by Outta Leftfield » Tue Mar 07, 2006 10:57 am
I for one like Whitaker and use him a lot. Since his platoon issue is a known and consistent factor--and he will pretty much always hit RHP--you can pick up a 2B who hits LHP for under 1M and Lou will still get 65-70% of the ABs. Then, if you're lucky enough to get his great 1R year, he can play every day.
If you draft Lou, you've got a middle infielder who can really field and hit--and I like to build a team on that. He's also significantly cheaper than Sandberg and Grich and has higher OBP than White and more power than Doran. All in all, I happen to like the package, though, as the saying goes, "It's difference of opinion that makes horse-races." :D
For what it's worth, however, I wouldn't necessarily trade Rice for Whitaker. Rice has 2 or 3 MVP level years on his card and Whitaker's best years aren't on that level. So I might be inclined to keep Rice, Molitor and (maybe?) Franco, while looking for another option at 2B.