I recently took a written beating for saying that I thought Joe Mauer was helped greatly by being a catcher, in his recent naming as the American League's Most Valuable Player for 2009.
With that being said, is Mauer not only the best catcher in the game, is he also the best player in MLB? Let's not throw pitchers in this mix, I would like to be able to compare "apples with apples."
First order of business, let's look at what competition he actually has, at least in my opinion. Forget steroid talk, age of the player, futuristic possibilities, etc. These will appear in no particular order in the following list:
1) Albert Pujols
2) Miguel Cabrera
3) Alex Rodriguez
4) Mark Teixeira
5) Hanley Ramirez
6) Ryan Howard
7) Ichiro Suzuki
8) Chase Utley
These are the only contenders in my view. If ...
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Article written by Cliff Eastham
Is Joe Mauer the Best Player in Major League Baseball?
Posted: 28th November 2009 by Cliff Eastham in MLBComments Off on Is Joe Mauer the Best Player in Major League Baseball?