Submitted by Scott Ross, Dec 3, 2007 18:25

Raines' numbers are strong enough that you needn't resort to foolish assertions like "Manny Ramirez has never had a year as good as any of Raines's five best."

Raines' five best years according to win shares are 36/34/32/32/29 compared to Manny's 35/34/29/29/28.

Raines' five best years according to baseball-reference's neutralized runs created are 128/123/122/114/112 compared to Manny's 136/133/125/124/124.

Raines' five best years according to baseball-reference's Adjusted Batting Runs are 42.1/41.8/38.8/35/28.6 compared to Manny's 63.2/62.2/56.8/54.2/49.4.

Stats like OPS+, Offensive Winning Percentage and Batting Wins tell similar stories.

Then you make matters worse by declaring that Raines was better than Ramirez. At the end of his 23-year career, Rock had 390 win shares, Ramirez has 354 after 15 years. In his 15 best seasons, Raines only compiled 345 win shares.

You could make a sound argument that Raines' 5-year peak was better than Manny's, but he was not a better player.

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