Welcome to another installment of "1918", if your looking for old articles, which has an explanation of the name of this column, check out the RedSox2000 archive.

Last time I left you I mentioned that I'd be writing about John Valentin in my next article. Well the timing couldn't have been better, as I'm fresh off an argument on the ESPN Red Sox message board, over who should be playing third for the Sox this year.

First let me say Valentin is my favorite Red Sox so there will some unavoidable bias, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

Basically what the anti-Valentin front is saying, is that he's washed up, can't help the team anymore, and that Wilton Veras is ready to take the spot. Nothing could be further from the truth folks.

Yes, Val didn't have a very good season last year, in fact you could probably say it was one of his worst since coming into the Majors in 1992. But you have to realize that he only played 113 games and was banged up during most of them. Yet he still went out on the field for those 113 games, and gave it his all.

In 449 at bats Val hit .254 with 12 homers and 70 RBIs, nothing spectacular. Or was it? The home runs are not important, I would much rather have a guy who hits 10 HRs and drives in 100+ than an guy who slams 30 and only drives in 80. So with that, take a look at Val's 70 RBIs and the fact that he missed almost 50 games in 1999. Your looking at at least 30 more RBIs out of him in those 50 games, brining his total for the year up to 100. No too shabby huh?

As for the .254 batting average, again lets look a little closer. You only win games by scoring runs right? In order to drive in those runs, you need to hit when guys are on base, right? Well Val's average in 1999 jumps to .271 when runners are on base, and it jumps even further to .294 when runners are in scoring position. So when the opportunity was there, Val came thru.

So now lets take a look at the "huge" numbers Veras put up in his limited number of at bats. In 119 at bats Veras hit .286 with 2 homers and 13 RBIs. Yes, the .286 average is impressive when compared to Valentin's, and as I said homers are not important to me. So lets look at the 13 RBIs, gauged at 162 games, it's comes out to a little less than a 60 RBI pace for the season. That's not even matching Val's total in the 113 games he played. Further, with runners on base Veras batted .226, and in scoring position .167! Need I go further as to whose the more productive hitter?

In Veras defense 119 at bats really isn't enough to make a full judgment yet. But to say that he did well at the plate last year, is flat out wrong.

My main concern with Val is his health. Though I think he'll play more than the 113 games this year, I don't think we can count on him for the full 162. The last three years he's played in 143, 153, and 113 games respectively. So to you Veras supporters out there, I think Wilton will get his share of at bats in 2000.

Val's health status also begs the question of his ability to play defense. He committed 14 errors in 304 chances last year, which in 162 games would be about a 20 error pace for the full season. Nothing to write home about, but still not awful. But that's only on balls that he gets to, obviously his range is a factor too. I won't argue that Veras has better range than Val, but let's take a look at Wilton's fielding stats as well.

In the 36 games he played, Veras committed 6 errors in only 85 chances. Which balloons to a whopping 27 miscues over a 162 game span. I don't care how much better his range is, 27 errors is down right dreadful.

Now, lets move on to the 1999 play-offs. I won't put up the numbers, everyone knows what a great post season Val had, I'll ask a question instead. Would we have beaten the Indians without him in the line-up? Nuff said.

Now I know there are some things I left out that Veras did better than Valentin, but I'm also sure it's not enough to sway me in the other direction. Don't get me wrong I like Veras, and I think he is the Red Sox future at third base. But "future" is the operative word here, Veras is only 22 and has a lot of raw talent that needs seasoning in AAA. But like I said earlier, it's doubtful Valentin will be able to go the full 162 this year, so Wilton Veras will get his chance.

If you want to talk some more about this feel free to email me, paul@redsox2000.com, or look for me on the ESPN Red Sox message board. My user name is nyyankeessuck.

Thanks for reading and look for a new edition of "1918" next week.