Had a brain fart in post 20 Bonds was on base 218 times when Kent was at bat, not 118, point still remains the same, Kent as the cleanup hitter, with at least Bonds and others on base more than 30 percent of the time, he has to drive in more than 125 runs.
Since we are comparing Kent to Biggio and Alomar, one has to consider defense.
'Up the middle defense' is vital in baseball, always has been since the beginning of time.
Second base is equally important in defense as shortstop.
Especially for ground ball pitchers.
Biggio won multiple gold gloves at second base, had superior range, superior filding percentage, turned double plays that would have been singles with other second basemen.
In other words, because of Biggio's glove, instead of 1 run scored, still 1 out, still men on, it's 4-6-3 double play, end of inning.
Ask any starting pitcher if they don't appreciate that type of help.
Alomar was even better defensivly at second than Biggio, and Biggio was one of the best in his prime.
In 1984 does Dan Petry win 18 games and pitch to a 3.24 ERA without substancial help from gold glove second base artist Low Whitaker?
No.
Petry was a gopher ball artist, who learned to keep the ball down, look what happend to him that year with the assistance of a gold glove up the middle (Whitaker and Trammell)
Also in 1984 does Rick Sutcliffe go on that ridiculous 16 and 1 tear without defensive help from gold glove artist Ryne Sandberg?
in 1975 Don Gullett, Jack Billingham, and Gary Nolan all won 15 games with big time help from up the middle artists, Dave Concepcion and Joe Morgan.
See where I am going here?
Alomar and Biggio were the best at what they did defensivly, and as a result, saved runs and games with their gloves.
Jeff Kent was the worst defenisive second baseman in the game up until his retirement, that is a fact, proven with all sorts of Bill James geeky abstract numbers.
Not an opinion, but a stone cold fact.
OK, so we established Jeff Kent can't hold a candle to Alomar and Biggio defensivly, and since I already posted Kent's impressive, but skewed power numbers, let's look at Alomar when compared to Jeff Kent.
Alomar was a leadoff hitter, or number two hitter when Devon White was leading off so it's unfair to compare slugging numbers, but during his career, a typical Alomar season was 14-77 .300 and as a top of the order hitter, those slugging numbers are stellar, beyond stellar.
He created runs, set up innings, stole bases, etc. etc. etc.
He was a 12 time All Star, he was an American League ALCS MVP, he was a All Star MVP, he won 11 consecutive gold gloves...........
I'm a Yankee fan, couldn't stand Alomar, but know this, as an *all around* second baseman, Jeff Kent is not the second basemen Alomar was, not even freaking close.
Since we are comparing Kent to Biggio and Alomar, one has to consider defense.
'Up the middle defense' is vital in baseball, always has been since the beginning of time.
Second base is equally important in defense as shortstop.
Especially for ground ball pitchers.
Biggio won multiple gold gloves at second base, had superior range, superior filding percentage, turned double plays that would have been singles with other second basemen.
In other words, because of Biggio's glove, instead of 1 run scored, still 1 out, still men on, it's 4-6-3 double play, end of inning.
Ask any starting pitcher if they don't appreciate that type of help.
Alomar was even better defensivly at second than Biggio, and Biggio was one of the best in his prime.
In 1984 does Dan Petry win 18 games and pitch to a 3.24 ERA without substancial help from gold glove second base artist Low Whitaker?
No.
Petry was a gopher ball artist, who learned to keep the ball down, look what happend to him that year with the assistance of a gold glove up the middle (Whitaker and Trammell)
Also in 1984 does Rick Sutcliffe go on that ridiculous 16 and 1 tear without defensive help from gold glove artist Ryne Sandberg?
in 1975 Don Gullett, Jack Billingham, and Gary Nolan all won 15 games with big time help from up the middle artists, Dave Concepcion and Joe Morgan.
See where I am going here?
Alomar and Biggio were the best at what they did defensivly, and as a result, saved runs and games with their gloves.
Jeff Kent was the worst defenisive second baseman in the game up until his retirement, that is a fact, proven with all sorts of Bill James geeky abstract numbers.
Not an opinion, but a stone cold fact.
OK, so we established Jeff Kent can't hold a candle to Alomar and Biggio defensivly, and since I already posted Kent's impressive, but skewed power numbers, let's look at Alomar when compared to Jeff Kent.
Alomar was a leadoff hitter, or number two hitter when Devon White was leading off so it's unfair to compare slugging numbers, but during his career, a typical Alomar season was 14-77 .300 and as a top of the order hitter, those slugging numbers are stellar, beyond stellar.
He created runs, set up innings, stole bases, etc. etc. etc.
He was a 12 time All Star, he was an American League ALCS MVP, he was a All Star MVP, he won 11 consecutive gold gloves...........
I'm a Yankee fan, couldn't stand Alomar, but know this, as an *all around* second baseman, Jeff Kent is not the second basemen Alomar was, not even freaking close.
