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Who would you rather have on your team for the next five years? (Assume their salaries are identical, so money isn't an issue.)

Yu Darvish 52 (75.36%)
C.J. Wilson 15 (21.74%)
They are both below replacement level. 2 (2.90%)
Who would you rather have on your team for the next five years? (Assume their salaries are identical, so money isn't an issue.) | 10 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Alex Obal - Thursday, February 09 2012 @ 01:19 AM EST (#251664) #
Your home stadium is St. Louis and you play in the DH league. Your defense is average in every way.
Mike Green - Thursday, February 09 2012 @ 08:59 AM EST (#251665) #
Great question.  I voted Darvish.  I think that he will be a great pitcher if he stays healthy, and a significant part of that is within a club's control.  If it were me, I would try to keep him on 5 days rest, and pitch longer each start.  It does require some adjustments to the rotation, but, in my view, the effort is worth it. 

Wilson is likely to be a very good pitcher, but the risk of injury is far from negligible in his case.  If you wanted the pitcher most likely to be throwing 200 innings 2 years from now, the answer would probably be Buehrle. 

Mick Doherty - Thursday, February 09 2012 @ 01:33 PM EST (#251687) #

As the site's designated ranger-follower, I LOVE this question. And here you go .... as a dice-rolling GM, I take Darvish, no question, no regrets. I'd love to have both, obviously. But consider the range of potential results.

Wilson, worst case -- injury, not unlikely, two and a half good season, lots of DL time., BEST possible case, 80-90 wins, .600 winning percentage, several playoff starts.

Darvish, worst case -- somewhere between Matsuzaka and Nomo, difficulty adjusting to culture shift, wildly overpaid third starter, but he's not Chan Ho Park II. BEST case -- 100 wins, three Cy Young Awards, multiple World Series starts and wins.

I think both will end up somewhere in the middle of the extremes listed, probably have similar overall numbers, both cost a lot, and in the end, roll sixes on the possible higher upside and the international marketing bonanza.

92-93 - Thursday, February 09 2012 @ 03:12 PM EST (#251693) #
I don't really understand how anybody on this website can answer Yu Darvish. I went with the guy who has been one of the best starters in baseball the last 2 years and was a solid reliever for the 4 years prior to that.
greenfrog - Thursday, February 09 2012 @ 03:53 PM EST (#251700) #
Well, for one thing, Darvish is 25 and Wilson is 31. Do you want Darvish's 25-29 years or Wilson's 31-35 years? You can argue the mileage factor (a legitimate point IMO), but other things being equal, I want the player in his prime.
greenfrog - Thursday, February 09 2012 @ 03:55 PM EST (#251701) #
Mick, I think the worst case for Darvish is he blows out his elbow (or perhaps worse, his shoulder). Apparently he had a heavy workload in Japan.
92-93 - Thursday, February 09 2012 @ 09:31 PM EST (#251714) #
I want the player who has proven he can handle Major League Baseball, not the guy I've seen pitch once on a livestream.
Alex Obal - Friday, February 10 2012 @ 01:34 AM EST (#251718) #
And he's handled MLB while pitching in a sauna, no less.

I figured I'd be in the minority here, was just curious how one-sided the poll would turn out. This is about what I expected.
greenfrog - Friday, February 10 2012 @ 08:48 PM EST (#251755) #
Good point about Wilson's ability to handle the Texas heat.

I have a lot of faith in Jon Daniels and co., though. If they scouted Darvish and preferred him to Wilson, I'm going with Yu.
Mick Doherty - Saturday, February 11 2012 @ 12:40 AM EST (#251757) #
That's right, gf, exactly. I fear for Texas that when BrianCashman finally tires of New York, which can't be too far off, that Hank Steinbrenner's first call will (and should) be to the Rangers front office with a blank check for Daniels.
Who would you rather have on your team for the next five years? (Assume their salaries are identical, so money isn't an issue.) | 10 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.