The Pyramid Rating System All-Time League and the All-Time Baltimore Orioles

As mentioned in my first article here last year, one of the side projects I have done with the Pyramid Rating System is the creation of an all-time roster for each active franchise in the majors (as well as a few non-active franchises). The selections of the all-time rosters are based largely on the “team” rankings of the Pyramid Rating System, where players with individual franchises have been ranked. i.e., Babe Ruth with the Yankees versus Babe Ruth with the Red Sox.

The inspiration for this came largely from the Great American Fantasy League, of which I am a member of as manager/owner of the Chicago Cubs. If you go to the 31-minute mark of the video embedded below you will see a feature MLB Network did on the league as part of their “Behind The Seams” series.

The other inspiration has come from seeing what others have done with this topic. Obviously, the idea of an all-time team for a single franchise is nothing new, but what I find in most every article I read about this topic is that the author rarely address the topic of how actual baseball strategy would affect how the team is run: how to set a lineup and a depth chart, playing guys out of their natural position, platoons, having a ready backup at every position in case of injury. These are factors that managers and general managers have to contend with daily basis that for the most part I feel get swept under the rug.

The idea behind this is not just to imagine what each of these teams would like look on its own but also to mirror what the Great American Fantasy League does, and put each of the teams in context of what a whole league of all-time teams would like look. What I’ve tried to do with each of these franchises is build a team and a strategy behind it for a 162-game regular season as opposed to just simply naming off the best players at each position, or just listing the best season a player had at each position.

We see it in the majors all the time. Just because someone is the best center fielder on the team doesn’t automatically mean he will be the full-time starting center fielder. If I have a great defensive backup but a bad left fielder, I may shift my All-Star center fielder over to left, not because I don’t think of him as a great center fielder, but because I’m trying to cover a weakness on the team. On a different team, the same player may be the full-time starting center fielder. No manager or GM would ever look at a player’s strengths or weaknesses independent of the rest of the team in determining what role he should play, and that is the approach I have taken here.

Another caveat I tried to include was to show how these teams would be built if they were to exist today with the game played as it is today. Every roster will feature 12 pitchers–five starters, six relievers and a spot starter who could also act as a long reliever–and just 13 position players, two of whom have to be catchers.

The overall strengths and weaknesses of each era will be reflected in how the players on the roster will be used. Bullpens will tend to be disproportionately composed of modern-day players, and rarely will you see a Deadball era player batting in the middle of the order.

For the positions at which players can be listed, I tried to focus more on what positions a player could have played during his career than the positions he did play. For example, I believe Ernie Banks could have spent his entire career playing first base and still would have had a Hall of Fame career. Same could be said for Mickey Mantle if he had been a first baseman throughout his entire career.

These types of assumptions, though, are always going to be made on historical evidence. You will never see a player like Ted Williams listed at third base. Generally speaking, a player had to play at least 10-11 percent of his total games with the team at a position to considered an option at that position, with the exception of catcher, where the threshold was roughly 15 percent.

The only exception I made to this rule was when it came to the outfield. Anyone whose primary position is listed as center field is automatically eligible to play both left and right field regardless of if he played there. So Willie Mays, Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr., Joe DiMaggio and Duke Snider are eligible at all three outfield positions in spite of their limited playing time at the corners.

A similar assumption was made for players whose primary position is listed as right field but who would also played enough games to qualify to be listed as a center fielder. These players also are eligible to be listed as a left fielder. (i.e. Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, Reggie Jackson, Sammy Sosa, etc.) In essence, this follows the Bill James defensive spectrum, but applied only to outfield.

Like the spectrum, it does not go the other way around. Someone whose primary position was left field and who qualifies as a center fielder does not automatically qualify to play right field. Tim Raines, for example, can not be used as a right fielder. Similarly, anyone who qualifies as both a left and right fielder does not automatically qualify as a center fielder. Billy Williams and Ryan Braun, for instance, can not be listed as a center fielders.

Adding these aspects gives a much better view of what you actually could do with a team as opposed to relying solely on historical stats as the be-all, end-all.

