Originally Posted by
BuddyBear
Cabrera is historically good offensively (i.e. wRC+ 200 is insane this year)....but unfortunately he is very mediocre to below average in most other facets of the game: speed, base running, arm strength, fielding, range....not even to mention his personal problems off the field (i.e. multiple drinking and driving violations). But since most fans do not care about anything other than offense, most people think he is the greatest player ever. Triple Crown is nice, but not as special as it has been made out to be. I think it was obvious that Trout was the best baseball player in the league by a wide margin last year but somehow the behind the times voters got it wrong. In fact, I thought there were a few National League players who had better years....but unfortunately baseball is so tied to tradition that it fails to see the full picture sometimes. I think in terms of best players ever, I would rank Cabrera right now somewhere in the top 100, possibly top 75 or better depending how much you want to weight offense. To me, it still remains, Barry Bonds is by far the best player in the past 70 years and it is not even close. For a while, Pujols looked like he was going to assume that title but he has fizzled out. It's extremely hard to be an elite player for 10+ years in MLB. But right now, 2013, almost everyone looks like a minor league player compared to Cabrera. It honestly astonishes me, just like last year, why the Tigers are not better than they are given their offensive weapons and probably having the best rotation in all of baseball.