Topic: Pursuit of Brian Roberts

I'm a huge fan of DeRosa. In my opinion, he was the MVP of the 2007 season. I really hope we keep him on the team and if we get Roberts, we can somehow accommodate the two. Don't know how that'll happen since DeRosa mostly played third and second in the infield.

I think its a no brainer to try to acquire an all star. I just wouldn't want to give up any pitchers tho. The question is how do you convince Baltimore to part with him for a bench players or 2.

Here is a side by side comparison of the two players last year.

Mark Derosa AVG .293 | HR 10 | RBI 72 | OBP .371 | SLG .420
Brian Roberts AVG .290 | HR 12 | RBI 57 | OBP .377 | SLG .432

The more you look at the numbers... it really isn't that impressive... especially since Roberts is in the American League.

Wow! Very true. Not only that but Derosa has no steroid allegations.

Thanks for the side-by-side comparison, paul; it really is enlightening. You're right about the numbers -- they aren't that impressive for Roberts. They are pretty evenly matched. Roberts stole about 50 more bases than DeRosa last year, but is less versatile in the field.

My wife also points out that when discussing Roberts' All-Star status we should remember that he plays for Baltimore...and they have to send SOMEBODY every year. In other words, on a better team, would Roberts even be an All-Star selection?

From what I remember he was near .320 when he was selected for the All-star game. Even with having one representative I think he'd be qualified at that point in the year to be an All-star.