As far as the teams themselves go and my proposed “league,” here is what is included:

As you can see, a few teams listed–such as the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Athletics– no longer exist. That is because the franchise histories I am using do not follow the traditional major league timeline. As seen in the video at that start, Walter Johnson is part of the all-time Twins in the Great American Fantasy League, but in my league he is on the all-time Washington Nationals. The idea behind this is to follow more of a “city-centric” approach than going by actual franchise history.

Johnson is a good example of the problems of looking at past players from bygone franchises in the context of their more modern counterparts. Johnson may never have played a single game for the Nationals, but he never played a single game for the Twins, either. Johnson did, however, play his entire career in Washington, and in my opinion it’s the city identification that matters more than the franchise. In this regard, I’m taking an approach more akin to what the NFL did with the Cleveland Browns. Nobody would ever think to put Jim Brown or Otto Graham on the all-time Ravens squad even though that is the team that version of the Browns ultimately became.

Even this approach is met with some issues. While the Minnesota Twins all but ignore their tenure in D.C., both the Dodgers and Giants are very open about honoring their prior history in New York. The Atlanta Braves seem to be somewhere in the middle in terms of how much they’ve acknowledged their past in both Boston and Milwaukee. How much of a team’s history belongs to the city and how much of it belongs to the franchise’s own lineage seems very much open for debate with no clear answer.

The six defunct franchises I included — the Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers, Montreal Expos, New York Giants, Philadelphia Athletics and St. Louis Browns — are all teams I feel can have their own separate history independent of any currently active team. For teams like the old Washington Senators, the Milwaukee Braves and the Kansas City Athletics, I’ve included them with their current major league counterparts who play in the same cities they once did. The rationale is that, if the Milwaukee Braves never had moved to Atlanta, the Brewers never would have existed; however, even if the Braves had never left Milwaukee, it’s likely that one way or another, Atlanta eventually would have been able to land a major league team.

The final caveat I included in an effort to have this system resemble more of an actual league than an evaluation of great players in a team’s history is that I can use each player only once. Obviously, there are players whose talent would qualify them for multiple franchises. In terms of placing players using this method, I tried to factor in where a player had his best years and his overall playing time. For instance, I thought Keith Hernandez had his best years with the St. Louis Cardinals, but because of the depth the Cardinals have at first base, they actually can afford to leave the ’79 MVP off the 25-man roster. The New York Mets, however, are not as deep at first base, which is where Hernandez winds up.

As a bonus, I included full 40-man rosters as well as a full coaching staff. What I find interesting about the 40-man rosters is that in some cases they actually can act as a “minor” league of sorts–a lot of active players who may be right on the cusp of making the 25-man roster but are perhaps just a solid year or two short. Please note that as of now these teams include stats through 2015.

As for the coaching staffs, the managers and bench coaches were the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked managers in a franchise’s history. The rest of the coaching staffs were largely suggestive and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Where possible, I tried to bring in elements of realism, but it is very difficult if not impossible to determine something like who was the greatest first-base coach of all time. For the most part, I simply tried to identify players with elements that would match up with the skills required to be an effective coach at each position but who themselves would have no chance of making the 40-man all-time roster, meaning none of the coaches are currently active players. As such, take these with a grain of salt.

The final issue in the setup is in which year to begin, and that is 1891. Why 1891? First, it’s the first year for which Baseball-Reference provides neutralized stats, and it’s also about the time when the game of baseball really started to take its modern form. The Pyramid Rating System lists Ross Barnes as the 39th-greatest player in baseball history, but in reality I would consider someone like him to be inconclusive in terms of an all-time rank because of the vast rules differences of the era. The 1891 season is also early enough to include peak years for players like Cy Young, whom many still consider to be the greatest pitcher of all time.

Including the 1890s, as well as histories of bygone franchises that played in the same city, changes the dynamic of how some of these teams otherwise would look. One such franchise is the first I am doing, the Baltimore Orioles. Most view the late 1960s and early ’70s as the Golden Era of baseball in Baltimore, an era that saw the Orioles win three straight AL pennants, but it was not the first dynasty the city had ever seen. That would be the National League’s version of the Baltimore Orioles in the 1890s, a team that would win three pennants in a row behind Ned Hanlon and featured such future Hall of Famers as Hughie Jennings, Joe Kelley, Willie Keeler and John McGraw.

