better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

[ZB9]

from DaveC2, pretty interesting comments from the "Inside Corner" by Mike Hindman regarding Kinsler. Took me a bit aback when I read them. Thought some of the Rangers fans would be interested:

"Ian Kinsler is the best baseball player on this club (yeah, I said it) and pretty clearly one of the ten best players in the American League. He’s the best leadoff man in the American League and would be the Rangers best option to bat cleanup behind Josh Hamilton if he wasn’t.

Last year, Kinsler was arguably better than Dustin Pedroia, the American League MVP.

Pedroia: .325 / .376 / .493 / .869
Kinsler: .319 / .375 / .517 / .892

Because of a sports hernia that cut short his season, Kinsler had 79% as many at-bats as Pedroia. So let’s compare Kinsler’s cumulative numbers against 79% of MVP Dustin Pedroia:

Ian Kinsler: 18 homers, 71 RBIs, 102 runs, 41 doubles, 26 stolen bases (caught twice)
79% Pedroia: 13 homers, 65 RBIs, 93 runs, 42 doubles, 16 stolen bases (caught once)

A team of nine Ian Kinslers would beat a team of nine Dustin Pedroias by a score of 7.2 to 6.85.

And don’t let anyone tell you that Kinsler who came up as a shortstop is a liability defensively at second base because he led AL second basemen in errors. Kinsler has the best range factor of any MLB second baseman (5.77). Pedroia’s was third-to-last among qualifiers at the position (4.75). That means that Kinsler gets to one more ball per game than Pedroia does ? 162 a year, assuming both play every game. That’s huge".

[Scottdau]

Re: Ian Kinsler vs. Dustin Pedroia

It is all abut what your team does. It is MVP not best player in the Majors. I never really like that, but it is what it is.

[Speedy]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

Texas has always had pitiful records so Kinsler's impact isn't as great as Pedroia's, but as a pure player I've always liked Kinsler more.

[ZB9]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

yea true. Kinsler hasnt played in the big games that Pedroia has so Pedroia has that advantage. When the stakes are high, the production means more obviously.

but I wonder if Boston would trade mr MVP for Kinsler. RedSox fans, what would you think of that trade? As a Rangers fan, I know that I wouldnt want to see Kinsler traded for Pedroia.

[Ewing]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers - .311 EqA, .375 OBP, .517 SLG, 134 OPS+, 106 RC, 4.5 VW

Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox - .298 EqA, .376 OBP, .493 SLG, 122 OPS+, 107 RC, 6.6 VW

Pedroia beats him by a point in OBP, a run in RC and by two wins in Value Wins. Those first two are so close it doesn't matter and Pedroia has those two value wins because of Kinsler's injury. I'd rather have Kinsler.

[rsox]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

I wonder if Boston would trade mr MVP for Kinsler. RedSox fans, what would you think of that trade? As a Rangers fan, I know that I wouldnt want to see Kinsler traded for Pedroia.

Why trade Pedroia for Kinsler when they could trade a couple of pitchers for Kinsler?. This is the Red Sox. They would just move one of them to SS and have one of the best hitting middle infields in the game.

[bkrich83]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

How much does playing in the AL West and playing in Texas in the summer help Kinsler?

I like Kinsler better than Pedroia myself, but not sure who the better player is.

[cubsfan203]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

Kinsler is probably the better player, but he's never going to win an MVP award in Texas.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

It's pretty much a tie.

Either way, you're a much better team with them on your team.

[Coug00]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

How cute, a Range Factor sighting! At least he could use a defensive metric that is worthwhile. Pedroia is the better defender if you go by UZR or RngR...and its not even close. Kinsler is a defensive liability with the eye test and statistically.

However, the problem with comparing either one of them statistically at this point is that both of their sample sizes are so small the stats are skewed. Both of them have barely played over two full seasons worth of MLB games (327 and 371 career games).

IMO, if you go by the extremely small sample sizes I'd take Pedroia every day of the week because of his glove (defensively he's 1.5 wins better than Kinsler over an entire season). At the plate there really isn't much difference.

[slickdtc]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

How much does playing in the AL West and playing in Texas in the summer help Kinsler?

I like Kinsler better than Pedroia myself, but not sure who the better player is.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Surprised it wasn't mentioned, considering the Rangers home park is notorious for offensive productivity.

[Coug00]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Surprised it wasn't mentioned, considering the Rangers home park is notorious for offensive productivity.

Yeah, I forgot to address that because BK made a good point.

Kinsler's Home/Away split...

Home: BA .321, OBP .390, SLG .525, OPS .915, OPS+ 119
Away: BA .259, OBP .330, SLG .422, OPS .752, OPS+ 81

[Misfit]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

Well if you're going to start talking about home/road splits you have to bring up that Fenway is also a hitter's park and as of 2008, had a higher park factor than Arlington.

Pedroia's splits in 2008:

Home: .343/.393/.519
Road: .309/.353/.468

2007:

Home: .351/.410/.502
Road: .282/.349/.380

His road numbers in '08 are still pretty good, but he was average in 2007 on the road and superman at home. Kinsler has a year on Pedroia in both age and experience at the big league level, but has shown to be a far less durable player at this point than Pedroia (Kinsler has never appeared in more than 130 games) with suspect defense. In three years, Kinsler has had fewer post All-Star at bats than Pedroia despite Pedroia having played two years. Given Pedroia's durability and consistency (granted, over a short period) I give him the edge for now, but it will be interesting to see how both build on their impressive '08 seasons.

[bkrich83]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

Well if you're going to start talking about home/road splits you have to bring up that Fenway is also a hitter's park and as of 2008, had a higher park factor than Arlington.

Pedroia's splits in 2008:

Home: .343/.393/.519
Road: .309/.353/.468

2007:

Home: .351/.410/.502
Road: .282/.349/.380

His road numbers in '08 are still pretty good, but he was average in 2007 on the road and superman at home. Kinsler has a year on Pedroia in both age and experience at the big league level, but has shown to be a far less durable player at this point than Pedroia (Kinsler has never appeared in more than 130 games) with suspect defense. In three years, Kinsler has had fewer post All-Star at bats than Pedroia despite Pedroia having played two years. Given Pedroia's durability and consistency (granted, over a short period) I give him the edge for now, but it will be interesting to see how both build on their impressive '08 seasons.

I like Howie Kendrick.

[JBH3]

Re: better player, Ian Kinsler or Dustin Pedroia?

This is easy...



















Chase Utley.