The Flawed Genius: Alex Rodriguez
I've already detailed Alex Rodriguez's strange return to baseball, but what is obvious, now that he's finished half a season with an OPS over .900 and being the best hitter on a playoff-team, is that Alex Rodriguez, despite him taking steroids at a level that might make Lance Armstrong blush, is an incredible goliath at hitting a baseball. Alex Rodriguez had an OPS north of 1.000 as a 21-year old. He was the best player in baseball by 26, and remained that guy for another 10 years. Alex Rodriguez somehow made a $252,000,000 worth it (or at least compared to a lot of guys who got 9 figure contracts. But then there's that thing of him causing more problems than he helped. Hard to say that is true with a guy who was a consistent 9+ WAR player, but he was a weird guy. He had no real personality, or at least one crafted to be the oddest possible. He didn't play well in a lot of playoff series, series that obscured the impact of the series he was really good in. He went to play for David in New York, and was able to somehow piss off even more people, including New Yorkers. His attitude never endeared him to anyone, but Alex Rodriguez was so good at getting in that hole of his, with blinders on for all those who hated him, and threw up season after season with an OPS+ of 150. Alex Rodriguez simple swing belied that complicated brilliance. Alex Rodriguez was many things, a lot of them wrong, a lot of them an affront to those who liked to dwell on 'honor', on 'grace', on peerless brilliance, but what beyond all that he still was a great, great player who could play baseball better than all of like 20 guys ever.
The Superhuman Genius: Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds was like Alex Rodriguez amplified. He was a stranger, more aloof, more unlikeable person, for whom steroids was an ever bigger black mark, but he was also better. And not just slightly better, but empirically, evidentially and anecdotally better. Barry Bonds was so good from 2001-2004 that it is really hard to describe. He put up four straight years where he averaged the following line:
.349/.559/.809; 256 OPS+; 52 HR, 189 BBs; 60 Ks.
That is the greatest four game stretch in MLB history. Some of it was comical, particularly the intentional walks, but most of it was a guy that basically solved baseball. His batting eye was so incredible, so exact, that it seemed he never swung at a pitch out of the zone, and when he did swing, he hit the ball further than anyone has ever hit a baseball. Barry Bonds was essentially a God playing baseball those four years. His average OBP was better than the league average SLG. Of course, Barry Bonds was kind of a good player before 2001 also. In the 11 years before 2001 (1990-2000), Barry Bonds averaged this:
.302/.435/.609; 180 OPS+; 37 HR; 115 BBs; 75 Ks
That's basically one of the greatest 11-year stretches in MLB history. That stretch included winning three MVPs, leading MLB in OBP five times, leading in OPS+ five times. Of course in that stretch he also won 8 gold gloves and managed to steal 350 bases. Barry Bonds had an 11-year stretch of greatness that is matched by maybe 8-10 players, and then followed that with the greatest four year stretch in the history of baseball. There will never be another Barry Bonds. There will likely never be anyone who comes close. Barry Bonds was so good it was impossible to really comprehend what he was doing, like Tiger in 2000, or Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky. He was playing a different sport, or he was playing at a different level. Whatever he was playing though, no one else was and no one else will.
The Robot Genius: Albert Pujols
I just went over an 11-year stretch for Barry Bonds before he became a hulk and started dominating worlds. Well, Albert Pujols also has a nice little 11-year stretch. He was one of those guys that could match Barry:
.328/.420/.617; 170 OPS+; 40 HR; 89 BBs; 64 BBs
Pujols also won three MVP awards, along with two World Series and millions of people had the same reaction: is this guy human. Unlike Bonds, where people either went "He solved baseball" or "He's on the roids", for Pujols it was more "He's clearly not a human being." Pujols had this weird ax-wielding swing that seemed both robotic and beautiful and easy all at the same time. I often asked "why doesn't everyone just do THAT." Albert Pujols was a destroyer of worlds. He was a terrifying batter; one that could do things like shut up a frenzied Minute Maid Park by hitting a Brad Lidge slider further than anyone has ever hit anything. His 3-home run performance in Game 5 of the 2011 World Series was a perfect example of Albert Pujols showing his ability to ruin dreams. Overtime, Pujols got bigger, got a tad slower and a tad more human, but all he really needed was time for the robot to develop some new code. His power resurgence in 2015 is a sign of that process being complete. The Destroyer of Worlds is back.
