Buchholz no doubt....if it were up to me I would have traded Backe the past 2 off-seasons. He is an average pitcher, he gets over-hyped because of his energy and popularity. Plus he is late 20's.....to think we could have had Soriano for this guy 2 seasons ago.
Backe has been on a sharp learning curve(switching from the outfield at the pro level),has battled injuries, AND still already dominates in the postseason.I mean,Who do you want on the mound in the playoffs?Besides that,Brandon was producing quality starts in the regular season before he was hurt. A healthy Backe is SCARY GOOD when it counts. That said,Taylor is demonstrating quite a bit at a young age.This was expected,but just not to this degree and not so early.I'd say Taylor's ceiling is a little higher,but so much can happen on the way there....We'll see.
Like pgabriel said, Backe is money in the playoffs just like Robert Horry, and he started off this season really well before he got hurt. I was looking for him to have a breakout regular season this year.
buchholz is the better prospect but backe can be valuable if he ever comes back. best thing he can do is send wandy back to the minors. when we were in that huge slump i was thinking maybe this team misses backe and his energy in the dugout but then i realized he's at all of our games anyways.