Posada was the worst baserunner I've ever seen. As a die hard Yankees fan another guy who drove me nuts was Bernie Williams. Bernie was a great hitter but he was putrid in centerfield. He got the worst jumps I've probably ever seen and had a really weak throwing arm. It's insane he won 4 gold gloves.
Yeah this is why he is not overrated. He had little to no run support throughout his career. Wins and Losses are about ERA and run support. You cannot win if your team does not score.
Posada was a catcher. That's like saying our point guard was the worst rebounder you ever saw. I am not trying to be harsh, but the number of catchers who have led the major leagues in steals is zero.
Wow. Greg Bell. Haven't heard that name in years.
Loved Bernie, but you are 100% correct. He had to try and run down anything in CF bc he was always a step slow off the bat. And that arm was embarrassing. It’s actually kind of crazy thinking that they won three championships with Posada, Jeter, Knoblauch, and Bernie as your “up the middle” defense. All were horrible in different ways.
It has nothing to do with stolen bases or speed. Posada didn't know how to run the bases, he didn't have the instincts for it. He would get caught between them, he couldn't judge if balls would be caught, he had no real sense of what was happening when he was on the base path.
I think you're forgetting about 2018. I'll add that some of those later Heat teams were very beatable once D-Wade dipped. The best thing LeBron had going for him for most of his career was playing in the east.
Anyone who preaches that Derek Jeter was overrated doesn’t know sports, never played sports, or is a stubborn Boston-fan.
The notion that he was just a singles hitter is a bit inflated. Jeter’s lifetime slugging average is higher than Robin Yount, Darrell Evans (who hit over 400 HRs) Gary Carter and many other guys who were thought of as “sluggers” in their prime. And the prototype for the “power hitting” SS, Ripken, is just a few thousandths higher at 447 to Jeter’s 440. I’m not saying Jeter was a power hitter, but he wasn’t Rose or Carew or someone until the last couple of years.
Longevity was his calling card on a lot of great teams where he was noticed. He had a glaring strikeout to walk ratio (1840 strikeouts to 1082 walks) for a number one or two lineup hitter. In 20 seasons those strikeouts are close to 100 a year. Willy Randolph was a "flyball hitter" (I used to call him "warning track" Willy because he lacked the power to swing for homeruns and the swings always wound up on or near the warning track. Now contrast this with Dave Winfield who considered himself a "line drive hitter" and always overswung to the point of frequently winding up on the ground. With that size and strength all he had to do was meet the ball in the stadium no less instead of trying to pull everything.
Me7o is the ultimate role player. His role was to score, that's it. He had a 60 point, 0 assist statline one game. The fact he is politicking to get his jersey retired is a joke. He won 1 playoff series in his tenure. I don't want to hear how he had no help. He couldn't wait to sign in the off season as he was worried about his money (cba was up and it wasn't flush with cash like it was recently) and strong handed a trade which gutted the young core. Yes, none of them became superstars but there were solid role players that would have made the team more competitive. Then we have the jealousy of Jeremy Lin....
I have a bit of a hard time using the term "slugging" in the conversation of Jeter. Over his career, he averaged 15 HRs a year. Career high of 24 (at age 25). And his last 9-10 years he barely scraped double digits most of them.
tongue in cheek but many people rate him as the GOAT which he clearly is not, so yeah still over rated
Ultimately his legacy is leaving basketball worse off than when he found it. He is a great individual player and yes my post was sarcastic but too many people think he's the GOAT so I would say he qualifies as overrated.
Nah, 2018 Kevin Love was an all-star and there were other good players on that team they were just badly outgunned by the Warriors. They made a bunch of trades before the deadline orchestrated by Lebron.
Which is exactly what this thread is about if his legacy is "ultimate role player" it belies his achievements.
Good point. With players like Shaq, harden and melo, id say anybody who is even remotely knowledgeable about sports knows exactly what those guys were/are
There is no GOAT of a team sport. MJ is the GOAT of shooting guards, Lebron is the GOAT of power forwards. Honus Wagner is the GOAT of shortstops, etc.
If Ray had been on those Lakers teams instead of Kobe they win 5 titles instead of 3. Better teammate, better spacing, better gravity, way more clutch, and he'd have committed defensively in a way he didn't really at that point in his career.