Who's This Stan McNeal Guy?

And why does he have a hidden, bitter disdain for people who like statistics?

Hunter the smart pick among likely free agents
More than Ichiro or Andruw Jones, outfielder supplies power, leadership

Hold on just a second there....the article hasn't even started yet and you just said that Torii Hunter has more power than Andruw Jones????

(Stats are 2B/3B/HR)

Torii Hunter 2004: 37/0/23
Andruw Jones 2004: 34/4/29

Torii Hunter 2005: 24/1/14 (granted, only 416 AB)
Andruw Jones 2005: 24/3/51

Torii Hunter 2006: 21/2/31
Andruw Jones 2006: 29/0/41

Now as for leadership.....well....I don't have any fancyschmanz numbers for that. Sorry. Maybe you're right?

Your assignment: Pick the guy you'd sign. All three are expected to become free agents after the season, and all three rate at least a 50-50 chance of leaving the only franchise for which they've played. Forget the sticky details like money and terms for now. Focus on the players. Who would you want manning your center field?

Andruw Jones. He's a significantly better player than Torii Hunter. Hunter's never even come close to the batting average he's had this year, so I'd assume he's getting pretty lucky. Jones still has a .277 EqA despite his .229 batting average, significantly below his prior BA's, so it's safe to assume Jones will bounce back. Ichiro will be 34 next year, and his speed will probably start to decline. I'd imagine his batting average will start to as well.

I'd take Hunter in a heartbeat, and I know he's the least accomplished of the three.

Because he's the worst. And before I hear things about defense, he's not as much a god with the glove as people think. Since his 2001 when he had a 22 FRAA, that number has been -12/-1/-3/1/1 over the past 5 years.

Doesn't matter. Three reasons I want him anyway: staying power, upside and leadership.

Staying power. Hunter, 31, has an athletic body that figures to make him an elite player for many years.

He's not an elite player now.....at age 30.....in his prime.

Jones, the youngest of the three at 30, has what scouts call a "soft body" that is more susceptible to fading. He already has lost a step in center. Suzuki, 33, may outlast them both, but he doesn't hit anything but singles. Power plays better in today's game.

Fair enough. I figure I'd do you as much justice as possible by posting your reasonable things as well.

Upside. Suzuki doesn't have much room for improvement. Another six years like his first six and he's a slam-dunk first-ballot Hall of Famer. Depending on how you judge Jones, he already may be declining. Do you think his struggles this season -- 54 strikeouts to 37 hits, six homers and a .215 average -- are the result of a prolonged slump or an indication that he's losing bat speed? The next four months will tell us.

Valid on Suzuki. The .215 average is far below Jones' .265 career BA. Even if he's lost bat speed, there's no way that accounts for all of it. Jones also has 30 walks in 192 AB's. His OBP is about par for the course despite his batting average, which will inevitably climb towards the mean.

Hunter, meanwhile, is having a career year. He ranks in the A.L.'s top five in homers and RBIs and is hitting .315. Maybe he has elevated his offense because this is a walk year. Or maybe, as he says, he's improving because he's still learning.

Or maybe he's just goddam lucky on balls in play. Hunter's never even batted .290 in a season. There's no way this .315 bullshit is sustainable.

In the part of Pine Bluff, Ark., where Hunter grew up, there weren't many hitting lessons or private coaching sessions. He was a first-round pick because of athleticism and will. He was so raw as a minor leaguer that he didn't know what a slider was. His swing still isn't exactly pretty, and, as a scout says, "He can be pitched to. So can Andruw. The toughest out of the three is Ichiro."

So....sign Ichiro? What are you arguing again?

"I don't know about holes in my swing," Hunter says. "I know I'm an athlete. I can make adjustments. If they throw me one place 10 times, I'll adjust on three of them and get hits."

I bet you get hits on 2.7 of them.

Leadership. What Hunter lacks in OBP, he makes up for in the clubhouse.

Oh boy, are we going to hear about how firing people up to make people play more gooder and being a wicked cool guy that buys iPods and Segways for everyone on their birthdays is somehow a viable substitute for getting on base in an effort to win a baseball game?

Because I don't work for the A's or some other stathead organization, Hunter's leadership is my differentiating factor.

And so the March Against Statisically Intelligent Analysis of Baseball has begun, lead by Stan McNeal. I can't help but feel that "the A's or some other stathead organization" had a teensy bit of negative connotation tossed in there. Stupid newfangled, wonky baseball teams, always interested in people getting on base instead of paying people to have this arbitrary leadership quality that may or may not contribute to winning.

This stat matters, too: The Twins have reached the postseason four of the past five years. Hunter's professionalism has had something to do with that.

Or, team ERA's of 3.95, 3.71, 4.03, 4.41, 4.12. Actually, being constantly above average in the pitching department is, in retrospect, probably a result of Torii Hunter's professionalism.

"He's just got that thing that not very many people have. He's special," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire says.

Cool.

So what do you prefer? Reaching base or reaching out to teammates?

Reaching base. Reaching base wins baseball games. Reaching out to teammates wins friends. If you want to win baseball, choose the former. To win friendball, choose the latter.

Running up pitch counts or running into walls?

Running up pitch counts. This makes a pitcher have to work hard and might get him tired. In addition, it gets a hitter familiar with a pitcher's tendencies through first-hand experience. Running into walls hurts and isn't recommended by physicians. It just sounds stupid. By the way, according to Grinderball Prospectus 2007, Aaron Rowand outrunsintowalls Hunter by a factor of 2.67. Eat it, Torii.

Walking or winning?

Is that an actual question? I'm assuming "walking" represents people that have high OBPs and "winning" to be Torii Hunter? The burden of proof is on you, McNeal, because here I was under the false pretense that walking is positively correlated to winning. I guess the A's need to revamp their strategy, because they aren't making the postseason enough. Those STATHEAD MORONS are choosing walking over winning! (it's interesting how similar the fortunes of the A's and the Twins have been since 2000....they both make the playoffs a lot, and neither has been to the World Series).

One longtime talent evaluator who likes all three center fielders acknowledges, "You're going to win more championships with Torii."

Torii Hunter Championships Won: 0

Championships is a choice I'd take every day.

Explain yourself sir, you've gone mad! I, personally would only take championships on most days. April 12th, May 21-24, October 12th, and the third Tuesday in November are days reserved for me to not choose championships, just to keep myself humble.

Seriously, there's nothing like a stupid universal truism like that to round out a truly dismal article.