FanPost

Is Reagins any worse than Epstein?

Is it possible that with all the negative talk surrounding Wells' contract and his terrible 07 and 09 seasons that we're under-rating him?  And that with all the hype surrounding Crawford's free agency, that he's being overrated?

Who's better:  Wells or Crawford?

2010 Stat

Wells

Crawford

Comment

Home runs

31

19

Clearly, Wells has the advantage there

Stolen bases

6

47

Clearly, Crawford destroys Wells on this one.  But I wouldn’t be surprised to see Wells swipe 20 bases under Scoscia’s regime.

Average

.273

.307

Crawford typically hits for higher average than Wells does

On Base %

.331

.356

Crawford has a higher OBP, but that is only due to his higher average.  Crawford is no walking machine.  In fact, he had 46BB in 657 PA, while Wells had 50BB in 646 PA – a better rate than Crawford.

Slugging

.515

.495

Wells has an advantage here.

OPS

.840

.851

Pretty close.  Again, Crawford’s higher average (and likely his ability to stretch doubles into triples).  If his speed declines over the next 7 years, I wonder how this will affect his average, and ultimately his OPS.

OPS+

127

134

Crawford

Defense

 

 

I’m not going to use defensive metrics to compare because I don’t understand them that well, and they played different positions.  Crawford was a LF gold glover.  Wells played CF reasonably well.  He’s apparently playing LF next season, so it’ll be interesting to compare him with Crawford at that point.

 

Also consider:  Wells career OPS .804 (despite his terrible injury-ridden seasons, which comprise of almost 20% of his at bats), and Crawford career OPS .788.  Crawford also strikes out more.

Wells also goes over and above when it comes to community work, charity, etc.  That counts for something.

Wells will be 36 at the end of his contract and Crawford will be 37.

They are, of course two very different players.  The question is would you prefer Wells in the middle of your lineup for 4 years ($86M), or Crawford for 7 years ($142M).  I don't want either of those contracts, but if I had no choice but to choose one, I don't know...

Editor's Note: This is a FanPost written by a reader and member of Bluebird Banter. It was not commissioned by the editors and is not necessarily reflective of the opinions of Bluebird Banter or SB Nation.