Thursday, August 30, 2007

All NL Central Team Nominees! (Infield Edition!)

Alright. I've talked about the starting pitching nominees, which takes me to the next set of nominations. So let's go around, from position to position.

At Catcher!

Three choices here that make any sense.

Player - Team - BA - OPS - HR - RBI - Runs Scored - Steals/Attempts - Salary
(format used for all positions)

J. Estrada - Milwaukee - .279 - .702 - 8 - 40 - 36 - 0/0 - 3.4M
Y. Molina - St. Louis - .282 - .727 - 4 - 30 - 27 - 1/0 - 525k
J. Valentin - Cincy - .287 - .742 - 2 - 29 - 12 - 0/0 - 1.25M

Estrada gets the edge on power numbers, with twice as many homers as Yadi and more RBI and Runs Scored than either of the other two. Valentin actually has the highest OPS(which in my opinion is the most important stat). Molina pretty much takes the edge elsewhere, with salary, stolen bases (insert ironic laughter here) and his defense, which, as stated in the previous post, plays a minor, but still important, part in the decision. A three-way race at the weakest position

First base: This one's pretty obviously a two-man race and no one else even enters the argument. Derrek Lee has been good this year, but he doesn't compare to Pujols and Fielder.

P. Fielder - Milwaukee - .281 - .976 - 39 - 97 - 84 - 0/2 - 415k
A. Pujols - St. Louis - .322 - .991 - 30 - 84 - 83 - 2/8 - 12.9M

Pujols has the better track record, batting average and OPS. Fielder has put up 9 more homers and costs a lot less. That's basically your choice. If the money's available to spend on Albert for this team, this is a REALLY tough choice. If I blow through my money elsewhere, this is a good place to take the cheap player and save 12M for similar production though.

Second Base: Another weak position overall, but two players stand out as nominees.

B. Phillips - Cincy - .286 - .814 - 25 - 78 - 89 - 25/32 - 408k
F. Sanchez - Pittsburgh - .312 - .809 - 11 - 66 - 71 - 0/1 - 2.75M

Weirdest thing here is that Biggio doesn't make it. He's definitely showing his age this year at the plate.

Third Base: I originally had four nominees, but really, one of them (Encarnacion - Cincy) had a far lower OPS than the other three, so I've cut him. This is another one like first base, but with a third guy thrown in. The young stud(from Milwaukee even) against the veteran player who's putting up his normal numbers.

R. Braun - Milwaukee - .333 - 1.020 - 25 - 66 - 62 - 11/15 - 400k
M. Lamb - Houston - .293 - .830 - 11 - 38 - 41 - 0/0 - 2.7M
A. Ramirez - Chicago - .310 - .894 - 18 - 79 - 51 - 0/0 - 9M

Finally, the last position!
Shortstop: Three guys here, this could be a tough one, due to the different things these players bring to the table.

A. Gonzalez - Cincy - .264 - .790 - 16 - 56 - 53 - 0/1 - 3.5M
J.J. Hardy - Milwaukee - .279 - .803 - 23 - 72 -71 - 0/3 - 400k
R. Theriot - Chicago - .285 - .720 - 3 - 39 - 72 - 22/26 - 390k

And there they are! Sorry I was too busy to link their information cards. PErhaps I'll spend an hour doing that tomorrow if I have time. Sometime this weekend, I'll try to post at least the outfield candidates, although with Labor Day being a busy family weekend for both my wife's family and my own, the 'pen might have to wait until we're back to the workweek.

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