Posted by damag on 6/13/2013 9:16:00 PM (view original):
I voted for Chavez. Jordan may have a marginally better bat but neither will hit well enough to be at the top of the order. Chavez is the better defender.
IMO only way Jordan scores 90 runs is leading off and that's a bad place to use up all his outs.
You don't need to bat him lead off, and you shouldn't expect to get 90 runs out of him (though that's been his career average per 162 games). But I'll argue that the difference in offense between Jordan and Chavez is less marginal than the difference in their defense.
I'd still give the nod to Jordan. The only wild-card is that fact that Chavez is a switch-hitter and Jordan is a righty. I don't think that compensates for the difference in splits between the two, particularly the vsL split.
Maybe if I had the roster spot, I'd take them both and platoon them (Chavez vs RHP, Jordan vs LHP). The non-starter would be available as a pinch-runner and/or a 2B D-rep off the bench.