Who would you rather have through their first two-plus years with the Red Sox, Mookie or Nomar?

Debate the answer with Chad Finn and Boston sports fans at The Sports Q.

Nomar Garciaparra. Boston Globe

April 25, 2017

2 minutes to read

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Who would you rather have through their first two-plus years with the Red Sox, Mookie or Nomar? – Brian F.

Wow, this is a tough one. And when we’ve got a tough one, there’s only one thing we can do. We must go to the tale of the tape.

Nomar Garciaparra

1996-98, 320 games

.309/.346/.552 … 128 adjusted OPS … averaged 216 hits, 124 runs, 35 homers, 120 RBIs and 20 steals per 162 games … won AL Rookie of the Year award in ’97, finished second in MVP race in ’98 … fine defensive shortstop as a young player, charismatic as hell, a bit on the intense side.

Mookie Betts

2014-16 (excluding this season’s stats), 355 games

.304/.355/.500 … 124 adjusted OPS … averaged 203 hits, 114 runs, 25 homers, 95 RBIs and 25 steals per 162 games … finished second in MVP race in ’16, won Silver Slugger and Gold Glove … extraordinary defensive right field by any measure, charismatic as hell, so chill he even makes bowling seem cool.

Conclusion: I was tempted to refuse to choose here, but I’m kind of obligated to have an answer given Sports Q protocol. So … I think it has to be Nomahhhh!, right? Slightly better stats, particularly in the power categories, and played a slightly tougher defensive position too. I hate you for making me choose. What’s especially interesting is that Nomar’s two best seasons were still to come – he won back to back batting titles in ’99 and ’00, slashing .365/.426/.601 over those two seasons while seeming to hit a laser every time he came up to the plate. Mookie, you may have noted, is off to the best start of his career, slashing .313/.389/.469 in 16 games. Pretty lucky to have been able to watch them both, I’d say. Here’s to Mookie blowing away Nomar when it comes to durability.

So the call here is Nomar over Mookie for their first two-plus seasons, admiringly but reluctantly. But what do you say? I’ll see you in the comments.