The 30 Best Players in Baseball

Joe Posnanski has turned into arguably the best sportswriter in the business; his mix of the personal with the professional creates a warm, easy read even when discussing advanced sabermetrics. Joe has a fascination with the number 32, and a few days ago, he listed the 32 best players in the game. The writing is fantastic, and the reasoning behind most of the selections is intelligent and thoughtful.

But some of those choices are baffling, specifically in regards to Chase Utley. Posnanski stresses that the list is limited to who will have a fantastic year in 2011 and mentions that Utley is, in his eyes, one of the ten best players in the game usually. He then informs the reader that Utley might not play at all this year . . . before ranking him at number 12. Clearly Posnanski is infatuated with the Philly 2B - he basically ignores his own rules to list Utley that high.

His inclusion of David Wright is equally questionable, and some of his omissions are egregious. Yet rather than matching his 32, I will only rank 30. Thirty is a more well-rounded numbers; humans are taught to think in multiples of ten, and a list featuring a number ending in zero tends to carry more gravitas as a result.

There's a reason Moses came down the mountain with ten commandments.

I actually agree with Posnanski's top three, so you can stop reading once you get there. It's the other 27 that deserve re-ranking.

30. Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers
A controversial choice, but the knack Ethier shows for walk-off hits, his meaning to the Dodger lineup, and his young age gives him the slightest of edges over a number of spectacular players.

29. Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
Injuries slowed Pedroia in 2010, but the scrappy 2B is everything a manager would covet in a player: tough and feisty with hitting ability for average and power. Chase Utley's injury places Pedroia head and shoulders above 28 starting 2B in baseball.

28. Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
In another life, he could've been a starting CF. Fans that arrive early enough to catch batting practice can sometimes see him fly across the outfield to catch balls.

In Atlanta in 2009, Rivera was forced to bat and hit a rocket to deep center field. When the ball was caught, the Yankee dugout cheered the Atlanta CF for making the catch.

"If he'd had gotten a hit," Derek Jeter said later, "we'd never have heard the end of it."

27. Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
Only a special player could hit cleanup as a catcher on a World Series champion . . . as a rookie.

26. Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers
Sports Illustrated tells the tragedy befalling Verlander's last batter of 2010: three straight fastballs over a 100 MPH. It's amazing to think that the man with a no-hitter and two Top 5 Cy Young finishes on his resume might not have reached his potential yet, but many feel that the righty from Richmond could improve. That'd be a scary thought for the rest of the AL.

25. Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado Rockies
Much as Verlander topped the velocity charts in the AL, Jimenez did the same in the NL. He returned to earth in the second half of 2010 after a mind-blowing first half, but with that disappointing finish under his belt, Jimenez will be motivated to continue his blistering 2010 start across all of 2011.

24. Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners
Mariano Rivera threw his cutter inside, and this was not during his seasonal dead arm period. This cutter had bite, but the batter pulled it over the right field wall for a walkoff HR.

That anecdote from 2009 proves that Ichiro can hit HRs when he wants to . . . he just chooses not to. And that anecdote doesn't even mention that he pitched occasionally in Japan.

23. Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox
The single most annoying Sox player since Pedro. It should be noted that there are two categories of Sox semi-legends: the unlikable pricks that you'd hate no matter what (Schilling, Papelbon) and the people that you hate because they're Sox but would love if they were not Sox (Pedro, Pedroia). Youkilis straddles the line between the groups much as he's straddled the line between 3B and 1B in his career.

22. Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants
The man did not allow a single earned run in the playoffs last year.

21. Carl Crawford, Boston Red Sox
If Crawford ever developed consistent power, he'd be a top 5 player. As it is, he's still pretty special.

20. Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals
19. Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
It's crazy to think that both guys were drafted in the same year (in the top 10) at the same position. Braun's transitioned from 3B to the outfield, and his hitting from the outfield gives him the slightest of edges over Zimmerman.

18. Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
Votto had a truly special 2010, but there are so many talented first basemen in the league today that it is hard to separate the good from the very good, and the very good from the great. Konerko, Morales, Pujols, Cabrera, Gonzalez, Teixiera, Votto, Morneau, Helton . . . all are worthy candidates for spots on the list.

17. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
This is the first year in quite awhile that Rodriguez has been able to fully focus his training on baseball instead of rehabbing injuries. The last time that he did so, he won the MVP.

Plus, being fed by your woman like an Ottoman sultan is worth quite a few spots on the list.

