Players whose careers are finished – so no A-Rod or Ken Griffey Jr., I’m not sure they would be on the list but let’s count them out.  No Barry Bonds, either, because I cannot attribute what amount of his achievements are to steroids are what portion is just talent which would launch him into the top ten of all time.  The same goes for A-Rod.  No pitchers either, that would really confuse things.

Ok, so doing this off the top of my head might be a mistake, but Jimmie Foxx came off the list and was replaced by Stan Musial (sorry Stan).  I would think people might place some of these guys in a slightly different order.  But I think (without pitchers) these are the ten guys. 

1) Babe Ruth.  Never a discusion or a doubt.  He’s the Bambino, enough said.  That doesn’t even include the fact that he could have been one of the greatest pitchers.

2) Ty Cobb.  96 stolen bases one year.  11 batting titles, etc, an excellent defender as well.  Some baseball enthusiasts who depise the HR might even put him at the top of the list.  But Ruth changed the game, and Cobb played it to perfection at the time he played. 

3) Lou Gehrig 8 seasons of top five MVP, 3 seasons of 170 RBIs or more.  He was an RBI machine in every sense of the word.  He had seasons which were just as impressed after Ruth had left the Yankees too.

4 tie) Joe DiMaggio.  Most people cite his 1941 season where he hit in 56 straight games.  I like his 1937 season where he hit .346, 46 HRs, 167 RBIs, scored 151 runs and only struck out 37 times!  I am also equally impressed with his 1948 season, late in his career where he drove in 155 runs and hit .320 with 39 HRs and struck out only 30 times.  ONe of the more famous statistics of Joe D. was the fact that he hit 361 HRs and struck out 369 times for his career. 

4 – tie) Willie Mays.  One of the greatest all around players.  It is difficult to put him ahead of DiMaggio.  If you wanted to flip the two of them, you could.  Consider that Mays career high in RBIs is 141 and he struck out almost twice as frequently as DiMaggio but still not bad for a power hitter.  Mays defenders would say that DiMaggio played in better lineups for most of his career.   I think the ballparks are a wash, death valley in Yankee Stadium for Joe D. and Candlestick (for most of his career) for Willie.  It’s so close. 

6) Ted Williams.  The greatest hitter of all time?  Perhaps that’s Ruth.  But, consider the fact that he lost time to WWII and Korea and not only is he a great American, but his productivity probably would have surpassed Gehrig.  The only thing that holds him back is that defense hardly interested him at all.

7) Hank Aaron.  Longevity and consistency.  Consistently around 40 HRs over his long career.  Again, this gets back to what you like – consistency over a long time, or the high ceiling player. 

8) Stan Musial.  If he had a little more power, he would be higher.  7 batting titles, about 10 times in the top 5 for MVP voting.  Truly the dominant player of the National League in the 40s and 50s.

9) Honus Wagner.  The greatest shortstop of all time.  A run producer and baserunner like nobody has seen. 

10) Rogers Hornsby.  Two triple crowns in 1922 and 1925 have to get you into the top ten.

Others that are real close…. Frank Robinson… who I put at #10 but I went with Hornsby because of the two triple crowns and then there’s Hank Greenberg and of course Mantle who all should be included in the top 15. 

Some might say this is a Yankee heavy list, but objectively speaking, they have won 27 titles and how did they get that many?  Because they were lucky enough to have some of the greatest players.  Among the 3 Yankees on this list, there are 14 world series wins. 

I should probably do a top ten pitcher’s list (which will be even more difficult).  Let’s see…. Johnson, Matheson, Koufax, Alexander, Grove, ……

To me, it is difficult to evaluate Mantle and compare him effectively to Mays.  Injuries.  Mays has him beat overall because he played longer.  But, even if you evaluate their first 13 years (after which Mantle trails off) it is still difficult to evaluate because Mickey was hurt alot.  Having said that, injuries are a legitimate way of holding you back (Mattingly for example).  So, for a career, you must say that Mays is the better ballplayer.  In my own personal evaluation of the greatest ballplayers of all time – Mays is in the top ten.  I’m not sure how exactly it shakes out (one day I will settle on a definite order).  But suffice it to say, Mays is probably in the top five…. hmmmmm…..  

Anyway, I rank Mantle probably lower, definitely in the top 15 all time which is not too shabby. 

That’s not the end of the discussion however.  When I look at individual seasons I also conclude the following.  Mantle had a higher ceiling than Mays.  Put another way, if Mantle played at his highest capability, I believe that would be greater than Mays.  Mantle’s high ceiling year of 1956 is in all likelihood, a better individual season than anything Mays put up.  Mantle had that high of an ability.  It was almost Ruthian, if you will.  The problem is, of course, Mays had more “great” years than Mantle, but I’m not sure that Mays ever approached what I would characterize a Ruthian like season. 

