Someone at MLB Network Needs to Go to Jail for This Top 10 Players List
It's that time again, folks. Opening Day is less than 72 hours away, so it's time to put out a bunch of lists to get people pissed off.
I am almost certain that was the sole purpose of this list, but I'll bite anyway because of just how insane it is. If anyone actually sat down and ranked these players with a modicum of sincerity, that person should have to do a month in jail and re-evaluate their life.
Let's start with that guy down there at No. 10 and look at who's ahead of him. Immediately, we see former teammate Freddie Freeman ahead of Ronald Acuña Jr. Somehow, Freeman going to the Dodgers has taken him from an underrated star in Atlanta to a pretty overrated player before he's ever played an inning in Los Angeles.
I love Freddie, but Acuña hits for infinitely more power, had an OPS nearly 100 points higher in the 82 games he played last season and produced a nearly identical WAR to Freeman in half as many games. They're not really that close, in all honesty.
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While we're comparing guys to Acuña, what the hell is Mookie Betts doing on this list? He had a good Mickey Mouse 60-game season with the Dodgers, but was just a fine player in 2021. Similarly to Freeman, there is no evidence to support him being better than Acuña the last three years. He's the fifth best outfielder on this list by a fairly considerable margin.
Now I have to unleash a take I've been sitting on for a while because this list brings it up: are we really still pretending Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball? The best ability is availability, brother. The guy never pitches. It turns out, throwing at max effort every single pitch produces as many arm injuries as it does Twitter highlights. And my guess is most fans being honest with themselves wouldn't want their team to hitch its wagon to a guy who's going to give you a 0.94 ERA in 11 starts a season.
The rest of the list is fine-ish, I suppose. Fernando Tatis Jr. shouldn't be that high, but he's a name people are always going to put up there. I also find it amusing the Angels will once again miss the Postseason with the two best players in baseball, but that's a different conversation.
Just please stop saying dumb shit and let's all enjoy this baseball season.