What is the Best Defensive OF Ever? (1 Viewer)

[Smack Tripper]

I did a search to find the contenders and couldn't come up with much.

I should mention this is spurred by seeing Trout and Borjous in LA and a former all world guy in Hunter rounding things out.

Of course, the turn of the century era angels had variations of Edmonds, Anderson, Erstad and Salmon on their primes.

I remember the Twins were pretty good in the Jones-Lawton-Hunter days.

Tampa had Crawford and BJ Upton, and not much else

80's Cardinals had speed with McGhee and Coleman and Van Slyke but I didn't watch them day to day.

97 Mariners had Cruz Jr. Griffey and Buhner

87 Angels had Pettis and Devon White roaming...

who else am I missing here?

 

[ditkaburgers]

Going back further

Billyball era A's with Dwayne Murphy, Rickey Henderson & Tony Armas. Murphy was a perennial Gold Glover in CF and the corners were above average.

1984 Tigers had Chet Lemon, Larry Herndon and Kirk Gibson, who all played CF at some point.

The Expos had a few years with Andre Dawson in CF before his knees went, Ellis Valentine and his tremendous arm in RF, and Warren Cromartie who was TZ positive in LF.

 

[jfranco77]

The first one I thought of was the 03 Mariners with Ichiro, Randy Winn and Mike Cameron. The Armas/Murphy/Rickey A's are also very strong. Going back a lot further, the '27 Pirates had the Waners and Kiki Cuyler together for about half a season. I think the Royals had Dye/Damon/Beltran back when Damon wasn't horrible in the field.

 

[Premier]

For one game in 2010, the Rays trotted out an OF of Upton, Crawford and Jennings. Had to be the fastest OF ever.

 

[Smack Tripper]

For one game in 2010, the Rays trotted out an OF of Upton, Crawford and Jennings. Had to be the fastest OF ever.

How would that have compared to a Baldelli/Crawford/Upton lineup?

 

[Don Quixote]

Obviously before any of our times, but any outfield referred to as the "Golden Outfield" should probably be mentioned -- Harry Hooper, Tris Speaker, and Duffy Lewis.

 

[PIK95]

Didn't Toronto have a really good one with Devon White and others? I'm spacing right now.

 

[brewer]

76 Red Sox

Jim Rice

Fred Lynn

Dwight Evans

 

[ditkaburgers]

Didn't Toronto have a really good one with Devon White and others? I'm spacing right now.

White had Joe Carter manning one of the corners for all of his years in Toronto. A few years earlier, the Blue Jays had Lloyd Moseby in CF and Jesse Barfield in RF but George Bell was pretty average in LF.

 

[ditkaburgers]

76 Red SoxJim RiceFred LynnDwight Evans

Yaz won a GG as an OF as late as 1977. His advanced stats for that year are good but I'm sure there were a lot of sentimental votes for him. The arrival of Dewey Evans pushed Yaz back to a part-time OF role in 78 and Rice played more LF as well. Rice was an indifferent defender at best.The early 90s Expos had GG winners Larry Walker and Marquis Grissom alongside Moises Alou, who was a decent OF before his leg injuries.

 

[jfranco77]

At some point soon the Pirates may roll out an outfield of Cutch, Starling Marte and Gorkys Hernandez. That would be something to see. Three guys who can all play a plus CF.

 

[boubucarow]

At some point soon the Pirates may roll out an outfield of Cutch, Starling Marte and Gorkys Hernandez. That would be something to see. Three guys who can all play a plus CF.

Pirates have made note of the fact that they essentially will always be looking for a true CF to play LF due to all the space out there. So I suspect they will field a contender for best defensive OF for years to come after Marte comes up.

 

[Smack Tripper]

76 Red SoxJim RiceFred LynnDwight Evans

I thought of this one. As a Yankee fan, Dewey Evans is my favorite red sock of all time for whatever reason, but when I saw Rice playing, he had slowed in left. I've heard Lynn was great in CF and Rice could play the wall, but how was he overall?

 

[Smack Tripper]

76 Red SoxJim RiceFred LynnDwight Evans

Yaz won a GG as an OF as late as 1977. His advanced stats for that year are good but I'm sure there were a lot of sentimental votes for him. The arrival of Dewey Evans pushed Yaz back to a part-time OF role in 78 and Rice played more LF as well. Rice was an indifferent defender at best.The early 90s Expos had GG winners Larry Walker and Marquis Grissom alongside Moises Alou, who was a decent OF before his leg injuries.

Good one on those Expos

 

[ditkaburgers]

At some point soon the Pirates may roll out an outfield of Cutch, Starling Marte and Gorkys Hernandez. That would be something to see. Three guys who can all play a plus CF.

Pirates have made note of the fact that they essentially will always be looking for a true CF to play LF due to all the space out there. So I suspect they will field a contender for best defensive OF for years to come after Marte comes up.

The Pirates organization's history of doing what they say isn't the greatest

 

[brewer]

At some point soon the Pirates may roll out an outfield of Cutch, Starling Marte and Gorkys Hernandez. That would be something to see. Three guys who can all play a plus CF.

Pirates have made note of the fact that they essentially will always be looking for a true CF to play LF due to all the space out there. So I suspect they will field a contender for best defensive OF for years to come after Marte comes up.

I love Cutch and he is certainly fast, but his defense is just ok. He often times doesn't get a fast break and occasionally takes bad routes to balls. Haven't seen enough of Gorkys or Marte to comment.

 

[brewer]

76 Red SoxJim RiceFred LynnDwight Evans

Yaz won a GG as an OF as late as 1977. His advanced stats for that year are good but I'm sure there were a lot of sentimental votes for him. The arrival of Dewey Evans pushed Yaz back to a part-time OF role in 78 and Rice played more LF as well. Rice was an indifferent defender at best.The early 90s Expos had GG winners Larry Walker and Marquis Grissom alongside Moises Alou, who was a decent OF before his leg injuries.

Yah, I think Yaz as an elite outfielder was over by this point which is why I went with a young Rice, who definitely played the wall well and had an excellent arm. Dewey was world class and Lynn was extremely good when he was young.