Harper or Trout?? Keeper trade advice

What is your scoring system? It’s hard to tell if either Trout or Harper will work out long term, or even if the pitchers you are giving up will work out – Latos is getting drilled and Sale has injury concerns. Harper is getting the East Coast media bias bump so you have to weed through all the praise of him. If he makes a “spectacular” play in the outfield just make sure it wasn’t because he misread a a fly ball of the bat initially. ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian said this weekend that Harper will be the best hitter in baseball in 2-3 years. But that just shows Kurkjian is a clown who is told what to read off a cue card. Harper is handling LHP better than Trout. But Trout is the better athlete between the two. Davey Johnson has put the brakes on the Nats running game this year. So, depending how long it is before Davey is sent off to the glue factory, Harper may not see many stealing ops.

In all, I think getting anything for Latos at this point is a bonus. You’re probably helping your team by getting the Latos stats off your roster. And really you are just trading Elbow Sale for a premium player, which is nice. I think if Trout comes around vs. LHP, then he has the better chance at being the next 40/40 guy. On the other hand I think Harper will contribute more this year. The way I see things is that it’s not whether a player goes into a slump, they all do eventually. It’s more important whether they come out of a slump or let it linger for weeks. Harper has been in a slump already and bounced back nicely. Trout hasn’t really slumped yet…and if he did there’s not much the Angels could do about it considering the depth of their outfield. But they have shown in the past that they are not afraid to send Trout back to the minors. How the Nats are handling Harper’s development may include more perseverance. Personally I would take Trout over Harper, but that’s just me. I thik he has more upside. Between the two, though, Harper is the safer bet. The one thing for sure, though, is get one of these guys for Sale and Latos before the offer is withdrawn.