Overrated- I’ll have to go with Orlando Hudson. I was a big fan of the O-Dog a couple of years back, but he looks like the second baseman’s despair (turning 30), is beginning to catch up with him, as his offensive numbers have been pedestrian if you adjust for park, his defense looks to have regressed, and wrist injuries can do bad things to a players’ bat speed. (See our own Juan Encarnacion for details.) People still fawn over Hudson, though; I think it’s definitely one of those cases where everyone thinks he’s still the player he was a couple of seasons back.

Underrated: Ben Sheets. How many times do I have to stump for this guy before someone, anyone, listens?!!?! Look, I know he gets hurt a lot. So does A.J. Burnett, and he just got five years and 80 mil from the Yanks. I think Sheets is probably the second best FA pitcher on the market this year, and yet he’s strictly been back-burner so far. Very puzzling, to me, at least.

you should really look at Texeira’s career numbers again. He’s a pretty damned good player, on both sides of the ball. As for the whole ‘playing where they’re paying’ thing, eh, at least he’s honest about it.

Mark Teixeira is an outstanding player. He gets on base, he has power from both sides of the plate, he is a great fielder, and he seems like a good guy. I mean, a 134 career OPS+ is nothing to spit at, and his combined VORP last year was 65.3 between the two leagues, which ranks third amongst 1Bmen. He was the Angels best player once he was traded, hitting 13 bombs and posting a 1.081 OPS. He would be the best player on any team he signed with, minus the Cardinals and maybe the Yankees. Furthermore, I don’t see the fact that he wants the most money as a bad thing. Wouldn’t you?

Raul Ibanez, on the other hand, is merely okay. He’s a decent bat who will post about the same numbers every year. However, he’s getting quite old (36) and has never been any kind of decent fielder. The Phillies were foolish for signing him when they could have just arby’d Pat the Bat…Neither can field, but Burrell is a better offensive player and is younger.

I think Hudson may indeed be the most overrated. The guy has a reputation as a good infielder, but over the past two years he hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire. He made a ton of OOZ plays in ‘07, but his RZR wasn’t very good either of the past two years and his UZR has been negative three years straight. With his wrist issues I have doubts about his ability to bounce back offensively. He smells like a lemon to me.

Underrated? Well, I think I have to agree with theredbaron on this one as well…it’s gotta be Sheets. The dude can flat out pitch. Period. When he’s healthy, he’s nasty. Of course he’ll probably miss some time here and there. However, this only drives his price down, so the team that takes him will get an elite-level arm at a bargain price. I’d still imagine he’ll be able to throw 160-80 innings this season, and what a marvelous 160-80 innings it would be.

This is what FanGraphs has to say about the dude, and it pretty much supports what I said.

Linky.

Overrated – Fuentes. I hate FA valuation of closers.

Underrated — Furcal. Average offense and average defense at SS is more valuable than most realize.

Dunn and Sheets

Fuentes.

Underrated: Randy Johnson/Oliver Perez

Sadly, we’re headed toward signing the first and neither of the latter…

is every single closer on the free agent market. I guarantee that if Chris Perez gets a shot to close this year he will be within 5 saves of K-rod, with very similar peripheral numbers (high walks, high strikeouts, low hits).

I think though that Fuentes is underrated compared to other closers. According the this article, Fuentes was the 5th best reliever in baseball last year. If you take the leverage of the situation into consideration, he was the 2nd best.

Most underrated is Adam Dunn. How can a guy with with 5 straight seasons of 40+homers and 100++ walks and a career .899 OPS not be considered better than Ibanez, Burrel or Abreu. He is the most consistent player in the majors right now, not including Pujols.

Hudson too

I like Randy Johnson and Sheets as most underrated.