Nomar Garciaparra vs. Derek Jeter? I think that debate's over by now.
Mike Lowell vs. A-Rod? That one got interesting during the 2007 postseason.
What about Dustin Pedroia vs. Robinson Cano? The jury will probably be out on that one for a long, long time.
Both players are good. Both are 26 years old (although Cano is about nine months older). One has received a little more fanfare than the other, which some in the Yankee camp attribute to the fact that Pedroia's size leaves him with lower expectations and more opportunities to exceed them.
But who is truly better?
Discounting the 31 games Pedroia played at the end of 2006, he has a little over two and a half years of big league experience under his belt. During his rookie year, despite a rough beginning, he finished with a .326 average, eight homers and 50 RBIs. The next year — admittedly, a weak year for power hitters in the American League — he hit .326 with 17 homers and 83 RBIs.
His defense has been perhaps a bigger claim to fame than his offense. In 2007, he racked up a .990 fielding percentage, and in 2008, he improved it to .992.
He's also got a Rookie of the Year award, an MVP award and a Gold Glove on his mantle.
Cano is in the midst of his fifth full season with the Yankees. After batting .297 with 14 homers and 62 RBIs his rookie year, he finished second in Rookie of the Year balloting. The next year — his best to date — he hit .342 with a .365 on-base percentage, a .525 slugging percentage, 15 homers and 78 RBIs, and made his first All-Star game. In 2007, he had another solid year: .306/19/97.
Then, he hit a rough patch in 2008, failing to hit .300 for the first time in his career and recovering from an awful start to the season to piece together a .271 average with 14 homers and 72 RBIs.
He's always made a few more errors than Pedroia — his fielding percentage held at .984 between 2006 and 2008 — but as far as defensively-sound second basemen go, he's one of the best.
Both of these guys are.
Right now, they're both hitting .300 or more. Cano has twice as many long balls as Pedroia, a few more RBIs and a slightly higher batting average. Red Sox fans will still argue that their beloved Pedroia is better and all his hardware proves it.
But the truth is, they're both pretty similar. And they're both right for their teams.
Long before Pedroia arrived on the scene in Beantown, the Red Sox needed someone like him — a young, hard-nosed, loudmouthed ball of passion to fill the shoes of the dirt dogs who came before him. In just over two years, he's established himself as a veteran of the club, an instrumental leader and one of the team's biggest offensive catalysts.
The Yankees don't really need Cano to be that kind of presence in their locker room. They don't need him to take control, carry the offense on his back or light a fire through the media every once in a while. There are plenty of other big names on the roster to do that.
Of course, they're both young. They've got plenty of years in the bigs ahead of them. One of them could flop while the other soars, or they both could end up being flashes in the pan, or they could end up passing MVP honors back and forth until they're 40.
They're the same, but they're different. They both get the job done. And at the end of the day, they're both a good option — for both fan bases.
