MLB Lineup of the '90's

Last night on the MLB Network I was watching Prime 9. It’s a countdown show of various topics like—the best managers of all-time or the top clutch hitters of all-time. Needless to say I love watching this show.

Last night’s show was selecting the all ‘80’s team. It was as followed. . .

1B: Don Mattingly
2B: Ryne Sandburg
3B: Mike Schmdit
SS: Cal Ripken
LF: Rickey Henderson
CF: Dale Murphy
RF: Dwight Evans
C: Gary Carter
P: Jack Morris

Definitely not a bad team with 5 hall of famers (Sandburg, Schmidt, Carter, Ripken and Henderson). It’s hard to argue with Mattingly and Murphy as well. They had fantastic season in the ‘80’s (three MVP’s between them). Evans was a bit of surprise but when one looks at his production during that time frame than it becomes apparent that he was consistently a good player during the ‘80’s. Jack Morris gets this nod I think simply because he won the most games during the decade but he never won a Cy Young so I’m not convinced that he was the best choice. There was just no other obvious choice. The great pitchers of the ‘70’s (Ryan, Palmer, Seaver, Carlton) couldn’t carry their success throughout the whole decade and the next generation of pitchers (Gooden, Hershiser and then Clemens and Maddux) didn’t pitch enough in the decade to trump Morris’s production throughout the decade.

But anyway it got me thinking on what the team of the ‘90’s would be. Granted it’s an arbitrary timeframe and that does pose some questions that I’ll get into.
After some thought it’s as follows. . .

First Baseman

Frank Thomas
Average Season: .319 (BA)/ .440 (OBP)/ .575 (SLG)/ 103 (runs)/ 33 (HR)/ 112 (RBI) 169 OPS+
This was close-- with Jeff Bagwell involved in the discussion but Thomas gets the nod because his number are (slightly) better than Bagwell’s and he did win one more MVP award.

Second Baseman

Roberto Alomar
Average season: .308/ .382/ .400. . .95 (runs)/ 14 (HR)/ 73 (RBI)/ 31 (SB). 125 OPS+
This was a toss up with Biggio but I went with Alomar simply because he was better defensively.

Third Baseman

Chipper Jones
Average season: .301/ .394/ .529. . .108 (runs)/ 31 (HR)/ 105 (RBI)/ 17 (SB) 137 OPS+
Jones only played five seasons in the ‘90’s (he did win the ’99 MVP) but there really wasn’t much competition. Like I said earlier this is an arbitrary time frame and there just wasn’t anyone else to look at. So consequently playing five years is my cut off for a player’s qualifications to be considered.

Shortstop

Barry Larkin
Average Season: .303/ .388/ .466. . .83 (runs)/ 14 (HR)/ 64 (RBI)/ 27 (SB) 126 OPS+

Not much debate here. Larkin was hands down the best SS of any league throughout the duration of the ‘90’s.

Left Field

Barry Bonds
Average Season: .302/ .434/ .602. . .109 (runs)/ 36 (HR)/ 108 (RBI)/ 34 (SB) 179 OPS+
If you buy Game of Shadows than you know that Bonds didn’t start juicing until after the ’98 season so we have 90% of the decade in which Bonds was clean. And that’s the great tragedy of Bonds. . .he was already an elite player before he crossed the line.

Center Field

Ken Griffey Jr.
Average Season: .302/ .384/ .581. . .100 (runs)/ 38 (HR)/ 109 (RBI)/ 15 (SB) 152 OPS+
Not much of a debate here.

Right Field:

Larry Walker
Average Season: .313/ .390/ .571. . .88 (runs)/ 26 (HR)/ 85 (RBI)/ 18 (SB)/ 142 OPS+
Injuries affected his season averages but it’s still solid enough across the board (did win MVP in ’97). His power and defense bumps him over Tony Gwynn, who garnered strong consideration with a .344 batting average for the decade.

Catcher

Mike Piazza
Average Season: .330/ .393/ .580. . .87 (runs)/ 24 (HR)/ 109 (RBI) 157 OPS+.
Pudge was better defensively but Piazza’s offensive numbers dwarf him and the rest of the competition.

Pitcher

Greg Maddux
Average Season: 18-9/ 176 (K)/ 1.06 (WHIP)/ 2.54 (ERA)/ 162 ERA+

Pedro had an argument but Maddux threw 1,000+ more innings than Pedro and still had a lower ERA. Plus, winning 4 Cy Youngs in a row surely doesn’t hurt.