Remembering a legend and The Top Ten Second Basemen Today

Before I dive into my list of the top ten second basemen in MLB, I would like to take time out to remember one of the game's giants who sadly lost his battle with brain cancer today. Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter passed away at the age of 57, not long after he made his final public appearance at a PBAU baseball game in Florida. Mets fans remember him as the the man who started the famous '86 World Series Game 6 rally with a two-out base hit in the tenth inning.

While Carter was a popluar figure in Mets history and beloved in New York, he was loved just as much in Montreal, where he spent the first 11 seasons of his career and won two All-Star Game MVPs. He also helped guide the Expos to their first and only postseason appearance in 1981, defeating the Phillies in the first round before falling to the Dodgers in five games in the NLCS. He was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2003, becoming in the process the first player to go in wearing an Expos cap.

Reaction from the two cities where he is remembered the most:
Montreal: Montreal Gazette Obituary, The Kid who made Montreal smile

New York: New York Times Obituary, A Star with a Smile, Forever Kid

MLB Network also reflects on Carter's legendary career:





Carter's final career hit in 1992 before the home crowd in Montreal. Harry Caray and Steve Stone with the call for the Cubs.



Our top ten list for today will be for second basemen...

10.) Omar Infante, Miami Marlins
2011 stats: .276 avg., 7 HRs, 49 RBI, 160 hits, .696 OPS
It's slim pickings at number ten, which shows the dearth of excellent second basemen around the majors. However, Omar Infante is a serviceable piece in the Marlins lineup, finishing third among NL second basemen in hits.



9.) Jemile Weeks, Oakland Athletics
2011 stats (406 ABs): .303 avg., 2 HRs, 36 RBI, 22 SBs, .761 OPS
Rickie Weeks' younger brother Jemile put together the kind of season that has A's fans excited for the future. In just 97 games, Weeks finished third among AL second basemen in steals while being one of only three players at his position to hit .300 in the Junior Circuit. Look for Jemile to ascend in this list in the coming seasons.




8.) Neil Walker, Pittsburgh Pirates
2011 stats: .273 avg., 12 HRs, 83 RBI, .742 OPS
The Pittsburgh native provided a solid bat for the Bucs last year, leading all NL second basemen in RBI and trailing only Dustin Pedroia and Robinson Cano among everyone else at the position. It was the first full season for the 26-year-old, so this year will go a long way in deciding whether or not Walker is here to stay as one of the elite second basemen in the majors.



7.) Dan Uggla, Atlanta Braves
2011 stats: .233 avg., 36 HRs, 82 RBI, .764 OPS
All throughout the spring and even into the summer, Uggla was mired in a rotten hitting funk that saw his average dip to .174 as late as June 16. He ended his slump by going on an impressive 33 game hit streak from July 5 through August 13, hitting .377 with 15 home runs and 32 RBI while recording a sick 1.200 OPS in the process. The hot streak was enough to salvage what could have been a dreadful season for Uggla, even in spite of his 36 homers which led all NL second basemen.

6.) Rickie Weeks, Milwaukee Brewers
2011 stats: .269 avg., 20 HRs, 49 RBI, .818 OPS
If it were not for an ankle injury that hobbled Weeks for much of the second half, he would have easily smashed his numbers from last year (.269 avg., 29 HRs, 83 RBI, .830 OPS). However, he still did a fair amount of damage in 118 games, finishing second among NL second basemen in homers and tied for fourth in doubles with 26.




5.) Howard Kendrick, Los Angeles Angels
2011 stats: .285 avg., 18 HRs, 63 RBI, .802 OPS
Kendrick is an underrated talent who is often  overshadowed by his own teammates, along with the four players ahead of him on this list. A line-drive hitter with a fluid stroke, Kendrick serves as a terrific complimentary piece in a very good Angels lineup, one that will be especially intimidating with the arrival of Albert Pujols and the return of Kendrys Morales. His .802 OPS was the highest of his career and was fourth in the American League, trailing Ian Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia and Robinson Cano. With more big bats in the Angels lineup this year, expect Kendrick's offensive output to improve.



4.) Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds
2011 stats: .300 avg., 18 HRs, 82 RBI, .810 OPS

Phillips is the slickest fielding second baseman in not only the National League, but in all of baseball. He continues to show people just how good of an all-around player he is, and what is even better is that many around baseball are finally noticing. Phillips made his second career All-Star appearance, took home his third Gold Glove Award and surprisingly enough, hit .300 for the first time in his career. His stolen base total has gradually decreased, as the Reds have looked to him to be something of a power bat in their lineup. Even though he does not possess the prodigious power that teammates Jay Bruce and Joey Votto have, he still stands tall among his peers at second, finishing in a tie for third in homers in the NL, along with tying for second in RBI. His OPS total of .810 also ranked second in the NL.

