Quote:
Originally Posted by dgo71
The lack of support Jeff Kent received is criminal. His stats are impressive in general, but when compared to second basemen he is in the top 3 (1st in many) on just about every offensive stat that matters.
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The fact that that Kent has stayed on 4 years is not criminal when compared to other, arguably, more qualified. In their first years on the ballot the following players didn't make it past 5%:
Bobby Grich only got 2.6%
Lou Whitaker - 2.9%
Willie Randolph - 1.1%
A quick comparison in stats that are used to compare between era and teams:
Name****WAR****oWAR****dWAR****OPS+
J. Kent****55.2****59.3****-0.6****123
B.Grich****70.9****62.1****16.2****125
L. Whitaker****74.9****67.1****15.4****117
W. Randolph****65.5****53.6****19.4****104
The only stats that seem to matter to you are HR, SLG, RBI (since these are the only stats he is top 3 for first basemen). His HR only was in the top 10 once in his career (2002-37, 7th). RBI top 10 6 times, but top 5 only three times. His slugging only made it in top 10 twice.
His negative dWAR (also his runs from fielding being -42, and leading the league in errors 4 times) shows that he could have been put at another position as he wasn't any better than the average replacement player at 2nd base. You do this and his comparison for Offensive play doesn't hold up anymore.
Also you need take into account his offensive stats were inflated batting after Bonds. His time with the Giants his WAR average was 5.23, the rest of his career his average was 2.16.