Harper vs Trout

[Black Sox]

Looking for people's opinion. I only have room to stash 1. I drafted Harper and he is currently on my bench, however Trout is avaialble as a FA. Which player would I be better off having for this year only? Trout looks more MLB ready but Harper looks to have a clearer path to playing time. Thoughts?

[Todd Zola]

I'll take the field -- meaning if the decision is one-year only, my money is there are better boring, non-sexy names I prefer.

I understand upside, but I also understand probability.

[Captain Hook]

Looking for people's opinion. I only have room to stash 1. I drafted Harper and he is currently on my bench, however Trout is avaialble as a FA. Which player would I be better off having for this year only? Trout looks more MLB ready but Harper looks to have a clearer path to playing time. Thoughts?

"This year only" I go with Trout who is dominating AAA pitching (yes the PCL but still hitting over .400 and stealing bases with some power) while Harper has good days and bad days in his first AAA experience and hitting over one hundred fifty points less.

Not sure how long the Halos can look at being six games back of the Rangers (in only 12 games played!) and not push the Trout button.............yeah,yeah I know all the Scioscia arguments for the guys he is playing but from a distance pretty easy to think they are hurting their chances (of course the first baseman starting to hit like Pujols past would also help)

Yes Harper could be up in May/June......BUT and it seems strange to type this - the Nationals are already in first place in the NL East thus don't need a spike from Harpers bat (what they really need is to find out how long Mike Morse is going to be out) and first place teams draw fans so they don't need Harper to join Strasburg to sell tickets (as might have been the case)

[deansdaddy]

I think it depends on your league format - but I have put my money on Trout in the Razzball Experts league. Now this is a peculiar league. 23 man rosters - but only a 3 man bench. Also it uses ESPN 180 start limit per team for the season. These two quirks mean there are ALWAYS replacement players on the wire and I have been lucky to avoid injuries allowing me to carry Trout for now. With the Angels off to a slow start and the Rangers streaking away in first place, I think the Angels will be forced to go to Trout soon. He has nothing left to prove in AAA. I also like Trout's chances for success this year over Harper, Trout has the speed element to his game that with help him produce numbers and avoid slumps. I vote Trout.

[Black Sox]

Thanks guys for the advice.

Todd- I understand your point but we have 6 man benches so in my mind either one of these players is more valuable than what's avaiable on the wire. It's also a shallow league ( 10 team mix) so my feeling is the type of players avaiable will always be there. Also guys in this league love prospects so if either get's called up and has even a good week, chances are I'll be able to flip them for something better.

Perry/Ryan - That's what I thought, just hard to pull the trigger since no one has claimed Trout but I definately don't want to miss out on him if he's called up. Just wish I could burn a roster spot on both but I already have Carpenter & Farnsworth on the bench ( no DL ) so my options are limited.

Thanks to all for your response.