Post by Captain America on Aug 18, 2015 16:27:18 GMT -5
Less than a month ago during the real life 2015 MLB All-Star Game festivities, each team's "Franchise Four" was revealed before the All-Star Game itself. Earlier in the season, fans were asked to vote for the 4 best players in each team's franchise history out of 8 nominees. This inspired me and got me thinking...what would each BBSBL team's Franchise Four look like at this point?
Thus, I went through the site and CATO extensively to search through every team's history and see who their 4 best players were that had the biggest impact on the given team for a long period of time. I'll then show what they did for their team(s) to show what kind of impact they had. Players can be eligible for multiple teams as long as they played for 3 full seasons, but if they spent a significant portion of their careers with 1 team, I will try to not consider them as part of another team as well. Longevity with the same team will be valued quite a bit here. I'll also provide 4 additional players per team as honorable mention nominees to make it look like an 8-nominee fan ballot like it was in reality.
We move onto the AL South teams here.
Atlanta Braves
SP Francisco Cordova (1999-2003)
- Won the 2000 NL Cy Young Award, with 26 wins, a 2.19 ERA, 240 strikeouts and 3 shutouts
- Won 81 games across parts of 5 seasons with Braves, with a 2.92 ERA, 1013 strikeouts (2nd in team history) and 5 shutouts
- Represented the Braves in the 2000 All-Star Game
- Helped lead the Braves to their 2nd championship in 2003
SS Chipper Jones (1996-2004)
- Braves career leader in average, OBP, slugging, OPS, hits, runs, home runs, RBI and walks
- Went to 3 All-Star Games with Braves in 1996, 1999 and 2000
- Led the Braves to their 2 championships in 1996 and 2003
SP Mike Lincoln (1998-2003)
- Won 74 games with Braves across 6 seasons, with a 2.77 ERA, 883 strikeouts and 6 shutouts
- Made 2 trips to the All-Star Game with Braves in 2002 and 2003
- Helped lead the Braves to their 2nd championship in 2003
- A member of BBSBL Hall of Fame
SP Greg Maddux (1996-2000)
- Won 1996 NL Cy Young Award, with 22 wins, a 2.19 ERA (led NL) and 98 strikeouts
- Braves career leader in wins, complete games and shutouts
- Made 5 consecutive trips to the All-Star Game between 1996-2000
- Won an NL Gold Glove Award with Braves in 2000
- Led the Braves to their World Series championship in 1996
- Member of the BBSBL Hall of Fame as a Brave
Honorable Mentions: Javy Lopez, Nate McLouth, Robb Nen, Jason Schmidt
Baltimore Orioles
SP Ryan Anderson (2003-2012)
- Won 151 games for Orioles over 10 seasons, with a 3.48 ERA, 1911 strikeouts, 57 complete games and 18 shutouts
- Made 2 trips to the All-Star Game with Orioles in 2007 and 2011
- Helped lead the Orioles to the postseason twice in 2004 and 2011
1B Jack Cust (2000-present)
- Orioles career leader in average, hits, runs, doubles, home runs, RBI and walks
- Has made 4 All-Star Game appearances in 2002, 2004, 2007 and 2010
- Led the Orioles to the postseason 4 times in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2011, including an AL pennant in 2002
SS Jose Mendoza (2002-2014)
- 2nd in Orioles career leaders in hits, runs, home runs and RBI
- Made 3 All-Star Game appearances in 2004, 2009 and 2011
- Helped lead the Orioles to the postseason 3 times in 2002, 2004 and 2011, including an AL pennant in 2002
SP Mike Mussina (1996-2003)
- Won consecutive AL Cy Young Awards in 1996 (23 wins, 3.14 ERA, 206 strikeouts, 2 shutouts) and 1997 (23 wins, 2.80 ERA, 203 strikeouts, 5 shutouts)
