MLB Franchise Four: NL West

Major League Baseball has a campaign asking fans to vote for the four “most impactful” players in their team’s history, with the winners being announced at the 2015 All-Star Game in Cincinnati. A panel of experts created an eight-man ballot for each team. This panel consists of MLB’s Official Historian John Thorn and representatives from MLB’s official statistician (the Elias Sports Bureau), MLB.com, MLB Network, and the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

“Most impactful” is open to interpretation, which makes this an interesting exercise. It isn’t “best” or “most famous” or “most popular”, but “most impactful.” I decided to look at the eight players on the ballot for each franchise and where they rank in FanGraphs WAR during their time with that franchise.

For each franchise, I’ve listed their top 10 in FanGraphs WAR along with any players who are on the ballot who are below the top 10. The players in BOLD are those who are on the ballot and the years listed are the years in which they played for that team.

 

Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-2015)

(1) Randy Johnson, 54.9 WAR (1999-2004, 2007-2008)

(2) Luis Gonzalez, 33.8 WAR (1999-2006)

(3) Brandon Webb, 29.1 WAR (2003-2009)

(4) Curt Schilling, 24.9 WAR (2000-2003)

(5) Steve Finley, 18.2 WAR (1999-2004)

(6) Justin Upton, 16.0 WAR

(7) Chris Young, 15.3 WAR

(8) Paul Goldschmidt, 15.0 WAR (2011-2015)

(9) Miguel Montero, 14.1 WAR

(10) Dan Haren, 13.8 WAR

(17) Matt Williams, 8.8 WAR (1998-2003)

(87) Mark Grace, 1.3 WAR (2001-2003)

 

On the ballot: Six of the eight players on the Diamondbacks Franchise Four ballot played on their 2001 World Series Championship team. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were the co-aces of that squad. The Big Unit was 21-6 with a 2.49 ERA and an amazing 372 strikeouts in 249 2/3 innings that season, then won three games in the World Series to share MVP honors with Curt Schilling. He also won the NL Cy Young award in 2001, one of the four he won in four consecutive seasons with the Diamondbacks. In two of those seasons, including 2001, Curt Schilling finished second behind the Big Unit in the NL Cy Young voting. In 2001, Schilling was 22-6 with a 2.98 ERA and 293 strikeouts in 256 2/3 innings, then started three games in the World Series and had a 1.69 ERA in 21 1/3 innings.

Luis Gonzalez provided some serious offense to the Diamondbacks’ 2001 championship team. He had 8.9 WAR that season as he hit .325/.429/.688 with 57 homers and 142 RBI.

Steve Finley was worth 4.6 and 3.3 WAR in his first two seasons with the Diamondbacks in 1999 and 2000, but slipped to 1.6 WAR in the 2001 season. He hit well in the 2001 World Series, though: .368/.478/.526.

Matt Williams was also better in his first two years with the team. He had 2.3 WAR in 1998 and 4.0 WAR in 1999 but was limited by injuries and had just 2.4 WAR total over the final four years of his career with the Diamondbacks.

Brandon Webb had 4.2 WAR in his rookie season in 2003 and was a mainstay in the rotation for the next five years, averaging 5 WAR per season. He won the NL Cy Young award in 2006 with a 16-8, 3.10 ERA season (6.4 WAR). Webb had an amazing ability to generate ground balls, with a GB% of 64.2% in his career. Unfortunately, the end came quickly. Webb was 22-7 with a 3.30 ERA in 2008 and finished second in the Cy Young voting for the second straight year. He then pitched four innings in 2009 and never threw another pitch in the major leagues. He tried to come back in 2011 but lasted just 12 innings in AA and had a 9.75 ERA.

Paul Goldschmidt is currently the best player on the Diamondbacks. He was worth 6.3 WAR in 2013 when he hit .302/.401/.551 and led the league with 36 homers and 125 RBI on his way to finishing second in the NL MVP voting. He was on a similar pace last year with 4.4 WAR in 109 games before his season ended when he was hit by a pitch that fractured his hand. He’s off to a good start to the 2015 season.

There are 86 players who were worth more wins than Mark Grace as a Diamondback. Grace joined the team at the end of his career after 13 seasons with the Cubs. He played three years with the Diamondbacks and was worth 2.6, -0.3, and -0.1 WAR. He was an announcer for the team after his career and is well liked in Arizona, particularly at the team’s annual fantasy camps.

Notable snubs: Based on value, one could argue for Justin Upton or Chris Young. In fact, I believe an argument could be made for any number of players over Mark Grace based on value to the team, but Grace was a very popular player so why not give the fans a chance to remember one of their favorites? I just don’t consider him to be “impactful.”

