Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most complete player of all?

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

It’s not often that competing sports agents get into a media-fueled brawl, but that’s what we might have on our hands after the agents of Jason Bay and Matt Holliday traded claims of having the best player on the market.

According to Jon Heyman, it started when Joe Urbon, who represents Bay, called his client “the most complete player on the market.” This, of course, startled Scott Boras, who is notorious for always having the most complete player on the market. He claims that his client, Matt Holliday is “the only young complete free agent player available.”

Before we get to breaking down these arguments, it is amusing that Urbon decided to add two more tools to the traditional “5 tool player” label used to describe baseball’s elite players. Not only does Urbon think Bay possesses the five original tools (hitting for average, hitting for power, arm, speed, glove), but also two new “tools”: clubhouse presence and ability to succeed in the AL East.

So according to Urban, it takes a special type of player to succeed in such a pressure-packed division. There must be something special about that division. Probably that the Yankees are in it. Even though Carlos Beltran is 50 times better at defense than Bay, he can only be a five tool player because he doesn’t play in the AL East. You could argue that Bay had it tougher in the NL Central because he never got to hit against his own team’s pitching. Hmmmm…

Anyway, when you actually sit down and compare the two left field free agents, you’ll find very similar offensive numbers. Bay hit for a .921 OPS in 2009 while Holliday hit .909. Holliday got on base a little more while Bay hit for a little more power. However, Bay had the luxury of being a right handed hitter in Fenway Park while Holliday was mired in two pitchers parks for his home games. When you take that into consideration, Holliday was a slightly better offensive player in 2009.

The real difference between Holliday and Bay is defense. Holliday posted a 5.3 UZR (decent ultimate zone rating score) this year while Bay came in at -13.9 (pretty bad). When looking back at career UZR numbers, it’s pretty clear that Holliday is the better defensive player.

While Joe Urbon may have a very talented player on his hands, Bay is not a complete player by any means, no matter what division he plays in. And while Holliday is a little more complete than Bay, neither stud is going to be lighting the bases on fire like a true speed player would.

When it comes down to handing out the big bucks, Holliday is the corner outfielder the Mets should target. His better defensive skills (despite what we saw in the playoffs) will make a long investment hold up better. Not to mention that he’s over a year younger than Bay. Whether the Mets decide to offer a Texiera-like contract to a batter is up to them, but if they do, it should be to Matt Holliday.

Tags: Jason Bay, Joe Urbon, Matt Holliday, Scott Boras

Categories: Aaron Yorke , MLB , Mets