ESPN.com Insider (subscription required) has unveiled its All-Underrated and All-Overrated Teams for current major leaguers, and Rob Neyer has chipped in with his All-time All-Underrated/Overrated Teams.

Surprisingly/not surprisingly, these lists include some former and current Cardinals.

Apparently there isn't anyone currently on the Cards' roster that is underrated; after all it's not likely that someone playing in the 21st biggest market, whether they are on the best team in baseball or not, will be overlooked (may I nominate the Cards Bench?); but there are a couple on the overrated side.

All-Overrated (Current)

Larry Walker (!)
2005 Stats

This from Gary Gillette:

Larry Walker was once a great player. Never quite as good as everyone thought, but pretty damn good, nonetheless. But Walker's golden-boy status was based on his being an all-around player who could field and throw with the best in the game. His bat speed has now declined – no surprise given that he's 38 – as well as his range. Plus, there's that nagging injury history that can't be ignored. How many times has Walker played 150 games in a season in his career? Once in 14 full seasons. When was the last time that Walker had 600 plate appearances in a season? 1997. To deserve a reputation like Walker's, a player needs to be in the lineup every day, year after year.

Huh. And I thought Mullethead's reputation was that he was a 5-time All-Star, 7-time Gold Glove winner, 3-time batting champion and one-time MVP.

Mike Matheny
2005 Stats

No-hit, good-field catchers are a baseball tradition dating back to the days when stealing bases actually mattered. The Giants' Mike Matheny continues that tradition in an era when catcher defense is not really important. Here is a guy who has averaged a pathetic .239 with five homers per year over his 10 full seasons; his career OBP is sub-.300; he doesn't have gap power, can't run even by catcher standards, and should be a career backup. His defense, no matter how good, comes nowhere close to making up for that laundry list of deficiencies – and his defense is overrated, too.

I would agree with Gillette, except Yadier Molina's .190 average and 3 errors aren't exactly making me forget Catch-22. Now, Gillette edited The 2005 ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, which doesn't seem to have the same cachet as Baseball Prospectus, but it's a book with pages in it, so I'll cut him some slack.

All-Time Underrated

Ted Simmons
Lifetime Stats

Let me describe a nameless player: "decent defensive catcher, eight-time All-Star with 2,472 career hits, No. 1 among players who spent most of their careers behind the plate." Sound like a Hall of Famer to you? I haven't even mentioned nameless player's power; his 778 extra-base hits rank behind only Carlton Fisk among catchers. As I suspect you've suspected, this player does have a name, and it's Ted Simmons.

Simmons lost eligibility for election to the Hall of Fame in 1994 by not getting enough votes (17 to be exact) to stay on the ballot. He is eligible for the Hall via election by the Veterans Committee should one of the 25 candidates in 2005 drop off (Dick Allen, Bobby Bonds, Ken Boyer, Rocky Colavito, Wes Ferrell, Curt Flood, Joe Gordon, Gil Hodges, Elston Howard, Jim Kaat, Mickey Lolich, Sparky Lyle, Marty Marion, Roger Maris, Carl Mays, Minnie Minoso, Thurman Munson, Don Newcombe, Tony Oliva, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant, Joe Torre, Maury Wills, Smoky Joe Wood).

Reggie Smith
Lifetime Stats

For 11 seasons – 1968 through 1978 – Smith ranked as one of the game's best players, year in and year out. In 1982, his last season, Smith batted .284 with 18 homers in only 349 at-bats. He was 37, obviously had plenty of good baseball left in him, and finished his career with two seasons in Japan.

Smith had two good years with the Birds in 1974 and 1975 (batting .306, averaging 21 HR, 88 RBI, .894 OPS), before beingtraded in the middle of one crappy one in '76 to the Dodgers for Joe Ferguson, Bob Detherage, and Fred Tisdale.

Neyer's list also includes former Cardinals, Will Clark and Dan Quisenberry who both contributed their share of memorable moments, including a push to the playoffs in 2000 for Clark and the closing out of the Herzog years for Quiz.

All-Time Overrated

Bruce Sutter
Lifetime Stats

Neyer wrote a column back in January dissing Sutter's HOF eligibility (Bruce's vote total rose from 301 votes in 2004 to 344 in 2005) primarily based on Neyer's Kansas City inferiority complex - thereby Quisenberry's inclusion on the All-Time Underrated.

Does anybody want to reasonably argue that Dan Quisenberry's not anything like a Hall of Famer, but that Bruce Sutter is a Hall of Famer? I mean, I'm sure there's a case to be made for Sutter. It's just that I still haven't seen it.

If Sutter's vote total continues to rise as it has over the past 5 years, he is likely to be elected in 2006 when the list of first time players includes such luminaries as Alex Fernandez, Gregg Jefferies, Lance Johnson, and Mickey Morandini. Yes Orel Hershiser, Will Clark and Gary Gaetti are on next year's list, too, but doubtful they will take votes away from Sutter.

Sidebar

Back to my parenthetical about nominating the Cards' Bench for Most Underrated, I wasn't joking. Aside from what can best be described as a pathetic performance thus far by Róger Cedeño and John Mabry's slow start (although that homer Monday made me a lot forgiving), the Cards bench is performing much better than I expected.

Here's the bench batting stats through today:

Here's the bench stats through today minus Cedeño:

Not too shabby. Underrated, even.