Pick your infield: Phillies or Yankees

When River Avenue Blues directed me to a column headlined “Phillies have best infield of baseball’s modern era,” I was expecting an in-depth comparison between the Phillies and Yankees.

Instead, he rambled on about the infield combo of Tinkers to Evers to Chance. Go to the column if you want a history lesson from the old-timer. But if you want to compare this year’s infields, keep reading.

For reference…

Yankees	Pos.	Phillies
Mark Teixeira	1B	Ryan Howard
Robinson Cano	2B	Chase Utley
Alex Rodriguez	3B	Placido Polanco
Derek Jeter	SS	Jimmy Rollins

Awards: The biggest statement from the column I have a problem with is the one about all the awards the “Phils’ Fab Four” have accrued.

Every member of the current Phillies infield has been an All-Star. Polanco and Rollins have won Gold Gloves. All four have won Silver Slugger awards - Polanco as a second baseman in the American League. Rollins and Howard have been MVPs and Utley is in the MVP conversation each year. It is a much-honored group.

Awesome. Let me quickly recap the Yankees infield accolades.
- Teixeira: 2xAll-Star, 3xGold Glove, 3xSilver Slugger
- Cano: 1xAll-Star, 1xSilver Slugger
- Rodriguez: 3xMVP, 12xAll-Star, 2xGold Glove, 10xSilver Slugger
- Jeter: 10xAll-Star, 4xGold Glove, 4xSilver Slugger
Oh, and Jeter and Teixeira have been second in MVP, and Cano has received votes twice. I’d say the Yankees win the award battle.

Offense: These days, comparing home run and RBI totals won’t suffice. The most commonly accepted stat in comparing offensive skills is OPS or OPS+. OPS+ is a weighted version of on-base plus slugging percentage (100 is average, above is better, below is worse). So, let’s compare.

Yankees	‘09 OPS+	Phillies	‘09 OPS+
Teixeira	149	Howard	140
Cano	129	Utley	136
Rodriguez	147	Polanco	88
Jeter	132	Rollins	86
Total	557	Total	450

Sorry, it’s not even close. I’d say the Phillies have the better top 3 (despite the numbers), but the Yankees easily have the better four.

Defense: I’d say both have very good defenses, but having Teixeira as an anchor at first base gives the Yankees the slight edge. Howard had 14 errors, Teixeira had 4 (in four less games).

Forgetting someone? The column didn’t even include catchers, which is a position some might consider in comparing infields. And this category would no doubt go to the Yankees. I’ll take Jorge Posada, even at age 38, any day over Carlos Ruiz or Brian Schneider.