This should make for a good argument: Who are the Top 3 players in MLB right now?
(Let's leave pitchers out, as that's an entirely different argument.)

I'll start by tossing-out-
1) Machado (playing a very nice SS pushed him past Trout to me)
2) Trout
3) Arenado

I might swap in Altuve for Arenado, but sure, that looks about right.

Trout
Machado

I'd take Trout and Goldschmidt. The third would be a pick 'em between Machado, Bogaerts, and Donaldson.

1. Manny Machado
2. Jose Altuve
3. Fransisco Lindor (formerly Carlos Correa)

Altuve is very good, but I'm not sure how he cracks Top 3 in MLB unless you're just looking at current season stats.

I'll go:

Manny
Trout
Harper

Correa and Goldie are up there too, though Goldie's position makes him slightly less valuable on the defensive side.

Posted by dahsdebater on 7/1/2016 12:38:00 PM (view original):
I'd take Trout and Goldschmidt. The third would be a pick 'em between Machado, Bogaerts, and Donaldson.

Not sure how you can take a first baseman over three guys who are great hitters and very good defenders at premium positions. The question wasn't who are the Top 3 hitters...it was Top 3 players.

Posted by Jtpsops on 7/1/2016 8:18:00 PM (view original):

Posted by dahsdebater on 7/1/2016 12:38:00 PM (view original):
I'd take Trout and Goldschmidt. The third would be a pick 'em between Machado, Bogaerts, and Donaldson.

Not sure how you can take a first baseman over three guys who are great hitters and very good defenders at premium positions. The question wasn't who are the Top 3 hitters...it was Top 3 players.

This point is why Arenado makes my list. The guy can rake and plays a crazy good 3rd.

I don't know about raking. Arenado is great defensively but I still call Coors Effect on his hitting.

For his career:

Home:

.307

.351

.571

.922

Road:

.259

.302

.453

.755

His splits this year align with those in terms of the home/road gap.

Posted by Jtpsops on 7/1/2016 8:18:00 PM (view original):

Posted by dahsdebater on 7/1/2016 12:38:00 PM (view original):
I'd take Trout and Goldschmidt. The third would be a pick 'em between Machado, Bogaerts, and Donaldson.

Not sure how you can take a first baseman over three guys who are great hitters and very good defenders at premium positions. The question wasn't who are the Top 3 hitters...it was Top 3 players.

You call me out for taking a first baseman and then replaced him in your choices with a right fielder. And not an elite defensive RF, either.

Do you see the irony here?

In each of the last 4 seasons, Goldschmidt has hit better than Harper ever has except in 2015. Until he proves that wasn't just a fluke, I'll take Goldschmidt ahead of him. Honestly, if you'd asked me late last year or early this year, I'd have taken Harper. I bought it. But this year he's back to something much closer to his pre-2015 hitting. Twice in the last 3 years Goldschmidt has taken home a GG, a SS, and 2nd place in the MVP balloting. That sounds pretty good to me.

Posted by Jtpsops on 7/1/2016 8:19:00 PM (view original):
Altuve is very good, but I'm not sure how he cracks Top 3 in MLB unless you're just looking at current season stats.

I'll go:

Manny
Trout
Harper

Correa and Goldie are up there too, though Goldie's position makes him slightly less valuable on the defensive side.

Altuve has had a pretty good career but he plays for the Astros so he doesn't get the recognition he deserves.

First 3 seasons in the bigs he's averaged .285/.323/.377 with 7 homers and 35 SB. He was the light hitting defensive specialist at 2nd with speed.

His last 3 seasons though,

.333/.379/.479 with a 137 OPS+, 15 homers a year and 48 Stolen Bases a year.
He's lead the league in stolen bases the last 3 years and as always, plays a great 2nd base.
He doesn't strike out a ton like a lot of hitters these days, and probably my favorite part about him, he currently has more walks than strikeouts. I don't know what it is, but I love seeing more walks than strikeouts.

