| Authored by Christopher Reina - 6th April, 2009 - 5:28 pm
 In the spirit of the NCAA Tournament and Spring Training, we combined the two for our own March Madness, which will determine who the readers of RealGM will select in the second edition of our 'Be The GM' series.
Though there are many different potential answers, the question is simple; If you were to start a MLB franchise from scratch and had the option to pick any player in the world, who would you pick?
Click here for more information on this series and to read other match-ups.
After over a month of match-ups, we finally have our final.
David Wright, 3B, New York Mets
Wright has been around for five years already, but is still just 26-years-old. He has had a .523 or better slugging percentage in each season, is a solid OBP hitter and has decent speed. He also has improved dramatically at third base.
Wright has been a member of some underachieving Mets teams and seemingly hasn't produced well in the clutch, but he had a huge game-winning hit against Puerto Rico to send the USA into the WBC semifinals.
Albert Pujols, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals
Assuming we don't end up being thrown any PED curveballs a few years down the road the way we did with Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, it will be safe to place Albert Pujols on the highest of pantheons.
Pujols reached the 4,500 at bat plateau during the 2008 season and he now ranks 7th all time in OPS+ behind Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby and Mickey Mantle. That number should increase over the next five or six seasons assuming offensive production continues to decline as we come out of the steroid era.
His production over the first eight years of his career places him on a level that no other great can really compare to. Only Ralph Kiner hit more homers, only Ted Williams and Frank Thomas had a higher OPS,
Pujols moved all around the diamond during his first three seasons, but he has found a home at first base and he has become a very underrated defensive player.
Click here to cast your vote for Wright or Pujols. |