- Orioles career leader in wins, ERA, complete games and shutouts
- Made 3 All-Star Game appearances with Orioles in 1998, 2001 and 2002
- Led the Orioles to 2 postseason appearances in 2000 and 2002, including an AL pennant in 2002
Honorable Mentions: Roberto Alomar, Ernest Czech, Rafael Palmeiro, Arthur Rhodes
Florida Marlins
1B/3B/LF/RF/DH Miguel Cabrera (2003-present)
- Has won a record 8 MVP Awards; 5 in NL (2009-2013), 3 in AL (2015-2017)
- Has won 9 consecutive in-game MVP Awards between 2009-2017
- Marlins career leader in average, OBP, slugging, OPS, hits, runs, doubles, home runs, RBI and walks
- Has made 13 consecutive All-Star Game appearances between 2005-2017
- Led the Marlins to 12 consecutive postseason appearances beginning in 2006, including 7 World Series championships in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2017
SP Yu Darvish (2012-2017)
- Won 2016 AL Cy Young Award with 28 wins, a 1.92 ERA (led AL), 270 strikeouts and 2 shutouts
- Won 2 in-game AL Cy Young Awards in 2014 and 2016
- Threw no-hitter vs Giants in 2013
- Made 3 consecutive All-Star Game appearances between 2014-2016
- Helped lead the Marlins to 6 postseason between 2012-2017, including 3 championships in 2014, 2016 and 2017
LF/RF Jason Kubel (2005-2011)
- Won 2005 NL Rookie of the Year Award
- Hit .291 over 7 seasons with Marlins, with 249 doubles, 195 home runs, 45 RBI and 477 walks
- Made 4 straight trips to the All-Star Game with Marlins between 2008-2011
- Helped lead the Marlins to 6 consecutive postseason appearances between 2006-2011, including 4 consecutive World Series championships between 2008-2011
SP CC Sabathia (2000-2003, 2005-2010)
- Won 2002 NL Cy Young Award with Marlins, with 25 wins (led NL), a 2.36 ERA, 280 strikeouts (led NL) and 7 shutouts (led NL)
- Marlins career leader in wins, strikeouts, complete games and shutouts
- Made 5 All-Star Game appearances with Marlins in 2000, 2002, 2006, 2009 and 2010
- Helped lead the Marlins to 7 trips to the postseason, including 3 consecutive championships between 2008-2010
Honorable Mentions: Luis Rivas, Leon Sabin, Michael Wuertz, Jordan Zimmermann
Tampa Bay Rays
SP Dicky Gonzalez (2007-2011)
- Rays career leader in wins, complete games and shutouts
- Went to 2 All-Star Games with Rays in 2008 and 2009
- Helped the Rays make 4 consecutive postseason appearances between 2007-2010
SP Kason Gabbard (2014-2016)
- Won 74 games in 3 seasons with an ERA of 2.52 or better in each season
- Went to 2 All-Star Games with Rays in 2014 and 2015
- Helped lead the Rays to 3 consecutive postseason appearances between 2014-2016, including an AL pennant in 2015
LF Matt Holliday (2005-2009)
- Won 2009 AL MVP Award, hitting .333 with 37 doubles, 30 home runs, 111 RBI, 59 walks, 114 runs scored (led AL) and a .948 OPS
- Rays career leader in average, OBP, slugging, OPS, doubles and home runs
- Made 2 trips to the All-Star Game with Rays in 2007 and 2008
- Led the Rays to 3 consecutive postseason appearances between 2007-2009
SP Junichi Tazawa (2013-2016)
- Won 84 games with the Rays and posted a sub-2.50 ERA in each of his 3 full seasons with Rays
- Made 3 consecutive All-Star Game appearances with Rays between 2014-2016
- Led the Rays to 3 consecutive postseason appearances between 2014-2016, including an AL pennant in 2015
- Threw no-hitter vs Pirates in 2015 ALCS
Honorable Mentions: Jeff Bailey, Chad Bradford, Carlos Quentin, Jeff Weaver
NL West teams up next!
