The question of the week in New York... might as well take an interland poll...

[Headache in a Suitcase]

So all week on New York sports radio, the following question has been thrown around...

Would you rather have...

a) Alex Rodriguez & Derek Jeter - one of the best players in the game having an MVP type season in a-rod, and a player who's proven time and time again to be incredibly clutch when it matters the most... total price tag = $43.9 million dollars per year

or

b) David Wright & Jose Reyes - both turned 22 this year... reyes is going to approach 60 stolen bases & have over a hundred runs scored, has a gun of an arm and great range at short... wright is top 5 in the NL in batting average and is on pace to have a 100 rbi and 100 run season with 20+ steals in only his first full season... total price tag = $650,000 per year.



i know it's a new york centered thread and those tend to piss people off because you all have infiriority complexes but it's an interesting debate... so deal with it.

 

[Chizip]

boy that beltran sure has been a bust hasnt he?

 

[popacrobat]

option 2 if the money is well spent elsewhere.

 

[Numb1075]

if you look at #s, the yankee tandem is better.

but the sky is the limit for the budding stars in Flushing.

I'm going w/ the young gunz @ Shea

 

[Calvin N. Hobbes]

The consistancy of the yankees duo's history to preform makes the money well spent. The mets are lucky to have what they have at that price but sooner or later the price tag goes up. I think paying somebody based on the potential of a high ceiling is always too risky. Show me what you've done - not what you think you can do.

 

[speedracer]

The consistancy of the yankees duo's history to preform makes the money well spent. The mets are lucky to have what they have at that price but sooner or later the price tag goes up. I think paying somebody based on the potential of a high ceiling is always too risky. Show me what you've done - not what you think you can do.

Well, your comment here seems more germane to Beltran than to Wright and Reyes. Wright and Reyes have a ways to go before they hit free agency. (In the meantime, Reyes needs to lift his OBP.)

Of course, the flip side is that it also sucks to pay a player on the basis of long-past performance (cf. Bernie Williams, Mike Piazza).

 

[Calvin N. Hobbes]

Well, your comment here seems more germane to Beltran than to Wright and Reyes. Wright and Reyes have a ways to go before they hit free agency. (In the meantime, Reyes needs to lift his OBP.)

Of course, the flip side is that it also sucks to pay a player on the basis of long-past performance (cf. Bernie Williams, Mike Piazza).

Yes, but you can tell when a player is over the hill like that - Jeter is on the downside of his career but Arod is still in his prime. I guess I was thinking more along the lines that if these players were to go on the market now, whom would I choose? I just think it's risky, it makes me think of players like an Adrian Beltre who is young and lights up for a season and then fizzles.

But your right, Wright & Reyes have a long way to go before they hit free agency and I guess in that respect, those two players probably contribute more to their respective team than the yankee's duo and at a fraction of the cost. But lets see if they can maintain these kind of numbers in the coming years and see what they can produce. The worst thing they have going against them is that they wear a Met's uniform but the upside is that you know that has to have some depreciation value to it and it would make a viable option to some small market team

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Yes, but you can tell when a player is over the hill like that - Jeter is on the downside of his career

Derek Jeter's career stats...
1995- 15 games, 5 runs, 0hrs, 7rbis, .250avg
1996- 157 games, 104 runs, 10hrs, 78rbis, .314avg
1997- 159 games, 116 runs, 10hrs, 70rbis, .291avg
1998- 149 games, 127 runs, 19hrs, 84rbis, .324avg
1999- 158 games, 134 runs, 24hrs, 102rbis, .349avg
2000- 148 games, 119 runs, 15hrs, 73rbis, .339avg
2001- 150 games, 110 runs, 21hrs, 74rbis, .311avg
2002- 157 games, 124 runs, 18hrs, 75rbis, .297avg
2003- 119 games, 87 runs, 10hrs, 52rbis, .324avg
2004- 154 games, 111 runs, 23hrs, 78rbis, .292avg
2005 projected- 158 games, 125runs, 17hrs, 66rbis, .314avg

when ya take the '98 and '99 seasons with a grain of salt... the players obviously weren't the only things juiced those years... his numbers are right in line with the rest of his career... with the exception of RBIs, and would only be 4 short of his previous non injury year low of 70, despite the fact that RBIs are down significantly throughout baseball.

bernie williams? yea... downside. mike mussina? downside. mussina? randy johnson? kevin brown? down down down... derek jeter? not just yet. he's still putting up the same numbers he always has.

the good thing about the yankees is that they don't think that just because someone's making 19 million a year means that they have to be the #3 guy, the big RBI guy. they pay jeter that much because of what he's done in the clutch, and because he fills his role as either a #2 or from time to time as a fill in leadoff hitter as well if not better than anyone else in the game.

now if only the team across town would get the hint and move beltran to the 2 hole and d-wright to the 3...