Comments on: Larkin Jeter Overdrive

By: williamnyy23

williamnyy23 — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 03:15:45 +0000

I’d rephrase it this way: If Larkin had been healthier, he may have been Derek Jeter.

By: Raf

Raf — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 01:56:18 +0000

[14] Just as important was O’Neill not beefing with Piniella as to what kind of hitter he should be.

By: joejoejoe

joejoejoe — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 23:05:57 +0000

[13] Good point but I think O’Neill was more of a natural born redass, not Red, and the intensity of playing in the Bronx was a better match for his personality.

By: monkeypants

monkeypants — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:58:53 +0000

[12] Though Paul O’Neill was born in Columbus OH. In Some ways, Paul O’Neill lifetime Red would have been the better story.

By: joejoejoe

joejoejoe — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:16:58 +0000

Leave them both in their respective cities. I love statistics and think they illuminate the game but maybe it’s more than trivia that Larkin was born and raised in Cincinnati. Larkin played at Moeller High. Jeter wrote in his HS yearbook that he wanted to play SS for the Yankees. It’s entirely possible that if you swapped Jeter and Larkin both would have been good but not great players. Hypothetical questions almost always take talent as a natural given but I think success is nurtured a lot more that we care to admit.

Take Paul O’Neill. Would you rather have Paul O’Neill, Red or Paul O’Neill, Yankee? How about Javier Vasquez, Yankee or Javier Vasquez, Not Yankee? I don’t think either Jeter or Larkin could have had a better career in another situation.

By: RagingTartabull

RagingTartabull — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:52:26 +0000

Love me some Lark

By: thelarmis

thelarmis — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:51:45 +0000

jeter. plus, if we’re taking it exactly how it’s played out:

Jeter: 5 Rings

Larkin: 1 Ring

woba should be in our starting rotation this year. so should andy… ; )

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:45:40 +0000

I didn’t watch Larkin enough. I was in college and away from the game during his prime. Wish I had seen him more.

By: Bruce Markusen

Bruce Markusen — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:41:18 +0000

I’ll take Jeter, the more durable of the two. But I like them both.

By: monkeypants

monkeypants — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:36:59 +0000

Jeter has (so far) a higher career OBP (.385 v. .371), a higher OPS (.837 v. .815), higher OPS+ (119 v. 116), higher career WAR (70.1 v. 68.9), much higher oWAR (83.7 v. 66.6), which means that much of Larkin’s relative value is tied up in his vastly superior defense, the most problematic aspect of the game in terms of quantifying and objective analysis).

One other thing, in 16 season Jeter has played in almost exactly 2300 G (144 G/Year), missing significant time in only one season. Larkin was a walking injury, playing about 2200 G in 19 seasons (116 G/year) and surpassing 150 games only four seasons.

I think that they are both HoF. My gut tells me that Jeter has been the clearly better player. But even we assume that they were about equal, I’ll take the far more durable player.

So, I pick Jeter any day of the week and twice for a double header.

By: Chyll Will

Chyll Will — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:34:17 +0000

[5] Alley-oop! Way to throw it down Diane! >;)

By: Diane Firstman

Diane Firstman — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:17:19 +0000

[4]

THIS “person” possesses the best woka of all time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fozzie_Bear

By: Chyll Will

Chyll Will — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:05:09 +0000

(WPS) I wonder who had a better woka btw the two?

By: Jon DeRosa

Jon DeRosa — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:54:10 +0000

both for the HOF, Jeter for my team.

By: ms october

ms october — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:53:45 +0000

[1] left off a number – woba of 371

By: ms october

ms october — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:50:25 +0000

i’ll take the dude with the career 385 obp, the woba of 37, wrc+ of 128 and flawed as the stat is war of 70.4