FanNation - The Republic of Sport

StLDieHard said 04/19, 10:54 PM
First off, Velez is a 2nd baseman so I dont know how he could be the next Hanley Ramirez when Hanley plays SS. With that in mind, I am guessing that you just mean who will be the next player to come up and be great right away and play like Ramirez?

My pick is Jacoby Ellsbury of the Boston Redsox. He is in the middle of his rookie season right now and most people have him or Longoria as their AL ROY. He is currently batting .230 (Velez-.235) with 1 homerun, 6 RBI, 12 R, and 4 SB. He is one of the fastest in the league while at the same time, drives in runs along with hitting the long ball. Last year he had 3 HRs in 33 ABs... a homerun in every 11 at bats. Albert Pujols hit one every 16 ABs.

I have a few problems with your pick. Velez does not even start, only has 3 runs and 4 rbis, he also only has 2 steals. You told me in your arguement that he would get 30+ stolen bases THIS YEAR.. that is nearly impossible when he rarely starts. The same way with AVG. You said .280? That means nothing if he only gets 200 at bats! Unlike Velez, Ellsbury DOES start and IS good, real good.

StLDieHard said 04/20, 03:17 PM
Ok buddy, you need to be brought back to earth a little bit on this one. Check it out:

http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/depth_chart/index.jsp?c_id=sf

Velez is the 2nd string secondbaseman.. HE DOES NOT START!!! I dont know how much more hardcore facts I need to convince you that he doesnt start. Did Velez brainwash you or something because he most certainly does not start. Now lets see if Ellsbury starts:

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/team/depth_chart/index.jsp?c_id=bos

Oh my goodness, he DOES! Wow, looks like I am right again.

Ellsbury is the real deal and I think everyone knows that.. He has better power, speed, fielding, batting, etc. than Velez does. Velez had a good 2007 AAA season.. big deal, so did Ellsbury. The switch from AAA to the majors is huge and there are tons of players that have great AAA careers but never do well in the majors and so far, Jacoby is blowing Velez away in their major league careers:

Ellsbury vs Velez
AVG- .323 vs .242
R- 33 vs 8
H- 50 vs 15
HR- 4 vs 0
RBI- 24 vs 6
SB- 13 vs 6
OBP- .400 vs .288
SLG- .477 vs .419

Yes, Jacoby blows him away in EVERY major stat category. Check THOSE stats, esse.

StLDieHard said 04/20, 08:04 PM
I cant really argue that kind of arguement except to say that I have stated my points. In this kind of TD, you basically have a better shot at winning with picking a no-name guy in AA than to pick a proven ROY candidate and I think that is wrong. Ellsbury is far better than Velez, the numbers prove it and I think it is funny the way that you dont have an arguement now that I have placed hardcore evidence that Ellsbury is far better out on the table..

Ellsbury showed off all his skills in limited appearences in Boston last season, and now the Red Sox finally have made room for him to play full-time and he has proven that he IS a big league OFer. He has all the skills you look for in center field and at the top of the batting order, and he knows exactly how to make use of his outstanding speed.

There are a few players you could pick here that are going to be great.. Ellsbury, Upton, Rasmus, Maybin being some of them but I just dont think that Velez is in that group..

Lindy's Baseball: Top 50 Phenoms..
Ellsbury is #10
Velez is N/A