Latest Roch ...

[Dr. FLK]

It's hard to see why this is being debated. Neither one (Fahey or LH) is an ML level player. Period. End of discussion.

If AM cannot find a real, ML level SS, he isn't looking. To player either one regularly is asinine. There's no need to argue for one over the other. Neither one is an option.

[Fan4Life]

You're gonna get roasted by the folks who insist that OPS is the primary basis you use for designing your team, even up the middle, and even for stopgaps during a rebuilding year. Evidently, it's become the new religion.

If you look strictly at age and MLB numbers, LH has betters stats in every category over Fahey.... and he's 3 years younger.... he would got my shot at SS over Fahey every time.... I'm not saying he is an everyday SS, just better than Fahey.

[Sports Guy]

There isn't one person on this site(that i have seen at least) say that LH is not an above average defensive SS...Everyone agrees with that.

However, he isn't Ozzie Smith or Omar Vizquel and he would have to be their equals AT THE VERY LEAST, to be worthy of starting at SS on a ML team.

Now, does anyone think he is at the defensive level of the greatest SS ever??

[Fan4Life]

There isn't one person on this site(that i have seen at least) say that LH is not an above average defensive SS...Everyone agrees with that.

However, he isn't Ozzie Smith or Omar Vizquel and he would have to be their equals AT THE VERY LEAST, to be worthy of starting at SS on a ML team.

Now, does anyone think he is at the defensive level of the greatest SS ever??

While not being a good one, he is the best option we currently have... unless as you suggested Moore can play there....

[Sports Guy]

While not being a good one, he is the best option we currently have... unless as you suggested Moore can play there....

Fahey is better than LH....The defensive edge goes to LH but not be a lot and Fahey will give us 75-100 points more in OPS.

[Fan4Life]

Fahey is better than LH....The defensive edge goes to LH but not be a lot and Fahey will give us 75-100 points more in OPS.

Obviously your basing this purely on MiLB numbers and so I respectfuly disagree. At the MLB level, Fahey can't hit his way out of a paper bag... and while his MiLB numbers may PREDICT he won't either, LH held his own in his brief stint...

[JTrea81]

God I can't believe we went from Tejada, to who sucks less - Brandon Fahey or Luis Hernandez. Yikes! Here's to AM finding a new SS that is good at both offense and defense in the new year!

[Sports Guy]

Obviously your basing this purely on MiLB numbers and so I respectfuly disagree. At the MLB level, Fahey can't hit his way out of a paper bag... and while his MiLB bumbers may PREDICT he won't either, LH held his own in his brief stint...

The mere fact that you are looking at so few ab's destroys the credibility of your argument.

And if you think blopps and seeing eye singles is the definition of holding his own, i don't know what to tell you...Over the course of a season, those things even out...We are talking about 69 ab's here and a 662 OPS and that is holding his own??

BTW, he had a 328 BABIP in his short stint here. He was lucky. Fahey's was 200 in 15 fewer ab's...If both were in the average range, their numbers are probably very similar.

Bill James projects him(LH) to have a 578 OPS this year.

[Fan4Life]

The mere fact that you are looking at so few ab's destroys the credibility of your argument.

And if you think blopps and seeing eye singles is the definition of holding his own, i don't know what to tell you...Over the course of a season, those things even out...We are talking about 69 ab's here and a 662 OPS and that is holding his own??

BTW, he had a 328 BABIP in his short stint here. He was lucky. Fahey's was 200 in 15 fewer ab's...If both were in the average range, their numbers are probably very similar.

Bill James projects him(LH) to have a 578 OPS this year.

Fahey's lifetime OPS is .580. LH is only 23, Bewteen those 2, I'd go with him, period.

[Lucky Jim]

Not by any sort of real analysis. Fahey's put up a .716 OPS at AAA in '06 and a .625 OPS in '07. Hernandez put up a .592 at AA and a .546 at AAA last season.

Fahey is bad, Hernandez is worse.

I'll take Fahey's glove over Hernandez' as well, although they are both above average defensively.

I'm not sure we've seen enough of LH to say this, frankly. I do think our bias against LH clouds our judgment of him, at times.

[RShack]

There isn't one person on this site(that i have seen at least) say that LH is not an above average defensive SS...Everyone agrees with that.

However, he isn't Ozzie Smith or Omar Vizquel and he would have to be their equals AT THE VERY LEAST, to be worthy of starting at SS on a ML team.

Now, does anyone think he is at the defensive level of the greatest SS ever??

I don't know. I certainly wouldn't count on it, but I wouldn't rule it out either. Odds are against it. To me, that's not the criteria for a 1-year-guy during a rebuilding project anyway. If by some chance he does end up playing SS this year (which I'm not betting on, but not ruling out either), I will enjoy having more of a chance to see exactly how good a very-good SS actually is. Right now, don't know. The hilarious part is that you think you do.

[Big Mac]

While not being a good one, he is the best option we currently have... unless as you suggested Moore can play there....

I'll put Bynum at short over LH any day of the week.

[Sports Guy]

I don't know. I certainly wouldn't count on it, but I wouldn't rule it out either. Odds are against it. To me, that's not the criteria for a 1-year-guy during a rebuilding project anyway. If by some chance he does end up playing SS this year (which I'm not betting on, but not ruling out either), I will enjoy having more of a chance to see exactly how good a very-good SS actually is. Right now, don't know. The hilarious part is that you think you do.

I would love to see him start just so that we can put all of this to rest and you(and everyone else who thinks he should start) can see how ridiculous it is to think he should start for a major league team.

[RShack]

I would love to see him start just so that we can put all of this to rest and you(and everyone else who thinks he should start) can see how ridiculous it is to think he should start for a major league team.

Well, if he does start, then I expect he will have a ton of people rooting both for him and against him for reasons that have zero to do with him. Personally, when a young kid gets a shot at the big leagues wearing an O's uniform, I hope he does well, and that's true no matter what side of anybody's OPS-dogma he happens to be on. However, I fully expect that some folks would hope he falls on his face simply because they are so invested in what his MiL OPS said. Which is pretty sad, if you ask me.

[Mackus]

Fahey's lifetime OPS is .580. LH is only 23, Bewteen those 2, I'd go with him, period.

I think basing anything on such a ridiculously small sample size as either of their major league careers is foolish. You have to look at their minor league numbers. Now maybe Hernandez will outplay his minor league track record and Fahey won't, but even if that happens, then Hernandez is probably only equal to Fahey.

Neither are going to have any pop, but Fahey at least is just bad at getting on base and not utterly abysmal. Fahey has a career .322 OBP in the minors, Hernandez is .299.

Both are terrible, but its clear that Fahey has the better minor league numbers and is therefore more likely to have the better MLB numbers. Neither are even remotely likely to be above replacement level though. And either would be absolutely terrible choices to start in Baltimore ever. Better options are available for free all across the league and even in places like the Mexican Leagues.