The Franchise: AL West

Jason Michael Barker

Superstar. Fan favorite. The Franchise. "The man." Team MVP. Marquee player. You've heard all the clichés. Even if you're a casual fan you can probably name your favorite team's franchise player, though sometimes you might have trouble explaining exactly why he is. Most teams have a clear-cut franchise player: Seattle has Ken Griffey Jr., the White Sox have Frank Thomas. Other times it's not so clear. Take Cleveland, for example. Is their franchise player Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome, or even Manny Ramirez? You could make a case for all three.

Over the next couple of weeks, we'll look at who should be considered the franchise player for each team in the bigs, covering each of baseball's six divisions. These selections are based mostly on pure statistics (the best player on a given team), but in a few special cases stats don't tell the whole story. Intangibles such as leadership (ask Mike Piazza about this one), fan following, health and age also play a role. For the purposes of this article, the statistics shown are three-year averages for 1995-1997.

Tim Salmon, Anaheim
Age	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
29	152	567	99	172	30	3	32	111	93	126	6	6	.403	.536	.303

Despite several decent-to-good players (Dave Hollins, Darrin Erstad, Jim Edmonds), the Angels lack a true superstar. Then again, not every team can have a Barry Bonds or a Mark McGwire. Still, Salmon isn't far from being the best right-fielder in baseball (see Ramirez, Manny), which surely counts for something. Unlike many of his teammates, he's been healthy over the last three seasons, appearing in 456 of the Angels' 469 games. He also boasts a .966 OPS (on-base average plus slugging percentage) over that same period, which is excellent. You'll probably never see a Tim Salmon Nintendo Game, but he's definitely Anaheim's franchise player.

Ben Grieve, Oakland
Age	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
22	24	93	12	29	6	0	3	24	13	25	0	0	.402	.473	.312

The fact that Grieve, a rookie, appears on this list is less a testament to his own ability than it is to the state of the Athletics. Yet despite his youth, Grieve is "the franchise" and the player the A's are building around. Right now he's not the best player in Oakland (Jason Giambi, another young star, is), but he's the closest thing the A's have to a marquee player. He should attain superstar status in the next several years. For more on Grieve, check out my AL Rookie Round-Up.

Ken Griffey, Jr., Seattle
Age	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG
28	123	471	101	139	22	2	41	110	69	93	12	2	.385	.609	.295

There's little debate here. Randy Johnson may be the most dominating pitcher in the game, and Alex Rodriguez the best shortstop, but baseball in Seattle begins and ends with Junior, who is arguably the best player in all of MLB. An injury in 1995 is probably the only thing that kept him from winning his first MVP two seasons earlier, and he's a legitimate candidate for the award every year. He is one of the few players in the game today who alone is worth paying to see, as evidenced by how well the Mariners draw on the road. In addition to his play on the field, Griffey is the most popular player in baseball, and its most thoroughly marketed. He's had his own candy bar, his own video game, and numerous other endorsement deals. To top it off, he's a wholesome family man, complete with two kids. Junior is the definition of a franchise player.

John Wetteland, Texas
Age	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	W	L	SV	ERA
31	61	0	0	0	63.1	46	21	18	7	19	66	3	3	35	2.56

This is probably one of the more controversial picks you'll see on this list. Right now I can hear most of you claiming that hands down, Juan Gonzalez is the Rangers' franchise player. Before I get into why I chose Wetteland, let's look at why I didn't chose Gonzalez. Strike one against him is his health. Over the past three seasons, he's played in an average of only 119 games per season. Going back a bit further, he only appeared in over 150 games once, and that was back in 1992. Strike two is his refusal to take a walk. In his career, Gonzalez has averaged just over 40 walks per 162 games, all of which adds up to a less-than-stellar .334 career OBP. And strike three is that not only is he the third-best right fielder in his own division (Salmon, Jay Buhner), he's not even the best outfielder on his own team (Rusty Greer).

But enough about Juan, let's get to John. Quietly, Wetteland has probably been the best closer in baseball over the past three years, saving 105 of 121, or 87% (just ask the Mariners how good that percentage is). In 1996 he was overshadowed by Mariano Rivera, who got much of the credit for the Yankees post-season success. Last season, despite 31 saves, an ERA under 2.00 and holding opposing batters to a .182 average, the only closer people talked about was Randy Myers. The fact that Texas finished 13 games behind Seattle in the AL West may have something to do with this.

Jason Michael Barker considers himself Strikethree.com's franchise player, although VirtualGammons might have something to say about that. Send your support to jmb@strikethree.com.