Boston Sports Talent

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,386
Not sure which board to put this in (mods, move (or delete!) as appropriate). Thinking about Gronk and how great he is...it got me wondering how we would rank the current talent on the four major Boston sports teams. Here are, IMO, the candidates (feel free to add your own):

Red Sox: Sale, Price, Kimbrel, Betts, Bogaerts, Benintendi, Martinez, Bradley, Devers
Celtics: Horford, Irving, Brown, Tatum, Hayward
Patriots: Brady, Gronkowski, Flowers, Gilmore, DMac, Gordon, Edelman, Hightower
Bruins: Chara, Rask, Bergeron, Krug, Marchand, Pastrnak, McAvoy, Kreiji

So rank your top 25 Boston athletes from these teams. You can justify your rankings any way you want - your favorite players, the most talented players, the players with the greatest careers, etc. However you want - just let us know what your rationale is.

My Top 25:
1. Brady - Needs no explanation needed.
2. Betts - Best player in MLB this season, absolute elite talent.
3. Gronkowski - Best TE in the history of the sport, even if he's not at his peak now.
4. Sale - Best LHP in the game, and when healthy, at the peak of his powers.
5. Irving - Magician with the ball, elite NBA talent.
6. Chara - Old and slow but an all-time great NHL defenseman.
7. Gilmore - Elite NFL corner at his peak right now.
8. Pastrnak - Unbelievable player, great goal scorer.
9. Bergeron - Hard to put behind Pastrnak; great two-way player.
10. Martinez - Elite hitter in MLB, at the peak of his game.
11. Tatum - Not playing great but his ceiling is limitless.
12. Marchand - Tremendous offensive player.
13. Price - Great pitcher for many years; finally shed the "can't pitch in the postseason" label.
14. McAvoy - Tons of talent, just 20 years old.
15. Devers - Tons of talent, just 22 years old.
16. Bogaerts - Entering his prime as an elite SS in MLB.
17. Brown - I think he's going to be a superstar in the NBA soon.
18. Hayward - Still on his way back but all-star caliber NBA player.
19. Benintendi - Does everything well as a baseball player.
20. Kimbrel - Elite closer for his entire career.
21. Kreiji - I think his talent level has been higher than his actual production.
22. Flowers - Becoming a pro-bowl level pass rusher and defender.
23. D McCourty - High level safety for many years, still has speed to burn.
24. Horford - Past his peak, but a multiple time all-star.
25. Gordon - Tremendous, over the top talent; just a question of whether he can stay clean.

Would love to see how you guys rank them.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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Jul 12, 2008
4,266
New England
You'll get no argument from me for Brady at #1, but I'm interested in your metrics or rationale for Betts over Gronk. How is the "best player in baseball" ranked higher than "the best tight end in the history of the sport?" You've got a fun premise, but your rankings seem arbitrary.

You also seem to mix talent with results/past performance. Based on your explanation, I'd expect Josh Gordon to be ranked higher than Chara. And yet, you've got someone who is "old and slow" ranked 19 spots higher than someone with "tremendous, over the top talent."
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,386
You'll get no argument from me for Brady at #1, but I'm interested in your metrics or rationale for Betts over Gronk. How is the "best player in baseball" ranked higher than "the best tight end in the history of the sport?" You've got a fun premise, but your rankings seem arbitrary.

You also seem to mix talent with results/past performance. Based on your explanation, I'd expect Josh Gordon to be ranked higher than Chara. And yet, you've got someone who is "old and slow" ranked 19 spots higher than someone with "tremendous, over the top talent."
Yeah for sure my rankings are arbitrary. I said at the top that you can rank them any way you want for whatever reason you want. So it doesn't have to be "consistent".
 

Trotski

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Jul 15, 2005
251
Chicago, IL
I’m not sure I’d put Bergeron below 4/5, and certainly not below Pasta. #37 is on Mt. Rushmore for me.

1) Brady
2) Mookie
3) Bergeron
4) Gronk

Seems about right to me for this completely arbitrary list.
 

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

has big, douchey shoulders
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I’m not sure I’d put Bergeron below 4/5, and certainly not below Pasta. #37 is on Mt. Rushmore for me.

1) Brady
2) Mookie
3) Bergeron
4) Gronk

Seems about right to me for this completely arbitrary list.
I agree with you, but I'd actually put Bergeron at #2, ahead of Mookie. Mookie is fantastic, but he isn't an all time great yet.
 

timlinin8th

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Jun 6, 2009
1,521
I agree with you, but I'd actually put Bergeron at #2, ahead of Mookie. Mookie is fantastic, but he isn't an all time great yet.
Yeah, for me I think I'd list guys on the respective teams who have already penciled their way into their sports' respective HOFs at the top of my list, and #37 is a shoo-in. Four time Selke winner (finalist 7 years in a row) and the guy is still underrated somehow. He's my #2 only behind Brady as well.

I won't attempt a full list as I know nothing about basketball and any list I make will skew due to that bias.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,386
I will admit that I know less about hockey than the other sports, which I'm sure skews my list.
 

LoweTek

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May 30, 2005
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Gronk is a great player but it's a little premature to anoint him NFL GOAT. He's missed a lot of time due to injury. I think consensus is he is the best active TE when healthy but he's got some work to do to catch say Tony Gonzalez for example, who played 17 seasons and missed two games, two games in his entire 17 year career! Gronk has averaged just over 12 in his eight complete seasons. Gronk's YPC average is a little better but he has less than half the total passing yards and barely a third of the catches. You have to Gronk a little bit of a handicap too. Gonzalez never had Brady throwing to him. The list of QBs who were throwing to him has very few standouts. He arguably did not have a top tier QB throwing to him until he got to Atlanta and worked with Matt Ryan unless you want to count decidedly league average Trent Green. Unfortunately, a lot of Gonzalez career went unnoticed because he played on a some pretty terrible Chiefs teams. They only made the playoffs three times in the 12 years he was there.