Light the Hot Stove fires

Wow. So Gary Sheffield, 38 and coming off a lost season, is better than Soriano?

Jim Thome, 36, one year removed from a lost season and basically stuck at DH, is better than Soriano?

Edit: And Chipper Jones and Jason Giambi? You can't be serious.

I think the Soriano deal is patently insane. But I'd take him in the short-term over most of those players, many of whom are older than Soriano.

 

They aren't clear at all. Chipper Jones? Are you nuts? As offensive players, regardless of position, I think your honorable mention list is not even close, and the above are the only ones clearly better than him.

 

Career stats:

Chipper Jones: .304/.402/.542
OPS+ 142

Alfonso Soriano: .280/.325/.510
OPS+ 115

Yeah, I'm crazy.

Soriano has two full seasons with on-base percentages under .310 -- including 2005. He makes a lot of outs to get those home runs.

 

Why isn't Ted Williams on your list?

 

Not to mention Soriano's 160 strikeouts this past season!

Or his average of 21 errors per seasn at 2nd base and 11 in the outfield this past season.

One of the most overrated players in the game.

 

Chipper Jones: 34 years old, 229 games the last two seasons.

I love watching the guy play--he's a real-life Derek Jeter--and Soriano is overrated. But there is no way Jones is a more valuable offensive player than the guy who has played nearly 100 more games the last two years.

 

Wait ... durability is a factor? I wasn't informed. I'll still take Chipper's 120 games over Soriano's 160.

 

Sarcasm is so becoming for you.

If you want a 34-year-old guy (35 shortly after Opening Day) who is breaking down over a durable albeit flawed 31-year-old, you should apply for work with the Mets.

 

Mets might not take him ... he's not Julio Franco age yet.

 

I'm an unabashed Braves fan -- I still have a "#10 for ROY" poster that they gave out at the '95 NLCS; fucken Nomo! -- and even I wouldn't say that Chipper's been better offensively than Soriano the last three years.

Although career value is far, far higher for Chipper than it will ever be for Soriano ...

 

& another thing on SOriano, All I've been hearing in NY lately is how he single handedly lost the 2003 WS, as evidence that he's not a clutch player. Everyone conveniently forgets that had MAriano been able to throw to second, or Torre played the IF back, he'd have hit the WS winning HR off of Schilling.

 

That fits under the heading of lies, damn lies and statistics. You can't properly measure the value of these two against one another with only the percentage statistics because Chipper Jones was limited to 411 at-bats last year by injuries while Soriano had 647.

Jones had even fewer at-bats (358), also due to injury, in 2005 and hasn't been over 500 at-bats since 2003. Soriano hasn't had fewer than 600 at-bats since 2001, his first full season when he had 574. I understand those numbers are inflated a bit because he walks less, but it still illustrates the fact that he is a heck of a lot more durable than Chipper Jones.

Can't help the team if you're not on the field.

I'll take a healthy Chipper Jones over Soriano any day, but I doubt we will ever see that for a full season again.

That said, this contract is pretty ridiculous.