Who are Baseball's Most Indispensable?

With the injury to Hamels, Buster Olney mentioned him as one of baseball's most indispensable players:

1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals
2. Johan Santana, Mets
3. Joe Mauer, Twins
4. Tim Lincecum, Giants
5. Manny Ramirez, Dodgers
6. Cliff Lee, Indians
7. Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks
8. Cole Hamels, Phillies
9. CC Sabathia, Yankees
10. Evan Longoria, Rays

I agree with some of the names on that list but I definitely do not agree with all of them. Evan Longoria is a tremendous young player, but the Rays have an excellent bench including backup 3b Willy Aybar. He is no Evan Longoria but he could start on several teams. The Rays didn't have Longoria to start the year, and missed him during other parts of the regular season and they still went to the World Series. Again, he's a great player but he's not indispensable, that's not an insult to Longoria it's a compliment to the Rays.

Roy Halladay, who is as important to his team as any player in baseball, but Toronto doesn't appear to be a contender this season. Ask this question: What would Player X's team be if this player was out of action for an extended period of time? Consider the example of Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks. Last year, Arizona went 82-80, and in Webb's 34 starts, the D-backs were 24-10; in the games he did not start, they were 58-70. Quite simply, they would not have been in contention without him.

Brandon Webb is clearly an integral part of the Dbacks. But he is essentially more indispensable than Roy Halladay because the NL West is a terrible division. The Blue Jays don't stand to be competitive this year, but they have been the last few years. The Blue Jays won 86 games last year, the Dbacks 82. The Dbacks wouldn't be in contention without Webb obviously, but they also wouldn't be in contention if they were in any other division in baseball. It's really hard for me to accept Webb on a list like this if that list doesn't have Halladay. Oh and Dan Haren is arguably better than Webb, just saying.

As for Cliff Lee, let's see him do this 2 years in a row before we deem him indispensable. The Yankees have more resources than any other team and Sabathia has not even threw a pitch yet. Joba Chamberlain is their 5th starter, and Hughes is in the minors. If Sabathia got Tommy John surgery tomorrow, the Yankees would still have a fine rotation.

Ok, I won't critique any more of Buster's picks and instead give my own, tell me what you think:

1. Albert Pujols- I think we can all agree here. He is the best player in baseball on a below average team. If you replace Pujols with the next best 1b in baseball (Berkman or Teix, take your pick), the Cardinals aren't sniffing contention. A lot of these guys, if you replace him with the next best player, still an allstar, there teams will fair similarly. That's not the case with Albert and that's why he's 1.

2. Joe Mauer- He plays the most difficult position in baseball, plays it very well, and hits enough to play any position on the diamond. When Mike Redmond plays catcher, the Twins aren't the same taem

3. Johan Santana- The Mets or Phillies take your pick are the best team in the NL. Both have great lineups and suspect rotations, it's why Hamels elbow is getting so much press now and why Johan Santana is so valuable. Put it this way, on sports talk radio in NY I hear updates about Tim Redding's health. When the status of Tim Redding matters to your rotation, your ace is pretty friggin valuable, it also doesn't hurt when that guy is the best pitcher in baseball.

4. Hanley Ramirez-The Yankees have the most resources and in contrast the Marlins have the least. All of their eggs are in one basket nicknamed HanRam. Miguel Cabrera wasn't good enough to resign, Hanley was.

5. Grady Sizemore- He may not play SS like Hanley Ramirez, but CF is pretty darn important and he plays it very well. Oh yea he also has averaged about 100 walks the last two years. He leads off for the Indians, but probably should be batting third. Buster has a point in putting Cliff Lee on the list, but if Grady goes down I think it hurts the Indians more.

6. Roy Halladay- The Blue Jays have played in the brutal AL East and therefore haven't really had a chance to make the postseason. But they have still been competitive, finishing 3 games behind the Yankees in 2008, and ahead of the Sox in 2006. Their teams have been built around pitching and defense, and that philosophy simply would not be successful without Halladay. They can't spend with the big boys but having Halladay allowed them compete.

7. Tim Lincecum- The Giants aren't a special team and likely won't make the postseason. But they have a future, and that's all because of Timmy. If the Giants were a better team I'd place him higher on the list, but unfortunately they aren't. However, with a little luck they could still make noise in that laughable NL West

8. Chase Utley- It's pretty incredible how underrated this guy is. He's by far the best hitting 2b in the league, and what people don't realize is he's also the best fielding 2b in the league. Last year Utley finished 2nd to only ALbert Pujols in WAR, better than Grady, Hanley, Chipper, Manny and basically every other player in baseball. Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins are great players, but it's Utley that makes the Phillies.

9. Brandon Webb/Dan Haren- I can't choose between these players, so I won't. Everyone talks about Webb, but Haren is basically his equal. I criticized Buster a little, but he still makes a good point. Without Webb the Dbacks are a really bad team. The same could be said with Haren, and god forbid both got hurt you probably have the worst team in the majors.

10. Lance Berkman- I kind of struggled with this one, but I chose Lance. Lance was really, really good last year. Every year the Astros team looks incredibly eh and every year they are in the thick of things at the end. Lance has been there the entire time, so it's time we give him some credit.

Notable ommisions: Manny- Just feel I can't say a 37 year old LF is that indispensable, if the Red Sox wanted him out of town and especially if one considers defense. Pedroia- The Red Sox have such a good farm system that guys like Lowrie could replace Pedroia enough where they'd still be competitive. Markakis- maybe in a couple years when the O's are respectable. Arod- it's the Yankees, how could one guy on a $200m payroll be indispensable, he's the closest at least. Hamels- same arguments as Johan but not as compelling.