Underrated Players

[tdawg87]

3 minutes ago, AlwaysAnAngelsFan said:

overrated

/ōvərˈrādəd/

 

adjective

 

1. rated or valued too highly.

   "an overrated player".

 

Correct. JD Drew was neither.

Now go look up Overhyped.

 

[arch stanton]

Drew is the poster child for the Bora$ generation. Keep your numbers up and chase the money from team to team

[Taylor]

9 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

Cameron was one of my favorite players, he is who I thought Erstad was going to be albeit with less Ks.  I've always liked guys with pop, the ability to milk walks, and great gloves.   

Finally a comp between two players of different races.

[Don]

50 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Finally a comp between two players of difference races.

John Rocker was kinda like the Iron Sheik ironically.

[ten ocho recon scout]

6 hours ago, Dtwncbad said:

Dwight Golden was on a path to be an all time great and then got derailed did rails.

FIFY

[Dtwncbad]

26 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

FIFY

Looks like you detected the reason I chose the word “derailed.”

[Stradling]

@Game 6

[happybat4]

9 hours ago, Don said:

I think there's a lot more to the Drew narrative than that. He was such a hyped prospect that when he didn't turn out to be an absolute mega star it was viewed as a bit of a disappointment. But the early career hype was so much that he got a ton of media attention throughout his career. Couple that with everyone promoting the idea that he didn't reach that mega star potential because he wasn't tough/didn't really care enough, and I think his name just strikes a lot of people negatively. Hence everyone saying he was overrated. Nah, dude was a really good major league player, just not what he was made out to be as a youngster.

Sounds like Bryce Harper.

[Revad]

4 hours ago, Dtwncbad said:

Looks like you detected the reason I chose the word “derailed.”

Double white lines are just what the doctor ordered.

[Lou]

4 hours ago, happybat4 said:

Sounds like Bryce Harper.

Harper has won 2 MVP awards. 

[WicketMaiden]

5 hours ago, happybat4 said:

Sounds like Bryce Harper.

Harper only seems to be underachieving because of the early career comparisons to Trout, which is a pretty harsh standard to hold Harper to as Trout is heading for the inner circle of the Hall of Fame. Harper has four seasons of 150 WRC or better; six at 135 and above; six seasons above 4 fWAR; two seasons above 6 fWAR; 2 MVPs; 267 Homers and gained 6.6 fWAR last year in just his age 28 season. The guy is a star by any measure not called Trout.

[happybat4]

10 hours ago, WicketMaiden said:

Harper only seems to be underachieving because of the early career comparisons to Trout, which is a pretty harsh standard to hold Harper to as Trout is heading for the inner circle of the Hall of Fame. Harper has four seasons of 150 WRC or better; six at 135 and above; six seasons above 4 fWAR; two seasons above 6 fWAR; 2 MVPs; 267 Homers and gained 6.6 fWAR last year in just his age 28 season. The guy is a star by any measure not called Trout.

Your right. Harper is definitely on a HOF track. He already has 40 WAR and should pass Drew next year. Drew did have an 8 war season.

[arch stanton]

13 minutes ago, happybat4 said:

Your right. Harper is definitely on a HOF track. He already has 40 WAR and should pass Drew next year. Drew did have an 8 war season.

Was it a contract year? I bet it was a contract year followed by a year he spent a lot of time on the DL

[happybat4]

54 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

Was it a contract year? I bet it was a contract year followed by a year he spent a lot of time on the DL

It was his contract year. He signed a 2 year contract with the Dodgers afterwards and put up 3.2 and 4 WAR the next 2 seasons.

[arch stanton]

6 hours ago, happybat4 said:

It was his contract year. He signed a 2 year contract with the Dodgers afterwards and put up 3.2 and 4 WAR the next 2 seasons.

And managed to play a full 72 games the season after signing

[happybat4]

22 minutes ago, arch stanton said:

And managed to play a full 72 games the season after signing

And he put up 3.2 WAR in those 72 games. Injuries really hampered his career.

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 1/29/2022 at 12:11 PM, happybat4 said:

It was his contract year. He signed a 2 year contract with the Dodgers afterwards and put up 3.2 and 4 WAR the next 2 seasons.

