So who was better ( Kaline or Clemente) ?

[G1911]

Originally Posted by cgjackson222

Yes, I was looking at 1968 thru the end of his career. You have decided to exclude his final two years, which obviously changes things quite a bit.

You are repeating that "he was a league average bat his last two years"
My point is that when you are a league average bat playing DH or 1B that is really an average or below average bat for those positions.

You also seem to think that dWAR is meaningless. Fine, that is your opinion. But perhaps his team thought he shouldn't play Rightfield any more because he wasn't good at it.

As I’ve said from the get go, I agree his last two years. A league average bat DH is not valuable. Absolutely nobody has said Kaline was great in 73 or 74. He was also not average or below average the five years before that though, as was originally argued. He was far above average starters at either of his positions (mainly OF). He was posting strong batting lines those five years. His bay isn’t in decline until 1973, not 1968.

I also agreed he probably wasn’t a star on defense anymore and Clemente was better. I don’t think we disagree; I’ve certainly written nothing contradictory to your point here. I don’t doubt moving him to DH at 39 was a good idea.