The 200 Greatest Major League Baseball Players Ever (the 44 who didn't make the cut)

Curiously, the definitive list of the 200 greatest mlb players of all time will contain 206 players.

It's a function of dynamic statistics, some recalculation, the length of time it's taken me to write the player comments, and my trying to overturn every stone to get this right. 

So, I have a situation with six ties, meaning that, actually, the bottom six players on my list (Cey through Wheat) wouldn't make the top 200 -- but I've already done the player comments and given the living nature of the list, my plan is to go straight through, keeping the numbering as is.  In future baseball offseasons, I'll relook at the list and make changes where necessary to keep the Top 200 as current as I can make it.

Here's how you, the reader win. 

Since the list of 200 actually has 206, I'm going to give you the next 44 players, evening it out at 250.  I'm not going to give stats or player comments here; nor are (as of this writing) the players in any particular order.

As I've mentioned before, the statistical distinction at this end of the list is trifling, maybe even insignificant - I'd look at it like this - between, say Bobby Abreu (190) all the way through #250 (say Carlos Beltran) you can order the guys any way you like. 

Abreu was the only active player between 200-170 on the list (click the label to see each individual entry, some of the player comments are illuminating, I'd offer) there are others coming, and several on this list of the 44 who didn't make the cut.  I'll put the active players at the bottom of this list, with their current numbers, maybe a thought about when/if you could expect them to move up.  Also, after this list of 44, I'll give a handful of active players who aren't in this top 250 but who may be sooner than later.

Also, if you (yes, you!) would like any specific player's numbers, feel free to request.  I take requests!

Here then are the 44 who didn't make the cut, which rounds me out to a total of 250.

No particular order:

P Jim Bunning
P Red Faber
P Wes Ferrell
P Juan Marichal
P Billy Pierce
P Dave Stieb
P Ed Walsh
P Dizzy Trout
C Ted Simmons
C Brian Downing
C Lance Parrish
1B Hank Greenberg
2B Cupid Childs
2B Hardy Richardson
3B Jimmy Collins
DH Harold Baines
SS Dave Bancroft
OF Goose Goslin
3B Bob Elliott
OF Jimmy Sheckard
OF Kenny Lofton
OF Kirby Puckett
OF Sam Thompson
OF Enos Slaughter
OF Duke Snider
OF Joe Jackson
3B Matt Williams
OF Brett Butler
SS Bert Campaneris
OF Jose Canseco
P David Wells
P David Cone
P Kevin Appier
1B Tony Perez
1B Todd Helton (WARP3 75.3, BFW 35.  Helton turns 36 next season, he's at 2 solid seasons from the top 200. He should make it.)
SS Miguel Tejada (WARP3 81.2 BFW 29.  Tejada's age is a little up in the air, he's now listed as turning 35 next season; his last two years have probably established his current performance rate - he needs two more just like them to make the top 200. He should make it.)
OF Andruw Jones (WARP3 95.1 BFW 20.  Jones is young, turning 31 this year, he's only 1 solid year from making the list and would seem a million miles from that year right now.  Hard to imagine he doesn't gain some sort of foothold and smash through this list, but he ain't there yet.)
P Trevor Hoffman (WARP3 86.5, PW 18.  Hoffman's not going back to SD, so his closing days are done; he turns 42 this year; assuming he gets a job, hard to see him getting enough innings to make it.  He would need one solid year and then something more than that.  He probably needs to pitch 3 more years to make it.)
1B Carlos Delgado (WARP3 94.1 BFW 22.  Turns 37 next year; absent injury, he's in the top 200 a year from now.)
OF Carlos Beltran (WARP3 86.6 BFW 22.  Go ahead and say that right now, he's the 250th best player ever.  His last 3 years have been his best, all MVP quality; if over the totality of the rest of his career he's able to duplicate the value of his last 3 years - which seems reasonable, say 6 years to equal 3 - that would make him....the 100th greatest player who ever lived.  That's the kind of guy we're talking about here.)
C Jorge Posada (WARP3 87.1 BFW 27.  Has to get one more solid season to bust through; one assumes he comes back and does it in 2009.)
1B Jason Giambi (WARP3 90 BFW 25.  The Giambino is leaving NY, has to stay in the AL, and needs another year like last year to make it.  Maybe he does it next year, but I'm going to say he has to play in 2010 to break the list.)
P Andy Pettitte (WARP3 88.2 BFW 21.  I think it probably takes Pettitte 3 more seasons to make it; I don't think he has that much baseball left.)
P Kenny Rogers WARP3 100.1 PW 15.  Looks like he's going to finish short; unless he rebounds with a solid '09, he's need two more years to break through.

Other notable actives:

Jamie Moyer - 3 more years of value and he makes it. 
Tim Hudson - Hudson needs a half dozen solid years to make the list. 
Lance Berkman - 2 more MVP quality years and he's knocking on the door.  Similar to Beltran - if he can replicate his last 3 years over the totality of the rest of his career - he'd finish at about 120 on the list.
Roy Oswalt/Roy Halladay - Needs 5 solid seasons. 
Nomar Garciaparra - Not going to make it. 
Johan Santana - he's only turning 29 this season.  Let's take his last 5 years and say he can achieve that value over the rest of his career - that would make him about 120.  That feels conservative to me, he should still have a couple of MVP caliber years left. He's where Hudson and Oswalt are now; I'm going to say Santana breaks the top 75 before he's done.  There's a long way to go before there. 
Omar Vizquel - I wrote about him in the Concepcion player comment; he's not going to make it. 
Ichiro Suzuki - Turns 36, isn't showing a lot of deterioration; he fell off from his career '07 but just back to his normal production level.  It's going to be tight; if he can turn out 3 more normal Ichiro seasons, he's right at the gate - let's say it takes him 5 years to make it - I say he just does get in.