Because frankly, we pretty much know they can't afford both.
Each of them are going to require a great deal of resources to acquire in terms of prospects. I would expect it to cost us at least one of our major pitching prospects plus a few role player, and whatever the cost of signing them to a long term deal is. So it does make sense, if you are going to make a play to improve the lineup and make a major commitment, to look hard at both of them.
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| Photo by Michael Baron |
Stanton is a tremendous player, a 23 year old hitting machine. He put up 37 home runs with a slugging percentage over .600 last year on a bad Marlins team in 2012, logging an OPS of .969. However, the downside is the amount of time he tends to miss due to injury. After missing a quarter of last year to injury, he has spent a significant amount of the 2013 campaign in the training room. With what appear to be recurring leg and ankle issues, injury would be the one detraction you could make from Stanton's otherwise impressive young career.
CarGo, whose nickname alone is almost worth trading for, is a few years older at 27. He has hit at an average of over .300 three of the last for seasons, the lone exception being a .295 year in 2011. He has power, with a high water mark of 34 home runs in 2010 but a mean that sits in the mid 20's. He stays fairly healthy, and has missed significantly less time than Stanton.
The big knock on Gonzalez would be the concern of correcting his stats for playing in Colorado. If the thin air is adding five to seven home runs a year and inflating his slugging percentage significantly, then we have an entirely different player.
Its a touch choice, but if I had to, I would pursue Stanton more fervently than Gonzalez. Hopefully, the injuries have been incidental and won't plague him consistently.
The one thing both have going for them is they are not Jason Bay... so there's that.
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