Who would you rather have, considering the market price (salary plus trade chips, if not a free agent this offseason): Alex Rodriguez, Mike Lowell, Miguel Cabrera, Miguel Tejada or Scott Rolen?
Same question for the following free agent pitchers: Bartolo Colon, Randy Wolf, Matt Clement or Kris Benson?
To me, hitter-wise you gotta go Arod, Miggy, Lowell, Tejada, Rolen. While Arod is the most expensive he is also head and shoulders the best player in baseball. He is young, he is coming off an incredible season and you have nothign but upside as he makes the charge to break all the records cleanly. I would go Miggy over the rest because of the upside, his youth and the fact that if motivated you have a corner IF Manny makes him the second best alternative. You hope playing in big games keeps him on the straight and narrow. I put Lowell over Tejada and Rolen because all three guys are on the downside of their careers (while the first two are on the up). Also while Lowell wont ever come close to sniffing the season he just had, he is a scrappy gamer and a great clubhouse guys, which you totally cant say about the other two. I think Rolen is washed up, other then a good glove he isnt gonna help you in my opinion, and I dont see Tejada being a major player anymore, between the age and the attitude I would go after a Crede on the cheap and hope he bounces back from his back surgery then spend major green or part with quality prospects for Tejada.
Oofa those pitchers are brutal. I wouldnt touch Andre the Giant Colon or Benson and his crazy wife. Not for anything. So I guess Wolf (who isnt really good but is a gamer and is tough) then egads Clement (who I also think is done)…talk about slim pickings. I guess to me I go Wolf and thats it thats all.
I’d go Cabrera. 8 years younger than A-Rod and almost as good. I do worry about his conditioning and attitude but it’s not like A-Rod doesn’t have any intangible issues as well. Cabrera does have a ring, Mr. Rodriguez does not.
And I’d also go Wolf out of those pitchers. Colon and Clement just might be done, and it’s not like Clement was ever that great anyway. Benson and Wolf are comparable but I just like Wolf better, obviously some slight bias there. But you have a good chance to win when you hand him the ball.
Cabrera has a ring, Arod doesnt? Cmon now, career postseason stats – Cabrera 17 games, 68 abs, 2 dbls, 4 hrs, 12 ribs, 19 Ks, .265 average; Arod 39 games, 147 abs, 9 dbls, 7 hrs, 17 ribs, 38 ks, .279 batting average. I can see the Miggy is younger and almost as good a hitter, but the case can be made that he is a lazy, chunky future OF who will get a big money contract and come to spring training looking like he ate Bartolo Colon.
I liked the old question of the day. As good as A-hole is I would rather have Cabrera. He is young and doesn’t bring the circus that A-rod does.
I’m not one of these “A-Rod is useless because he always fails in the clutch guys”, and I was mostly joking when I pointed out that Cabrera has a ring and A-Rod doesn’t. But, still, those stats are a bit misleading. Cabrera was a 21-year-old rookie at the time he had all those AB’s, meanwhile A-Rod was hitting 8th against the Tigers in the playoffs last year. As great as A-Rod is, and I would LOVE to have him on my team, there’s still big questions about him in the clutch.
But I don’t fault anyone for picking A-Rod here. I just think for close to $30 million a year, you better be the absolute, complete total package. He’s close but hasn’t quite proved that, so I’ll take my chances with a guy 8 years younger.
as much as it pains me to say, i actually agree with everything Ian said in that initial post. i have them in the exact same order, with similar opinions why.
however, i don’t think you can just sluff (is that a word?) off A-Rod’s lack of production in the recent playoffs. now, i truly HATE the fact that everyone makes such a HUGE deal about it because i think a lot of postseason success is a crapshoot. baseball is a game where statistics need a large sample to be valid because the difference between hitting .320 and .240 is really not that much. however, i do question A-Rod’s ability to hit in the clutch and my reasons have nothing to do with his prior postseason numbers and everything to do with his mental state right now (to save some boredom, i’ll save my stupid analogy for a post that i’ll do on A-Rod at some point).
either way, there is no way that i wouldn’t take A-Rod because he is the greatest human being to ever play the game (Pujols is better, but he’s inhuman–he has to be)
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