The One-Trick Pony Genius: Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera threw one pitch. He threw that pitch about 10,000 times, and there were slight variations between the way some of those balls moved, but essentially it was 10,000 variations of the cut fastball. Each one was a small piece of performance art. This lithe, limbered man would stand and the rubber, his right arm twitching beside his frame, and then uncorked an easy swinging motion towards the plate. It was such a work of art to watch Mariano Rivera throw cutter after cutter after cutter, all between 92-95 MPH, against the best hitters in the world and see them all do absolutely nothing with it. Mariano Rivera became the Yankees closer in 1997, and over the 17 years that he was the closer, he had an ERA+ of 221, he had a WHIP under 1.00, and an ERA of 2.02. Mariano Rivera actually seemed to get better as he aged. How else do you explain having a sub-2.00 ERA for every year apart from one between 2003 and 2011, his age 33-41 seasons. Mariano Rivera, somehow, was even better in the postseason, with an ERA of 0.70. That is not a misprint, that is not wrong. That is literally the ERA Mariano Rivera, a man with one pitch, a pitch that would not be described as 'nasty' or 'filthy', in the playoffs. That is not a real number. Nothing Mariano Rivera did seemed real. It was fitting that the thing that finally made him seem human, his injury in 2012, came when shagging fly balls and not from having arm issues. He never really had arm issues. He never had any issues. Mariano did more, and when I say more I mean be the most dominant relief pitcher ever, with less, and when I say less I mean do exactly one thing over and over and over, than anyone has ever.
The Wizarding Genius: Pedro Martinez
If you want to give any pitcher the label of genius, it really would be either Greg Maddux, or Pedro Martinez. Maddux's genius was more heady, more steely, more reserved. Pedro's genius was true genius. He combined a brash attitude and a fiery personality, with a beautiful arsenal of pitches that were unmatched. Pedro Martinez's comps are the great improvisers, the great soloists. He was the pitching equivalent of Eddie Van Halen, a man with a strange personality and a fiery life, but behind that a sheer unparalleled genius that will span generations. Pedro Martinez, like Eddie, did things once thought imagineable. Martinez's change-up was like Eddie's tapping. Martinez's curveball had movement that evoked the great Koufax or Gibson. Martinez combined elements of all great pitchers, but added to it a small frame that made him seem even more historic. The stats are ludicrous. In a 7-year stretch, at the absolute height of the steroid era, Pedro averaged (162-gm average) the following:
17-5; 2.20 ERA; 0.940 WHIP; 252 Ks; 45 BBs.
Martinez's season in 2000, where he had an ERA of 1.74 (league average was 4.80), might be the best pitching season ever. For a comparison, by ERA+, he was 30% better than Bonds was in his 2001 season. Martinez faced a collection of hitters in a period where hitting was never made easier, and made them all look silly. Pedro Martinez did what Koufax did, but did it differently, combine fire and ice, fury and magic, brilliance and brawn. Pedro was a true genius, one that we may never see again.
I've already detailed Alex Rodriguez's strange return to baseball, but what is obvious, now that he's finished half a season with an OPS over .900 and being the best hitter on a playoff-team, is that Alex Rodriguez, despite him taking steroids at a level that might make Lance Armstrong blush, is an incredible goliath at hitting a baseball. Alex Rodriguez had an OPS north of 1.000 as a 21-year old. He was the best player in baseball by 26, and remained that guy for another 10 years. Alex Rodriguez somehow made a $252,000,000 worth it (or at least compared to a lot of guys who got 9 figure contracts. But then there's that thing of him causing more problems than he helped. Hard to say that is true with a guy who was a consistent 9+ WAR player, but he was a weird guy. He had no real personality, or at least one crafted to be the oddest possible. He didn't play well in a lot of playoff series, series that obscured the impact of the series he was really good in. He went to play for David in New York, and was able to somehow piss off even more people, including New Yorkers. His attitude never endeared him to anyone, but Alex Rodriguez was so good at getting in that hole of his, with blinders on for all those who hated him, and threw up season after season with an OPS+ of 150. Alex Rodriguez simple swing belied that complicated brilliance. Alex Rodriguez was many things, a lot of them wrong, a lot of them an affront to those who liked to dwell on 'honor', on 'grace', on peerless brilliance, but what beyond all that he still was a great, great player who could play baseball better than all of like 20 guys ever.
The Superhuman Genius: Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds was like Alex Rodriguez amplified. He was a stranger, more aloof, more unlikeable person, for whom steroids was an ever bigger black mark, but he was also better. And not just slightly better, but empirically, evidentially and anecdotally better. Barry Bonds was so good from 2001-2004 that it is really hard to describe. He put up four straight years where he averaged the following line:
.349/.559/.809; 256 OPS+; 52 HR, 189 BBs; 60 Ks.
