ESPN's Hot Stove Heaters

Pujols or A-Rod? Buchholz or Chamberlain? Santana or Sabathia? On January 10th, ESPN.com introduced its Hot Stove Heaters chat wraps. The premise of the series is simple. Take two similar players and argue over who you'd rather have. There's not much that I enjoy more than a "who would you rather have?" argument, so I've thoroughly enjoyed this series. The 5th installment was posted yesterday, with Jayson Stark asking the following question:

You have to take one shortstop to start your team. And it has to be a guy who will play this entire season at an age younger than 25. (New Yorkers please take note: That ground rule happens to eliminate Jose Reyes from this argument.) So which phenom would you take, Hanley Ramirez or Troy Tulowitzki?

I'll preface by saying the following: I love Hanley Ramirez. He's one of the most uniquely talented offensive players of all time. There's a chance that when people look back on the 2010's, Ramirez is remembered as the best all-around offensive player of the decade. But for all of Ramirez's offensive prowess, there's just no telling if he can continue playing shortstop. For the second straight year, Ramirez has turned in a horrific defensive season. In 2007, Ramirez posted the lowest fielding percentage (.963) and zone rating (.786) of any NL shortstop, numbers that coincidentally match his 2006 numbers exactly. As the quarterback of the infield, this does not go unnoticed. Rumors of moving Ramirez to center field have quieted since Florida acquired Cameron Maybin, but if Ramirez doesn't show any improvement in 2008, the discussions will have to be revisited.

Tulowitzki is a remarkable talent in his own right. What Ramirez is accomplishing at the plate, Tulowitzki is matching on the field. In 2007, Tulowitzki put together one of the finest defensive seasons of all time. (561 assists, 5.31 range factor, 8.66 zone rating) The 2007 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up was robbed of a Gold Glove award, as the baseball writers once again proved their incompetence by selecting a well-inferior Jimmy Rollins. Tulo is no slouch as the plate either. From May 1st on, Tulowitzki hit .298 with 22 HR and 89 RBI. Not to mention, he helped lead the improbable Rockies run to the World Series. Not bad for a 22 year old!

The only concern I have about Tulo is the huge disparity in his home/road splits. (HOME: .326/.392.568, ROAD: .256/.327/.393.) It is always noteworthy when a player slugs 170 points higher at home, especially when home is Coors Field. While it's not the offensive asylum it was in past seasons, Coors still ranks third in run scoring according to ESPN.com's park factors. In Tulo's defense, it's a very small sample but something to keep an eye on in 2008 and beyond.

If I had to choose, although fantasy baseball fanatics would argue otherwise, I'd take Tulowitzki. Judging by each player's WARP (wins above replacement player) in 2007, you really can't go wrong with either player. (Ramirez posted an 8.9, Tulo posted an 8.5) What Ramirez lacks in defense, he makes up for on offense. What Tulo lacks in offense, he makes up for in defense. However, one of the keys to the argument is which SHORTSTOP would you rather have. And if there's still uncertainty that Ramirez can play shortstop 2-5 years from now, that plays a large factor in the discussion. Tulo, on the other hand, has developed a defensive reputation that mirrors the Visquel's and Ozzie's of the world, with statistics that actually back it up (561 assists, over 100 more than the next SS). It's definitely too early to tell who the better player is, but this is the type of debate that makes it so great to be a baseball fan.