The Brady (Anderson) Bunch

Red(s)HawksFan

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Jan 23, 2009
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Shouldn't Will Middlebrooks be on this list? He was pretty darn good for two seasons before he just cratered. He's why they dealt Youkilis away.
While it's arguable that Cherington felt comfortable trading Youk because of Middlebrooks' performance to that point, that wasn't the reason he did it. Middlebrooks had been good prior to the Youk trade: 41 games, .326/.365/.583/.949, 9 HR. He also had a BABIP of .380 to that point.

Post-trade 2012 Middlebrooks: 34 games, .244/.277/.423/.700, 6 HR, .282 BABIP.
Post-2012 Middlebrooks: 272 games, .210/.256/.356/.611, 28 HR, .259 BABIP.

Conclusion, Middlebrooks never had even one good season. He had a good two months at the start and then it was downhill from there.
 

Jason Bae

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Jul 23, 2021
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Even Middlebrooks' defense was kind of disappointing considering he was seen as a future plus defender.
 

bakahump

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I never understood the Live Ball Season. Sure there were Brady Andersons, whose HRs effectively doubled. And there was Mcgwire who always hit a ton and got a little boost.

Why didnt all the "big name guys" go crazy? Seems like they got a slight boost (5 ish hrs??) and it was the mediocre guys like Anderson who exploded.
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
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Zoilo Versalles is regarded as the best player to win the MVP. 7.2 of Versalles 12.6 career WAR came in his 1965 MVP season, or 57% of his total career worth.

Cody Bellinger has had 47% of his career WAR come from his 2019 MVP winning season, although he is still playing.
 

Tony Pena's Gas Cloud

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Jun 12, 2019
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How about Scott Feldman. 17-8 with a 114 ERA+ and ace of an 87 win Ranger team in '09. It was the only season he was above .500 as a starter and one of only two seasons he won more than eight games.
 

BoSox Rule

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Jul 15, 2005
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I never understood the Live Ball Season. Sure there were Brady Andersons, whose HRs effectively doubled. And there was Mcgwire who always hit a ton and got a little boost.

Why didnt all the "big name guys" go crazy? Seems like they got a slight boost (5 ish hrs??) and it was the mediocre guys like Anderson who exploded.
Is the season you’re talking about 1987? McGwire was a rookie and hit a then record 49, but certainly had real power. Brady Anderson wasn’t even in the league.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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I never understood the Live Ball Season. Sure there were Brady Andersons, whose HRs effectively doubled. And there was Mcgwire who always hit a ton and got a little boost.

Why didnt all the "big name guys" go crazy? Seems like they got a slight boost (5 ish hrs??) and it was the mediocre guys like Anderson who exploded.
I think you got your years a little confused, but for the guys already hitting balls THAT hard, there's little more than can be done for them. They're near the upper limit already. Guys like Anderson weren't. They had a larger jump.