Posted by MikeT23 on 7/9/2012 11:20:00 AM (view original):
Riley was more valuable. I know that's not jtpops' argument but I'm sure 100% of us would take 663 AB of Riley over 480 AB of Wirth.
This is my argument. I know I've brought up other points throughout the thread, but people here are arguing "Wirth is the better offensive player!!" I'm not necessarily disputing that. Clearly, if we go purely by offensive ratings (durability excluded), Wirth has the edge. But the award isn't given based on ratings, it's given based on stats.
So when someone says "the Silver Slugger goes to the best offensive player at each position", what that really means is the best offensive player at each position THIS SEASON. In which case, contrary to Ted's claims, the fact that Riley logged 183 more ABs at near = production means he had the better offensive year. As mike has said, having a guy who has 9.7 RC/27 is great, but unless you have a guy on your bench who can put up the same numbers in the other quarter of your games, that starts to decrease the overall value of his offensive season in comparison to the guy who played 162.