2019 has come and gone, and with it, the end of a decade. Which means, “All-Decade Teams” galore… now, for some of you, it might seem like baseball just ended…but, considering pitchers and catchers report in less than a month, let’s take a look back at what Major League Baseball has given us over the last decade before jumping into my choices for the All-Decade team:
· The Giants won three WS titles (2010, 2012 and 2014) the even year magic ran out in 2016 after they lost in the NLDS to the Cubs, who…
· Won their first World Series in 108 years! “Hey, Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!”
· Miguel Cabrera gave us the first Batting Triple Crown in 45 years after he led the American League in Batting Average (.330), Homers (44) and RBI’s (139) in 2012.
· Justin Verlander (2011) and Clayton Kershaw (2014) became the 9th and 10th pitchers in history to win both the CY Young Award and league MVP in the same year! Kershaw became the first National League Pitcher to accomplish this feat since Bob Gibson did so in 1968.
· With swings and misses up 34% and Home Runs up 46% it seems as if the saying, “Just make contact” has taken a backseat to “Swing for the fences”.
· Mike Trout. 2012 Rookie of the Year, 3 MVPs (2014, 2016 and 2019) and a top 4 finish in MVP voting for 8 straight years, along with 7 Silver Slugger awards… here’s to another decade of Trout!
And now for the fun stuff! My 2010’s MLB All-Decade Team!
I was supposed to have this done before the new year started but hey…Better late than never, right?! And, seeing as I’m already a little late on this, I figured, why not give you readers a little bonus… I’ve added a few players at each position as my predictions for the 2020’s All-Decade Team as well! I mean, 10 years from now, who knows… maybe one of these guys could be the next Mike Trout!! Ah who am I kidding… no they won’t… anyways…here we go:
Catcher: Buster Posey
Posey (2012) became only the 6th catcher to win MVP honors since Elston Howard won it in 1963… Johnny Bench 1970 and 72, Thurmon Munson (1976), Ivan Rodriguez (1999) and Joe Mauer in 2009. He also took home the Rookie of the Year award in 2010, batting title (2012), 4 silver sluggers and a gold glove. He might not have the defensive edge over Yadier Molina, but he’s a far superior hitter. I give him the nod over Yadi because of his WAR 42.2 compared to 31.9 and he was a part of 3 World Series winning teams compared to Yadi’s 1.
2020’s: Wilson Contreras, J.T. Realmuto, Joey Bart, Francisco Mejia and Adley Rutschman.
First Base: Miguel Cabrera
Tough choice here between Miggy and Joey Votto, but I give the nod to Cabrera. He won 2 MVP’s to Votto’s 1, and he took home a Triple Crown. Votto is a much better defender and won a Gold Glove… but even with the injuries and decline over the last 3 years, Cabrera still has Votto beat in: Home Runs, RBI’s, Hits, Batting Average and Slugging. Votto did have a better WAR, 52.1 compared to 43.5, but Cabrera averaged a 6.5 WAR over the first 6 seasons of the decade. 2020’s: Cody Bellinger, Rhys Hoskins, Matt Olson and Evan White.
Second Base: Jose Altuve
If I told you I passed up on a 2nd baseman who’d hit .300, with 237 Home Runs, drove in 878 guys, almost 1700 hits while slugging .496 that won 4 Silver Sluggers and had a WAR of 54.2 over the last decade you’d call me crazy… well, call me crazy. Sorry, Robinson Cano. I’ll take the guy who hit .315 with 128 bombs, 538 RBI’s, 254 steals, close to 1600 hits with an MVP, Gold Glove, 5 Silver Sluggers, 3 batting titles and a World Series*.
2020’s: Gleybar Torres, Ozzie Albies, Nick Madrigal and Cavan Biggio.
Shortstop: Francisco Lindor
If we were only looking into numbers then, ya, Troy Tulowitzki would probably have this slot… but, we aren’t. Lindor burst onto the scene in 2015 and has been, arguably, the best Shortstop in the bigs since. Tulo started the decade off strong winning back-to-back Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers; however, injuries plagued him throughout the rest of the decade, and Lindor’s since stolen the show. Back-to-back 30-20 seasons, 4 straight All-Star appearances, 2 gold gloves and two silver sluggers. Andrelton Simmons was also considered for this spot, but he’s not nearly as good of a hitter as Tulo and Lindor. 2020’s: Fernando Tatis Jr., Javier Baez, Lindor, Gavin Lux and Bo Bichette.
Third Base: Nolan Arenado
Nolan Arenado is making a pretty great argument that he’s the next Mike Schmidt or Brooks Robinson. 227 homers over 7 years to go along with 7 straight Gold Gloves. Both Adrian Beltre and Josh Donaldson had 2 more years on Arenado over the decade, and Donaldson won an MVP in 2015… but Arenado’s got 5 straight top 8 MVP finishes, including 3 top 5 finishes. He’s the clear-cut choice with Beltre coming in a close 2nd.
