There have been studies and arguments about whether clutch really even exists. The answer to the question of who you want up is simple, the team’s best hitter(s). For the Cubs that includes Ramirez. The only other two I would there are Lee and Ward.

In any case, I’ve never seen anything from Ramirez to indicate his performance goes up in tough situations. His splits seem to indicate that too. All the “clutch” stats are close to his career numbers but not significantly better.

No contest in fact. If you polled a sample of major league managers and front office personnel on who they would rather have in their lineup Ramirez would win hands down. This isn’t to take anything away from Lee.

via MLB.TV. Every series against the Cubs, they always stop to make a nice comment about Aramis, about how he blossomed once he went to the Cubs, how his fielding improved, how he became more consistent, etc. They really like him and hold no ill will toward him as a former Pirate player who went on to greater success elsewhere. They have, as many in Chicago have, also commented on the second banana thing, corroborating that theory. (Of course, Aramis himself said how great it was to not have to be “the man” when he joined a team with Sosa and Alou. Moises apparently took him under his wing in 2003/2004 as well).

Now, the point of this comment: in the last series, the announcers went further with their comments. They talked about how too much was put on Aramis’s shoulders in the clubhouse in Pittsurgh, saying that he was unfairly blamed by other players there. After a long pause, one of them said something to the effect of: “too bad those players weren’t moved instead of Aramis”. And it seemed to be more about their attitudes/clubhouse presence [bad apples?], rather than their performance (although I could be inferring that wrong!). Anyway, it seems he’s missed back there for more than his bat.

Hahahahhahahahah——gimme a break. Its appreciated A LOT.

but the ability to get almost EVERY throw to first. If ARam has a defensive problem, it’s that he side-arms the throw from third a lot. And we all know Riot has one of the weaker arms at short.

Sometime Lee seems to do what DeRosa does in high-pressure batting situations—he presses. Of course ARam has been known to do that as well.

I think they are the best 3-4 team in baseball, tho. And then having Soto right after makes it even more powerful.

Ramirez has to his credit improved his defense to a solid level but Lee is a Gold Glove quality 1st baseman. He makes a lot of outstanding plays at 1st. No way they are equivalent.