[Mondogarage]

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More respected statheads than yourself consider Raines a marginal candidate, at best.

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This is silly. Who do you think is the better player?

By the way, if you're referring to Bill James you're wrong. Bill James ranks Tim Raines as the 8th best left fielder of all time, and Jim Rice as 27th.

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Bill James also predicts Jim Rice as a much liklier HOFer than Tim Raines, using his own predictor. He may rate Raines a better player, but he doesn't rate him nearly as high a HOF candidate.

I think they were roughly equal as players, given the differences in their eras, and I think Rice was more dominant during his best stretch than Raines was during his best stretch, and less players comparable to Rice during his best years than there were to Raines during his best years.