Baltimore Orioles

Franchises Included: (Baltimore Orioles (AA) 1891, Baltimore Orioles (NL) 1892-1899, Baltimore Orioles (AL) 1901-1902, Baltimore Orioles (AL) 1954-Present)
Number of Hall of Famers on 25-man roster: 6
Manager: Earl Weaver
Although Hanlon and his three NL titles could pose a decent argument, nobody can argue with the success of Earl Weaver. Over his 17 seasons in Baltimore, the Orioles experienced just one losing season under Weaver and had only four seasons in which they finished lower than third in the division. This type of success is reflected in the roster selection, as nearly half of the 25-man roster played under Weaver.

The number of managers who had a more successful tenure with one team as Weaver had with the Orioles could be counted on one hand, with fingers left over. It is because of this that Weaver is in the Hall of Fame and an easy selection for manager of the all-time Orioles, which is saying something considering the success of Hanlon’s tenure in Baltimore landed the man they called “Foxy Ned” in Cooperstown.

Best overall player, hitter and position player: Cal Ripken Jr.

In my opinion, the greatest shortstop in American League history. Few players in history have had more success with one team than Ripken had with the Orioles. Over a 21-year career in Baltimore, Ripken racked up two MVP awards, eight Silver Sluggers, over 3,000 hits, over 400 home runs and an incredible 19 All-Star selections. As great a hitter as Ripken was, the amazing thing is, it could be argued the best part of Ripken’s game was his defense. Although he won just two Gold Gloves in his career, Ripken probably should have had a lot more, as he was either first or second in defensive WAR in the AL eight times during his career and is fourth all-time.

With Ripken playing 675 out of his 3,001 career games (22.5 percent) at third base, he qualifies to play both third base and shortstop, and I consider him the best option at both positions. Even if we assume Ripken would be a worse defensive player at third, its still worth noting that he still has over 3,000 hits and 400 home runs for his career, something no career third baseman can say. And every single one of those hits and home runs came with the Orioles over the course of more than two decades.

Best pitcher: Mike Mussina (Honorable Mention – Jim Palmer)

Although I have Mike Mussina ranked as the best Baltimore pitcher of all time, a 1 and 1A rank would be much more reflective of how close these two are than a 1-2 rank.

People are well aware of Jim Palmer. A three-time Cy Young award winner and the ace of the Orioles staff for the better part of 19 big league seasons, Palmer carries exactly the type of resume you would expect to see from a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Palmer was among the top 10 in the AL in ERA 10 times, in WHIP nine times, innings pitched eight times, strikeouts seven times and pitching WAR eight times. It is for all these reasons that I think Palmer is one of the best number-two starters on any team’s all-time roster.

What hurts Palmer, and why there aren’t more Orioles pitchers from his era on the team, is the same reason I feel Palmer is slightly overrated. Bill James said “a great deal of what is perceived as being pitching is in fact defense,” and that is what happened with Orioles of the late ’60s and ’70s. With Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger, Paul Blair and Bobby Grich playing behind Palmer and company, there is no doubt that some of the numbers Orioles pitchers were able to put up in this era were inflated by the defense behind them.

This doesn’t mean I don’t view Palmer as a Hall of Fame-caliber pitcher. It’s just naïve to think Robinson, Blair and company didn’t have something to do with Palmer’s 2.58 ERA for the decade. It’s a combination of a great pitcher and a great defense.

This reliance on excellent defense is the key reason Mussina becomes virtually equal to Palmer. In Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), Mussina is actually top 10 in the AL more frequently with the Orioles than Palmer was for his entire career (seven times versus five), including being in the top three three times versus Palmer’s one. Also, in walk-to-strikeout ratio Mussina was among the top 10 in the AL nine times with the Orioles versus Palmer’s two top-10 appearances. Even though Palmer was more successful than Mussina by traditional stats, this also was in large part due to the era Palmer pitched in compared to Mussina’s.

