All time great infielder. 1600 innings in the infield puts him right up there with Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel.

What a career!

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Frank's getting triggered and it's only March.

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You don't need a certain number of innings to have been a great defensive ball player.

Fwiw I think he's one of the best infielders I've ever seen.

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Wait until the season begins Holy Moly. By the time the Sox are 22 games out on May 31 he may have a coronary.

going to be a fun summer

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Oh yeah.

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Go Cubs!!!!

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

The Sox fans really need a Cubs prospect to bust. ASAP. They need a victory.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Well... they'll have about 62 or so this season.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

It's hilarious hearing Cub fans rally by Matches and spin "Don't think Baez is as good as Ozzie Smith defensively" into "Sox fans are melting down and need a victory!". Except Darko. He knew that shit was ridiculous. He's one of the good ones.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Cubs fans have gotten more defensive. Bizarre for a team that won a title.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Nobody is melting down. We are pointing and laughing at how ridiculous Cubs fans sound. Myself nor any other Sox fan put any sort of ceiling on Baez or disparaged his career at all. We have simply correctly stated that he is not yet an all time great.

I thought it would not and could not get any crazier than Cubs fans doing trust falls and jumping into the Chicago River on parade day. I guess I have severely underestimated the Cubs fanbase

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"Cubs Fans" is such a broad brush. They have been coming out of the woodwork for 2-3 years now. I actually feel a little skeevy telling people that
I am a Cubs fan because I think that tends to indicate that I have become a fan within the past 5 years rather than the mid 80s when it actually happened.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

You simply worry too much about what other people think.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I probably do but fortunately I don't have many friends and don't talk to a whole lot of people about the Cubs. I stay out of Cubs business!

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Are you going to cry?

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The Reds had a guy named Jerry Lynch back in the 50s and 60s who was described in Baseball Digest as "too good to play everyday." Javy Baez is apparently the modern day Jerry Lynch.

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Ecclesiastes 5:8

From laughing too hard?

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

He's by no means the best defensive infielder ever. Ozzie Smith, Omar Vizquel and Mark Belanger come to mind without even thinking hard.

But I'll agree with Joe Posnanski that it's fair to call him the best tagger ever.
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/219434958 ... ay-in-wbc/

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Omar Vizquel wasn't that good. Look at this numbers.

In "part time play", Baez had a 2.0 dWAR last season.

Omar Vizquel only surpassed that four times in his career, and he averaged 1210 innings during those seasons.

Baez did it in 973 innings.

Baez could throw up a 2.0 + dWAR each season for the next 10+ years.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Interesting. I don't often hear "he just didn't play enough to prove it" when talking about all time greats.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

We're talking about a guy that just played his first full year. Baez will be playing far more in 2017 and in the future.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

The Sultan of Syrup has had a mental breakdown and the season hasn't even started yet!

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Host of the weekly "We Fish ASA" podcast
Weekly columnist for the Northwest Herald
Bi-monthly columnist for Illinois Outdoor News magazine
Former host of The Outdoors Experience on WIND and The Great Outdoors on CLTV
http://www.wefishasa.com

Yep, and the future might be a more appropriate time to revisit this.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Correct. This is exactly why it is insane to proclaim Baez as one of the all time great defensive players in the history of the game.

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Again...I believe one person and one person only claimed that.

I think Baez could currently be in the Top 2 or 3 and three different infield positions...and for me, that makes him the best current defensive player.

I was unborn and then young when Ozzie Smith played.

_________________
Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Certainly doesn't look like a top 2 or 3 defensive 3B.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

https://youtu.be/xoY9IMsO_nY?t=105

https://youtu.be/xoY9IMsO_nY?t=121

https://youtu.be/xoY9IMsO_nY?t=164

https://youtu.be/xoY9IMsO_nY?t=200

The link limit is gonna get me.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Consistency > highlights

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul