Alomar or Larkin?? Topic

jjboogie
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our chat has been lit up with a good topic since they both missed the HOF

who would you take if you were starting your franchise from scratch - Alomar or Larkin

i've heard good points made on each side...

personally i side with Alomar and will put something down in a bit to explain why

seems like a good topic if anyone wants to join in
1/7/2010 10:48 AM
erffdogg
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Larkin
1/7/2010 11:04 AM
jjboogie
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for me, i take Alomar for a few reasons but i think the case can be made for both sides:

1. he was a better hitter during the bulk of their careers both for average and as a slugger and safe to say the more "feared" hitter

2. while Larkin was a good defensive SS he was not great, Alomar is arguably the best defensive 2B to ever play the game - yes SS gets many more chances and impacts the game more defensively but Alomar was the Smith/Vizquel of the 2B position. he was able to turn so many hits into outs that i think it offsets the SS advantage at least to a degree

1/7/2010 11:11 AM
rls1
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Larkin
1/7/2010 11:43 AM
iain
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Alomar, no doubt in my mind. A more unique talent, imho.
1/7/2010 11:58 AM
aaron006
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Roberto Alomar: .300avg 210hr 1134rbi 474sb .371obp .443slg .814ops in 17 seasons

Barry Larkin: 295avg 198hr 960rbi 379sb's .371obp .444slg .815ops in 19 seasons

Alomar .984fielding % at 2b
Larkin .988fielding % at SS

Similar numbers defensively, albeit SS does get more chances. They are eerily similar, although one has to say that alomar spent the last 3 season just kind of putzing around or his average and % numbers would be much better
1/7/2010 12:18 PM
MikeT23
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I'm pretty sure those years still count.

If not, I'd like to remove a handful of years from Mattingly's career when his back rendered him ineffective.
1/7/2010 12:21 PM
phillyfan009
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Larkin is the "better professional" player...... I don't recall him spitting on umpires. If you are looking for clubhouse guys...Larkin would be the man.....defensively, they both were great...offensively they both had the "better hands" in some cases....When I think of Alomar, I remember the spitting incidents........ just like Kruk.....the all-star incident. where he struck out against Johnson...what a funny at bat.
1/7/2010 12:22 PM
disaacs
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Larkin was nothing more than just a pretty good player...He was never a great one.

Alomar is significantly better than Larkin.
1/7/2010 12:26 PM
MikeT23
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Insanity. Larkin was the best NL SS, and arguably the best ML SS, for many years.
1/7/2010 12:39 PM
leyenda
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alomar has aids.
1/7/2010 12:45 PM
disaacs
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Quote: Originally Posted By MikeT23 on 1/07/2010
Insanity. Larkin was the best NL SS, and arguably the best ML SS, for many years.



I disagree. Ozzie Smith was a far superior SS. Just because he hit better than Ozzie doesn't make him a better SS. Heck, it's not even close to who was the better SS.

Larkin isn't a HOFer...and never will be.
1/7/2010 1:02 PM
MikeT23
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No, his overall game made him a better SS. No one, with any knowledge of the game, would take peak-Ozzie or peak-Larkin. No one.
1/7/2010 1:04 PM
BrianCampos
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Quote: Originally Posted By disaacs on 1/07/2010



I disagree. Ozzie Smith was a far superior SS. Just because he hit better than Ozzie doesn't make him a better SS.



Larkin won Gold Gloves while Smith was still playing I believe. Possibly 3.

For me I would take Larkin for the reason that Alomar could be moody and shut down when a team struggled.

*** edit***

Yes Larkin's 3 gold gloves were during Ozzie's last 3 years in the league but Ozzie was not a full time player by that point but rather hanging around for some career goals
1/7/2010 1:05 PM
antonsirius
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Larkin hit better than Ozzie by a bigger margin than Ozzie fielded better than Larkin.
1/7/2010 1:06 PM
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