Back to the list.  Hmmm…. let’s say no pitchers.  Ruth, Cobb, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Williams, Mays, Aaron, Wagner, Foxx, Hornsby and it gets difficult after that.

First the positives:

Full season of A-Rod.  He’s back and better than ever!  A-Rod is rested, hip injury resolved and relaxed now that he’s got the elusive world series ring.  A full season of a healthy A-Rod will go a long way to helping the club defend its title this summer.  With a little rest at the DH, Girardi should easily be able to keep A-Rod fresh and capable of putting up a typical top 5 MVP like season.

Mark Tex more comfortable.  In that same vein, Mark Tex had a great year.  He’s probably going to be even more effective this season as he knows what to expect, is more comfortable in his place in the order and the stadium.  The media and the fans know what he’s all about and have embraced him to allow him to work through those inevitable slumps.  Hey, no slump with the glove for this guy.

Joba and Hughes.  Another year of maturity.  No innings limit on Joba.  A high limit on Hughes (180 innings).  There’s an open competition for the 5th spot, but no matter how that shakes out, both guys have had success as the 8th inning guy to set up for Mo.  Hey, that’s a plus, isn’t it?

Deep Rotation.  Cashman did a good job with acquiring Vasquez.  Over the long season, he will make a difference and may, as my friend Mike T says, become the #2 starter. 

Now on to the weaknesses:

Injuries.  It’s a fact.  This is an older club.  In order of most likely to get hurt: 1) Posada; 2) Pettitte; 3) Mo; and 4) Jeter and A-Rod.  Which always brings us to the bench.  The bench is not a strength and if any of these guys goes

Joba and Hughes.  That’s right they are on the plus side and the negative side.  Everyone knows that they both have great potential.  But they are listed as a potential negative here because this is the year.  Enough of the babying.  Enough of the excuses.  They have a couple of big league seasons under their belt and now is the time.  No more 3 1/3 innings starts from Joba only to have him say: “Well, I struck out 5 today.”  Hughes, we don’t want any excuses either.  If they both do not perform up to capabilities, the team might survive because of overall depth, but it will be disappointing.

Outfield and Bench.  We’ve gone over the outfield.  Suffice it to say, they might be a wash in terms of offense overall, but defensively they are still weak.  I don’t know who has the throwing arm out there, I guess we’ll see.  The bench is similarly a problem, anyone in the field goes down, it’s Ramiro Pena.  Not that he can’t play defense, but the infield is the strength of this team offensively.  They have to be concerns. 

Clutch Factor.  It’s listed here and admittedly it’s always difficult to envision.  All I know is that Damon and Matsui were clutch.  You might have valid reasons for not resigning either one because of age or injury.  But, you can’t get around the fact that in a big spot, for one at bat, Yankee fans had confidence when either of those two guys stepped to the plate.  The new guys might prove to be clutch eventually too… but, we knew that Damon and Matsui could be counted on, it’s got to be listed as a negative.

This team should be north side of 95 wins.  Problems may emerge as they always do during the season, and it might get the Red Sox back into things.  The Red Sox are easily an 89 win, 92 win team.  They have real good pitching.  They have a very solid lineup one through nine.  Ellsbury, Scutaro, Pedroia, Youkilis, Martinez, Ortiz, Beltre, Cameron, Drew.  Very solid indeed.  They are going to have their way with most clubs.  They do not have the one player who can match our top guys, but the whole may be greater than the sum of its parts.  That lineup will be a pain, not in quite the same way as in past years – they won’t hit as many HRs, but they have good, contact, line drive hitters.  They play better defense than in the past.  You can’t count on them to mess up a bunch of plays defensively anymore.  Scutaro, is a real nice clubhouse addition.  I sense that they have a real good mix over there.  Anyway, there will be more time to talk about them.  Hope this makes the site less boring.

Nope there’s no argument, unless Granderson comes back to life, this is the second worst outfield defense I will ever see, only to be surpassed by last year’s.

This outfield is an outrage!  They have had plenty of time to work on this.  Oh yeah, that’s right, the Yankees don’t have the money we have a budget…… WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!   Oh yeah, that’s right we’re waiting for next off season when the really good free agents come out.   WHAT?!!!!!!!!!  We can’t get one outfielder.  One tiny, measley, tincy, wincy, little old outfielder?  Oh yeah, that’s right —–  THAT’S WHAT WE HAVE!  

