Ales Rios vs. Johh Hamilton

[abrage22]

FYI, HQ has Rios projected to perform $1 better than Hamilton the rest of the way. So, I'd at least say I'm not crazy to be ranking them close for the rest of the season.

well i haven't been reading much here cause thats just me, but if he's getting crap for ranking them close, then thats just crazy. Hamilton is easily just as good as Rios.I've seen it all over the Cafe all year, "what makes you think he'll be a 20-20 guy". He never has done it before.

I'm going to the Twins game tomorrow, got seats right behind home plate. i'll take pics and show ya how built this guy is .

[shasty mcnasty]

FYI, HQ has Rios projected to perform $1 better than Hamilton the rest of the way. So, I'd at least say I'm not crazy to be ranking them close for the rest of the season.

well i haven't been reading much here cause thats just me, but if he's getting crap for ranking them close, then thats just crazy. Hamilton is easily just as good as Rios.I've seen it all over the Cafe all year, "what makes you think he'll be a 20-20 guy". He never has done it before.


I'm going to the Twins game tomorrow, got seats right behind home plate. i'll take pics and show ya how built this guy is .

Bolded Quote 1: yeah, i think he's actually defending his positioning of Rios up with Hamilton, not the other way around, so maybe your lack of reading here is showing...

Bolded Quote 2: what?

Bolded Quote 3: erm, okay?

[abrage22]

dang when can i have a post that someone likes and doesn't....o whats the point

[AcidRock23]

"May 22 OF Josh Hamilton wasn't even supposed to play Thursday. Instead, he ended up hitting a game-winning home run in the 10th inning and taking over as the AL's top triple-crown threat. Hamilton, who turned 27 Wednesday, has struggled in day games this season, and manager Ron Washington had planned to give him the day off. Hamilton was hitting just .226 in the day, .365 at night. Hamilton said he's had problems adjusting his routine back and forth between night and day schedules. But he had no problems Thursday. He had his second consecutive three-hit game and drove in two runs. He is hitting .335 to take over the AL lead from Minnesota's Joe Mauer, who was 0-for-1 and fell to .333. Hamilton's two-out, full-count blast in the 10th gave him 12 home runs to tie him with Carlos Quentin for the AL lead. And he padded his big RBI lead by going to 53 in the club's first 49 games. "

vs.

"May 22 Rios went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the host Blue Jays' 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.
Advice: Rios has gone 7-for-26 (.269) with a double and three RBIs in his last six games, and is batting .258 with three homers and 18 RBIs in 46 games this season."

How is it even close? Rios 10 SB are nice but I can't help but think that leading the AL in AVG and RBI is a bit more valuable?

[The_Natural]

"May 22 OF Josh Hamilton wasn't even supposed to play Thursday. Instead, he ended up hitting a game-winning home run in the 10th inning and taking over as the AL's top triple-crown threat. Hamilton, who turned 27 Wednesday, has struggled in day games this season, and manager Ron Washington had planned to give him the day off. Hamilton was hitting just .226 in the day, .365 at night. Hamilton said he's had problems adjusting his routine back and forth between night and day schedules. But he had no problems Thursday. He had his second consecutive three-hit game and drove in two runs. He is hitting .335 to take over the AL lead from Minnesota's Joe Mauer, who was 0-for-1 and fell to .333. Hamilton's two-out, full-count blast in the 10th gave him 12 home runs to tie him with Carlos Quentin for the AL lead. And he padded his big RBI lead by going to 53 in the club's first 49 games. "

vs.

"May 22 Rios went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the host Blue Jays' 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.
Advice: Rios has gone 7-for-26 (.269) with a double and three RBIs in his last six games, and is batting .258 with three homers and 18 RBIs in 46 games this season."

How is it even close? Rios 10 SB are nice but I can't help but think that leading the AL in AVG and RBI is a bit more valuable?

Without Santana in the AL anymore, it doesn't mean as much.

[freeling_prideful]

Actually even with Santana out of the AL, offenses in the AL have been performing much worse this season (I don't have a link, but I've heard that they are scoring almost .5 of a run less per team per game, which is absurd). So the fact that Hamilton is immune to this effect is very encouraging...Rios is nice, but he plays in a mediocre offense and I don't foresee him surpassing Hamilton in value anytime soon. Hamilton has excellent hitters around him (Kinsler, Michael Young, and--until he gets injured--Milton Bradley) and just seems like a prodigious natural talent. He's started stealing bases all of a sudden too, probably just b/c he feels like it. He could end the season w/ 35 homers and 6-8 steals, which when combined with his likely .300 avg and 140 RBI's looks like a top-20 player to me.

