Judge is about as valid a choice as Koufax. Absolutely ridiculous of course, but not any more still than Koufax. There are multiple living pitchers who were more than twice as valuable as Koufax and also did not use steroids. Maybe there should be a separate poll for favorite player, as that is not the same thing as greatest as many seem to insist upon.
Ryan was not amazing on any given night. He lost almost as much as he won, and posted an ERA 12% over the league average. This is lower than Gary Nolan. Over 300 pitchers in MLB history did a better job of not giving up runs (a pitchers primary job) relative to time and place. Ryan is a highlight reel with some huge strengths (longevity, strikeouts) and some huge weaknesses (walks, walks, walks). It doesn't matter if you strike out half the hitters when you walk in tons of runs. 350 K's is nice, 200 BB's undoes that value.
I would probably pick Berra as the all-time catcher, but Bench has a good argument for it. Schmidt seems pretty clearly the best 3B all time. Bonds is the best LF, Williams for those who pretend the steroid era did not exist. I take Wagner but A-Rod has a claim (or to 3B). I don't think any other living player has a real claim to being the all-time best at their position in a starting 9. Pedro has a case for greatest peak value pitcher ever, but not greatest pitcher.
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