Question

Is it better to get a great hitter with average defense or a weak hitter with great defense?

The consensus to that question is to go with the better hitter. I agree, but then there are some ifs, ands and buts to that answer. Defense is a little overrated and I agree to that even. This question has been raised in the forum in the past and the answer is actually a little cloudy unless you have played the game for a few seasons.

Basically the answer is that the offense of the player in question must be able to make up for his lack of defense at the position he plays (actually though it is more like the position you play him). I will pick on Kansas City for an example. They have Tomas Ordonez who is listed as a 1B. At 1B he should be pretty decent, however they have Del Alvarez playing 1B because he is a better hitter although his defense is weaker but not that bad. To get Ordonez's bat in the lineup, he is playing LF, a position he is drastically not qualified for.

If you look at the team stats you won't find anything amiss with the fielding stats at all at first glance. You really have to know what you are looking for. If you look at the fielding stats of the player card in question, he has made one minus play and if left there the entire season there will be many more. So far he has not made an error, I wouldn't hold my breath that it will stay that way. The glaring hole that I see is his PO's, 9 in 11 games and another is his RF being below 1.

If you compare him to the league leaders at LF, you will find that the RF should be about 1.8 or better and the PO's should be in the 20's or better. That means the offense of the other team is getting hits to LF that they normally wouldn't get.

Is his offense making up for the lack of defense in this case? Right at the moment the answer is no, but the season is still young. His .233 average just isn't doing much for me though his OBP of .377 isn't all that bad due to his walks. To me he would need to hit .300 with 30 plus home runs to make up for the lack of defense.

Now if you are talking about the key positions such as 2B, CF and SS, that is another matter altogether.

As for the Mets as a whole, errors cost me one game so far this season and the lack of hitting the other three.