That is the greatest four game stretch in MLB history. Some of it was comical, particularly the intentional walks, but most of it was a guy that basically solved baseball. His batting eye was so incredible, so exact, that it seemed he never swung at a pitch out of the zone, and when he did swing, he hit the ball further than anyone has ever hit a baseball. Barry Bonds was essentially a God playing baseball those four years. His average OBP was better than the league average SLG. Of course, Barry Bonds was kind of a good player before 2001 also. In the 11 years before 2001 (1990-2000), Barry Bonds averaged this:
.302/.435/.609; 180 OPS+; 37 HR; 115 BBs; 75 Ks
That's basically one of the greatest 11-year stretches in MLB history. That stretch included winning three MVPs, leading MLB in OBP five times, leading in OPS+ five times. Of course in that stretch he also won 8 gold gloves and managed to steal 350 bases. Barry Bonds had an 11-year stretch of greatness that is matched by maybe 8-10 players, and then followed that with the greatest four year stretch in the history of baseball. There will never be another Barry Bonds. There will likely never be anyone who comes close. Barry Bonds was so good it was impossible to really comprehend what he was doing, like Tiger in 2000, or Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky. He was playing a different sport, or he was playing at a different level. Whatever he was playing though, no one else was and no one else will.
The Robot Genius: Albert Pujols
I just went over an 11-year stretch for Barry Bonds before he became a hulk and started dominating worlds. Well, Albert Pujols also has a nice little 11-year stretch. He was one of those guys that could match Barry:
.328/.420/.617; 170 OPS+; 40 HR; 89 BBs; 64 BBs
Pujols also won three MVP awards, along with two World Series and millions of people had the same reaction: is this guy human. Unlike Bonds, where people either went "He solved baseball" or "He's on the roids", for Pujols it was more "He's clearly not a human being." Pujols had this weird ax-wielding swing that seemed both robotic and beautiful and easy all at the same time. I often asked "why doesn't everyone just do THAT." Albert Pujols was a destroyer of worlds. He was a terrifying batter; one that could do things like shut up a frenzied Minute Maid Park by hitting a Brad Lidge slider further than anyone has ever hit anything. His 3-home run performance in Game 5 of the 2011 World Series was a perfect example of Albert Pujols showing his ability to ruin dreams. Overtime, Pujols got bigger, got a tad slower and a tad more human, but all he really needed was time for the robot to develop some new code. His power resurgence in 2015 is a sign of that process being complete. The Destroyer of Worlds is back.
The One-Trick Pony Genius: Mariano Rivera
Mariano Rivera threw one pitch. He threw that pitch about 10,000 times, and there were slight variations between the way some of those balls moved, but essentially it was 10,000 variations of the cut fastball. Each one was a small piece of performance art. This lithe, limbered man would stand and the rubber, his right arm twitching beside his frame, and then uncorked an easy swinging motion towards the plate. It was such a work of art to watch Mariano Rivera throw cutter after cutter after cutter, all between 92-95 MPH, against the best hitters in the world and see them all do absolutely nothing with it. Mariano Rivera became the Yankees closer in 1997, and over the 17 years that he was the closer, he had an ERA+ of 221, he had a WHIP under 1.00, and an ERA of 2.02. Mariano Rivera actually seemed to get better as he aged. How else do you explain having a sub-2.00 ERA for every year apart from one between 2003 and 2011, his age 33-41 seasons. Mariano Rivera, somehow, was even better in the postseason, with an ERA of 0.70. That is not a misprint, that is not wrong. That is literally the ERA Mariano Rivera, a man with one pitch, a pitch that would not be described as 'nasty' or 'filthy', in the playoffs. That is not a real number. Nothing Mariano Rivera did seemed real. It was fitting that the thing that finally made him seem human, his injury in 2012, came when shagging fly balls and not from having arm issues. He never really had arm issues. He never had any issues. Mariano did more, and when I say more I mean be the most dominant relief pitcher ever, with less, and when I say less I mean do exactly one thing over and over and over, than anyone has ever.
The Wizarding Genius: Pedro Martinez
If you want to give any pitcher the label of genius, it really would be either Greg Maddux, or Pedro Martinez. Maddux's genius was more heady, more steely, more reserved. Pedro's genius was true genius. He combined a brash attitude and a fiery personality, with a beautiful arsenal of pitches that were unmatched. Pedro Martinez's comps are the great improvisers, the great soloists. He was the pitching equivalent of Eddie Van Halen, a man with a strange personality and a fiery life, but behind that a sheer unparalleled genius that will span generations. Pedro Martinez, like Eddie, did things once thought imagineable. Martinez's change-up was like Eddie's tapping. Martinez's curveball had movement that evoked the great Koufax or Gibson. Martinez combined elements of all great pitchers, but added to it a small frame that made him seem even more historic. The stats are ludicrous. In a 7-year stretch, at the absolute height of the steroid era, Pedro averaged (162-gm average) the following:
17-5; 2.20 ERA; 0.940 WHIP; 252 Ks; 45 BBs.
Martinez's season in 2000, where he had an ERA of 1.74 (league average was 4.80), might be the best pitching season ever. For a comparison, by ERA+, he was 30% better than Bonds was in his 2001 season. Martinez faced a collection of hitters in a period where hitting was never made easier, and made them all look silly. Pedro Martinez did what Koufax did, but did it differently, combine fire and ice, fury and magic, brilliance and brawn. Pedro was a true genius, one that we may never see again.
