Rankings/List

If you were looking to choose your greatest ever Yankee lineup, based on single-season offensive performances, where would you start?

For a team that has 15 Hall of Famers and dozens more legends, it is no easy task.

Were Joe McCarthy's Yankees from the mid-to-late 1930s superior to the players that Casey Stengel managed in the early 1950s?

How do today's stars—Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez—compare to the heroes of decades past—names like Phil Rizutto, Babe Ruth, and Yogi Berra?

Is power more important than speed? Is the past worth more the present?

With the off season in full swing, I thought this would be a good time to take a look back at what baseball fans everywhere were buzzing about ten years ago.

The off season leading up to the 2000 season was a bit short on talented free agents, but was anything but short on blockbuster trades.

I have taken an in depth look at each transaction, given the statistics that the players involved put up in the coming 2000 season, and then ranked them from 1-20.

I hope you enjoy this look back, and I look forward to your comments as you reflect on what your favorite team was doing ten years ago.

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Baseball is my passion, or as Nick Turturro says... "I breathe baseball!" For the last 25 years the focus of that passion has been the New York Mets. So this list is MY ALL-TIME lineup. These are the players that have been the objects of my man-crushes... the guys who have been the driving force behind this fan's highs.... and lows (oh, so many lows...).

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Now that the first decade of the 21st century is coming to an end, it's a good time to look back at the great players of the decade.

Many players have graced the diamond this decade, but only 14 will make the cut for the all-decade team.

*Designated Hitter isn’t actually the position DH. It’s just an extra hitter.

Catcher: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

Were Carlos Delgado and John Olerud more valuable with the bat than Keith Hernandez—a star with the glove two decades earlier?

Is David Wright's combination of speed and power enough to see off Howard Johnson—the All-Star who took the current face of the franchise under his wing this winter to iron out his swing?

Is power more important than speed? Is the past worth more the present?

It all points to one question with hundreds of possibilities: Which New York Met had the greatest offensive season at his position?

The first article I ever wrote for Bleacher Report was my 1990s All-Decade Cubs team, to which the link is below:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/164257-all-1990s-chicago-cubs-team

So here it is, the sequel, my All-2000s Cubs Team. This one was a lot less painful to compile as I did not have to include such past studs as Steve Buechele and Brian McRae like I did for my 1990s team.

However, as awful of a decade for Cubs baseball as the 1990s was, the 2000s were almost worse for Cubs fans, as heartbreak after heartbreak be felled the North Siders.

I recently wrote an article on the 10 best Starting Pitchers from the first decade of the 2000s. I thought it would be a good idea to write the same type of article on the 10 best from the last decade of the 1900s.

A minimum of 200 games is required to be considered for this list.

Who would you rather have in your outfield: Torii Hunter or Larry Hisle?

What was more impressive: Ed Battey's 26 home runs in 1963 or Joe Mauer's 28 in 2009?

Is power more important than speed? Do achievements from the past outweigh successes in the present?

It all points to one question with hundreds of possibilities: Which Twin had the greatest offensive season at his position?

Major League baseball has been asking fans this same question in an effort to choose each team's best-ever collection of stars.

They are calling it MLB 9s.

Yes, I realize that it is, in fact December. 2010 Opening Day is 124 days away and it seems like a lot longer. To hold me over until then, I will immerse myself in stats and projections and envy Matthew Berry's awesomeness. This list is basically a collection of the best and brightest players of the 2009 regular season. Enjoy.

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