-- Sports Illustrated ran a piece about 2011's Fantasy Baseball selections; they were high on Pedro Alvarez, saying "He was labeled the top hitter of his draft class and he showed plenty of power in his first two-thirds of a season. His first full season could produce 25-plus homers and 100 RBI."
-- In another fantasy-related piece by SI, Eric Mack picked Andrew McCutchen as one of the NL Central's breakout players. He wrote "This is a real talented 24-year old just scratching the surface."
I'm sure Alvarez will be a successful, better than average power hitter. His ceiling might even go higher than that. But I just can't get past 1) his agent, and 2) his body type. I just keep thinking that Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata would be far better places in which to invest our money if we're thinking about trying to retain any of the current position player core past their walk years. Pedro bounced back nicely from "Weightgate", but I can't escape the idea that he's David Ortiz Part Deux in the making, and it remains to be seen if Pedro will hit as well as Ortiz has. To me, he's an American League player, and not someone the Pirates should be counting on long term. Get our six or at most eight seasons out of him, and let the Yankees or the Red Sox break the bank on Boras, err, I mean, on Pedro.
ReplyDeleteYah, Will, Snyder's back is an issue; they're counting a lot on Sanchez being MLB ready in 2012.
ReplyDeletePedro's bod doesn't bother me that much; heck, he's a gazelle compared to Ryan Howard or Prince Fielder. But he will be tough to hold once he gets into arb and may, in the long run, be a better bet to prosper in the AL.