3.) Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
2011 stats: .302 avg., 28 HRs, 118 RBI, .882 OPS
Cano possesses a glove that is nearly on par with Phillips, while carrying a more potent bat. Cano's 118 RBI and .882 OPS led all MLB second basemen while his .302 average was second to only Dustin Pedroia. He also won last year's Home Run Derby and put to rest the notion that the Derby messes up players' swings. Cano hit .309 with 13 homers and 61 RBI in the second half to go along with a .905 OPS, which was 42 points higher than his first-half total. The only reason why I have him third is because of his lack of speed, as he only notched eight steals all year.




2.) Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers
2011 stats: .255 avg., 32 HRs, 77 RBI, .832 OPS, 30 SBs
Having a 30/30 season and leading all AL second basemen in home runs and steals should get you the number one spot in this list, right? Well this was perhaps my most difficult decision so far in my ranking. The only reason why I have him at number two is because his batting average, OPS and RBI totals are lower than Pedroia's, and there was not a significant enough distance between the two in steals for me to justify placing him at number one. Maybe classifying Kinsler as "1A" instead of number two would sound better. While he was not the scariest bat in the Rangers powerful and downright frightening lineup, he still tied Adrian Beltre for the team lead in home runs with 32, and that was only because Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz were not completely healthy for the entire season. He packs a potent enough punch at the top of the lineup to make pitchers think twice about giving him a steady diet of fastballs like they do with other leadoff hitters.

1.) Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
2011 stats: .307 avg., 21 HRs, 91 RBI, .861 OPS, 26 SBs
Pedroia displayed more power this year, and had perhaps his best all around year to date for the Red Sox. While all of the finger pointing was going on during the month of October in Beantown regarding who was slurping down beer in between taking chomps of fried chicken, nobody was pointing their finger at Pedroia. He, along with Jacoby Ellsbury were two of the primary reasons why the Red Sox managed to stay afloat as long as they did in September, even while the ship was taking on water at a rapid pace. In the final month, Pedroia hit .304 and had a solid .827 OPS. His 26 steals were the highest total of his career so far, and it can be argued that his performance last year was better than his MVP-winning performance in 2008. While not incredibly spectacular with the glove, Pedroia can still come up with the big play when his team needs it the most. Even in the aftermath of Boston's collapse, Pedroia is slowly emerging as the team's vocal and on-field leader, something that was conspicuously absent from team captain Jason Varitek last year.

The 30 Team/30 Day Report Cards: Day 28- New York Yankees

My glacial look at all thirty teams continues, in spite of the fact that it has been well over thirty days!

New York Yankees
Record: 95-67 (Second place in AL East, one game behind Tampa Bay. AL Wild Card Champions).

Batting Leaders
Batting Average: Robinson Cano (.319)
Home Runs: Mark Teixeira (33)
RBIs: Alex Rodriguez (125)
On-base Percentage: Brett Gardner (.383)

Pitching Leaders
Wins: CC Sabathia (21)
Strikeouts: CC Sabathia (197)
Innings Pitched: CC Sabathia (237.2)
ERA: CC Sabathia (3.18). Bullpen- Mariano Rivera (1.80)
WHIP: CC Sabathia (1.19). Bullpen- Mariano Rivera (0.83)
Saves: Mariano Rivera (33)

Highlight of the Year: Sweeping the Twins for the second year in a row in the Division Series on October 9, as they would defeat Minnesota 6-1 in front of the home crowd at Yankee Stadium.
Lowlight of the Year: Almost two weeks later, the Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers 6-1 in Game Six of the ALCS, which ended their quest to repeat as World Champions.

The Lowdown:
The Yankees entered the 2010 season with reason to believe that they could repeat as World Champions. After all, they had the best team in baseball by a wide margin, and there wasn't any reason to believe that their pitching would regress. Even if it did, they still had a phenomenal lineup to fall back on to bail their pitching staff out in times of trouble. Once the season began, the Yankees were back at it again, bludgeoning opponents with their mighty offense, even when their starting rotation was largely mediocre behind CC Sabathia. However, the Yankees were challenged once again by the pesky Tampa Bay Rays, who were able to keep pace with New York all season long. With Boston as a non-factor in the AL East race, New York and Tampa duked it out until the season's end, when the Yankees fell short of Tampa Bay by one game in the East, capturing the Wild Card instead.

