Whats on Second

      The long awaited second base comparison is finally here. For all of you who keep religiously checking the blog to see if it’s written yet your wait is all but over. Ok. Ok it’s not all that serious but I feel that the key to any of these teams seasons may come down to the performance they get from their second baseman.

  Dustin Pedroia is the reigning AL MVP and certainly the cream of the crop of second baseman. With only two years under his belt the Red Sox second baseman already has accomplished more than most do in an entire career. With Rookie of the year in 2007 and a MVP and gold glove in 2008 there is no reason to believe he is a fluke. Last year he showed speed as well with 20 stolen bases. He is above average in power for a 2nd baseman hitting 17 home runs and 83 RBI's. His Batting average was .326 and played in 157 games last season. Although the likelihood of having another season like this is slim, I expect him to remain one of the leagues finest young talents who the Red Sox have under their control for the next 6 years. Grade: A++

The Yankees Robinson Cano is coming off a sub-par season. Known for his slick fielding and timely hitting the 26 year old has, with the help of Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long, Revamped his hitting stance and is expected to have a bounce back year. Still considered to be amongst the premier second baseman he has comparable power to Pedroia. (Probably a little more do to his size) He doesn't have Dustin's speed and has allot to prove after batting only .271 last season. This season look for an in shape Cano to bat around .300 with 20 HR. Grade B+

Akinori Iwamura moved from third to second in 2008 and although above replacement level shows little power and strikes out allot, and I mean allot. He had 627 AB and struck out 131 times. In comparison Pedroia had 653 Ab and struck out 53 times Cano was 597/65. Defensively Iwamura had a good season with only 7 errors and turned 109 double plays. I expect another year playing second base will further solidify him in the position. However offensively don’t expect anything special from a singles hitter who only has 13 HR spread over two seasons. Grade C+