Best 3-4 Combo In MLB?

[Chrispy]

Option 5 :shifty:

 

[Lanteri]

It's really tough to choose between Pujols/Holliday and Mauer/Morneau.

 

[NAHSTE]

Tough to choose, but I went with Pujols/Holliday because there is no 3 hitter better than Albert on the planet.

A-Rod/Tex and Mauer/Morneau were my next choices.

 

[Primetime]

The homer in me went with Braun/Fielder. Pujols/Holliday is hard to compete with though.

 

[Leftwich]

I went with M&M.

 

[Primetime]

Here are the stats for those players from 2009.

Option 1:

Albert Pujols: .327 AVG, 47 HR, 135 RBI, .443 OBP
Matt Holliday: .313 AVG, 24 HR, 109 RBI, .394 OBP

Option 2:

Joe Mauer: .365 AVG, 28 HR, 96 RBI, .444 OBP
Justin Morneau: .274 AVG, 30 HR, 100 RBI, .363 OBP

Option 3:

Ryan Braun: .320 AVG, 32 HR, 114 RBI, .386 OBP
Prince Fielder: .299 AVG, 46 HR, 141 RBI, .412 OBP


Option 4:

Chase Utley: .282 AVG, 31 HR, 93 RBI, .397 OBP
Ryan Howard: .279 AVG, 45 HR, 141 RBI, .360 OBP

Option 5:

Alex Rodriguez: .286 AVG, 30 HR, 100 RBI, .402 OBP
Mark Texiera: .292 AVG, 39 HR, 122 RBI, .383 OBP

Together:

Pujols & Holliday: .640 AVG, 71 HR, 244 RBI, .837 OBP
Mauer & Morneau: .639 AVG, 58 HR, 196 RBI, .807 OBP
Braun & Fielder: .619 AVG, 78 HR, 255 RBI, .798 OBP
Utley & Howard: .561 AVG, 76 HR, 234 RBI, .757 OBP
A Rod & Texiera: .578 AVG, 69 HR, 222 RBI, .785 OBP



Pretty clear that it's Pujols and Holliday based on stat lines alone. I'd take Braun and Fielder 2nd and M&M 3rd.

 

[Lanteri]

To those picking M&M, are you simply choosing them based on the awesomeness of Mauer? Because Morneau's line is fairly average.

Actually, it's not heels. That line was in only 135 games as Morneau missed about a month at the end of the season with an injury. I mean, it doesn't change the line a ton, but you could add another 3-5 HRs and 10-20 RBI to it.

It's a toss-up really between Pujols/Holliday and Mauer/Morneau to me. I wouldn't be able to decide between the two, so I'll just take the easy way out and say Pujols/Holliday in the NL and Mauer/Morneau in the AL. When you look at their combined stats, I guess you can say Pujols/Holliday are head and shoulders above the rest.

 

[TheSanchize]

TEX - A-Bomb easily

Don't you mean A-Roid?

Anyway, I said Pujols and Holliday.

 

[NAHSTE]

To those picking M&M, are you simply choosing them based on the awesomeness of Mauer? Because Morneau's line is fairly average.

Season was cut short, had just 500 ABs...Factor in his consistency and his MVP pedigree and his credentials look a bit better.

He was on pace to have a pretty damn good year, 30 HR and 100 RBI through 130 games is far from average.

TEX - A-Bomb easily

You're quickly establishing yourself as a homer douche bag.

 

[NAHSTE]

Again, his Avg and OBP contradict this. He didn't have a horrible season, but when compared to most everyone else on the list, he didn't have that great of a season. In fact, he would've finished with a career high in SOs had he played an full season. His season was very similar to that of Jason Kubel. Although Kubel had a better AVG and OBP. Career wise, Morneau doesn't really compare to Prince as a number 4 hitter. Hell he had a similar season to Jayson Worth, but we dont see him on this list.

I don't consider past MVP credentials when looking at statistics from a single season. Otherwise, we'd be saying Todd Helton was a MVP candidate this year. I'm not saying Morneau isn't good, but if you're looking for a number 4 hitter, he's probably the 4th best option at best when considering the other number 4 hitters on the list.I mean if we're looking for a number 4 hitter, I'd like to see a career high in homers more than 34.

Fair enough, but I chose Pujols/Holliday on the strength of Albert's supremacy, perhaps I weighed Mauer's greatness a bit too heavily in my evaluation of that combo. Braun/Fielder are an amazing 3-4, just not sure how long Prince will be in Milwaukee.

Your Todd Helton comparison is questionable though. It's not like Morneau is 37, he won that MVP in 2006. Which other of these combos has two MVPs hitting back-to-back?

 

[SuperKevin]

No Zimmerman-Dunn option?

 

[Anthony]

A-Rod & Teixeira

 

[NAHSTE]

I would honestly say that I would pick Braun-Fielder over Pujols and Holliday but it's very, very close.

The way I see it is this:

Pujols>Fielder
Braun>Holliday

Prince Fielder is probably the 2nd or 3rd best 1B in the game. He has the potential to hit 50+ HR's in a given season, and he knocked in over 140 RBI's last season, along with 46 HR's, and a .412 OBP.

Let's compare Pujols and Fielder

Albert Pujols: .327 AVG, 47 HR, 135 RBI's, .443 OBP
Prince Fielder: .299 AVG, 46 HR, 141 RBI's, .412 OBP

The numbers aren't that much different (HR, RBI) but Pujols has the advantage in batting average, and OBP.

The thing that I am going to take in acount here, is that Fielder is still only 26 years old (something like that) and he's only going to get better.

Now, let's compare Holliday and Braun:

Matt Holliday: .313 AVG, 24 HR, 109 RBI, .394 OBP
Ryan Braun: .320 AVG, 32 HR, 114 RBI, .386 OBP

Numbers are pretty similar except for the HR's. Ryan Braun is only going to continue to get better though. Can Holliday keep up his numbers from last year? That's something that we don't know which would be a HUGE factor in how this list would go.

Basically, the main reason why I would pick Braun and Fielder is because of two factors:

1. Age

Both Braun and Fielder are in the mid 20's (Braun 26 and Fielder 25) compared to Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday (Pujols 30 and Holliday 30)

2. Righty-Lefty

Braun is a right handed hitter, and Fielder is a left handed hitter which is going to cause problems with the pitching matchups. This is a true 3-4 combo, where as a righty-righty matchup can easily be set.


I would rank it as this:

1. Braun-Fielder
2. Pujols-Holliday
3. Tex-A-Rod
4. Mauer-Morneau
5. Utley-Howard

Considering he had an awful start to the season, I'd say he will have better numbers. LOL at you forgetting every other season Holliday has ever had and acting like last year was a career year. He hit about .600 for a month in order to rescue his numbers out of the crapper. I think he'll continue to mash in St. Louis.

 

[Goober]

LOL at the Yankee and Philly Homers in here.

 

[NAHSTE]

Definitely, but playing in Oakland was clearly not helping him.