Anyways, he's been good for awhile, and this is his breakout year as he's just hitting his prime.

Posted by dahsdebater on 7/1/2016 10:27:00 PM (view original):

Posted by Jtpsops on 7/1/2016 8:18:00 PM (view original):

Posted by dahsdebater on 7/1/2016 12:38:00 PM (view original):
I'd take Trout and Goldschmidt. The third would be a pick 'em between Machado, Bogaerts, and Donaldson.

Not sure how you can take a first baseman over three guys who are great hitters and very good defenders at premium positions. The question wasn't who are the Top 3 hitters...it was Top 3 players.

You call me out for taking a first baseman and then replaced him in your choices with a right fielder. And not an elite defensive RF, either.

Do you see the irony here?

In each of the last 4 seasons, Goldschmidt has hit better than Harper ever has except in 2015. Until he proves that wasn't just a fluke, I'll take Goldschmidt ahead of him. Honestly, if you'd asked me late last year or early this year, I'd have taken Harper. I bought it. But this year he's back to something much closer to his pre-2015 hitting. Twice in the last 3 years Goldschmidt has taken home a GG, a SS, and 2nd place in the MVP balloting. That sounds pretty good to me.

In all fairness to Dahs, I feel Goldschmidt is a pretty damn good athlete. As a hitter, its hard to argue he isn't a top 3 guy. In the field, we're not talking about Cecil Fielder here. Not entirely sure why he ended up a 1st baseman (doesn't have a good arm?) and not inclined to look it up, but the guys is one of the best defensive 1st baseman in baseball. So penalizing him for playing first base is unfair.

Posted by Jtpsops on 7/1/2016 8:53:00 PM (view original):
I don't know about raking. Arenado is great defensively but I still call Coors Effect on his hitting.

For his career:

Home:

.307

.351

.571

.922

Road:

.259

.302

.453

.755

His splits this year align with those in terms of the home/road gap.

I don't knock him for this. Heck, I applaud it. Shouldn't every player learn how to take advantage of their home park? Do LH hitters who play in Yankee Stadium get knocked for taking advantage of the ridiculously short porch? Do RH who play in Fenway get knocked for banging balls off the wall? More players SHOULD have splits like that.

Ummmmmm, no. If you're totally ignorant maybe that makes sense. At least in Yankee and Fenway you can adapt your hitting to the park. All you have to do to hit better at Coors is, ummm, play at Coors. That's not a skillset you get credit for.

Look at it in terms of OPS+, which normalizes to ballparks. Arenado's OPS+ for the last 2 seasons are 115 and 122. So far this year he's at 128. Those are solid numbers, but not elite. That's Todd Frazier territory, not Donaldson/Machado territory.

Posted by dahsdebater on 7/1/2016 10:27:00 PM (view original):

Posted by Jtpsops on 7/1/2016 8:18:00 PM (view original):

Posted by dahsdebater on 7/1/2016 12:38:00 PM (view original):
I'd take Trout and Goldschmidt. The third would be a pick 'em between Machado, Bogaerts, and Donaldson.

Not sure how you can take a first baseman over three guys who are great hitters and very good defenders at premium positions. The question wasn't who are the Top 3 hitters...it was Top 3 players.

You call me out for taking a first baseman and then replaced him in your choices with a right fielder. And not an elite defensive RF, either.

Do you see the irony here?

In each of the last 4 seasons, Goldschmidt has hit better than Harper ever has except in 2015. Until he proves that wasn't just a fluke, I'll take Goldschmidt ahead of him. Honestly, if you'd asked me late last year or early this year, I'd have taken Harper. I bought it. But this year he's back to something much closer to his pre-2015 hitting. Twice in the last 3 years Goldschmidt has taken home a GG, a SS, and 2nd place in the MVP balloting. That sounds pretty good to me.

That's fair. I guess it's because when Harper is on, he may very well be the most dangerous hitter in the game. He just needs to find some consistency.