabrera seemed genuinely sincere about his last apology and fixing his drinking problem yet the incident recently still happened. I hope for his sake and my Tigers sake that this time there are no more slip ups but if I'm starting a franchise I'm not sure I could take that risk, especially because he isn't that much better of a choice then Pujols if at all. He is younger and may be on more of an up swing but this is a situation where the risk would not outweigh the reward for me.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

With baseball the most important thing to have is a great pitching staff. However, pitchers get injured more then any other position in the game of baseball so if I'm starting a franchise I'm not sure the risk would outweigh the reward in terms of building around an ace. With that said I narrowed my choices to two guys; Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera is the younger of the two by about 3 years and in some ways he is better then Pujols, however, with his drinking problem Cabrera is not as reliable. I really wanted to go with Cabrera but with all things considered I'm going with Albert Pujols.

Unless my owner was Mel Gibson, my GM was Nick Nolte, and my manager was Charlie Sheen, I wouldn't pick Cabrera for anything to do with the launch of a team. I don't care how good the guy is, you rarely see someone with his level of alcoholism make a comeback without incident.

Miggy is an absolute stud, but I'm sorry, I can't trust that.

I'd be inclined to go with Mauer. The catcher, to me, is one of the most important positions in the game and you need a leader behind that plate. Mauer has a tremendous upside. He's only 27 years of age and hasn't batted less than .293 once in his career. He's only batted less than .300 twice in 7 seven seasons.

He's not much of a power threat, minus his MVP year, but he's fairly efficient when it comes to smacking doubles. His OPS is fairly consistent as well, .888 for his career. He's about as solid of a player as you can get.

 

[Born To Fly]

I'd either go with Albert Pujols or Tim Lincecum.

Lincecum is young and his best years are ahead of him and he can anchor the staff. It's nearly an automatic win each outing if I could get the proper bats around him.

Pujols because he's such a damn good hitter, but unless I get people around him, they could just pitch around him.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

I was waiting for someone to say Lincecum. His delivery is too violent for longevity. He's also a fireballer, which has led to his drop in velocity. That's just my opinion on Lincecum. I'd say Cain over Lincecum.

 

[Born To Fly]

I was waiting for someone to say Lincecum. His delivery is too violent for longevity. He's also a fireballer, which has led to his drop in velocity. That's just my opinion on Lincecum. I'd say Cain over Lincecum.

Other than his rookie season, he's started 30 or more times each year. In those years from 2008-10, he posted a 2.83 ERA with an average of 252 Ks. Lincecum is an animal. He hasn't been injured yet and I'll take him over Cain.

Cain? Hopefully you meant Kane and you're in the wrong section.

Let's compare Lincecum and Cain real quick and I'll bold who has the advantages.

Lincecum from 2008-10: 49-22, 2.83 ERA, 7 CG, 4 SHO, 757 SO, 151 ERA+, 1.16 WHIP
Cain, from 2008-10: 35-33, 3.27 ERA, 9 CG, 3 SHO, 534 SO, 131 ERA+, 1.20 WHIP

Damn, I almost forgot.

Lincecum: 2 Cy Youngs
Cain: 0 Cy Youngs

Take Cain. I'll laugh all the way to the bank with Lincecum.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

I love that you neglected the fact that his velocity has dropped and he has a violent delivery. You can post all the stats you want, would you like to address either of those points?

 

[Born To Fly]

I love that you neglected the fact that his velocity has dropped and he has a violent delivery. You can post all the stats you want, would you like to address either of those points?

I'm not going to dispute either of those points because they are valid, but that being said, he has been able to adjust and STILL strike guys out at a high rate. He's now throwing where a lot of pitchers do, in the 92-95 MPH range with his fastball and his change-up and curveball is only getting better.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

I'll give you that, but that's why I went with Cain instead of Big Time Timmy J. The violent delivery doesn't lend itself to longevity in MLB. He has adjusted somewhat, now throwing in the 92-94 range, but I'm counting on the fact that the delivery will catch up to him. Really, there are a number of pitchers that I would take before Cain, but I only mentioned him because I'd take him off the Giants before Lincecum. I can tell you know a lot about the sport, so you also must know that pitchers with violent deliveries have a huge track record of multiple surgeries and few have been able adjust properly and save their career.

 

[Born To Fly]

If Lincecum was going to have some ridiculous injury, it would have happened by now. He's been throwing like that since he was in Little League. K-Rod is also a guy with a violent delivery and in his prime, I would take him over any closer in the game right now.

 

[ITurnGirlsGay]

It's possible, but not something I'd bet the farm on and that was the point of this thread. He may very well have a long and, relatively, injury free career, but drop off in velocity is where it starts and that's my concern. When picking someone who I'm building my franchise around, I'm going to pick someone less risky. Call it paranoia, but I like to play it safe. I'd actually take Madison Bumgarner before Lincecum. But, with that said, I wouldn't take either

 

[Megatron]

While this is partially a homer pick, my choice here is Miguel Cabrera over Albert Pujols. Why? He's nearly as good of a hitter, and is a few years younger (4 I believe), and his defense is improving as he gets more and more games at first. Yes, there is that cloud of the two drinking issues, but I do believe that he will not have another relapse like that again. Part of that is hope, yes, but part of that is gut instinct. Plus, even when he WAS getting liquored up (2009 season) he was still killing the ball. Last year he wasn't liquored up and he improved from a top 5 hitter in the AL to the best overall hitter in the AL. I know Albert right now is the better choice, but Albert has said it himself that he thinks Miguel is the best hitter in all of baseball. (link: http://www.freep.com/article/201103...o-1-player-Albert-Pujols-picks-Miguel-Cabrera) Respect like that from a guy that is already one of the greatest players ever is shocking.