As Arnold (the Governor of California) would say. “What a little puny, weak offensive outfield.  The mighty Yankees need to pump it up!” 

Forget the fact that it will still be one of the worst defensive outfields I’ve seen only surpassed by last year’s outfield.   Hey, maybe we could get a machine to go underneath the outfield grass that could pop up whenever Gardener has to throw the ball back to infield.  He could drop it on the machine and the robot could fire the relay in!  Oh yeah that’s right, it’s not in the budget.   With the resources of this organization…….

This is sad.  And it’s not just another spoiled Yankee fan wanting an All-Star at every position.  This outfield has actually been a problem for a while now.  There’s been time and opporunity to address it to the point where there’s someone out there.  Maybe after seeing Granderson play my fears will be quieted.  But right now, on paper, on a snowy day in February…  I’m wishing for Mel Hall, Claudell Washington and Hensley Muellens.

Youkilis – Dangerous hitter who doesn’t strike out, if they were smart, they would put him in a RBI spot;

Pedroia – Overrated?  This former MVP is a gritty leader who plays defense, and has a knack for being in the middle of a rally… sound familiar?

Martinez – A nice, well rounded offensive player who will be comfortable in a Red Sox uniform.

Beltre – Juice, yes.  But he is playing in a bandbox now, and still plays good defense.

Ortiz – Finished?  Maybe, perhaps he doesn’t have to do as much. 

Drew – He is relegated to a backup role and is not the star on this team much like Granderson.

Scutaro – They finally have a shortstop.  This guy is no Gonzalez, he can play and will solidfy infield defense.

Cameron – Can play defense, is good for .250, 20 HRs, 78 RBIs in Fenway.

Ellsbury – Overrated?  Maybe a little but he’s still a good player.

Pitching staff.  Lackey will not buckle under pressure.  Beckett wants a new contract, Lester is good, Dice – K just has to win 12 games.  Forget it.  This is a 92 + win team.

Our team = stinks.

Jeter – one year older; Granderson – he’ll strike out 160 times and Girardi will get fed up; Texeira will have a good year, but will fall short of last year’s stats.  A-Rod = old, busted, mentally exhausted; Posada – he’ll break down and play in only 75 games; Nick Johnson – he’ll break his wrist in spring training, won’t play until July; Cano – he’ll have one good half, and stink the other half; Brett Gardener – the dream is over kid.  Swisher – everyone will tire of his act when he’s hitting .211 with 2 HRs and 15 RBIs on May 15.   Syanara kid. 

CC will be fine, AJ is due for one of his injury riddled seasons, Pettitte will have his ups and downs and the bleacher creatures will boo Vasquez the first sign of him returning to 2004 form. 

Gosh… we’re lucky if we win 85 games.

Randy Winn, might be able to play defense (not sure on how he’s played in SF), maybe he can hit .280 and steal some bases, and the Yankees saved a bunch of money.  But make no mistake, Randy Winn is not the player Johnny Damon is.  I get the fact that you are combining Nick Johnson and Randy Winn to sort of fill Damon’s shoes, and on the surface it appears that if you combined their batting, HRs (maybe Nick hits 15, Randy hits 4 at the most), RBIs, OBP, etc, etc, they may match Damon’s and still be cheaper than him, I’m sorry this is not as good as Damon.  Damon was clutch and there ain’t no replacing that.  I’m not saying this won’t work – I just feel better with Damon on the team.  I know I can count on him for .285, 20 HRs, 75 RBIs, 95 plus Runs scored, a .380 OBP and clutchness.  Sure, he’s terrible out there in left field – he was going to have to DH more often.  But, when I’m in a nuclear arms race with the Red Sox, I don’t feel like taking any chances.  The Red Sox give us all we can handle – every darn year.  I want more, more firepower, more clutchness, more mojo, more intangibles.  MORE, MORE, MORE.  I don’t want to just scrape by on these bargain basement players.  That’s fine for fantasy baseball, where it’s about compiling numbers to get to where you want to be at the end of the year, it’s entirely another thing when I’m in a baseball, life and death struggle with a division rival, and improved teams in Seattle and Chicago (they have two aces, Peavy and Burhele).  

I just don’t like the “feel” of this – I feel like the Mets…. trying to get by with lesser players and we get to say “hooray, we saved money” and hope nobody notices the fact that it’s probably not going to be as good.  The offseason overall is still good, but the Yankees had an opportunity to make it that much better – to really advance and make this team incredibly formidable in the face of a tough division rival.