My Franchise Four: Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Luis Gonzalez, Brandon Webb

 

Colorado Rockies (1993-2015)

(1) Todd Helton, 54.8 WAR (1997-2013)

(2) Larry Walker, 44.4 WAR (1995-2004)

(3) Troy Tulowitzki, 33.7 WAR (2006-2015)

(4) Matt Holliday, 20.2 WAR (2004-2008)

(5) Ubaldo Jimenez, 18.5 WAR

(6) Carlos Gonzalez, 17.5 WAR (2009-2015)

(7) Aaron Cook, 17.5 WAR

(8) Vinny Castilla, 15.5 WAR (1993-1999, 2004, 2006)

(9) Jeff Francis, 14.9 WAR

(10) Andres Galarraga, 13.4 WAR (1993-1997)

(24) Dante Bichette, 6.6 WAR (1993-1999)

 

On the ballot: Todd Helton leads the Rockies in games played, hits, runs scored, RBI, home runs, doubles, and walks, among other categories. He also had five straight years from 2000 to 2004 with 5.5 or more WAR each season. I would guess he’s an automatic Franchise Four player for the Rockies. Larry Walker is second to Helton in most of those categories and tops the Rockies in career batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Walker hit .334/.426/.618 with Colorado.

Troy Tulowitzki, Matt Holliday, and Carlos Gonzalez were part of the only Rockies team to make the World Series, in 2007. On that team, Tulowitzki was in his second year but already one of the best players on the team, as he had 5.2 WAR and hit .291/.359/.479 with great defense at shortstop. Since then, he’s had five more seasons with 5 or more WAR despite being injured a number of times. Matt Holliday had a breakout season in the Rockies’ World Series year with a career-high 6.9 WAR. He followed that with a 5.9 WAR season in 2008 before being traded to the Athletics that winter in a deal that brought Carlos Gonzalez to the Rockies. When healthy, Gonzalez has generally been good with the Rockies but he hasn’t been healthy often enough the last couple years.

Vinny Castilla, Andres Galarraga, and Dante Bichette were teammates in the early years of the Rockies franchise, back in the pre-humidor days. They were part of a cast of hitters known as the “Blake Street Bombers.” Castilla and Galarraga each had three straight years with 40 or more homers from 1996 to 1998. Dante Bichette hit 40 bombs in 1995 and had 141 RBI in 1996. Of course, despite all the home runs these guys hit, they weren’t really all that valuable when you take park effects, base running, and defense into account.

Notable snubs: Considering he had just one season with more than 2 WAR with the Rockies, Dante Bichette could have been left off the ballot, perhaps for Ubaldo Jimenez or Aaron Cook.

My Franchise Four: Todd Helton, Larry Walker, Troy Tulowitzki, Matt Holliday

 

Los Angeles Dodgers (1884-2015)

(1) Don Sutton, 63.8 WAR

(2) Duke Snider, 63.4 WAR (1947-1962)

(3) Zack Wheat, 62.7 WAR

(4) Pee Wee Reese, 61.3 WAR

(5) Don Drysdale, 59.3 WAR (1956-1969)

(6) Dazzy Vance, 59.0 WAR

(7) Jackie Robinson, 57.2 WAR (1947-1956)

(8) Sandy Koufax, 54.5 WAR (1955-1966)

(9) Ron Cey, 49.9 WAR

(10) Willie Davis, 48.6 WAR

(12) Fernando Valenzuela, 39.4 WAR (1980-1990)

(14) Clayton Kershaw, 38.5 WAR (2008-2015)

(15) Roy Campanella, 38.2 WAR (1948-1957)

(16) Steve Garvey, 36.3 WAR (1969-1982)

 

On the ballot: The Dodgers are one of three teams whose leader in FanGraphs WAR is not on the eight-man ballot for the team’s Franchise Four. The Dodgers’ leader in WAR is Don Sutton, but he’s not one of the options (Cap Anson of the Cubs and Hanley Ramirez of the Marlins are the other two).

The players on the Dodgers’ ballot can be separated into groups. Three players on the ballot were part of the “Boys of Summer” group from the 1950s: Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, and Roy Campanella, all three of whom were part of the Brooklyn Dodger teams that went to the World Series five times in eight years from 1949 to 1956. After losing in their first eight attempts to win the World Series going back to the turn of the century, the Dodgers finally won it all in 1955, a year that saw Roy Campanella win his third NL MVP award in five years. Duke Snider finished second to Campy in the NL MVP balloting that year despite leading the league in runs and RBI and posting a better on-base percentage and slugging percentage than Campanella. Jackie Robinson was not the All-Star he had been in the previous six seasons as injuries limited him to 105 games, but he still had a .378 OBP. In the nine years that Snider, Campanella, and Robinson played together from 1948 to 1956, Campy and Snider were All-Stars seven times and Robinson was an All-Star six times.