16. David Price, Tampa Bay Rays
15. CC Sabathia, New York Yankees
14. Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox
It's impossible to truly separate these three - it's up to the individual to rank them in any order.

13. Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies
Think about one of the best times of your life: maybe it was college, or maybe it was specific vacation. As time goes by and you're sucked back into the real world, you always tell yourself that you're going to go back to relive the experience, if only for a short time.

And yet it's never the same - it can't be. The place has changed, but more than that, you've changed as well, and no matter how much fun the flashback is, it can't match up to the first time around.

With the losses of Utley and Jayson Werth and the declines of Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies are not the same powerhouse as they were in 2009. But Lee has changed as well - he's no longer invincible. He has two more years of wear and tear on his arm. And as great as he may be this year, his second tenure in Philly won't match his first.

Because it can't.

12. Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
11. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
The current and former Marlins would be top 5 players if they could only overcome their demons.

10. Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
I worry about his durability. He won the MVP last year even though he missed a month. And I worry about that ballpark effect. Posnanski pointed out that Texas has fielded 5 MVPs since 1994, and of the 5, only Alex Rodriguez did not have a significant difference between his home and road stats.

But the fact that Hamilton is a five-tool player, and the fact that he took an Andy Pettitte cutter that was both at the letters and in the other batter's box and smashed it over (the admittedly close) Yankee Stadium wall in last year's ALCS makes him more than the real Roy Hobbs.

It makes him the reincarnation of Mickey Mantle. Right down to the colorful off-field history.

9. Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
Brett Gardner, perhaps the fastest player in the league, thought he could win the game. Mauer had just retrieved a bunt and seemed to throw a rocket to first as Gardner came speeding down the third base line.

Except that Mauer hadn't let the ball go. He dove backwards across the plate and tagged Gardner out.

The only flaw in Mauer's game is a lack of HR power; in 2009, he hit quite a few, but his HR power disappeared again in 2010. If he hit HRs like in 2009, he'd be in the top 3.

8. Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies
A six-tool player.

7. Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
Cano took himself out of the MVP running with a late season swoon. He ended up with only a .319 average, which was down from a .320 average the year before. He did hit four more HRs and win a Gold Glove. But in two seasons that featured aged Yankees teams, Cano's most important number is 321.

That's the number of regular season games Cano played in the last two seasons. Spectacular numbers at a position where those numbers are hard to find combined with durability - that's why Cano's one of the top figures in the game.

6. Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
Lincecum's 2010 regular season stats ended with an ERA in the mid 3s and a WHIP over 1.25 in the National League. These would be numbers that 85% of pitchers would kill for. They resulted in Lincecum's worst season. The playoffs were a different story. Short of a rocky first World Series start, Lincecum was jaw-droppingly good.

To put it in perspective: Roy Halladay threw only the second no-hitter in playoff history . . . and pitched only the second best game of that weekend.

5. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies
Ramirez may put up comparable numbers in a less advantageous environment, but like the shortstop who made Tulo's number famous, it's the intangibles that place Tulo above him. Tulo brings leadership and drive to a team that will win the NL West this year and challenge for a spot in the World Series.

4. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
Felix has been pitching at a high level for so long that it's almost profane to point out that he's in his mid 20s. His Cy Young season last year will be looked at down the road as the moment that the paradigm shifted from old school stats like wins to more advanced sabermetrics.

3. Adrian Gonzalez, Boston Red Sox
Gonzalez put up monster numbers despite playing 81 games per season in a ballpark where both power alleys are close to 400 feet. When going right, Gonzalez hits the ball to left-center field.

The Green Monster is imposing not only because of its height but because of how close it is to the plate.

Earl Webb of the Boston Red Sox holds the single season record for doubles in a season with 67. He set the record in 1931. 80 years later, a fellow Red Sox seems destined to shatter it.

2. Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies
The only man to throw a no-hitter in the regular season and the postseason in the same year. And if he hadn't hurt his groin doing so, perhaps the Giants would not be the defending champions.

1. Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
This is Pujols' contract year. The definitive study on players and contracts estimated that the top free agents tended to be 10% more productive in their walk years. Last year, Pujols hit .312 and 42 HRs with an OPS of .1010. Posnanski notes that this might have been Albert's second worst year in the big leagues.

Now add 10% to those figures.

Pujols is looking for a new contract worth over $300 million. It's hard to believe that a baseball player would be worth that money. But if Babe Ruth could make more money than President Herbert Hoover, then maybe having Pujols take Barack Obama's salary and adding three zeroes may not be so farfetched.