Last week, Tangotiger asked some tricky questions about figuring Replacement Level (which I’m not smart enough to answer, just in case you haven’t noticed already).
Ultimate Replacement Level Player: Another candidate!
USA TODAY Sports
Today, Tango wonders who should be the face of Replacement Level. Last week, FanGraphs suggested Alfredo Griffin. But Tango's got a different, more contemporary answer: Willie Bloomquist ... and in the process, becomes maybe the first writer in history to write Willie Bloomquist and Mariano Rivera in the same sentence:
Anyway, does anyone want to check if anyone else met the above conditions? Or, do we simply go with Willie, who has served us so well since I first nominated him seven years ago? What is fascinating about Willie is that HE NEVER GETS WORSE. If you win the worst player in the league all the way back in 2006, and you’re still playing without ever getting 500 PA in any season, you’ve really got something special. I love Willie in the same way that I love Mariano Rivera: they never get better, they never get worse. They just are there, every year, doing their thing, while everyone else around them succumbs to Father Time, or puts up some flukey year. There is no random variation when we talk about Willie and Mo.
Hey, works for me. The problem with Alfredo Griffin is that it’s really hard for a lot of today’s fans to relate to Alfredo Griffin. But who can’t relate to Willie Bloomquist?
See More:
