The Nationals pick Adam LaRoche over Michael Morse

It's being reported that the Washington Nationals have signed Adam LaRoche to a two year deal, essentially meaning that Michael Morse will be on the move. Blaine Bontz of MLB Daily Dish has it covered here:

LaRoche entered the offseason seeking a three-year deal, but teams, including the Nationals, were only offering the slugger a two-year commitment. He continued to hold out for the third guaranteed year, but it appears he relented and will re-sign with Washington.

The past three seasons LaRoche and Morse have been worth roughly 5 fWAR, with Morse producing better offensive numbers and LaRoche posting better defensive numbers. Last season was a different story though. LaRoche was the much better player offensively, posting a 127 wRC+ compared to Morse's wRC+ of 113. LaRoche also displayed better power numbers. He had a .238 ISO compared to Morse's .180 ISO.

Overall LaRoche was worth 3.5 more wins than Morse. LaRoche is getting paid $24 million, so to be worth the contract he only needs to be worth 5 wins the next two seasons. If he can still produce offensively he should be able to pay off the contract when it's up. The Nationals can probably get a reliever for Morse, so ultimately it comes down to if you prefer Laroch/reliever or Morse/cash.

Question for the community:

1) What side would you prefer? Would you rather have Morse/cash or LaRoche/reliever

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