Bonds, best left fielder ever?

[josphII]

Originally posted by: classy

Originally posted by: orion7144
Maybe the best on roids and hitting but not fielding.

Umm excuse me. Bonds has been throwing guys out at the plate for years. Even to the point very few even try to run on him. I think the guy has won like 5-7 gold gloves I believe.

yeah but his two most memorable moments are not throwing out sid bream (i still laugh everytime i think about that) and his muffed ball vs the angels two years ago

 

[RabidMongoose]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: RabidMongoose
I think that it comes down to Williams vs. Bonds...which one was better? That's a pretty tough comparison since they're both 2 of the top 3 hitters ever.

Here's an interesting but short ESPN article about this very topic:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/caple_jim/1259487.html

that was 2 1/2 seasons ago and caple put bonds ahead of teddy baseball. if he were to right that article today, bonds would be the hands down winner.

Oops. I didn't realize it was that old. Even better for Bonds then.

I'm curious to see where they would rank with more advanced statistics. It's kind of amazing to see that Williams had almost a .500 OBP over his entire career. I 'think' that Williams might edge out Bonds in that respect because of the better OBP, but Bonds has much more playing time and isn't even slowing down right now. But then the defense and speed for Bonds could make it equal or better.

Too bad for baseball that Williams lost a lot of playing time because of the war. He missed out on a lot of prime playing years.

 

[josphII]

Originally posted by: Lager
Is Bonds the best left fielder ever to play the game?

I doubt steroids help get him all those walks. The guy has amazing vision to lay off anything that is not a strike and makes solid contact in every bat. He can hit for power, average, draw walks, and shows that one player on a team can make all the difference. Giants without Bonds will be last years Tigers. Bonds has the quickest swing ever.

After Bonds, who is the next best left fielder in your opinion?

the reason why he gets the walks is because pitchers respect his power. and if your gonna claim that roids is responsible for his power then its most certainly responsible for his walks too. and the reason barry walks so much has very little to do with his eye and almost everything to do with the fact that pitchers arent even trying to throw it down the middle. barry has probably received the most unintentional-intentional walks ever if you know what i mean. bonds might very well be the best left fielder ever or even best player ever but he'll never get the respect that he arguably deserves given the era he plays in (inflated offensive numbers) and the roids allegations.

 

[bigredguy]

hardly

 

[jjp]

Originally posted by: Lager
Is Bonds the best left fielder ever to play the game?

I doubt steroids help get him all those walks. The guy has amazing vision to lay off anything that is not a strike and makes solid contact in every bat. He can hit for power, average, draw walks, and shows that one player on a team can make all the difference. Giants without Bonds will be last years Tigers. Bonds has the quickest swing ever.

After Bonds, who is the next best left fielder in your opinion?

Steroids do help him get all those walks. Everyone pitches around him....even when they're pitching to him.

 

[BigSmooth]

Originally posted by: RabidMongoose

Originally posted by: Curly
When you say "best left fielder", to me it implies that the player is known for his fielding, not hitting. Bonds may be an excellent hitter but he is not that good of fielder. I wonder how well he would do if he took off the body armor and had to stand back off the plate.

Yeah, he's such a horrible fielder...I mean he only won 8 gold glove awards!

Although I do think Bonds was a pretty good fielder when he was younger, I think most baseball fans would agree that Gold Gloves are a very flawed measure of a player's defensive ability.

For me, it's between Williams and Bonds. Williams was probably a better hitter overall as his batting average, OBP, and slugging percentage are all higher than Bonds', although the difference is relatively slight. Plus Barry has struck out a lot more. As Caple mentioned, Williams was robbed of some prime years so his career counting totals are a little lower than they should be, plus his era saw a lot fewer home runs (he led the league in '47 with just 32). Williams won the Triple Crown twice, a very difficult feat which shows Williams' dominance vs. his comtemporaries.
Bonds' speed on the basepaths was clearly superior, but I consider runs scored just as important as stolen bases. Williams was on base so much that he didn't even TRY to steal, and he led the league in runs scored 6 times, something Barry has only done once.

Although I believe Williams was a greater offensive force, I do think when all is said and done, Bonds will be considered a better overall player if you look at all 5 tools. He is putting up insane numbers and does not really show any signs of slowing down. Once he is finished, I think it will be very difficult to look at Bonds' achievements and not put him right there with Williams, if not ahead of him. I think both of them are among the top 5 baseball players of all time.

 

[her209]

Did any else read the title as:

Blonds, greatest left handers ever?

 

[anxi80]

i made the williams comment because the original thread touched down on batting ability, while playing that position. if its a combo of the 2, it'd be very close IMO. but bonds does have those golden gloves working in his favor. he can hit all these homers though, but he cant claim to the fame to be the last to hit .400. that says a lot in my book, considering the fact that parks are more hitter friendly now and the constantly adjusting strike zone. of course, the steroids deal is gonna haunt bonds now, and it even gives the bonds haters a more stable and solid argument against him and anything he does. personally to me, i could care less. records are made to be broken. its only a matter of time.