dood, you are again smoking too much of that Royal dope...
Delgado his last 6 years has gone 978; 948; 1134; 948; 955; 1020 OPS. One, those numbers are remarkably high, and two, they are remarkably consistent. And he's done it in a park that is +/- neutral for pitchers / hitter.
Beltran, on the other hand, has a 909 OPS as i write this, which is better than, but generally consistent with, his last two years (876 and 847). Plus with Beltran you must also consider that he plays in KC, which is one of the better hitter's parks in the AL. And don't talk to me about his stolen bases; you know as a serious baseball analyst (and a reader of Moneyball) that the break-even for stolen bases is about 75%; Beltran for this year (and for his career) is safe an incredible 90% of the time but that's only 7 (seven) extra bases over an entire year; Delgado made up that deficit with two swings in one day last night.
So there is really no question who the better, or more valuable, player is, at least historically.
Now, if you count CONTRACT (Delgado is at like $18mm per; Beltran is getting $6mm this year and will probably get a raise to $10-11mm next year) and AGE (Delgado is 31; Beltran 26) then yes, for NEXT year (and years beyond) I'd rather have Beltran, because those 100 OPS points he's behind Delgado can easily be made up for twice over at another position(s) with that extra $8mm bucks.
Cheers |