2020’s: Arenado, Alex Bregman, Rafael Devers, Manny Machado, Matt Chapman and Ke’Bryan Hayes
Outfield: Mike Trout
He’s Mike Trout… list of accomplishments above.
Mookie Betts
Sure, Mookie’s only been around for 6 years, but he’s made those years count! 4 Gold Gloves, 3 Silver Sluggers, a batting title, 1 Top 2 MVP finish and an MVP season in which nearly half of his hits went for extra bases! Oh, and his WAR that year was 10.9! It’s tough to take Betts over guys like Ryan Braun and Andrew McCutchen; both of whom won an MVP this decade… but, Betts is just better. He tallied a 42 WAR in those 6 years; which tops McCutchen at 41.2, Braun at 35.4 as well as Jose Bautista 35.9, Giancarlo Stanton at 39.9 and Bryce Harper at 31.5.
Andrew McCutchen
An even tougher selection for me than Mookie was. Braun has better numbers than Cutch over the last decade, Stanton and Bautista have more homers, and Harpers 10.9 WAR during his MVP season outshines McCutchen’s 7.9 in his 2013 win. Both McCutchen and Braun have been staples of consistency throughout this decade, but Cutch took it home for me with 4 straight top 5 MVP finishes and silver sluggers from 2012-2015. He also averaged 5.9 WAR over the first 6 years of the decade and took home a Gold Glove. 2020’s: Mike Trout, Ronald Acuna, Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, Christian Yelich, Nick Senzel and Jo Adell.
Designated Hitter: Nelson Cruz
I mean, the dude can mash!! Cruz led all major leaguers with 346 homers this decade! He’s the definition of an “Oldie-but-Goodie”.
2020’s: Shohei Ohtani, Yordan Alvarez, Franmil Reyes and Vlad Jr.
Starting Pitchers: Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Chris Sale.
Here’s where things get a little easier. Kershaw and Scherzer both won 3 CY Youngs this decade, Verlander and Kershaw both won an MVP and Chris Sale, who, after starting this decade off in the White Sox bullpen, could probably strike out everyone reading this with his eyes closed.
Kershaw
To me, Kershaw was an easy #1 choice. 5 ERA titles, 3 Strikeout titles to go along with 3 CY Youngs, and an MVP! He’s also got the best ERA+(164) and WAR (59.3) among starting pitchers this decade… if only he could get it done in the playoffs.
Verlander
Verlander beat out Scherzer for the 2 spot because of his MVP win in 2011. Throw that on the shelf with his ERA title, 4 strikeout titles, World Series ring and 2 CY youngs (should be 3, but apparently Rick Porcello deserved one?). Verlander also had a 136 ERA+ and his 56.2 WAR was second among pitchers.
Scherzer
I don’t know that any pitchers had a better 7 year stretch than the one Scherzer brings with him into the new decade. Since 2013 he’s topped the NL in strikeouts 3 times, been to 7 straight All-Star games and won 3 CY Youngs! His 56.1 WAR trails only Kershaw and Verlander among pitchers, and he ended the decade by winning the World Series!
Sale
Not many guys can brag about an all-time career record just 10 years into their career. As it stands, Chris Sale’s 5.37 SO/W(Strikeouts to Walks ratio) is the highest of any MLB pitcher, ever. In his first full season as a starter (2012) he went 17-8 with a 3.05 ERA and 192 strikeouts in 192 innings pitched. He finished 6th in CY Young and made his first of 7 straight All-Star appearances. That year also began a stretch of 7 straight top 6 CY Young finishes. Although Sale doesn’t have too much hardware to brag about over the last decade, he’s struck out 208 or more batters in 7 straight seasons and has led his league in strikeouts twice. He helped the Red Sox to a World Series title in 2018 and his dominance is evident in his 140 ERA+ and 45.4 WAR.
2020’s: Walker Buehler, Gerrit Cole, Jack Flaherty, Chris Paddack, Mike Clevinger, Mackenzie Gore, Shane Bieber, Jose Berrios and Shohei Ohtani (fingers crossed)
Closers: Craig Kimbrel
In the post Hoffman and Mariano era of closers, we were lucky to have Kimbel, Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman leadings the charge… but Kimbrel came out on top.
His 194 ERA+ and 346 saves top both Jansen (163, 301) and Chapman (184, 273). He led the NL in saves 4 straight years from 2011-2015. He won the Rookie of the Year award in 2011 and has finished in the top 5 in CY Young voting twice.
2020’s: Josh Hader, Roberto Osuna, Emilio Pagan, Josh Staumont and Michael Baez.
If you think I’m an idiot for leaving _____________ off the list, or if you think someone else deserved the spot more than someone I chose… leave a comment below! Remember, Couch Potato is a blog for lazy sports fans. Now, I think I did my due diligence… but who knows, I might’ve gotten lazy at some spots; so, let me know!
Thanks
Phil Johnston
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