As for Mussina, I feel he is one of the most criminally underrated pitchers in history. For his entire career, Mussina was in the top 10 in ERA 11 times. By comparison, Bob Gibson was among the top 10 in ERA eight times, and nobody ever would question Gibson’s worthiness of enshrinement. If not for the One Team Only rule, Mussina would be on the all-time Yankees roster as well.

Best player not on the roster due to the One Team Only rule: Frank Robinson

A former Triple Crown winner and a five-time All-Star, Frank Robinson is arguably the greatest outfielder in Orioles history. On this team, Robinson would have bolstered the lineup in a big way, especially against lefties, an area where the Orioles’ right field starter, Brady Anderson, struggles.

As great as Robinson was with the Orioles, his best years came in Cincinnati, a place where he led the NL in OPS three straight seasons to go along with 161 steals and a Gold Glove, elements of Robinson’s game that were greatly reduced by the time he got to Baltimore.

For much of his tenure in Baltimore, Robinson was a one-dimensional player, but a one-dimensional player who also was capable of smashing 30 home runs in an era when 30 home runs was good enough to be in the top 10 in the league. The One Team Only rule takes out what otherwise would have been a middle-of-the-lineup presence for the Orioles.

The rule comes into play in other areas with the team. Below, you will see Miguel Tejada listed as an Orioles reserve, which means he’s not on the Oakland roster, which you might think odd. I sort of agree. I have him listed as the second-best shortstop in A’s history after Bert Campaneris. The problem with the A’s is all their starting infielders (Jason Giambi/Mark McGwire, Mark Ellis, Campaneris and Sal Bando) can only play one infield position. Giambi and McGwire takes care of first, but I need a fourth outfielder (Jose Canseco) and a backup catcher (Kurt Suzuki).

That leaves me with two bench spots for three positions. If I added Tejada to the team I would need someone who could play both third and second. There’s really nobody like that. I can however find someone in Mike Bordick who can play short and second and just put Eric Chavez at third. This is made a bit easier by the fact that Tejada was just as good in Baltimore — if not better — than he was in Oakland, even though many fans from his heyday probably think of him as an Athletic first.

Putting Bordick on Oakland also works us back to Baltimore. Bordick had more success in Baltimore, but he is squeezed off the roster. Bordick is limited to shortstop only with Baltimore, and that’s a very deep position. Here’s how the O’s line up at shortstop:

1. Cal Ripken Jr.
2. Hughie Jennings
3. Bobby Grich
4. John McGraw (On the NY Giants as manager)
5. Mark Belanger
6. Miguel Tejada
7. Melvin Mora
8. J.J. Hardy
9. Luis Aparicio (On the White Sox in my league)
10. Mike Bordick

So, if you’re wondering why Bordick isn’t on this Orioles roster, that’s why.

Strengths

Without question, the biggest strength of the Orioles is who they have on the left side of the infield. This is evidenced by the bench role Brooks Robinson plays, which unfortunately is more or less wasted on this team. In my opinion, Robinson is the third-best player on the team, but the two players I have in front of him are Ripken and Jennings. With Ripken, we have not only arguably the greatest shortstop in American League history, but someone who proved his ability to play third base, as well. Robinson is the greatest third baseman in Orioles history, but that may be in part because Ripken played most of his career at short.

Although Robinson was arguably the greatest defensive third baseman of all time, Ripken was one of the all-time defensive greats at short, and it would stand to reason Ripken could have been one of the all-time great defensive third baseman too had he his prime years there, which is what this plan is picturing.

With Jennings, we have one of the more forgotten great players in baseball history. With the Orioles, Jennings batted a career .359, including one year (1895) when he hit .401. Jennings was also first in defensive WAR every year from 1894 to 1896, helping lead the Orioles to the National League title in all three seasons. Of all the great players for Ned Hanlon’s Orioles, Hughie Jennings was the greatest.

Despite having much less power than Robinson, Jennings would be a far better contact hitter and base stealer. Robinson would still have the edge defensively, but not enough to justify benching Jennings in favor of him.

Boog Powell and Brady Anderson also give the lineup a bit of a power boost against righties. During Anderson’s 50-home run season of 1996, his OPS against righties was 1.103. Similarly in 1964, the year Powell led the AL in slugging, he had an OPS of 1.101, which–in the pitching rich year of 1964–was good enough for an ungodly 213 OPS+ against righties.