Sandy Koufax was on the 1955 World Series championship team, but he was not yet SANDY KOUFAX, so he doesn’t really belong with the “Boys of Summer” group (in 1955, he pitched just 41-2/3 innings and walked six batters per nine innings). Koufax teamed up with Don Drysdale to lead the Dodgers of the early-1960s. Don Drysdale had been the Dodgers’ top starting pitcher in the late-1950s before ceding the title to Koufax in the 60s. The pair went to the World Series four times from 1959 to 1966, winning three titles. Drysdale was an eight-time All-Star and the 1962 NL Cy Young winner. Koufax was named to six All-Star teams and won three NL Cy Young awards, including the 1963 season in which he was the NL Cy Young winner and the NL MVP. Over the last four seasons of his career, Koufax was 97-27 with a 1.86 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and an average of 8.6 WAR per season.

Steve Garvey was the face of the Dodgers in the 1970s. He teamed with Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey to form a Dodgers infield that played together from 1973 to 1981. Together, they appeared in the World Series four times from 1974 to 1981, winning twice. Garvey was an All-Star for the Dodgers from 1974 to 1981 and won the NL MVP in 1974. The 1981 season was the last time these four players were together and they won the World Series with the help of 20-year-old rookie Fernando Valuenzuela. Fernandomania exploded in Los Angeles in 1981 as the young pitcher led the league in games started, complete games, shutouts, innings, and strikeouts en route to winning the NL Cy Young Award. In his first six full seasons with the Dodgers, which includes the strike-shortened 1981 season, Fernando averaged 5.4 WAR per season. He also averaged over 250 innings per season during this stretch, which could be why he was worth only 9.2 WAR over the remaining 10 seasons of his career.

The only active player on the Dodgers’ ballot is the amazing Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw has won the NL Cy Young Award three times in the last four seasons and was second in the season in which he didn’t win. He was also the NL MVP last year. During this four-year stretch, Kershaw had a 2.11 ERA and 0.95 WHIP and averaged 6.9 WAR per season.

Notable snubs: Don Sutton, the all-time leader in FanGraphs WAR for the Dodgers, must feel snubbed to not see his name on the Franchise Four ballot. He was a teammate of Steve Garvey from 1969 to 1980 and out-WAR’d him 52.1 to 33.2 during those years. If not Sutton, perhaps Pee Wee Reese would have been a better choice than Garvey, as he was also a big part of the “Boys of Summer” Dodgers.

My Franchise Four: Duke Snider, Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella

 

San Diego Padres (1969-2015) 

(1) Tony Gwynn, 65.0 WAR (1982-2001)

(2) Jake Peavy, 29.3 WAR (2002-2009)

(3) Dave Winfield, 29.1 WAR (1973-1980)

(4) Randy Jones, 25.4 WAR (1973-1980)

(5) Trevor Hoffman, 25.3 WAR (1993-2008)

(6) Andy Benes, 20.8 WAR

(7) Chase Headley, 20.4 WAR

(8) Adrian Gonzalez, 19.2 WAR (2006-2010)

(9) Gene Tenace, 18.8 WAR

(10) Brian Giles, 18.4 WAR

(17) Nate Colbert, 16.6 WAR (1969-1974)

(208) Steve Garvey, 1.5 WAR (1983-1987)

 

On the ballot: Among the 30 franchise leaders in WAR, the 35.7 WAR gap between Tony Gwynn at #1 and Jake Peavy at #2 is the sixth largest. Gwynn played for the Padres for 20 seasons, was an All-Star for 16 consecutive years, won eight batting titles, five Gold Gloves, and had over 3000 hits with a .338 lifetime batting average. He was also a member of the only two teams in Padres history to make the World Series (1984 and 1998). You can’t think of the Padres without thinking of Tony Gwynn.

Joining Gwynn as a signature Padres player is Trevor Hoffman, who saved 552 games for the team in 16 seasons. Hoffman’s 601 career saves are second only to Mariano Rivera on the all-time list.

Jake Peavy was the Padres’ top starting pitcher from 2004 to 2008 when he averaged 4.9 WAR per season. He was the NL Cy Young winner in 2007 with a 19-6 record, 2.54 ERA, and 240 strikeouts in 223 1/3 innings.

