ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - This is another example of how the Major League Baseball lockout has been demoralizing for fans everywhere. With nothing but collective bargaining reports to look at, sites like ESPN are forced to create content like this rankings – with some egregious errors – just to keep the click machine fed.
This site is ranking the "Top 100 MLB players of all time." On Wednesday, Nos. 50-26 were released.
Baseball fans were quick to jump on the ranking of former St. Louis Cardinals, LA Angles and LA Dodgers first baseball Albert Pujols versus former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter fall. They've got Jeter at No. 28 – two spots ahead of Pujols.
Odd.
Here are the career stats for Jeter:
.310/.377/.440, 260 HR, 1,311 RBI, 3,465 H, 71.3 bWAR
And for Pujols:
.297/.375/.544, 679 HR, 2,150 RBI, 3,301 H, 99.6 bWAR
Sure, Jeter has his five World Series titles. But Pujols is a three-time National League MVP and three-time Major League Player of the Year (awarded by TSN). And Pujols still earned himself two rings.
"The Machine" was the most feared hitter in baseball for more than a decade, never finishing worse than No. 9 in the NL MVP race between 2001 to 2011. He had arguably the greatest start to his career of anyone in baseball history.
Jeter was a winner. His highlight-reel defensive plays and track record as a clutch hitter – especially in the postseason – are hard to top. But defensive metrics have exposed him as the worst fielder ever measured by Defensive Runs Saved (-162).
Pujols is among the best defensive first basemen, with 138 Defensive Runs Saved.
Here's how others have reacted to the ranking:
ESPN does explain that the methodology of the ranking is based on "career WAR, Hall of Fame status, peak performance and overall contributions to the game," which does give Jeter a boost being the undisputed face of the most famous baseball franchise in the world for nearly two decades.
If they wanted to spark some debate and controversy in this ranking, they succeeded.
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