[cards05]

"May 22 OF Josh Hamilton wasn't even supposed to play Thursday. Instead, he ended up hitting a game-winning home run in the 10th inning and taking over as the AL's top triple-crown threat. Hamilton, who turned 27 Wednesday, has struggled in day games this season, and manager Ron Washington had planned to give him the day off. Hamilton was hitting just .226 in the day, .365 at night. Hamilton said he's had problems adjusting his routine back and forth between night and day schedules. But he had no problems Thursday. He had his second consecutive three-hit game and drove in two runs. He is hitting .335 to take over the AL lead from Minnesota's Joe Mauer, who was 0-for-1 and fell to .333. Hamilton's two-out, full-count blast in the 10th gave him 12 home runs to tie him with Carlos Quentin for the AL lead. And he padded his big RBI lead by going to 53 in the club's first 49 games. "

vs.

"May 22 Rios went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the host Blue Jays' 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.
Advice: Rios has gone 7-for-26 (.269) with a double and three RBIs in his last six games, and is batting .258 with three homers and 18 RBIs in 46 games this season."

How is it even close? Rios 10 SB are nice but I can't help but think that leading the AL in AVG and RBI is a bit more valuable?

Well, it's not close; of course leading the AL in AVG and RBI is more valuable. And, to top it off, he clearly won the May 22 player-update smack down.

I don't think anyone would argue with you that Hamilton's been the better player so far. . The question is who would you have taken first in the draft this year and - more recently - who would you take from here forward. At the draft, for me, it was Rios hands down and now I think it's close with Hamilton inching ahead with each at bat he adds to his sample size.

[Yoda]

Actually even with Santana out of the AL, offenses in the AL have been performing much worse this season (I don't have a link, but I've heard that they are scoring almost .5 of a run less per team per game, which is absurd). So the fact that Hamilton is immune to this effect is very encouraging...Rios is nice, but he plays in a mediocre offense and I don't foresee him surpassing Hamilton in value anytime soon. Hamilton has excellent hitters around him (Kinsler, Michael Young, and--until he gets injured--Milton Bradley) and just seems like a prodigious natural talent. He's started stealing bases all of a sudden too, probably just b/c he feels like it. He could end the season w/ 35 homers and 6-8 steals, which when combined with his likely .300 avg and 140 RBI's looks like a top-20 player to me.

I think he ends up with more steals. He hasn't been running but he is smart and very fast: 47 SB, 12 CS in 277 MiLB Games.

Can't wait until it gets warmer in Texas. I saw a highlight reel of his BP in the Metrodome the other day and he was crushing balls into the upper deck almost hitting the tent.

[BJSFAN123]

"May 22 OF Josh Hamilton wasn't even supposed to play Thursday. Instead, he ended up hitting a game-winning home run in the 10th inning and taking over as the AL's top triple-crown threat. Hamilton, who turned 27 Wednesday, has struggled in day games this season, and manager Ron Washington had planned to give him the day off. Hamilton was hitting just .226 in the day, .365 at night. Hamilton said he's had problems adjusting his routine back and forth between night and day schedules. But he had no problems Thursday. He had his second consecutive three-hit game and drove in two runs. He is hitting .335 to take over the AL lead from Minnesota's Joe Mauer, who was 0-for-1 and fell to .333. Hamilton's two-out, full-count blast in the 10th gave him 12 home runs to tie him with Carlos Quentin for the AL lead. And he padded his big RBI lead by going to 53 in the club's first 49 games. "

vs.

"May 22 Rios went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the host Blue Jays' 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.
Advice: Rios has gone 7-for-26 (.269) with a double and three RBIs in his last six games, and is batting .258 with three homers and 18 RBIs in 46 games this season."

How is it even close? Rios 10 SB are nice but I can't help but think that leading the AL in AVG and RBI is a bit more valuable?

Well, it's not close; of course leading the AL in AVG and RBI is more valuable. And, to top it off, he clearly won the May 22 player-update smack down.

I don't think anyone would argue with you that Hamilton's been the better player so far. . The question is who would you have taken first in the draft this year and - more recently - who would you take from here forward. At the draft, for me, it was Rios hands down and now I think it's close with Hamilton inching ahead with each at bat he adds to his sample size.

Hamilton easily, Rios was one of the most overrated players going into the draft.

[cards05]

I want to be clear, I'm not arguing that Rios is better, just much less risky. To remind (or inform) some, here is Hamilton's year by year history since 2001.

2001: Played in only 27 games (injuries)
2002: Played in only 56 games (lingering back and shoulder injuries)
2003: DNP Drugs
2004: DNP Drugs
2005: DNP Drugs
2006: Played in only 15 games (season-ending left knee injury, for which he underwent arthroscopic surgery)
2007: Played in only 90 games (wrist injury and stomach illness)
2008: Has played in 48 games; so far, so good!

I'm willing to ignore the drug issues and give him a pass there (even though I could understand where one would factor that), but there's really no reason yet to think he's not J.D. Drew as far as injuries are concerned. Once he plays over 140 games in a season, I will start to think otherwise (just like I will think otherwise if Harden ever pitches 180 innings again). Until then, I'll keep considering him among the most talented, but also among the likliest of those to miss significant time with a DL stint. He has great, great skills and is enormously talented. I own him in a couple of leagues and he's become one of my favorite players to watch and root for. But you can't just ignore the risk that goes along with owning him when comparing him to other players.