All overrated team

For my return to blogging, I have picked a topic that I have thought a lot about. Sick of always hearing about the same guys over and over again, and how good they are supposed to be I have decided to compile a team of the most overrated players the sport has to offer. These are not bad players by any means, but they are regarded among the best players in the game, and that is simply not true. They will be followed quickly by a team of all players most underrated and the results of a simulated series between the two teams on Diamond Mind Baseball.

Rules: The team will consist of players at their regular position, the outfield will have one centerfielder and two corner outfielders. Stats from the 2006 season will be used.

Catcher: Pudge Rodriguez, Tigers
This former MVP is a shadow of what he once was. He was never a particularly patient hitter, but the last two seasons, he has posted OBPs of .290 and .332, yet he somehow got the start over Joe Mauer in the ASG, hopefully for the last time. He edges fellow All Star AJ Pierzynski on the basis that he can no longer hit right handed pitching (.310 OBP, .409 SLG in '06).

First Base: Nomar Garciaparra, Dodgers
Q: How do you post a .286 OBP and a .408 SLG in the second half and still get consideration for the MVP? A: By being a former Boston Red Sox superstar! Nomar's second half was worse than the likes of: Emil Brown, Kevin Millar, Aubry Huff, Mark Ellis, Ryan Shealy, David Bell, and over 150 other players who came to the plate at least 200 times. He hasn't put together a great season since 2000. Please stop considering him one of the games elite.

Second Base: Robinson Cano, Yankees
I'm sick of hearing about how great this guys is. He had a very good year, but he only took 18 walks in 508 PAs, only posted a .328 OBP and a .372 SLG against lefties, and a .358 in play average suggests that he will not post that high of a batting average again. Still a good player, but not someone to build a team around.

Third Base: David Wright, Mets
It's not really fair to give this to Wright since Pedro Feliz still manages to keep his job despite being absolutely atrocious once again, but the fact remains that many consider Wright to be the best third baseman in the majors when in reality, he's #5. Wright posted a VORP of 54.3, solid but not close to cream of the crop Miguel Cabrera, and well behind Garret Atkins. Wright edged ARod and Chipper in VORP, but this was mainly due to the fact that he played much more than Chipper and ARod's huge pile of errors hurt him. Chipper was second only to Cabrera among third baseman with at least 400 PAs in EQA and led all third baseman in SLG and RC27.

Shortstop: Julio Lugo, Red Sox
Lots of good choices here, last year's runaway winner Jose Reyes showed that he wasn't all hype with a solid season. He still isn't at the superstar level that some place him, but he's getting close. Rollins and Young are also vastly overrated, mainly due to the great hitters parks that they play in, but Lugo has been bugging me the whole offseason. He has been declared the best Red Sox shortstop since the Nomar. For a minute, let's ignore that even in a career year, he wasn't as good as Orlando Cabrera at the plate or in the field, and let's also ignore the fact that he has never hit better than Renteria's 2006 season upon departing from the Sox. We shall instead focus on Lugo's career as a whole. His career highs are: EQA: .276, OBP: .362, SLG: .427.
Decent stats for a SS, granted those are career highs, but if he does that, the Sox will be thrilled. He's much more likely to revert to his career numbers of .258, .340 and .402. OK stopgap numbers but not enough better than Alex Gonzalez's .233, .299 and .397 to make up for the huge differences in defense and salary. Especially if they choose to bat him at the top.

Centerfield: Juan Pierre, Dodgers
5 years, $45 million for a guy who brings little more than a fast baserunner. Not near as good a player as the guy he is replacing at a much higher cost. The question was posed this offseason: would you take Pierre for free on the condition that you had to play him everyday and bat him leadoff? After a bit of thinking, I decided that no, he still wouldn't be worth it. He has posted some decent years with OBPs of .361 and .374 in his first two years with the Marlins, but these averages are very dependent on batting average, and his walk totals have decreased each of the last 3 years bottoming out at 32 last year. For a guy who bats leadoff everyday, this would only be ok if he banged out hits at an Ichiro 2004 level. He of course doesn't as he hits have fallen from 221 in '04 to 204 in '06 despite experiencing an increase in ABs. Some may claim that he makes up for his hitting inadequacies with speed and defense, but he gets caught stealing a lot (20 times in '06, 24 in '04), and he has notoriously weak arm in center.

Outfield: Jeff Francoeur, Braves
Blossoming into a superstar? That's what some guy wrote about Francoeur's 2006 season. I wonder if he was watching the same player I was. The one who struck out 132 times and only walked 23 while posting an EQA of .250, an OBP of .293, an RC27 of 4.2 (last among regula rightfielders), and a VORP of -1.0. That's right, according to baseball prospectus's VORP statistic, the Braves would have been better off with an average joe in right than the were with this "budding superstar." Guys like Francoeur are the reason the A's compete every year, he looks great in a uniform, but really doesn't belong in one.

Outfield: Carl Crawford, Devil Rays
Yet another thing that bothered me a lot this offseason was the press that Crawford got, about how foolish the Rays would have been to trade him. Now, I'm not sold on the Ray's prospects: Dukes, Upton and Young. All seem to be talented guys with issues and none have a spectacular batting eye, but still if the Rays could have got a good young pitcher like Scott Olsen or Josh Johnson from the Marlins, they were foolish not to make the deal. Crawford is a decent hitter with good speed, but he has no business being on ESPN's best overall player poll when the likes of Beltran, Cabrera and Mauer were left off. Crawford posted a VORP of 41.1, 6th among MLB leftfielders in 2006, well behind underrated contemporaries Bay and Holliday.

SP Barry Zito, Giants
Zito edges the Sox's Josh Beckett on the strength of the absurd the Giants just gave him. In 2001, Zito was a stud who won the Cy Young, now he is little more than an innings eater. Zito's K/9 has fallen by almost 2 since that season, and his R/9 has increased by more than 1. The guy walked 99 last year, second most in the AL, while allowing almost a hit per inning and 27 homers. In OPS against, he was much worse than Jason Jennings while pitching in a good pitchers park. Jennings of course, called Coors field home in 2006.

RP Bobby Jenks, White Sox
A position where it's quite difficult to be overrated, Jenks takes it. We're giving Isringhausen and Lidge do overs on bad seasons, but Jenks has never earned that kind of respect. He's thought to be a lights out closer, mainly due to a great 2005 playoffs but he was actually quite hittable in 2006. He allowed 4 BB/9 and 12.8 R/9, and right handers had little trouble with him posting an OBP of .344 and an SLG of .421. These numbers would be decent for a starter, but for a closer, they're not what you want.