altuve and pedroia

Tough to compare the two…Altuve is a solid, albeit unspectacular, young player that has above average speed and possesses little power. Pedroia is one of the best players in baseball, an above average hitter who plays elite defense and possesses both good speed and power. The only comparisons are their relative short height and same position.

I'd make sure that Pedroia is in the lineup every single day, no matter where he's playing, if I were a manager. Altuve is an intriguing young talent, but he's yet to convince me he's anything more than an average big leaguer at best.

kt333,

Boy, you got me licking my chops.  If Pedroia threw left....would that mean he would hit lefty too?  I agree with JH.  Pedey is an elite all around player with incredible hand-eye coordination.  He can hit, so you got to get him in the lineup.   He'd been fine in the OF.  He's an enigma based on his size.  My only knock on him is that he is tough on his body.  As a Red Sox fan, I love watching him play every day.  He is the heart and soul of the team, and that is tough to measure.

I've seen Altuve play live and on TV a few times.  Nothing he did or didn't do separated him from the other players except his base running in the games I saw.  He made a couple instinctual base running plays that stuck with me.   Baserunning happens to be something I pay particular attention to.  Pedroia is also very good at baserunning..   .   

If Pedroia was a lefty MLB outfield fences wouldn't be safe. He would be constantly crashing them making spectacular plays in center.

Pedroia's bat plays anywhere, though given that he's a plus defensive 2B he'd have to be a pretty solid defensive OF to be worth as much as a LHB OF as he is as a RHB 2B.

If he could play a solid CF, Altuve would be fine, but he hasn't shown the bat to be able to play a corner position.

A lefty Pedroia would be AL version of Bryce Harper.  Just hope you can keep him healthy and in the lineup.  He might hit for more power as he ages.

I watched Altuve go 4 for 5 with a grand slam yesterday against my triple AAA Boston Red Sox and their house of horrors left side of the infield.  Altuve's got game and the Astros could be a really good team next year if their front office doesn't trip over themselves.

I hope Altuve wins the batting title.

JH, I have got to disagree that Altuve is an average Major Leaguer at best. Having one season like he's having this year differentiates him from most average MLer's. All those 6' 2', 225 pound guys who hit an HR every 9 or 10 games, can't run and are hitting .240 have made this a somewhat boring season. The excitement is the Hamilton's, Rajah Davis, and Altuve types who actually play as if they care. Altuve is out hitting his league by some 90 points which is pretty impressive. He has 6 HRs which I will take over all those "big" guys who hit 15-20 and strike out 130 plus times. Brett Gardner is another guy who when given a chance actually has outshown all the big name Yankee  players and is probably their most valuable player this year. Look at all the tools BJ Upton has and there is no bigger dog in all the Major Leagues.

I'm an Astros fan (tough but someone has to do it) so I'm enjoying being able to see them on TV as they play the Red Sox and the Yankees on this swing through the NE.

Altuve looks good to me, especially since there is no one in the line up protecting him. Imagine what kind of numbers he would have if he had some consistent help in that line up. He is one of those guys who doesn't need to swing at a strike to get a hit. Looking forward to seeing him play against the Yankees next.

Speaking of the Yankees, I have to agree with Three Bagger on BG. I saw him play in person last weekend, and he looked like he was playing in the World Series instead of the Derek Jeter Farewell Tour.

Look at the date I wrote the above post. 

Altuve is having a great year…I'm extremely interested in seeing if he can sustain his BABIP. It's possible given his LD% and speed, so I wouldn't necessarily peg him as a screaming regression candidate just yet.

I still wouldn't put him in the same class as Pedroia, but he's definitely been fun to watch this year and has performed quite well.

In fairness to JH, his comment was made prior to the start of this season, at which time his stats were pretty average.  But I do agree he's an exciting guy to watch and has shown he's extremely talented.

Josh, I'll put in a good word for you.

You did say he has above average speed and not a lot of power. Notwithstanding the grand slam, no one would say he is a power hitter.

Could anyone predict his batting stats this year? I'm fairly certain you would have made a lot of money in Vegas if you had bet on him having the year he has had. I sure hope he keeps it going. I would love to see an Astro win the batting title.

Maybe, but you're right that it was most unlikely. He made a change in his approach with respect to his stride/load that enabled him to cut down on strikeouts this year. He doesn't hit an enormous amount of fly balls, and his speed helps him reach base more often than others that may hit the ball in a similar manner.

From 2011-2013 he was worth 3.0 fWAR. He's already been worth 3.8 this season, and is projected to finish somewhere around 4.5. Whether that's sustainable or not, I don't know. I'm inclined to say no because I believe in regression, but he's proven me wrong this year so maybe this really is his True Talent level. 

If you were Boston, would you trade pedroia straight up for altuve today?

In a heartbeat, and I'd have done it before this year, too.  The Sox owe Pedroia like $90M, and Altuve, even if he regresses, is likely to be a decent MLB 2B for essentially nothing, cost-wise. That's $90M I can spend on something else productive, and Pedroia's very likely to not be worth his contract long before it's over (the history of decline phases for 2B isn't pretty).

The Astros would be out of their minds to make the deal, of course.

I agree, There is no way I would trade a 24 year old Altuve for Pedroia. The amazing thing is that Altuve is only on a pace to score about 86 or 87 runs since most of the other Stros hit an HR or nothing. Pedroia is still a good player but not the elite one he was for a few years.

Today, yes.  I would trade the value of Altuve's contract for Pedroia's contract but that is not going to happen today in this current market.

Tomorrow is another matter.  If Pedroia doesn't get healthy and get back up to his previous productivity, he'll be considered for a trade like everybody else on an underperforming team  It pains me to say it because he happens to be one of my favorite players but the Red Sox front office is in the business of winning.  Ben Cherrington has demonstrated that he can make some tough business decisions, and I don't think anyone will not be considered if it would help the team in the long run.

Yes. Then I would make sure my office is flame retardant. The fans wouldn't be happy. When Pedroia signed his contract extension I was thinking it was a bad deal. But not resigning Pedroia at the time would have been a PR disaster. Pedroia has been in a gradual decline (slugging and OPS) for four seasons. Given his body type and style of play I expect the contract to be a real bad deal the last three or four years. Altuve is a young rising star.