Right, except that's not what you said initially at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hanso
Bagwell was never even one of the 5 best players in the league at any point in his career.
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1994 was a point in Bagwell's career. It could be rationally argued that Greg Maddux was better in 1994 than Jeff Bagwell, though since that was an unusually strong pitching season, Bagwell's numbers produce a higher WAR and WARP. Aside from Maddux, no one else came close. That's it.
1997 was a point in Bagwell's career. In that year, he was by all overall statistial measures the fifth best player in all of baseball. In 1999, only Pedro, Pudge and Chipper beat out Bagwell, and Pudge only does once his position is factored in. 2000-1 are another two years where most statistical measures place him in the top 5.
Again, by quite literally every reputable source and account, the ONLY more productive offensive player than Bagwell over the course of Bagwell's entire career was Barry Bonds. I'd go so far as to add Greg Maddux to the list on the pitching side, effectively making Jeff Bagwell the third best player in all of baseball from 1991 to 2005. Other than that, you're looking at a ton of pitchers who had peaks and valleys during Jeff's career, and a bunch of offensive players whose offensive output he simply dwarfed from '91-'05. Thomas would be his only other real competition in that regard had his peak and subsequent decline not occurred so early on.