Totally forgot he was ever a dodger. And as soon as I read this, I remember a few old friends constantly complaining about him. "Jd poo"

Drew had a solid career. But he came up with so much boras hype that he was a huge "bust"

Harper is the same. Harper has actually been one of the best players in the league for the last decade. But again, so much hype before he was drafted, and Trout stole the show, so Harper has been "a letdown"

[Dtwncbad]

I think if anyone thinks Harper is a “letdown” then the probably had some seriously unreasonable expectations.  He displayed an upside ceiling that was out of this world, but you cannot really EXPECT players to deliver their ceiling.

Edited January 31, 2022 by Dtwncbad

[Dtwncbad]

On 1/29/2022 at 11:00 AM, happybat4 said:

Your right. Harper is definitely on a HOF track. He already has 40 WAR and should pass Drew next year. Drew did have an 8 war season.

Yes he is on a HOF track.  If we are going to talk about WAR, he already passed Harold Baines who had exactly ONE season with a WAR over 3.

So if Harper can just stay on the field without being a negative WAR player, he is basically a shoo-in.

 

[Inside Pitch]

1 hour ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Totally forgot he was ever a dodger. And as soon as I read this, I remember a few old friends constantly complaining about him. "Jd poo"

Drew had a solid career. But he came up with so much boras hype that he was a huge "bust"

Harper is the same. Harper has actually been one of the best players in the league for the last decade. But again, so much hype before he was drafted, and Trout stole the show, so Harper has been "a letdown"

Boras wasn't really guilty of hype so much as it was his flat out saying he wouldn't sign for a certain amount. 

The Phillies decided to call their bluff, offered 2.5-2.6 mil, and Drew just flat out refused to sign.  Boras then used a loophole that allowed him to sign with an independent league team and then re-entered the draft the next year where he got 7 mil.   People never stopped giving him shit for having done that.

I think people tend to lump Drew with Pat Burrell, who was taken 1st overall the year after Drew was taken second, also by the Phillies.  Burrell was everything a lot of people make Drew out to be.  Dude never came close to the hype.

[happybat4]

12 minutes ago, Dtwncbad said:

Yes he is on a HOF track.  If we are going to talk about WAR, he already passed Harold Baines who had exactly ONE season with a WAR over 3.

So if Harper can just stay on the field without being a negative WAR player, he is basically a shoo-in.

 

Harper will probably finish around 70 WAR which is way better than Baines.

[Ray McKigney]

On 1/31/2022 at 8:27 PM, AlwaysAnAngelsFan said:

I think Dave Parker is underrated.

When I was a kid, I always considered him the best player in the league. Just a larger than life character. Was pretty much like a superhero to me

[Inside Pitch]

Kenny Lofton. 

How he was a one and done HOF guy is beyond me.  Dude put up between 62-68 war depending on what system you prefer and while recognized as a great leadoff hitter he was criminally undervalued because of the steroid era.

People will be lining up to vote Ichiro Suzuki into the HOF despite Lofton having played the more demanding defensive position and same role offensively while outperforming him.  This isn't to argue that Ichiro (my autocorrect tries to change Ichiro to "I girl"), isn't a HOF caliber player, but rather to point to how undervalued Lofton was by people.

I think today's HOF voters would view/vote differently.  A guy that put up more war than Winfield, Andre Dawson, Vlad, Richie Ashburn among others OFers deserved better.

 

[T.G.]

Quick.. Kenny Lofton story...

I was attending a conference in San Diego at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Phillies happened to be staying in the same hotel (playing the Padres, obviously).  My wife and I were in the lobby and my wife asked Kenny Lofton for his autograph.. .he smiled, and said, "I don't sign in hotels, but he does..." and he pointed at Jimmy Rollins, who was kind enough to sign a baseball for her.  The Mets also came to town during my conference and they too stayed at the hotel....

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, True Grich said:

Quick.. Kenny Lofton story...

I was attending a conference in San Diego at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Phillies happened to be staying in the same hotel (playing the Padres, obviously).  My wife and I were in the lobby and my wife asked Kenny Lofton for his autograph.. .he smiled, and said, "I don't sign in hotels, but he does..." and he pointed at Jimmy Rollins, who was kind enough to sign a baseball for her.  The Mets also came to town during my conference and they too stayed at the hotel....

If you're gonna be a dick at least be helpful... 

We can all learn from Kenny Lofton.