In spite of being the Wild Card, the Yankees still had the look of a dangerous team entering the playoffs, and they laid waste to the Twins in the first round yet again to make it back to the ALCS. Surprisingly enough, their opponent would not be the Rays, but the Texas Rangers, a very formidable adversary. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they ran out of gas in the ALCS, as the Rangers made fairly easy work of the Bronx Bombers to reach the World Series. While many teams in baseball look at a trip to the LCS as an accomplishment, the Yankees have a much different standard for evaluation, and coming up short in the playoffs last year was no doubt a tremendous failure for a team with the expectation to win it all.

Offense:
Strength was the key to the Yankees' offense yet again, as they would finish first in MLB in runs (859) and on-base percentage (.350), while finishing third in slugging (.436) and home runs (211). They had a plethora of weapons at their disposal, including Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira, Brett Gardner, Nick Swisher and Alex Rodriguez. Between those five players was a great balance of speed, contact and power.

Cano for all intents and purposes was probably the best overall hitter on this team, as the MVP-candidate hit .319, with 29 home runs, 109 RBIs, and a solid OBP of .381. Those numbers would be great for a player at any position, but the fact that he's a second baseman putting up these numbers is simply phenomenal. Mark Teixiera continued to provide a sufficient amount of power at the plate, leading the team in home runs with 33, while driving in 108. Along with Teixieira, Alex Rodriguez continued to be a significant threat at the plate, hitting 30 home runs once again while driving in a team-best 125. Nick Swisher provided a nice balance of contact and power at the plate, hitting .288 with 29 home runs and 89 RBIs, while Brett Gardner was outstanding in the lead-off spot, getting on base at a team-best .383 while stealing 47 bases, good for third in the American League.

With all of the strengths the Yankees have in their lineup with those aforementioned five, you can easily get away with some weak spots in the lineup, even if one of them happens to be team captain Derek Jeter.
Final Grade: A+

Pitching:
What was one of their strengths in 2009 ended up being a weakness last year, as the Yankees finished 15th in ERA (4.06), 13th in walks (540) and third in home runs allowed (179). CC Sabathia was immune to any struggles though, as he put up a Cy Young-caliber season, going 21-7 with a 3.18 ERA and 197 strikeouts while facing some of the toughest lineups in baseball on a regular basis within his division. Behind him was a great deal of mediocrity however, as A.J. Burnett regressed significantly from 2009, going 10-15 with a 5.26 ERA while Javier Vazquez wasn't much better, going 10-10 with a 5.32 ERA. Phil Hughes had a nice record of 18-8, but his suspect 4.19 ERA meant that he was the beneficiary of a great offense helping him out even when he wasn't at his best.

Andy Pettitte was solid in his final MLB season, going 11-2 with a 3.28 ERA. His numbers would have likely been better had he not missed two months in the second half with a groin injury. While there are a plethora of factors one could look to as to why New York didn't win the division, Pettitte's injury in the second half certainly had to be a major contributor. His final career start was a gutsy one, going seven strong innings in Game Three of the ALCS while giving up only two earned runs. Unfortunately he wouldn't get the win, as the bullpen blew up in the final two innings, surrendering six runs.

The Yankees' bullpen was decent last year, finishing seventh in ERA at 3.47, no doubt influenced by the seemingly-ageless Mariano Rivera closing out ballgames. He was fantastic yet again at the ripe old age of 40, recording a 1.80 ERA and a WHIP of 0.83 while closing out 33 games last year. He had two other solid relievers around him, as Boone Logan and David Robertson were serviceable, finishing with ERAs of 2.93 and 3.82 respectively in 50-plus appearances. Most of the other relievers were either average or below, including Joba Chamberlain, who made the most appearances on the staff (73) in spite of his high ERA (4.40).

When you have an offense as good as theirs, you can easily get away with having an average pitching staff, and collectively that's what they Yankees were last year.
Final Grade: B-

Wild Card: Derek Jeter
The team captain obviously leads by example on the field and off of it, but Jeter wasn't leading anybody in offense last year, as he had the worst statistical year of his career, hitting only .270 with 10 home runs, 67 RBIs and a miserable OBP of .340. He won the Gold Glove at short last year, but as we all know, the Gold Glove is a farce that's only awarded based on reputation and not by actual on-field performance in a given season. While Jeter is 36 and still has a few years left in him, one has to wonder how those years will be, especially since most major league players begin their decline after 35.
Final Grade: D-

Overall:
Hey, you can't fault them for reaching the postseason once again, even if it was through the Wild Card. However, the expectations for the Yankees are usually so high to the point where if they don't even reach the World Series, their year is a failure. I don't think they were a failure obviously, but with the talent they have, they probably should have made it again.
Final Grade: A

Check back soon for the report card on the Tampa Bay Rays!