MVP
My vote for MVP for this team goes not to the two hall-of-fame members on this roster (Gary Carter, Andre Dawson) or the other who should be in the hall-of-fame (Tim Raines), but veteran Al Oliver. He led the team in RBIs, batting average, and hits. And for those who like newer age stats, he led this team in OBP.
Cy Young
It comes down to Steve Rogers or relief ace Jeff Reardon. Steve Rogers had 19 wins and a 2.40 ERA while pitching more than twice as many innings as Reardon, so he gets the nod here.
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
I have to take a detour to rant for a second. According to this blog, Steve Rogers may be the 31st best pitcher of all time not in the Hall-of-Fame. He is ranked ahead of Jimmy Key, Mickey Lolich, Jack Morris, and Ron Guidry. This asinine argument is based on a stat called Wins Above Replacement (WAR), meaning that over a career they were worth a number of wins for the team compared to an average pitcher. Sorry, this is why I hate these new stats derived from everybody owning a home computer that has proliferated baseball writing in the last 20 years. Can you really make this argument with a straight face? For Rogers, not to take away from his career by comparing him to the above listed players, but this '82 season was his best, and he was decent in a few other seasons. Would you pick him ahead of the players I listed above in a ranking of all-time pitchers? Really?
Rookie Card of the Year
Future 5-time all-star third baseman Tim Wallach gets the nod here. He had his first card in the 1982 sets, even though this was his 3rd season in the major leagues.
Most Interesting Non-Topps card
Another Expo rookie card in 1982 belonged to future Red Sox manager Terry Francona. He was on the Expos multi-player prospect card, but has his own card in both the Donruss and Fleer sets.
On another note for another Donruss card in this set, Felipe Alou is shown as a coach for the Expos, which he actually was in 1981, but he actually managed the AA team in Wichita in 1982.
Starters
| __ | TO | 730 | C | Gary Carter | MON |
| __ | TT | 83 | 1B | Al Oliver | MON |
| __ | TO | 302 | 2B | Doug Flynn | NYM |
| __ | TO | 191 | 3B | Tim Wallach | MON |
| __ | TO | 198 | SS | Chris Speier | MON |
| __ | TO | 70 | LF | Tim Raines | MON |
| __ | TO | 540 | CF | Andre Dawson | MON |
| __ | TO | 695 | RF | Warren Cromartie | MON |
Starting Pitchers
| __ | TO | 605 | SP | Steve Rogers | MON |
| __ | TO | 7 | SP | Scott Sanderson | MON |
| __ | TO | 172 | SP | Bill Gullickson | MON |
| __ | TO | 38 | SP | Charlie Lea | MON |
Relief Pitchers
| __ | TO | 667 | CL | Jeff Reardon | MON |
| __ | TO | 788 | RP | Woodie Fryman | MON |
| __ | TO | 292 | SP | David Palmer | MON |
| __ | RP | Bryn Smith | |||
| __ | TO | 227 | RP | Ray Burris | MON |
Other Players
| __ | DO | 627 | LF | Terry Francona (or FL 188) | MON |
| __ | 2B | Mike Gates | |||
| __ | TO | 386 | OF | Jerry White | MON |
| __ | RF | Joel Youngblood | |||
| __ | TT | 118 | MI | Frank Taveras | MON |
| __ | FL | 196 | 3B | Brad Mills | MON |
| __ | OF | Dan Norman | |||
| __ | FL | 192 | 2B | Wallace Johnson | MON |
| __ | MI | Bryan Little | |||
| __ | TT | 7 | C | Tim Blackwell | MON |
| __ | OF | Roy Johnson | |||
| __ | TO | 638 | 1B | John Milner | MON |
| __ | 2B | Rodney Scott | |||
| __ | TO | 762 | MI | Mike Phillips | MON |
| __ | FL | 420 | PH | Ken Phelps | KCR |
| __ | C | Brad Gulden | |||
| __ | TO | 479 | LF | Rowland Office | MON |
| __ | PH | Chris Smith | |||
| __ | PH | Mike Stenhouse | |||
| __ | TT | 104 | RP | Dan Schatzeder | MON |
| __ | SP | Randy Lerch | |||
| __ | TO | 323 | RP | Bill Lee | MON |
| __ | RP | Bob James | |||
| __ | RP | Tom Gorman | |||
| __ | RP | Dave Tomlin |
Manager/Coaches
| __ | DO | 492 | MG | Jim Fanning | MON |
| __ | DO | 650 | MN | Felipe Alou | MON |
Great blog! I collect Yankee team sets as well so I'm hoping you'll do a Yankees blog one day. Keep up the great blog.
ReplyDeleteMike
I miss those old Expos uni's & caps.
ReplyDeleteBTW, OBP isn't a "newer age stats". Some of the trivia on some of the back of those '82 Topps cards mention OBP. Also, if you get the chance to catch the 1975 All-Star game on the MLB Network sometime, note that when Joe Morgan comes up to bat one of the times, they show you on screen in old 70's font, what his OBP was during the first half of the season. It's just a myth that OBP was ignored until statheads in recent years. It was there. Plain as day.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteThanks....I do these teams in order of how they finished for a given year, Fleer style. It has been a while since I put up a Yankee post because they went from World series runner up in 1981 to a team in the middle third of the standings in 1982. They will be coming up in about 5 more posts.
I think the difference is, there wasn't importance placed on it until recently. It is what it is; a secondary stat that does say something about a player's performance. I know walks are nice, but I can think of many examples where a walk is quite useless during a game...example, 2-2 game, bottom of the ninth (or any inning), 2 outs, man on third. A walk in that case does absolutely nothing, you need a hit to get the run in. It may also actually bring up another hitter, who percentage wise, is less likely to get a hit.
ReplyDelete