Morneau or Hamilton

[blujaysrock]

Who would you rather have on your team for the next 5 years?

[SportsFan1988]

Wow, a really tough one, but considering I'm a Cardinals fan I'll go with Hamilton.

[RedHeadsRule]

Hamilton

[nme]

Morneau has won himself an MVP, so it's pretty damn tough to discount him. However, from what I've seen, Hamilton's ceiling is about as high as any ball player to come around in the past 20 years, so I'd have to take the flier on him and hope that this season is no fluke.

[CarniifeX]

Josh Hamilton, much more talent and potential.

[sanfranfan1210]

Hamilton

[BigBruceRogers]

Hamilton. No Doubt. He's a star when he's off the snow.

[boeknows]

Ill take Morneau. Done more so far in his career. Much more polished especially since they are only 5 days apart.

[cwilson21]

Seeing that I'm a Twins fan, I'll take Morneau. He's already proven himself as an MVP and a great defensive 1B worthy of a gold glove. Not meaning to really hurt on Hamilton because I love watching him play especially with his amazing comeback from coke, but he has played in very favorable hitters parks his first 2 seasons in the league (Cincy, Texas).

Split stats for Hamilton this season:

Home: .356/.405/.678 with 14 HR and 58 RBI
Away: .269/.332/.437 with 7 HR and 37 RBI (has more AB's on the road as well)


Split stats for Morneau this season:

Home: .305/.355/.479 with 6 HR and 37 RBI
Away: .343/.428/.549 with 8 HR and 31 RBI

The huge disparity between Hamilton's home and away numbers compared to Morneau's home and away numbers makes me believe that he is really helped out with that ballpark. Not to mention he is in a lineup that features the league leader in average in Kinsler, a hitting machine in Young, an MVP candidate in Bradley to protect him in the order, and several other guys in that lineup such as Ramon Vasquez who are putting up stellar numbers as well (though all of their numbers are helped out significantly by that ballpark). Morneau doesn't have anywhere as close to the offensive lineup as Hamilton does though if we spent half a season hitting in Arlington, I bet Morneau's numbers would look even better than what Hamilton is doing right now. Put Morneau and the rest of the Twins in that ballpark and I guarantee you that Morneau would be a consistent threat for the Gold Crown every year.

[conway429]

I'd take Hamilton, but it's very close.
Definately closer than the 14-1 ratio the poll is at right now.

[cwilson21]

I'd take Hamilton, but it's very close.
Definately closer than the 14-1 ratio the poll is at right now.

I think people are caught up in his story, 95 RBI, and his Derby performance to look into the stats. He's an average player on the road but he is superhuman in Texas. Kinsler is hitting .376 on the road and is hitting 77 points less on the road. Even Michael Young is hitting 66 points less on the road (Home: .335, Away: .269). If Hamilton was playing in a pitchers park, even a balanced park, his and the rest of his teammates wouldn't be putting up the MVP-caliber numbers like they have been.

[PhillyLuver]

Morneau. Splitssss

[GA16Angels]

At this moment I'll say Justin Morneau. I want to see how Josh Hamilton does next year and in the second half. If he can keep it up then he's better.

[brandonwarne52]

Josh Hamilton, much more talent and potential.

I think it's important to note that they're less than a week apart in age.

[HighVelocity]

Morneau is going to be a great first-baseman for a long time and Hamilton will be a great outfielder for a long time. Talent wise, I have to go with Hamilton. Morneau is a big talent, but Hamilton is an even bigger talent IMO. Morneau is capable of putting up great numbers (won the 2006 AL MVP award). Hamilton on the other hand is capable of putting up sensational numbers. He is a candidate for the 2008 AL MVP award. Most teams would probably pick Hamilton instead of Morneau for that very reason. I say Hamilton is the better overall player.