PART II - PLAYER COMPARISONS

***Number in () is the players Average Draft Position, or ADP, for the week ending on March 24th, 2007. Thanks to MockDraftCentral.com for the information.

RICHIE SEXON (#89) vs. CARLOS DELGADO (#52)

Sexson (.264-34-107-75-1), Delgado (.265-38-114-89-0)

Delgado is the easy choice here for most because of a couple of obvious factors. First, he plays in New York. Second, the Mets offense is certainly a full tier better than the Mariners. Third, Delgado has the flashy smile and charismatic personality. But, does he really have a bigger bat than Sexson? Delgado does have Sexson licked in consistency as he has posted at least 450 ABs in 11-straight seasons. Delgado has also hit at least 30 HRs with 90 or more RBIs in each of the past 10 seasons, so your early round investment is as much about his production as it is about his consistency. While Sexson certainly can't match that record, in every one of the six seasons in his career in which he has totaled at least 475 ABs he has hit at least 29 HRs with 102 RBIs. In fact, these two sluggers numbers the past two seasons are very similar: Sexson (.264-37-114-87-1), Delgado (.283-36-115-85-0). Admit it, those numbers are a heck of a lot closer than you thought they would be. In fact, the only real difference is in batting average. I have little doubt that I would much rather have Delgado for his elongated track record of excellence, but if I can grab Sexson 37 picks later, I might hold off on drafting Delgado.

ORLANDO HUDSON (#215) vs. TADAHITO IGUCHI (#128)

Hudson (.287-15-67-87-9), Iguchi (.281-18-67-97-44)

Talk about two evenly matched ballplayers. Here are a few other closely aligned numbers (with Hudson's number listed first followed by Iguchi's): BB 61/59, OBP .342/.352, OPS .809/.774. Where Hudson does move ahead, and listen up those of you that play in points leagues, is in extra base hits. Hudson had 34 doubles and 9 triples while Iguchi had only 24 doubles and not a single triple in '06. Iguchi also struck out 32 more times, in 24 less ABs, so it would seem to me that if either player has room to improve, it would likely be Hudson who is 29-years-old compared to the 32-year-old Iguchi. That being the case, do yourself a favor and take Hudson as your 2B, a full 87 picks after the White Sox second sacker is drafted.

JASON BARTLETT (#321) vs. ORLANDO CABRERA (#118)

Bartlett (.309-2-32-44-10), Cabrera (.282-9-72-95-27)

Off the top, this one looks like a simply terrible comparison since we are looking at a guy who has been a starter for years and a player who has yet to complete a full major league season. Also, Cabrera smoked Bartlett's numbers last season as well, so what is this all about? Take a look at the next series of numbers, and perhaps you will then see why I've drawn this comparison: .278-5-49-79-16. Where are those numbers from? Those are Bartlett's career numbers in 569 ABs, or 38 fewer ABs than Cabrera had last season (Bartlett had only 333 ABs last season). Also remember that Bartlett hit .353, .325 and .351 his first three months last year before slumping in September (.228), so that .300 batting average could be legit. Bartlett probably wont match Cabrera in HRs or Runs this season, heck, he might not match him in any of the categories. However, I would be willing to bet you that the other three categories might end up a lot closer than you would initially think. Now there is no debating the fact that Cabrera is the safer play on draft day, but if you can basically get the same numbers from a guy taken over 200 picks later, you would be feeling pretty good about yourself right?

SCOTT ROLEN (#65) vs. ERIC CHAVEZ (#183)

Rolen (.296-22-95-94-7), Chavez (.241-22-72-74-3)

On the surface this might be a big odd to compare these two, especially after Chavez's injury induced meltdown last season. However, lets look at a few facts. First, even though he was terrible last year, Chavez still matched Rolen in HRs and was only a couple of SBs behind. Throw in the fact that Chavez walked more (84 to 56 times), while finishing with an OBP just .018 points behind Rolen (.351 to .369) despite batting .055 points lower, and you can begin to see why I drew this comparison. Second, Chavez is the only 3B in baseball to have hit at least 20 HRs and have 70 RBIs in each of the past seven seasons, so his consistency has to be worth something. Third, here are each players average numbers, per season, over the past seven years: Rolen (.287-24-94-86-8), Chavez (.273-28-94-88-6). Am I the only one that sees how close those numbers are (obviously, Rolen's injury plagued season of 2005 plays a big part here). Rolen is 32, Chavez 29, so age really isn't a factor either way. The bottom line is that Rolen will probably give you better overall numbers, but there is no way his production is worth drafting him 118 picks before Chavez.

CRAIG MONROE (#222) vs. PAT BURRELL (#150)

Monroe (.255-28-92-89-2), Burrell (.258-29-95-80-0)

Does this make any sense? If you look only at last year's numbers, you can see that Monroe was the slightly better hitter. When you throw in where they were taken on draft day '06, this is a cake walk victory for Monroe. So flash forward to 2007 and what do we see? We find Burrell being drafted 72 spots ahead of Monroe, now why is that? Certainly Burrell has the longer track record, with 24 HRs and 84 RBIs in five of the past six years (Monroe has done it only once), and he does play in a better offensive ballpark. One could also argue that the Phillies surround Burrell with a better lineup, but the Tigers are no walk in the park to pitch to in their own right. While Monroe can't match Burrell's longevity, Monroe has hit at last 18 HRs with 70 or more RBIs in each of the past four seasons, and his RBI (70, 72, 89, 92) and runs total (51, 65, 69, 89) keep going up. Both players strike out too often (Burrell 131 and Monroe 126), but Burrell's K-rate is much higher in his career (one K per 3.47 AB whereas Monroe's ratio sits at one every 4.99 ABs). Its almost a toss up as to who will produce the better numbers this year, but even if its Burrell, are you willing to pay the price to draft him so much earlier than Monroe who you could nab 5-6 rounds later?