Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightfyre
PLEASE. Craig had two significant advantages: He batted in St. Louis and he batted in the NL. Billy is just getting into his prime. Craig should already be in it.
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How is batting in the NL an advantage?
Pitching in the NL is as good as it is in the AL; it's the offenses in the AL that make it a little scarier than the NL. The NL hasn't been winning the World Series of late through hitting teams into submission; it's been pitching. As to batting in STL, I can only surmise you're referring to the lineup around him, but that really fell hard in the 2nd half last year and it was Craig that did almost all the heavy lifting after Beltran collapsed then Berkman and Furcal went down for the year. The offense remained scary
because of Craig.
And again, Butler being 2 years younger than Craig is at least partially offset by Butler being a fat guy. His prime is going to come a little sooner and decay a little sooner (though the 'fat guy skills' tend to fall off more gradually) than a guy that's more athletic.
Oh, and you'll be paying Billy Butler $40 million over the next 4 years whereas Craig will be getting $19 million over those same 4, so coming at 1/2 the price over the same period surely doesn't hurt his trade value, does it?
You have the more established hitter. We have a more athletic hitter that can actually play the field with a decent track record of his own and an immediate history that is extremely comparable to your hitters at half the $$. I fail to see how there is a massive disparity in trade value there.