The All-Decade Team

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CATCHER

Jorge Posada
.283, 208 HR, 819 RBI
Mauer and Victor Martinez have higher batting averages, Mike Piazza has a higher slugging percentage and Ivan Rodriguez is a defensive legend. But none of them can match the consistent, across-the-board production of Posada, who has been good for 20 homers and 80 RBI a year pretty much throughout the decade, and gotten better behind the plate over the course of his career. And is it any coincidence that the one year he was hurt was the one year the Yankees missed the playoffs?
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Joe Mauer, Twins
FIRST BASE

Albert Pujols
.334, 366 HR, 1,111 RBI
The easiest pick on the team. Perhaps the most incredible thing about Pujols is that while he puts up incredible numbers, he does it without striking out. Jim Thome has two more homers than Pujols (the only first baseman with more), but 862 more strikeouts. That's more strikeouts than Mark Teixeira has had in his career! While every player with big numbers in this era arouses suspicions, Pujols has managed to stay out of drug trouble, which is a relief because it would be a real mess trying to choose another all-2000s first baseman (probably Todd Helton, who has more hits this decade than everyone but Ichiro Suzuki, Derek Jeter and Miguel Tejada).
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Prince Fielder, Brewers

Read more: Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, A-Rod and Mariano Rivera join All-Decade Team
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SECOND BASE

Jeff Kent
.300, 216 HR, 850 RBI
From the easiest call on the field to the toughest. Kent retired after last season, so he's not as fresh in the mind as Chase Utley. With roughly similar averages (Kent's BA/OBP/SLG line was .300/.371/.518 compared to Utley's .296/.380/.524), Kent gets the nod for having hit 45 more homers and 110 more doubles, driven in 265 more runs and grounded into 93 fewer double plays. Kent had more than 1,400 more at-bats to do his damage, but was a star pretty much through 2007. Utley didn't have his breakout year until 2005.
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Robinson Cano, Yankees
THIRD BASE

Alex Rodriguez
.303, 433 HR, 1,236 RBI
A-Rod still has played more games at shortstop in his career, but has played almost two-thirds of his games this decade at the hot corner. There is some steroid taint, but not enough to overcome a 160-homer, 316-RBI advantage on Chipper Jones. Heck, he has 65 more homers than Thome and 100 more than everyone else except Pujols and Manny Ramirez. For all of Rodriguez's foibles, and there are plenty, it's impossible to look past that kind of performance.
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals
SHORTSTOP

Derek Jeter
.317, 161 HR, 727 RBI
Five seasons with 200 or more hits, eight with 100 or more runs. Jeter doesn't have the great power that A-Rod once brought to the position, but his other former rivals for positional primacy, Nomar Garciaparra and Tejada, have faded into complete irrelevance. Jimmy Rollins has as many rings as Jeter this decade, and an MVP that Jeter doesn't, but the Phillies' leader also has a .329 on-base percentage and 15 fewer home runs. When you think of shortstops from this decade, you start with Jeter.
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Hanley Ramirez, Marlins

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LEFT FIELD

Barry Bonds
.322, 317 HR, 697 RBI
Pick your poison. Bonds, from 2000-07, had a .517 on-base percentage, which if he compiled for a single season would rank 10th all-time. As it is, he had the two best OBP years in history in 2002 and 2004, and of course set the single-season and career home run records. Are those records tainted? Yes. But who else are you going to pick? Manny Ramirez, who has 348 homers in the decade and two rings, but is just as tainted after serving a 50-game drug suspension? Adam Dunn, who has 316 homers, but is a .249 hitter and a butcher in the outfield? In a way, it's fitting to have Bonds and A-Rod on the all-decade team as reminders of the era's ills.
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Ryan Braun, Brewers
CENTER FIELD

Jim Edmonds
.280, 261 HR, 768 RBI
Ten more homers than Carlos Beltran in 1,330 fewer at-bats. It's easy to forget that Edmonds had a pair of 42-homer seasons, plus 13 more dingers in the playoffs, all while playing highlight-reel center field. Edmonds also boasts a higher on-base and slugging percentage than Beltran for the decade. Still, you have to believe this would have been Ken Griffey Jr.'s spot had he stayed healthy.
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Matt Kemp, Dodgers
RIGHT FIELD

Vladimir Guerrero
.323, 315 HR, 1,037 RBI
This is an upset, because Ichiro is an iconic player, with more than 200 hits in each of his nine years in the majors. Here's the thing, though - Guerrero's batting average is only 10 points lower than Ichiro's .333, while his .392 on-base percentage edges Ichiro's .378. Both have great arms in right field (although Guerrero's has faded a bit, he was lethal in his Montreal days) and both can make a case for having gone unfairly unnoticed by the East Coast establishment. One guy has three times as many homers as the other, and that seems like a fair tiebreaker.
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Nick Markakis, Orioles
DESIGNATED HITTER

David Ortiz
.283, 307 HR, 1,014 RBI
There are only seven other players who have played half their games at DH with more than 1,500 plate appearances this decade, and three of them (Ellis Burks, Brad Fullmer, Edgar Martinez) haven't played since 2004. Pretty much a default situation.
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Billy Butler, Royals
STARTING PITCHER

Roy Halladay
139-69, 3.40 ERA
Pedro Martinez (112-50, 3.01) has been injured too much, and you can't ignore the ugly spell that Randy Johnson (143-78, 3.34) had in the American League. That really leaves three serious contenders - Roy Oswalt (137-70, 3.23), Johan Santana (122-60, 3.12) and Halladay, who has dominated the more difficult league. His 47 complete games dwarf Oswalt's 18 and Santana's nine, and Halladay has given up fewer home runs while pitching more innings than both of his star counterparts.
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Felix Hernandez, Mariners
RELIEF PITCHER

Mariano Rivera
45-39, 2.08 ERA, 397 SV
Rivera has pitched 1821/3 more innings than Trevor Hoffman, and has 37 more saves with an ERA 69 points lower. And Rivera has 85 saves of four outs or more in the decade, 40 more than the pitcher with the second-most, Keith Foulke. Hoffman has 15.
Early favorite for All-2010s team: Joakim Soria, Royals

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