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Who is the *most* indispensible player among current AL pennant contenders?

Jon Garland 0 (0.00%)
Roy Halladay 83 (77.57%)
Derek Jeter 2 (1.87%)
Manny Ramirez 2 (1.87%)
Mariano Rivera 1 (0.93%)
Francisco Rodriguez 2 (1.87%)
Miguel Tejada 16 (14.95%)
Mike Young 1 (0.93%)
Who is the *most* indispensible player among current AL pennant contenders? | 4 comments | Create New Account
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Craig B - Saturday, July 09 2005 @ 06:19 PM EDT (#122056) #
Hey, I love Roy, and Roy is great, but Miguel Tejada:

* is the best player in the American League

* is the acknowledged leader of the Orioles (the "de facto team captain" as one recent story put it) and a superb motivator to boot

* plays every single day (literally - he hasn't missed a game in five years)

* plays defense in the middle of the diamond, and plays it well

* is the Orioles' cleanup hitter, their best power hitter, and their most consistent and reliable bat

* plays hard every at-bat of every game

You couldn't create a more indispensable player if you tried.
Magpie - Saturday, July 09 2005 @ 06:32 PM EDT (#122063) #
I love Tejada - he's the only other guy I even considered - it's just that Doc has dragged a .450 team into the fringe of the pennant race.

Maybe it's just that it's easier to see what the team's like without Halladay, because they are without him four games out of five.

Ben - Saturday, July 09 2005 @ 06:33 PM EDT (#122066) #
You couldn't create a more indispensable player if you tried.

Tejada may be teh most indespensible in the AL, but I think the prototypical indespensible player would be Bonds, do you really think the Giants would be scuffling in fourth place in teh NL west if he was fully healthy? But since the question is for the AL I'll agree with you, Tejada may be the man
Craig B - Saturday, July 09 2005 @ 06:52 PM EDT (#122075) #
I don't agree, actually, much as I respect Bonds. For one thing, Bonds is no longer a defensive asset in the outfield, and at any rate a leftfielder is hardly indispensable even if he is good. Also, Bonds is not a leader as such, not so as to make the players around him better.

Also, he's injured quite a lot. I don't just mean now, but recently he's missed a fair number of games.

Barry is certainly indispensable to his team's offense, although the sheer number of walks he gets these days puts a lot of pressure on the players hitting behind him...
Who is the *most* indispensible player among current AL pennant contenders? | 4 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.