Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
September 09, 2008
A Fine Career

Brian Giles reached base three times Monday night and scored twice as the Padres downed the Dodger 4-0. Looking at Giles career, it's clear he's posted a great one. Twenty years ago a .404 OBA and .510 slugging percentage would make him a hall of famer. In the mid 1980s, there were only a handful of players with career slugging percentages over .500. Now, as in the case of Bobby Abreu, it's a nice career.

Giles career also shows the advantage of being multi-talented offensively. At his peak, he hit for average, drew walks and hit for power. When the power faded, he remained a valuable player by remaining good at the other tasks. If power were his only tool, he likely would have been done two years ago. Instead, At age 37, he still has some playing time in front of him.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:45 AM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Giles and Abreu would be fine inductees for the Hall of the Very Good but Not Quite Fame.

By the way, some players from the 1920s and 1930s got into the Hall because offensive stats were inflated in the era. But people have wised up to "era" effects now. And players from the steroids-hoohah time will always get extra scrutiny.

Posted by: Casey Abell at September 9, 2008 08:58 AM

So now I'm thinking, will Giles and Abreu will be the next generations Jim Rice and Andre Dawson? There really should be a website set up for "Best non-HOF players"

Posted by: Devon Young at September 9, 2008 09:20 AM

Put Johnny Damon in the mix as well - if he stays healthy and plays till he's 40 he could end up with 2000R, 3000H, 250HR, 1200 RBI and 450 SB. I don't think any of these 3 belong but they're going to end up with massive atats - way superior to guys who played in the modern era who made it.

Posted by: Bandit at September 9, 2008 11:51 AM
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