The Natural Heads to Arlington

Josh Hamilton, the number one overall pick in the 1999 Amateur Draft, heads to Arlington with a chance to play everyday for the Texas Rangers.

Josh Hamilton, owner of a checkered past and TREMENDOUS baseball talent, has been traded to the Texas Rangers for young pitchers Edinson Volquez and Danny Ray Herrera.  

(Check out this Keith Law article if you have an insider account for an extremely detailed breakdown and scouting reports on all the players in the deal.)

Herrera is a non-factor in the deal, essentially playing the role of Eddie Gaedel.  He measures in at only 5′6″ and has what would be dominant stuff in Club Baseball.  His ceiling is as a lefty novelty act out of the bullpen from time to time.

Volquez has a chance to be a big-time factor at some point in his career, although expecting this to occur in 2008, as Reds GM Wayne Krivsky has already stated he does, is probably a bit foolish.  Volquez has a great fastball/change-up combo, but lacks fastball command, general control, and a better third pitch.  His numbers have demonstrated these issues, as he has walked 42 in a 80 career Major League innings and sports a Minor League walk rate of 3.50 per 9.  He’s a decent prospect, and earlier in his career had been compared to Pedro Martinez, but there is a very high chance that the light never goes on for Edinson.

Heading to the Rangers is, by far, the best and most talented player in the deal, Josh Hamilton.  After battling through drug addiction and repeated injuries, Hamilton is still a fantastic talent with a great chance to turn himself into a fantastic player.  His issue is risk, and this is the only reason the Rangers got him so cheap.  However, this does not make the fact the Reds were willing to give up Hamilton for such a meager return acceptable. 

Hamilton will likely be the best player on the Rangers this season, and at a cheap rate.  A legitimate defensive centerfielder with a shotgun for a right arm (many scouts felt he could have dominated from the mound as well as in the field) and power to spare, he turns 27 in May.  Hamilton struggled in very limited at-bats against lefties this past season, but considering his overall talents with the bat and the fact he was coming off years away from the game, multiple physical ailments, and made the jump to the Majors from low-A ball in 2006 after being selected in the Rule 5 Draft, it’s likely he will learn to hit lefties enough to avoid needing a platoon partner.

Josh Hamilton is an incredible talent who has apparently turned his life around.  Heading to Texas could be just what he needs, where he will have a chance to play everyday and prove himself.  Here’s hoping he keeps things together and becomes the player scouts said he would be when he was chosen ahead of Josh Beckett back in 1999. 

I, for one, have a good feeling about the guy, and score this as a major coup for the Rangers, as well as for The Next Natural.

Kevin Garnett vs. Tim Duncan: The Great Debate Rages On

The debate has been renewed since Garnett was traded to Boston for a package of 7 players and future draft picks July 31st, 2007.

KG vs. TD.

In a way, this is the modern day version of Wilt vs. Russell. 

Both are giants who own the paint.  Their defense and rebounding are renowned throughout the basketball world.  They’ve battled head-to-head for years.  One has the championships, the other the better numbers.  One has spent his entire career as the face of his franchise, the other has finally found himself teamed up with a cast of characters worthy of his greatness. 

The difference this time: the Celtic isn’t the winner.

That is not to say that KG is a loser, he simply hasn’t won it all.  Like Wilt, there is no denying his greatness; just watch one game and you will understand Garnett.  He is a dominant player, a dominant personality, and the de facto captain no matter what the media guide tells us about the Celtics being Paul Pierce’s team.

The twist in the comparison is this: while Duncan emulates Russell by having already won 4 NBA championships and 3 Finals MVPs for the game’s most recent dynasty, his defense and team-first style perfectly parallels that of Kevin Garnett. 

This has always led folks to wonder, if we simply switched the two players, would the results be the same or different?

I say the results would be eerily similar, as no one man can win a championship by himself.  The precursor to this comparison proves that point–Wilt Chamberlain, the man who put up 30 points, 23 rebounds, and 4 and a half assists per game over his career, the man who averaged a whopping 48.5 minutes and 50.4 points per game in the 1961-62 season, could not do it alone.  (Unfortunately steals and blocks were not recorded as official NBA statistics until after Wilt and Russell’s careers ended, so the defensive part of the debate is much more difficult to quantify statistically.)

There really is no definitive answer in this debate; this is not like Brady vs. Manning, where both are great, but one has proven he can elevate lesser surrounding talent to championship levels OR take his team to historic dominance when supplied with comparable talent.  This debate features two equally talented, sure-fire Hall-of-Famers: one who has won with great teams and one who has toiled in mediocrity for the majority of his professional life.

The beauty of this debate is that we don’t yet have to come to a conclusion, the battle still rages on.  After a reprisal from basketball purgatory, Garnett finds himself leading the Boston Celtics to an NBA-best record of 21-3, with a legitimate chance to meet up with Duncan’s Spurs in this year’s Finals. 

Now that The Big Ticket and The Big Fundamentals find themselves competing in a fair fight, the only real justice would be for the two greatest power forwards of their generation to meet in June and finally settle this debate once and for all.