Best Infield Of Baseball’s Modern Era
Posted by Steve Lombardi on March 11th, 2010 · Comments (7)
Bill Conlin thinks the Phillies have best infield of baseball’s modern era.
Better than the 2009 Yankees or Rays? Better than the 1983 Brewers? The 1976 Reds? Heck, even better than the Indians or Tigers in 1986? I’m not so sure…
How about you?
We actually had a guest post looking deeply at this yesterday. Worked out perfectly because of Conlin’s column.
http://www.theyankeeu.com/2010/03/guest-post-did-the-2009-yankees-produce-the-greatest-infield-plus-catcher-in-mlb-history-15713
Everything I’ve read says 2009 Yanks has em beat. Boo ya. That is all.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Before you wrote that, I hadn’t considered the Rays. Given the type of season Ben Zobrist had, wow, that ’09 Rays infield did put up a good year. I’m thrilled that their rotation, bullpen and reliance of BJ Upton dinged them up. Screw ‘em, I hate ‘em.
Were the 1999 Mets as good as advertised? I remember the praises sung about their infield defense.
@ MJ Recanati:
You and me both dude..with a passion!
Teixeira over Howard by a bit due to his glove. Utley by a significant margin over Cano, on both sides of the ball, and in baserunning as well. Rollins in his best years is about even with Jeter. Last year was one of Jeter’s three best, and Rollins worst, just about. Jeter wins for 2009, easily. 130 games of A-Rod, even salted with 30 games of Ranson, Berroa and Pena, by astronomical distance over Feliz (even though Feliz has a significant glove advantage).
2009: No contest, the Yankees’ infield was much better, as a group.
2010: Depends. Depends on how well Polanco can recover from his recent mediocrity/injuries, whether Jeter can maintain, and whether Rollins bounces back toward his prior MVP-level play.
no infield with polanco in it can be considered an all time great