Two outstanding careers duh.
Disregarding needs.
Who would you pick?
TIA

Single season leagues: when in doubt, always go with pitching.

Sincerely,

Your World Series Champion

Seriously, even disregarding Eck's amazing closer years, he is still a pretty damn good starter in his own right. The 1988-92 years with Oakland are just whip cream on the sundae. To me it's not even close.

Yeah, I would take Dennis in a heartbeat.

You don't win titles with good catchers....

Eck...no question...pitching, pitching, pitching

Yep, pitching. Keep in mind as you enter the 80's guys stop pitching as many innings. With fewer 300ip guys you'll start having a 4 man rotation. Also the answer is almost always pitching.

Honestly I'm not sure this is a slam dunk. It depends a lot on your park. In a park like Wrigley, Eck's HR/9 is going to get him lit up and he'll be a #3 at best. And Carter will lock down your C position for 10 years without ever having to worry about it. I'd lean towards Carter.

I went with Eck, for the following reasons.

I play at Dodger Stadium.
'75 is my 2nd and final rebuilding season.
I should have a top four pick in '76.
Carter is awful offensively in '76.
I have a platoon of Fosse and Stinson for a couple seasons.
Plus, '78 Stinson is pretty darn good.

Eck is solid to very, very good for a decade. My ace is JR.
I'm comfortable with my choice.

Thanks for the feedback all. 

To each his own, but I'm with jfranco, I don't think this is a slam dunk at all.  If you knew you were going to be competitive in 1975-77, then yes Eckersley makes sense.  But from 1978-86 I don't think he has a single season where he's a #1 starter; and in several years (esp '83 and '86 he's below average).  His '85 is much better, but probably won't even reach 200IP that year.

Yes, from 1988-92 he's a lights-out RP, but (a) are you sure you'll be in the league that long? and (b) in my opinion the importance of having a dominant closer in a progressive is very overrated.  I've been in many many progs where teams won pennants with run-of-the-mill RPs as closers, and it's usually not hard to draft or trade for an RP who can give you 60IP of 120+ OAV+.

Carter gives you a top-3 catcher (in many years he's the best catcher period) for 11 out of 12 seasons.  During a time when there was a real scarcity at that position in MLB.  If your team was going to peak somewhere in 1978-84, I actually think the right choice is Carter.

I think this is the first time I think jfranco and contrarian are dead wrong.

I think Eckersley has all star potential in 5 seasons (76,77,79,81,84,85) as a starter and 5 other seasons I would have no problem using as starting pitcher (all the other years except 1983).

I think you could also trade him after 1985 and get a 1st round draft pick for him.   

Carter has 10 all star quality seasons....( I don't count 1981 I think Contrarian does), it isn't chopped liver but I would rather have a SP for 10 years than a catcher.

In a bubble, you made the correct choice... especially in that park.

Eck isn't super dominant, but having a #1/#2 year in and year out is so valuable. The RP seasons are really just icing on the cake. While contrarian is right in that it's usually not that hard to find a good reliever or two each season, you still need more than that to build a good bullpen. Keeping 5 or 6 RP's might be overkill, having a couple that are good every season that you can just add to is pretty important.

And if we're talking about overrated positions, I believe catchers far and away take that honour. Value a good one similar to a 2nd OF or a non-elite 1B...

I did count Carter's 81, though it's probably his weakest season aside in the '77-86 period.  He's 5th best among fulltime catchers in RC/27, and has an A+ arm to boot. 

For what it's worth, TJ is one of the most successful prog owners I've competed against in WIS so if it comes down to whose word you're gonna take, heck, even I would probably lean toward his.

But I'm just not seeing it with Eckersley.  I would not feel confident about my chances in the 78-86 run if I went into the season knowing Eck was my #1 starter. Most of the seasons in there, I don't think he's even a #2.

And as to the point about catchers being overrated, that I definitely disagree with, especially in a progressive.  I build my teams around strength up the middle - top catcher, 2B, and SS.  Let someone else bid for the 1B and OF; you can find a decent bat or three at those positions easily, and their defense rarely matters much.  A catcher who can hit and play D is an exceptionally rare commodity, especially in the modern era. 

Posted by Trentonjoe on 11/18/2010 8:12:00 PM (view original):
I think this is the first time I think jfranco and contrarian are dead wrong.

I think Eckersley has all star potential in 5 seasons (76,77,79,81,84,85) as a starter and 5 other seasons I would have no problem using as starting pitcher (all the other years except 1983).

I think you could also trade him after 1985 and get a 1st round draft pick for him.   

Carter has 10 all star quality seasons....( I don't count 1981 I think Contrarian does), it isn't chopped liver but I would rather have a SP for 10 years than a catcher.

AGREED, I usually agree with JFranco I would go with Eck for sure.  You can always find a Catcher here and there, pitching is where it is at.