How many MLB teams have the face of the franchise playing for them right now?

Despite the overall paucity of moves, two teams have lost their all-time WAR leaders. First, the Marlins gifted Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees. Later, the Rays traded Evan Longoria to the Giants. Both moves left the fan bases in Florida stewing. Just as much animosity was stirred up when Pittsburgh sent Andrew McCutchen to San Francisco. McCutchen ranks "only" 12th on the Pirates' all-time WAR leaderboard, but none of those ahead of him played for Pittsburgh this century.

Perhaps there is no way to quantify it, but there are ancillary effects in these kinds of transactions. You could look at the negative impact in the areas of marketing and branding when a franchise unloads a long-standing fan favorite, but it would be tough to pin down an exact number. All we know is that it sucks for those jilted fans.
Last week, a new class of Hall of Famers was announced. The identity of those newly immortalized legends will determine what Main Street in Cooperstown will look like on an upcoming summer weekend. The streets will be clogged with blue-clad Braves fans (Chipper Jones), yellow-wearing Padres fans (Trevor Hoffman) and dueling fan bases of Vladimir Guerrero admirers (Expos and Angels).Once again we'll be reminded just how strong those affinities between great players and the http://www.authenticwhitesoxstore.com/authentic-45-derek-holland-jersey.html communities most invested in their exploits are. One-franchise players such as George Brett, Robin Yount, Cal Ripken Jr. and Derek Jeter might be rare, but it doesn't take an entire career to win over a city.
With the transaction market still frozen, that Hall announcement gives us a great opportunity to look at baseball through its unparalleled historical lens. Let's focus on the concept of the "franchise face" -- the player whose very presence on a team serves as a rallying point for the cities in which they play, a presence that often lasts well beyond a player's on-field career.Here's the question of the day: How many franchises currently have, or might have, their best-ever player in the organization right now?First, let's acknowledge that the label of "best" is never as easy to define as you'd think.
The perfect example of this is Alex Rodriguez's time with the Texas Rangers. According to FanGraphs, A-Rod put up 27.0 WAR for Texas from 2001-03. Those account for three of the top four seasons in Rangers history. They also are the only three seasons in which Rodriguez played for Texas. No one has ever been better for the Rangers while they were with the Rangers.Does that make A-Rod the best player in Rangers history? Well, he ranks just 10th in career WAR for that franchise. The feeling here is, no, as great as those three seasons were, there weren't enough of them for Rodriguez to be anointed as the best Texas Ranger of all time. Alex Rodriguez is not the historical face of the Rangers.
Therefore, in these assessments, cumulative production will matter as much as short-term brilliance, and context will matter as well when the metrics are close. WAR data from FanGraphs served as the basis for this piece.he brilliance of Trout cannot be overstated. He's only 26 years old, but already owns the four highest single-season WAR totals in Angels history. His career total of 54.4 is 8.6 more than second-place Chuck Finley. Trout can't become a free agent until after the 2020 season, so there's a strong possibility that he'll stand alone for a long time atop this franchise even if he departs. But even if Trout retired today, he'd still be worthy of being called the best Angel ever.
And by the time we run through all the teams, this much will be clear: Trout is the only star toiling in baseball right now who is clearly the best player the history of the franchise he will be playing for when the 2018 season begins.Anthony Rizzo already ranks 48th in Cubs history. Baseball can be a cruel sport for sentimental types, particularly in the 21st century, when players are too often referred to more as Chris Tierney Jersey commodities than people. But it's really hard to imagine Rizzo playing for another team. Not saying it won't happen, but it's not likely to happen anytime soon. If T.J. Lang Jersey Rizzo remains a first-division player over the next seven or eight years, he can get into the Santo-Banks class.
But Bryant is the guy to watch. You have to remind yourself that he has http://www.officialpelicansshop.com/authentic-12-donatas-motiejunas-jersey.html played only three big league seasons. It feels like he has been around for a decade. According to Baseball-Reference.com, only four players have put up more WAR during the first three seasons of a career. Bryant already is at 21.6 career WAR. If he keeps putting up seven-win seasons for the next half-decade, he'll be in position to blow by every other Cub.Bryant -- a Scott Boras client -- doesn't hit free agency until 2022, though the Cubs certainly could sign him to an extension that pushes past his arbitration years. You never know, but you'd have to think the Cubs will pony up enough of their expanding base of financial clout to keep Bryant around for the long haul.
Arizona's top two players -- Randy Johnson and Luis Gonzalez -- both logged significant time with other franchises. Goldschmidt is the first player who might become Arizona's true icon -- a historical, one-franchise talent. He's at 31.6 WAR through last season, ranking third in franchise history behind Johnson (53.6) and Gonzalez (33.8). He'll move into second this season. The question is whether he'll stick around Arizona long enough to cement his best-Diamondback-ever status: Goldschmidt can become a free agent after the 2019 season, and Arizona is not a franchise with unlimited resources.
For all of their historical success and status as an iconic franchise, the Dodgers' career leader (Don Drysdale) has just 65.6 career WAR. (By the way, pitcher WAR totals mentioned in this piece include their contributions at the plate.) There are several others over or near 60 -- Duke Snider, Don Sutton, Zack Wheat, Pee Wee Reese -- who all reside in that group. However, the franchise face is almost certainly Jackie Robinson (57.2 WAR), for reasons that go well beyond the ballfield.
Robinson's No. 42 hangs in every ballpark, Womens Vince Dunn Jersey so no one will ever upstage his status as one of http://www.raidersfootballofficialstore.com/Deandre-Washington-Jersey the most important players ever to don a uniform. But in terms of determining the best-ever Dodger, Kershaw can bring some clarity to what is as of now a murky argument. He's at 59.3 WAR for his first 10 big league seasons, a faster pace than all but 10 other big league pitchers throughout history. However, he has made just 48 starts over the past two years, so now durability may be a looming issue. nfl jerseys from china cheap jerseys wholesale wholesale jerseys usa nike nfl jerseys wholesale wholesale nfl jerseys nike wholesale jerseys