I’m getting tired of this issue, but one wonders what Tony Gwynn ever did to offend the "objective" analysts over at Baseball Prospectus. Memo to anyone who cares: Ichiro Suzuki is a fanstastic ballplayer, but he’s still not in Gwynn’s class. It’s already been done, but someone in that roundtable asked for a side-by-side of their top four seasons. Knock yourselves out (ranked by OPS):

          Suzuki              Gwynn
    Yr  BA OBP SLG OPS  Yr  BA OBP SLG  OPS
#1  04 371 414 454 868  94 394 454 568 1022
#2  01 350 381 457 838  87 370 447 511  958
#3  03 321 388 425 813  97 372 409 547  956
#4  02 312 352 436 788  95 368 404 484  888

Again, Suzuki’s breaking of George Sisler’s single-season hit record is a remarkable accomplishment. But Suzuki’s best season doesn’t even crack Gwynn’s top four. No shame there.

What’s troublesome are statements like "Ichiro is the player that Gwynn fans think Gwynn was, but better." Either someone is confused as to what is meant by "better" or there is another agenda at work. Either way, it’s disappointing to see inaccuracies of this type coming from the Prospectus folks. The evidence is there. It just needs to be examined.

Hey, it could’ve been worse. At least Brian Buchanan didn’t outhit Phil Nevin. Don’t even get me started on Mark Loretta as a mediocre regular. Second basemen of the NL, consider yourselves slapped.

Speaking of Nevin, I still think he, and not Ryan Klesko, should be the one to move this winter. Nevin should have more trade value at this point, and the guy waiting in the wings (Xavier Nady) is right-handed. Klesko cannot patrol the outfield at Petco. He’s not a real good first baseman either, but at least there is less potential for damage on the infield. And his .320/.430/.543 second half numbers tell me he’s still got some juice left in that bat.

We’ll talk more about what to do with the outfield situation in weeks to come, but for now I just wanted to throw that out there and mention that my thoughts on Nevin have nothing to do with his personality. Sure, he drives us all insane every now and then. But ultimately he’s a productive guy who wants to win games. And unlike some people, he isn’t due to make $17M next year, doesn’t skip out on games, and doesn’t publicly rip his own manager.

That’s all for now. Go watch the playoffs or whatever it is you do when the Padres aren’t playing. Tomorrow we’ll talk about the enigmatic and goofy Sean Burroughs.