I'm astonished by some of the stat manipulation that allows 538 to call Ben Zobrist among the best players of all time, i.e. in the company of Willie Mays as a "five tool" player. That could only work by inventing stats that make multiple adjustments, e.g. park factor--which somehow changes every year even if the park doesn't, replacement player at the position--which depends upon fluctuating stats of very few players and thus sometimes wildly overrates or underrates a player's actual value to his team's scoring runs and preventing them, defense--wildly fluctuating again--and speed--a highly arbitrary formula. Zobrist had one season of more than 20 stolen bases. He had a few seasons of 6 or 7 triples. Among his best years had obp's of around .350, and multiple sub .800 ops. Yet, we're to think that he was an 8+ win player several years.
Now Ichiro was the man. Think about this one: he barely missed any games for his first 12 years in the league. Not counting this year, in his first 14 years in the majors, he had missed a total of 64 games, averaging more than 157 games per season, and just 16 games in his first eight seasons through 2008, and 33 games through 2012. He's missed more the past two years but still a high total. And note that most of his career has been in his 30s, a time when most players miss dozens of games per year. In other words, he was always there for his team. They didn't have to sub for him. He has 11 years with an OPS+ over 100, most of the time over 110. His #'s have fallen off the past few years in his late 30s, early 40s, but even so, his career OBP is still at .358, despite his lack of walks. He has 8 seasons with at least 6 triples. He's on the verge of 500 stolen bases, caught just 114 times, which is a tremendous rate. 1326 runs, many on weak teams, an average of 93 runs per 162 games. No power, 113 hr's and doubles not great at 336, but the triples make up some of it. .315 career batting average and he missed about five of his prime years.