I think some guys in this thread are discounting postseason success. Biggio and Bagwell were non existent in the postseason. Of course the scandal clouds that. But, the crazy thing is that, like steroids, almost every postseason team was doing it.
To me, that's about as relevant as talking about performance on Tuesdays in September. During Bagwell's prime, we're talking about a grand total of 14 playoff games and he had nowhere near the protection in the lineup that Altuve has always had in the postseason. With Biggio, he never even had a single postseason appearance until he was Altuve's current age. On top of that, in the few times the Astros made the postseason back then, Biggio and Bagwell never got more than one short series per postseason until they were past their prime. Every single post-season, Altuve has had at least one series where he no-showed....but the team was so good he got a chance to redeem himself, his most brief postseason ever being 6 games. Biggio and Bagwell never had that luxury. It's simply not a fair thing to base judgement on.
Sandberg was the better fielder. Sandberg had 2-3 seasons offensively that Altuve wont match. Altuve obliterates Sandberg in the postseason. Altuve the better hitter over the long haul. I would go with Altuve.
On top of all of that, how many of those short postseason outings were against Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz? It's ridiculous to bash players for not being dominant against 3 HOF pitchers.....and that's not even mentioning guys like Kevin Milwood, Kevin Brown, and Trevor Hoffman. The deck was somewhat stacked against them. I don't think Altuve would look so amazing if put in that situation.
Don't understand the Predroia love. He's an above average career hitter and his postseason stats approach Biggio and Bagwell futility. Only made All-Star 4x while playing for a glory franchise and has less than 2000 career hits. Dude had one pretty good season early on and lived off of it for a decade.
yeah but a game winning blast in game 7 against the yankees and off maybe the best closer of our time. Thats pretty nice. At some point, Bagwell and Biggio needed to come through against elite pitching. They never really did. They were great players but they were rigid in the playoffs. I will even concede that maddux, glavine, and smoltz got every single call in those series against us. So, you are correct the cards were stacked. I still think they coulda rose to the occasion just once.
I think that's a fair assessment and don't disagree, but from a historical perspective, Altuve simply comes alive with the game on the line in the playoffs. He is the some reason that he's played a few of these extra playoff games. Meanwhile, without looking it up, I think Biggio and Bagwell's combined post season averahe is below the Deer Line.
Altuve has more career post season homeruns than Biggio, Bagwell, and Berkman combined and that includes Berkman's playoff runs in NY and STL.
I grew up a huge Sandberg fan, but this isn't really accurate. Jose Altuve's best two offensive seasons are both better than Sandberg's best. Altuve 2016 wRC+ 152 Altuve 2017 wRC+ 160 Sandberg 1992 wRC 148
actually you are right. I looked up Sandbergs stats and you are correct. I thought he had more than 1 40 homer year. His best OPS year was 1990 and Altuve has a few better years than that. My bad.
There is no question that Altuve is the best Astro ever. The real question is if we have the best 3rd baseman and shortstop in Astros history playing beside him? Also, is Yuli the second or third best first baseman after Bagwell and Davis?
I loved Glenn Davis. Loved him. I’m not sure I put him ahead of Yuli. Very different hitters and Yuli is the better defender. I always felt that Davis fizzled out early and coulda had monster career numbers. His time in Baltimore was marred by his own mental issues.
Altuve will likely finish his career at least 2nd in all time play off home runs. Probably the most unbelievable accomplishment of his unbelievable career.
I don't think he cheated but I think it came out that he lost a bunch of family members to covid last year.
