Quote:
Originally posted by darkhorse
Lopez has an edge in playing time. Posada is a far superior hitter. They seem to have similar value defensively. I'd much rather have Posada on my team.
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If you look at the career numbers for two guys only one year apart in age, Lopez is way above Posada. You are making a subjective judgement based upon your own opinion. Maybe Posada is a better "pure hitter" (although he has less power and lower BA for a career), but the overall numbers favor Lopez, and not by a little.
Posada career: 135 HR, 526 RBI, .849 OPS
Lopez career: 214 HR, 694 RBI, .839 OPS
By 162 game AVG career:
Posada: 25 HR, 98 RBI, .270 BA
Lopez: 30 HR, 97 RBI, .287 BA
Lopez is clearly the better slugger, Posada has a slight edge in OPS (thanks to significantly higher OBP, but much lower SLG) . In fact, the only aspect to offensive performance you can cleary give to Posada is OBP (.375 to .337). Lopez also has considerably more years at a fairly high level under his belt.
And if you want to throw post season performance into the mix, Lopez only increases his edge.
Lopez career postseason
G HR RBI BA SLG OBP OPS
15 10 28 .278 .493 .324 .817
Posada career postseason
G HR RBI BA SLG OBP OPS
18 7 25 .226 .379 .339 .718
So the Yankee post season stink has not washed off on Posada, while the Braves postseason woes haven't affected Lopez in the least.
While your subjective, personal opinion is that Posada is a better player, the career numbers, as they stand right this moment, clearly suggest Lopez has better qualifications for the Hall (not that he is necessarily Hall worthy, just more Hall worthy).