Best shortstop AL East?

[Mitchell133]

Here's how I view it.

Hardy has a poor OBP. He doesn't walk and his pop isn't significant enough for him to be a good middle of the lineup guy.

Escobar has the average and OBP. He's arguably one of the best top of the order hitters in baseball. Also, have you seen his defense? It's phenomenal.

Escobar>Hardy. If Hardy repeats his 2011, I'll reconsider him because of his pop.. But he needs to get that walk rate up.

[mtf]

Everyone on Page 1 said "Hardy" but he only has 6 people voting for him on the poll.

[7chuck7]

Jeter isn't better. His defense has always been pretty horrible which certainly takes away from what he can do with the bat. Now that he's declining quite a bit he's just not good at all. The guy has had a guy to his right who's been with the Yankees for years but for some reason they refused to use him at SS. SS is about defense first, the bat second.

You seem to know a good deal about Jeter. Do you happen to know what his career fielding percentage is? I wonder how good it is. Probably pretty bad compared to other famous shortstops but it would be interesting to find out.

[oak2455]

Prince Fielder

[Twitchy]

I can understand someone saying Jeter based on career. Don't agree, but I understand.

Hardy over Escobar though? Between 2009-2011 (past 3 years) Escobar has the higher OPS (751 vs 732) and the higher wOBA (335 to 318). There's no reason anybody should be saying Hardy has the better bat. We know that's simply not true.

[es0terik]

I'll take Escobar too but I'm surprised that the rest of the forum agrees. Really thought I'd see Hardy beat Escobar in this poll based solely on name value. People seem to underrate Escobar all the time.

[Toxeryll]

Where's Punto? seriously though, i take escobar

[LASportsFan1996]

These Poll Results Are Crazy

[koldjerky]

Hardy gets hurt less than he walks. I do like Hardy though, but it is Escobar. Hardy is a little better defensively and will hit more homeruns but that's about it.

[Halladay]

You seem to know a good deal about Jeter. Do you happen to know what his career fielding percentage is? I wonder how good it is. Probably pretty bad compared to other famous shortstops but it would be interesting to find out.

Jeter is not good defensively. You simply cannot make the argument. Fielding percentage is ********. The guys range is brutal and has been for a while. Does his bat play? of course it does. Easily one of the best bats for a SS over his career but lets face it, the guy should have been moved a long time ago. If he wasn't a Yankees legend and lets say he played on the Pirates or something he would have shifted a decade ago. Arod is a much better SS without question. He should have been the SS the moment the Yanks got em'. At the very least Cano and Jeter should swap but that will never happen. I don't hate Jeter like a lot of people do I just don't know why the Yanks insist on him playing such a premium defensive position when he's clearly not cut out for it. I'd love to see someone argue, using statistics, to show that Jeter is even in the top half of SS's defensively.

[Iodine]

While I do find it laughable Jeter is considered one of the top defensive players by the masses, His glove itself isnt bad, and while his arm/throws are lulzy, the biggest problem is that he has ****ing awful range now, and never had great.


Oh and this thread is clearly missing Robert Andino

[Jeffy25]

Jeter has by far and away the worst UZR of any full time shortstop of all time.


Ricky Guit and Chris Gomez are with him, but they were not full time shortstops their entire careers.

Jeter probably should have played his entire career at second base. Like Bernie Williams, his defense was horrendous for his position, but his bat was amazing for the position they played.

Bernie could have played left, and Jeter second (but they didn't have anybody better to play either position any way) but their bats would have been less valuable out of those positions as well. These are Yankees teams that had a lot of production from a lot of positions, so moving their bats down the defensive spectrum wouldn't have really mattered.

But Jeter has been pretty bad defensively most of his career, and not by just UZR. By every defensive metric. It used to be the most common baseball argument along with Howard and RBI's for the last three years or so, but I haven't seen a Jeter defense argument in awhile.

[ManningToTyree]

I like Escobar a lot, but it is Hardy right now

[mike_noodles]

Not just being a homer here, I would take Escobar over every other SS in the AL East right now. And now when I think really hard about it, there aren't many in all of MLB that I would take over him...

[7chuck7]

At least, based on last season

JJ Hardy - 4.8 WAR
Yunel Escobar - 4.3 WAR
Derek Jeter - 2.3 WAR

Apparently I'm crazy for using WAR as a measuring stick and Jeter was "better than Escobar" last season. How is it at all possible to say Jeter > Escobar in 2011?

Escobar did not go 5 for 5 on the day he got 3000 hits with number 3000 being a home run. Nor did he continue to fill the stands with parents who brought their kids to see him because he is an icon and a role model.

Jeter did much better in 2011. Not to mention he is the captain and leads by example. You won't find any of that in, 'the stats'.