I obviously work and live in Tampa, and the Longoria mania has gone wild. Jerseys, t-shirts, bobble heads, whatever. Well at work today, the full-timer I have is actually a true Rays fan, goes to lots of games, knows the history, albeit 10 years, long story short he isn't one of those 2008 wagon hoppers. Well today he said Longoria is the best 3rd baseman in baseball...And my usual comment would be Alex Rodriguez, but since the whole steroids scandal, he has gone out the door. But I said David Wright and he laughed it off saying "are you kidding?". I don't like Wright, can't stand when I hear he'll be the "Jeter of the Mets" and so on... But outside of my dislike of Wright, I'm a rational baseball fan who can put homerism and hatred aside for a legit argument. I sit there and say...You're telling me you'd take a guy who won AL Rookie of the Year, had a good PostSeason, and a great week to his 2nd season over a 3-time All-Star and 3-time Gold Glover?? He brings up Longo is 23...Wright is 26, since when is 26 old? So the argument goes on for a half hour and I finally say, look...You're a Rays fan who loves Longoria. But it is impossible right now to take Longoria over what Wright has done. And even for the next 5 years I'd take Wright over Longo. So in a nutshell...No bias at all, for or against either player...Just looking at them, who would you rather have?
"Longoria will be a 2nd year starter instead of a rookie who was getting a feel for the game on the fly and if you ask me, Longoria has the POTENTIAL to be an MVP type of player for this Rays team here in 09."
I like both players a lot, but if I was starting a franchise I'd take Longoria, mostly because he is three years younger.
They're almost identical. Seriously. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/longoev01.shtml?redir http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wrighda03.shtml Look at them by age and plate appearences. It's nuts. And I agree with Ecko about hating when people say Wright will be "the Jeter of the Mets." I'd be practically heartbroken if David's career OPS+ dropped 19 points and he became a subpar defender.
^ truth. Anyway, Wright is better right now, but you'd have to take Longoria if age is factored in. Wright for the next three years. Two time GG, actually. 2007 and 2008.
Longoria is better defensively than Wright. Wright has great range but he Knoblauch's the ball over to first way too often. You have to give Wright the offensive advantage though based on the larger body of work. Having to choose between these two would defenitely qualify as a good problem.
Those stats are ridiculously close... You can look past the defensive issues when you've boasted a career at this point which includes a World Series MVP, six 200 hit seasons, will have over 3000 career hits, will have over 500 doubles, has over 150 hits in the postseason, and whether you get sick of hearing it or not, he is one of the guys you want at the plate with the game on the line to deliver in a big spot. Am I forgetting anything? Oh yeah...Those 4 rings. But why would a Mets fan want that type of success for one of their players?
^^ you can't look past having a shortstop with nonexistent range. That's critical. Baseball isn't golf. One player doesn't win a title.
With everything he's done I can look past the defensive issues, easily. Now it isn't like earlier in his career he wasn't an above average SS...But the last several years, it hurts to see him move to his left..Yeah its critical, but again, he's done more than I couldve expected...Yes I know a "team" wins...And he was apart of it and a big part of all 4..
+1 to Yis, Wright is a 2x GGlover...I think Longoria is a very good player, no doubt. But one season and a week isn't going to make me take him to start a franchise over a proven commodity who has had a very good start to his career...You say the factor is age, which is fine...But 26 isn't old, and for the next 7 years I'd take Wright.
it's early in Longoria's carere but if last year was a preview of things to come I'd take him over ARod and Wright.
26 isn't old, but it means that Longoria has more peak years left than Wright. If I was starting a franchise, I'd much rather have a 23 year old than a 26 year old. I think Longoria is almost at Wright's level, and so the three years is a deciding factor for me. As for A-Rod, the guy doesn't have a lot left, and that has nothing to do with PEDs. Look at the career arcs of the guys around him on the home run list. Also the arcs of the guys who played as many games at shortstop so early in their careers as he did. Pretty much all of them began a significant decline around 33 or 34. A-Rod will be turning 34 when he makes it back from the hip injury. Looks like he isn't going to be durable anymore and productivity will slip. 9 years, $270 million?
Wright is a better baserunner, a better average hitter, and gets on base more, that's just comparing both players at the same age. Also Wright has never been injured (knocking on wood), Longoria in his 1 year has missed more time than Wright has in his career. Wright makes more errors but his range may be a reason for that although I've haven't seen Longoria enough to be able to compare their defensive ranges. Everything else is equal so I'd take Wright now but if it comes to starting a franchise than those 3 years would be a factor
Longoria Wright never seems to be able to hit in the must win situations last season in the few Rays games I watched (mostly postseason) he was able to get those hits when they were needed the most.
Longoria plays the AL East and the AL all year. I give him the edge. Wright has been proven for years now though, Longoria needs to continue to play well.
