| Authored by Christopher Reina - 3rd April, 2009 - 12:32 pm
 As the NCAA Tournament and Spring Training dominate the month of March, we have combined the two for our own March Madness, which will determine who the readers of RealGM will select in the second edition of our 'Be The GM' series.
Though there are many different potential answers, the question is simple; If you were to start a MLB franchise from scratch and had the option to pick any player in the world, who would you pick?
Click here for more information on this series and to read other match-ups.
The Final Four is finally here with David Wright, Evan Longoria, Albert Pujols and Tim Lincecum still standing.
Wright defeated Grady Sizemore with 65% of the vote, Longoria defeated Josh Hamilton with 70% of the vote, Pujols very narrowly knocked off Hanley Ramirez with 52% of the vote and Lincecum cruised past Ryan Braun with 71% of the votes.
David Wright, 3B, New York Mets
Wright has been around for five years already, but is still just 26-years-old. He has had a .523 or better slugging percentage in each season, is a solid OBP hitter and has decent speed. He also has improved dramatically at third base.
Wright has been a member of some underachieving Mets teams and seemingly hasn't produced well in the clutch, but he had a huge game-winning hit against Puerto Rico to send the USA into the WBC semifinals.
Evan Longoria, 3B, Tampa Bay Rays
Longoria was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2008 with 27 homers and an .874 OPS, hit an additional six homers in the postseason and played a very good defensive third base.
He won't turn 24 until October and if he can up his OBP by decreasing his strikeout rate, Longoria should be a perennial .950 or better OPS hitter until 2020.
Longoria also has proven to be a reliable clutch hitter, posting a 1.189 OPS in 'late & close' situations.
Click here to cast your vote for Wright or Longoria. |
