This surprised me a bit

The Hardball Times is a great baseball think tank known getting truths out of the value of players in the present and the future. But when I read an article today about writer Lisa Gray's favorite baseball players, guess who cracked the top 10?

10) David Eckstein, aka "That Dratted Pest." True, he's neither graceful nor hot. Come to think of it, he's not the best fielder, hitter or basestealer either. Drafted in the 19th round, released by the team that drafted him, he simply refused to lose and his indomitable spirit triumphed over all scouts' predictions. After the 2002 World Series, Barry Lamar Bonds expressed his admiration for The Pest's ability to make so much of so very little. As for me, when I fall into a funk, unsure of my ability to even begin to start to think of doing what needs to be done, I think of The Pest, and I say to myself—if he can play major league baseball, then you can cook that dinner for 18 people tonight (it is too the same thing, and if you weren't men you'd understand perfectly.)

Granted, she lays it out at the beginning saying that the type of players she likes are ones that are "drafted at the bottom of the barrel, expected to be minor league filler, at best, and through persistance and sheer force of dominating will, worked themselves into the major leagues." Still, there are many, many players better than Eckstein (who is a "Dratted Pest" for reasons that aren't good) who probably do better than a career .262 EqA (when league average is .260) and .362 slugging percentage.

Eckstein is pretty decent at getting on-base, but this has to be said people - just because ESPN tells you that a small white dude who is Mr. Scrappy McScrap Scrap doesn't mean he is particularly valuable to your team. It truly surprised me that one of THT's writers thinks in this mindset.