RealGM Baseball: Extra Bases - Be The GM: Evan Longoria Vs. Matt Wieters

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Be The GM: Evan Longoria Vs. Matt Wieters

Authored by Christopher Reina - 5th March, 2009 - 4:28 pm

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Over the next few weeks 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 Rays have a flood of talent that other organizations could only dream of, but the Orioles have the best prospect in all of baseball.

Evan Longoria, 3B, Tampa Bay Rays

Other players considered from the Rays: David Price, B.J. Upton, Scott Kazmir, Carl Crawford

Why he's a franchise player: 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.

Matt Wieters, C, Baltimore Orioles

Other players considered from the Orioles: Nick Markakis

Why he's a franchise player: Matt Wieters was the 5th overall pick in the 2007 MLB Draft is now almost unanimously considered the best prospect in the game. He is a switch hitter with great size and power.

In his first year of minor league ball, Wieters hit for an OPS of 1.054 with 27 homers. He also walked 82 times while striking out just 76 times.

It's easy to get ahead of ourselves when talking about prospects, but health is really the only thing that should stand in Wieters way of becoming one of the greatest catchers of all-time. We just don't see catchers, or even first basemen or outfielders with this kind of skill set very frequently.

Click here to cast your vote for Longoria or Wieters.

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