Happy Valentin's Day

So, pitchers and catchers reported to camp on Thursday, kicking off everyone's favorite time of year: naive outlook time. It's the time of year where Royals fans and Rangers fans and Reds fans alike can hope and dream about their teams' upcoming season. Yup. Everybody can envision the team they love winning the pennant and competing for a World Series championship (except the Pirates and the Orioles, let's face it). But Thursday wasn't just the official start to spring training. Oh no. It was also the birthday of a man I have the utmost respect for. He's handsome and smart and he's just about all I think about (no, not Robert Downey, Jr.): JMR. In addition to yours truly turning 29, another superstar celebrated with cake and ice cream on February 18th: John Valentin turned 43 years old. In between bemoaning my lost youth and pigging out on pizza, I began thinking about John Valentin and his impact as a Red Sox. This contemplation soon gave way to inspiration; inspiration for a series of articles deciding how important certain players were to the Red Sox during their time there. Since I will be living through my thirtieth baseball season this year, I decided to compile a 40-man roster of the best Red Sox from the three decades of my life (1981-2010).

For starters, I'll let you in on some parameters. For a position player to qualify for a chance to make the squad, he must have played the equivalent of three seasons of baseball for the Red Sox. I used the minimum plate appearance requirement of 502 (which determines qualifiers for batting average and the like) and multiplied it by three. Thus, it takes 1506 plate appearances to be considered. Similarly, 162 innings pitched (the magic number for pitching rate stats) multiplied by three is 486 innings pitched. With that sorted out, I decided to start with John Valentin's primary position of shortstop.

Starting Shortstop: Nomar Garciaparra

Nomar is clearly the best shortstop to play for the Sox over the last thirty years. Sure, trading him away may have been the move that brought a World Series title to Boston, but that doesn't mean he was any less awesome in his prime. I remember watching the All-Star festivities in a year shortly after Nomar, Jeter and A-Rod had emerged as the new generation of slugging shortstops. A-Rod was in the broadcast booth, and I remember him summarizing the three of them by saying: "Jeter wins the most, I make the most money and Nomar's the best." I'm glad A-Rod grew out of his humbleness, but the fact remains, at that point A-Rod was probably right. Nomar's numbers as a Red Sox were ridiculous, particularly during his two peak years ('99-'00). Nomar hit .365/.426/.601, averaging 24 homers, 46 doubles and 100 RBI over that span. Extending two seasons in either direction does not significantly diminish these totals, either (and even improves some of his power numbers). When you're naming the top shortstop, nobody else deserves to be in the conversation. Except maybe...

Backup Shortstop: John Valentin

It's not just because the article headline bears his name, he actually deserves to make this team. Between the years of 1989 and 2003, the Red Sox actually had stability at shortstop. Until Nomar arrived to stay in 1997, Valentin led the team in games played at the position for four years running. During that stretch, he sported a nifty .295/.379/.478 line and averaged 15 homers with 69 RBI. His 1995 was particularly nutty. He hit 27 home runs, knocked in 102, stole 20 bases and had an OPS of .931 - in a strike-shortened season! His move to third base makes him all the more flexible and deserving of a spot on the active roster.

In The Minors Shortstop: Luis Rivera

Remember when I said this position was stable from 1989 to 2003? Well, this handsome fella locked down the spot from '89 to '92. It was Luis battling for the last SS spot with Glenn Hoffman, who I never saw play, and who I doubt had cool glasses like Luis. Their stats are almost identical, so I think I'm justified in giving the spot to this guy:

That brings to a close this first installment of Thirty Years, Forty Men. Stay tuned to find out if Randy Kutcher is the starting right fielder when I reveal three more players next week.