Baseball's Venezuela All-Time Dream Team
Miguel Cabrera is at the top of the list, but who else should be included on an all-time dream team for players born in Venezuela?
Issue #38
Miguel Cabrera just finished his 20th season and has 507 career HRs. He is 14th all-time in RBIs and doubles, and 16th all-time in total bases. An All-Star 12 times, he won four batting titles, two MVP awards, the AL Triple Crown in 2012, and is clearly a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He was born and grew up in Maracay, Venezuela—and has been the best Major League player from that country to-date.
But who else would make an All-Time Dream Team of players born in Venezuela? This is my third write-up in a series during Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, with the first for players born in Puerto Rico and the second for players born in the Dominican Republic. For Venezuela, here is what I came up with:
Like the other two squads, I included more than two players at some positions, as well as several utility players, though I had to draw the line somewhere. Not surprisingly SS was a very strong position, and you could argue how to rank the players I included. I think Luis Aparicio’s 10 All-Star seasons, and his winning the AL stolen base title in all of his first 9 seasons gives him the leg up on Omar Vizquel or Dave Concepción.
Right field was also loaded with good candidates, so much so that I elected to list Ronald Acuña Jr. and Carlos González as the starters in CF and LF, respectively, even though they each have played more games in RF.
Right now the only Hall of Famer on this dream team is Aparicio, though clearly Miggy will join him soon. I would say Jose Altuve is well on his way, and perhaps Salvador Perez as well. I’ve seen some HOF cases for others here too, including Vizquel, Concepción, Bobby Abreu, and pitchers Johan Santana and Félix Hernández.
Here is how I’d put together starting lineups for this squad:
Against RHP:
Jose Altuve 2B (R)
Bobby Abreu RF (L)
Ronald Acuña Jr. CF (R)
Miguel Cabrera 1B (R)
Carlos González LF (L)
Victor Martinez DH (S)
Salvador Perez C (R)
Edgardo Alfonso 3B (R)
Luis Aparicio SS (R)
Against LHP:
Jose Altuve 2B (R)
Magglio Ordóñez RF (R)
Ronald Acuña Jr. LF (R)
Miguel Cabrera DH (R)
Andrés Galarraga 1B (R)
Salvador Perez C (R)
Tony Armas CF (R)
Eugenio Suárez 3B (R)
Luis Aparicio SS (R)
Aparicio has the most stolen bases on this roster, but his low .311 OBP means he needs to bat 9th rather than leadoff.
There was only one natural platoon, in RF with Abreu and Ordóñez. In LF, both González and Peralta bat left-handed, and Gonzalez has a particularly extreme split in not hitting lefty pitchers well. So that is why I shifted Acuña to left (where he started his MLB career) and got Tony Armas’ powerful bat into the lineup against lefties.
Cabrera and Galarraga were both right handed hitters, but Victor Martinez was a switch-hitter so I mixed them up between 1B and DH. And at 3B both Alfonso and Suárez are right handed batters, but Suárez has the more extreme split in doing better against lefty pitchers.
As loaded as this roster is, amongst position players several others deserve honorable mention, including SS Carlos Guillén, SS Ozzie Guillén, 3B/2B/LF, Martín Prado, RF/CF Richard Hidalgo, 3B Pablo Sandoval, C Wilson Ramos, and C Miguel Montero.
And then there are plenty of other current players who could one day make for some even harder decisions for such a Venezuela all-time dream team, such as Gleyber Torres, Luis Arraez, Andrés Giménez, and more.
For starting pitchers, there were clearly two top aces:
Johan Santana: 51.1 WAR, 360 G (284 GS), 139-78 W-L (.641), 3.20 ERA, 136 ERA+, 1.132 WHIP, 8.8 SO/9, 3.51 SO/BB, 4-time All-Star, 2 Cy Young Awards (3 other times in top-5), 3 ERA titles, 3 strikeout titles.
Félix Hernández: 49.9 WAR, 419 G (418 GS), 169-136 W-L (.554), 3.42 ERA, 117 ERA+, 1.206 WHIP, 8.3 SO/9, 3.14 SO/BB, 6-time All-Star, 1 Cy Young Award (3 other times in top-5), 2 ERA titles.
You could make a case for them as either 1-2 or 2-1. A distant but still compelling third is Carlos Zambrano, a 3-time All-Star with a 132-91 (.592) career record, 3.66 ERA and 120 ERA+. He was also one of his generation’s best-hitting pitchers, carrying a .238 average with 24 HR in 744 career plate appearances.
Then to fill out a five-man rotation I went with these two:
Freddy García: 34.4 WAR, 376 G (357 GS), 156-108 W-L (.591), 4.15 ERA, 107 ERA+, 2-time All-Star, led the AL with a 3.05 ERA during the high-offense 2001 season.
Wilson Álvarez: 25.0 WAR, 355 G (263 GS), 102-92 (.526), 3.96 ERA, 112 ERA+, All-Star in 1994, pitched a no-hitter in 1991.
There were some current starting pitchers I also wanted to include, namely Carlos Carrasco, Germán Márquez, and Martín Pérez. And two other current pitchers have had long careers and deserve honorable mention: Aníbal Sánchez and Jhoulys Chacín.
Kelvim Escobar could have been listed amongst the starting pitchers as well, but he actually pitched in more games in relief so I included him there. He began as a mixed starter and reliever, then posted 38 saves (though with a 4.27 ERA) in 2002. He then returned to mostly starting after that and had a career-best 18-7 record in 2007, before a shoulder injury ended his career early.
There were plenty of other relief pitchers from Venezuela to consider, though the obvious top spot had to go to Francisco Rodríguez. K-Rod led the AL in saves three times, including in 2008 when he set a new record with 62. A 6-time All-Star, his 437 career saves still rank fourth all-time. He also posted a career 2.86 ERA, good for 148 ERA+ mark.
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