Answering Some Discussion Questions

Someone asked me to give my own answers for some recent discussion questions, so here goes.

Travis Snider vs. Dexter Fowler:
    I took the contrarian tack here and voted for Fowler, since he has a broader skill base than Snider. That could easily be the wrong decision; in fact I could change my mind and Snider may end up ahead of Fowler on the 50/50 list depending on what I come up with when I do my analysis for the book. Snider does have a great chance to be an excellent impact hitter, but he also may age poorly, while Fowler has a broader base of talents and should, in theory anyway, age better. Their styles are obviously very different, which is why I put the question to you in the first place. Who is more valuable to your team? A potential monster slugger like Snider, or a leadoff guy with some pop, on-base skills, and better defense? I suppose it depends on exactly how good Snider can be...will he be "just" a solid slugger? Or will he be a monster offensive force? Too early to tell. Anyhow, the bottom line is that I voted for Fowler initially but could easily change my mind.

Madison Bumgarner vs. Jhoulys Chacin
     I voted for Bumgarner on this one, but it was a close decision, much closer in my mind than the voting. I think that Bumgarner has a higher potential ceiling than Chacin, but that Chacin is more polished, has an impressive ceiling of his own, and is less likely to fail at higher levels. I particularly like Chacin's combination of ground balls and strikeouts. Bumgarner's statistics are impossible to ignore, of course, and it will be interesting to see how much his ratios deteriorate at a higher level next year, if they do at all. I went with Bumgarner and unless something changes that ranking will stick on the next prospect list, but they won't be far apart. Chacin is still underrated by some people I believe.