Dave Winfield and Randy Jones both played for the Padres from 1973 to 1980, a stretch during which the team regularly finished in the bottom half of the NL West standings. Winfield played more years with the Yankees than he did with the Padres and is likely more well known as a Yankee by the average fan. Jones won the 1976 NL Cy Young Award with a 22 win season for the Padres. He had 25 complete games and threw 315 1/3 innings that year.

Adrian Gonzalez started his career with the Texas Rangers but came into his own with San Diego in 2006. From 2007 to 2010, he had four straight years of 30 or more homers and was an All-Star three times. Like Adrian Gonzalez, Nate Colbert had a short but productive career with the Padres. He had two 38-homer seasons with the team in the early 1970s.

Then there’s Steve Garvey. I don’t know who decided to put Steve Garvey on the ballot for the Padres. He ranks 208^th all-time in WAR for the Padres and hit .275/.309/.409 in his five years with the team. His best season was worth 1.5 WAR. You have to give him some serious bonus points for being a member of the 1984 team that went to the World Series to think he deserves a spot on the Padres Franchise Four.

Notable snubs: It’s not hard to find a more deserving player for the ballot than Steve Garvey, so take your pick: Gene Tenace (4.7 WAR per season with the Padres), Ken Caminiti (won the NL MVP Award in 1996) or Benito Santiago (1987 NL Rookie of the Year, four-time All-Star with the team) would have been better choices.

My Franchise Four: Tony Gwynn, Trevor Hoffman, Jake Peavy, Adrian Gonzalez

 

San Francisco Giants (1883-2015) 

(1) Willie Mays, 148.0 WAR (1951, 1952, 1954-1972)

(2) Barry Bonds, 116.0 WAR (1993-2007)

(3) Mel Ott, 111.0 WAR (1926-1947)

(4) Christy Mathewson, 90.0 WAR (1900-1916)

(5) Willie McCovey, 61.4 WAR (1959-1973, 1977-1980)

(6) Juan Marichal, 60.6 WAR (1960-1973)

(7) Bill Terry, 57.0 WAR

(8) Carl Hubbell, 56.5 WAR

(9) Roger Conner, 54.4 WAR

(10) Larry Doyle, 47.1 WAR

(30) Orlando Cepeda, 29.1 WAR (1958-1966)

(48) Buster Posey, 23.9 WAR (2009-2015)

 

On the ballot: Willie Mays is among a select group of players who are automatic picks for a spot on his team’s Franchise Four. Is there anything he didn’t do as a Giant? He was the Rookie of the Year, a two-time MVP, a 20-time All-Star, 12-time Gold Glove winner, led the league in homers four times, steals four times, hitting once, on-base percentage twice, and slugging five times. And the numbers don’t do him justice. He was an amazing player to watch, whether making an amazing catch in the deepest parts of the Polo Grounds or flying around the bases for a stand-up triple. He was baseball poetry.

Barry Bonds had 116 WAR in 15 seasons with the Giants, an average of 7.7 WAR per season. He had five seasons with 10 or more WAR, including back-to-back seasons in 2001 and 2002 when he had 12.5 and 12.7 WAR. From 2001 to 2004, he turned the major leagues into his own personal video game, hitting .349/.559/.809 with 209 homers in 1642 at-bats (one HR every 7.9 at-bats).

Mel Ott was a Giants’ lifer, spending 22 years with the team and hitting 511 home runs. He went to the All-Star game for 11 straight years from 1934 to 1944.

Christy Mathewson and Juan Marichal are the only pitchers among the eight players on the ballot for the Giants. Mathewson was part of four Giants’ teams that went to the World Series from 1905 to 1913 and he led the league in wins four times and ERA five times during that stretch. He pitched three complete game shutouts in the 1905 World Series against the Philadelphia Athletics. Juan Marichal pitched for the Giants from 1960 to 1973 and was teammates with Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda, who join him on the ballot. All three were members of the 1962 team that lost the World Series in seven games to the New York Yankees. Marichal and Cepeda were All-Stars during that season, while McCovey was still trying to crack a loaded Giants’ lineup.

The only active player on the ballot for the Giants is Buster Posey. All he’s done in his career is helped the Giants to three World Series titles in his first six years in the big leagues, along with a Rookie of the Year Award in 2010 and an NL MVP Award in 2012.

Notable snubs: A couple of famous (and valuable) Giants players who could have arguments for a spot on the ballot are Bill Terry and Carl Hubbell, who were teammates in the late 1920s and early 193s.

My Franchise Four: Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Mel Ott, Christy Mathewson