Also, it's not widely known but Cabrera is one of the more popular guys inside of the Tigers clubhouse. I want a positive personality like that on my team.

 

[nwocongo]

As the Giants last year and the 90's Braves have shown us, good pitching beats good hitting more often than not. However, pitchers are very hit and miss, it is very difficult to predict who will be able to be an effective pitcher for a long period of time, who will be a career sub .500 pitcher or who won't last more than 4 years. If I was going with a pitcher I'd be more inclined to take someone around the 27-30 range who has hit his stride rather than gamble on a young buck. Who would have thought that Barry Zito would go from winning 23 games and a Cy Young at 24 and being near the top of the league in strike outs to being the mediocre rag arm he is today? Certainly not the Giants since they gave that fool a 7 year $126 mil. contract, he is still a decent pitcher but the Giants thought he was going to be a 20 game winner not a bullpen guy throwing a 82 mph fastball.
Another guy who was a fan favorite, Dontrelle Willis. He pitched great for a couple years at a very young age than his mechanics caught up with him and now he's starting this year in Triple A again.
I could go on all day with this but I'll just give a couple more, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. Scouts thought Prior was the next Tom Seaver, the Cubs drafted him ahead of Mark Teixeira. I'm not gonna lie, as a Cubs fan I too was drinking the Prior koolaid but Dusty Baker had him averaging 115 pitches and tore his arm up, now he is struggling to make the Yanks Triple A squad this year after playing in Independent leagues a couple years back. Wood and Prior were both considered to be the Cubs future while they were just hoping that Carlos Zambrano would be a solid 3rd or 4th starter, now Wood is a late reliever, Prior is a has been and Zambrano is consistently one of the best pitchers in the NL.
Who knows who will be the next trainwreck? I think Lincecum will be a good pitcher for a long time but I'm a little skeptical about Strausburg. I think Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers could be the next real breakout star but again I have no idea.
Edit- Prior is pitching well in Spring training but will probably still start the year in Triple A

 

[Born To Fly]

It's possible, but not something I'd bet the farm on and that was the point of this thread. He may very well have a long and, relatively, injury free career, but drop off in velocity is where it starts and that's my concern. When picking someone who I'm building my franchise around, I'm going to pick someone less risky. Call it paranoia, but I like to play it safe. I'd actually take Madison Bumgarner before Lincecum. But, with that said, I wouldn't take either

I'm glad we could have a sane discussion, but this post, just made me truly shake my head. Bumgarner? Sure, he's young, but he's not the ace of that pitching staff by any means. I'd still take Lincecum over both Cain and Bumgarner and with the talent that Lincecum has and how he's been able to adjust while losing a few MPH (as we already went over), he's a stud. I don't see his velocity dropping any more. If it does, then I'm wrong. Won't be the last time.

 

[Born To Fly]

As the Giants last year and the 90's Braves have shown us, good pitching beats good hitting more often than not. However, pitchers are very hit and miss, it is very difficult to predict who will be able to be an effective pitcher for a long period of time, who will be a career sub .500 pitcher or who won't last more than 4 years. If I was going with a pitcher I'd be more inclined to take someone around the 27-30 range who has hit his stride rather than gamble on a young buck. Who would have thought that Barry Zito would go from winning 23 games and a Cy Young at 24 and being near the top of the league in strike outs to being the mediocre rag arm he is today? Certainly not the Giants since they gave that fool a 7 year $126 mil. contract, he is still a decent pitcher but the Giants thought he was going to be a 20 game winner not a bullpen guy throwing a 82 mph fastball.
Another guy who was a fan favorite, Dontrelle Willis. He pitched great for a couple years at a very young age than his mechanics caught up with him and now he's starting this year in Triple A again.
I could go on all day with this but I'll just give a couple more, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. Scouts thought Prior was the next Tom Seaver, the Cubs drafted him ahead of Mark Teixeira. I'm not gonna lie, as a Cubs fan I too was drinking the Prior koolaid but Dusty Baker had him averaging 115 pitches and tore his arm up, now he is struggling to make the Yanks Triple A squad this year after playing in Independent leagues a couple years back. Wood and Prior were both considered to be the Cubs future while they were just hoping that Carlos Zambrano would be a solid 3rd or 4th starter, now Wood is a late reliever, Prior is a has been and Zambrano is consistently one of the best pitchers in the NL.
Who knows who will be the next trainwreck? I think Lincecum will be a good pitcher for a long time but I'm a little skeptical about Strausburg. I think Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers could be the next real breakout star but again I have no idea.
Edit- Prior is pitching well in Spring training but will probably still start the year in Triple A

A lot to go on with this post, but I'll keep it to the bare bones.

Prior and Wood failed because of Dusty Baker. There is no way a pitcher can survive tossing 110+ pitches an outing. That's why I am worried about Chapman and Cueto right now of the Reds. Baker is going to run them directly into the ground.

Kershaw is the real deal. He had a semi-breakout year last year, but watch out for him in 2011. He's definitely the anchor of that pitching staff. Good movement on his pitches and be brings a plus fastball.

 

[JMobile]

I would take Robinson Cano. I hate the Yankees, but this guy was a product from the farm system.