In spite of his offensive limitations, Paul Blair would have to be considered a leading candidate to win a Gold Glove in this all-time league. Only Ken Griffey Jr. and Al Kaline have won more Gold Gloves as an American League outfielder, and with either Ken Singleton or Powell likely to see fielding time in almost every game, the defensive boost provided by Blair could go a long way in covering that weakness.

The bullpen, while not the best, is certainly one of the better ones in the American League. The emergence of Darren O’Day as one the best setup men in the game has helped solidify this status compared to where it would have been a few years ago. Likewise, the emergence of Zach Britton as one of the game’s best closers could further improve the bullpen, and he sneaks onto the 40-man roster.

Featuring B.J. Ryan as a lefty specialist is one of my favorite little quirks with this team. Although solid throughout his career against righties, Ryan was particularly nasty against lefties. In 2004, lefty opponents managed to hit only .094 against him. For a team built almost solely around right-handed pitching, Ryan could provide a major boost.

Weaknesses

After Mussina and Palmer, the quality of the Orioles starting rotation drops off very quickly, which is surprising for a team that has produced six Cy Young Award winners, but probably not as surprising for a team that has only produced one Hall of Famer over the same time span. For the number of great pitching seasons the Orioles have had over the years, the lack of long-term consistency by any pitcher outside Mussina and Palmer sells them a lot shorter than their team stats might otherwise indicate. As you will see later, some teams are able to go three, four–and in one case–even five Hall of Famers deep with their rotations. When Mussina and Palmer are on the mound, the Orioles are a team capable of beating anyone, but with anyone else it could be a rough go.

As mentioned before, the Orioles are also a very righty-heavy team featuring just two lefties on the 25-man roster, which against a lefty-dominant lineup could spell doom.

In the field, the Orioles are hamstrung by bad defense in the corner outfield positions. With Eddie Murray locked in at first, Powell is forced to play out of position to be in the starting lineup. As bad as Powell might be in left, Singleton is no better in right, but with Anderson’s role being limited to a platoon, it forces Singleton out in right whenever a lefty is starting. This allows the DH spot to open up for Powell, and it slides Joe Kelley — who hit .351 during his Orioles career — into left. But considering the lack of importance left field played defensively in the 1890s relative to today, Kelley may not be much of a defensive upgrade over Powell.

Perhaps the biggest weakness for Baltimore is just the overall lack of superstar power. As great as guys like Murray and Grich were with the Orioles, when compared to what other teams have as their starters, they are middle of the road.

Conclusions

Compared to the rest of the teams, the Orioles are mediocre. Their left side of the infield is second to none, while Blair, Grich and Murray round out a pretty solid defensive team. Mussina and Palmer make for a pretty solid 1-2 punch to go with a solid bullpen.

The biggest downside with Baltimore is its lack of superstar depth. Five Hall of Fame position players may seem like a lot, but other teams can fill almost their entire lineup with Hall of Famers. The corner outfield positions are obvious weak spots, and the starting staff drops off drastically after Mussina and Palmer. Over a full season, my guess is Baltimore would win around 75 games.

The last thing I want to mention is the tremendous amount of talent it took to make any of these teams. Nearly every single player on the Orioles’ 40-man roster was an All-Star. Virtually everyone in the starting lineup was at one point an MVP contender. These are the best of the best, and a lot of the names you see missing from the Orioles may be found on other teams. A squad of the best players ever to suit up for the Orioles would include Robin Roberts, Reggie Jackson and Hoyt Wilhelm, all of whom have made all-time rosters for other franchises.

I hope people enjoy reading about these all-time teams as much as I did making them. This was a two-year process, and there were a lot of tough calls to make. I’m sure I didn’t get every one of them right, and I am sure people will argue that Brooks Robinson at third and Ripken at short is a better combo than Ripken at third and Jennings at short. Just don’t think I’m hating on Robinson — I still consider Robinson to be the greatest defensive third baseman in baseball history, and all three had Hall of Fame careers.