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President George W. Bush shocked the world with his baseball knowledge, or lack of unknowledge (it's about W, I can make them up, m'kay?), the other day, naming Chase Utley and Roy Halladay as the two players he would use to start a baseball team. That got us MLB FanHousers to thinking, what two players would we take right now to pick a team?

No specifications, other than it must be one hitter and one pitcher. In other words, contract doesn't factor in and age only factors if you care about winning in the long term. The discussion got interesting to say the least. Here's the top five in the final tally with the discussion -- which features snappy one liners, Jon Bois reading minds and some veiled Nickelodeon references -- after the jump. Your picks in the comments.

Hitters
David Wright -- 4
Jose Reyes -- 3
Hanley Ramirez -- 2
Chase Utley -- 2
Justin Upton -- 1

Pitchers
Brandon Webb -- 3
Cole Hamels -- 2
Jake Peavy -- 2
Clay Buchholz -- 1
Fausto Carmona -- 1

PostmanR: Do these have to be current players? And can they be fictional? Like say, Bernie Mac's character in Mr. 3000?

Will Brinson: Agrh. You ruined my secret plan at failed humor.

Eamonn Brennan: My vote to Ryan's questions: Yes. And absolutely not.

Josh Alper: David Wright, Brandon Webb -- I think they have to be current unless they are retired fictional players.

Eamonn: David Wright, Clay Buchholz

R: Juan Pierre/Barry Zito (Kidding!), Jose Reyes/Cole Hamels

Matt Watson: You could ask me this question every day of the week and I'd probably give you seven different combinations, but today I'm going with Jake Peavy and Chase Utley, though I'm still on the fence whether Utley's power explosion is for real.

R: Agreed: the possibilities here are really endless. I was tempted to take Carlos Quentin, but let's be honest, that might not pan out so well.

E: Jerry Owens?

R: Corey Patterson?

Andrew Johnson: Justin Upton + Brandon Webb.

Yea, I think the Diamondbacks have a good thing going.

Mullet: If I'm going under the assumption that my goal is to win the title this season or I'm fired, I may have to go with Johan Santana and Manny Ramirez. But if my goal is to win 3 or 4 titles in the next decade, maybe Josh Beckett and Hanley Ramirez are my picks. Yeah, maybe defense isn't my first priority in either case with either
Ramirez, but I have a "Yankee type payroll", then I can get Jose Reyes as a late inning defensive replacement, right?

And I'm with Matt: Ask me every day and I'll come up with a different combo. David Wright is definitely in the mix for me at the risk of sounding like too much of a homer ... and Brandon Webb is a great choice for pitcher. I'll say this: I toyed with the idea of choosing Papelbon as my pitcher. Would there be a case where anyone would
choose a lights out closer like Papelbon to start their team?

Brinson: I'm in the "different picks - different day" camp as well.

I'm going Wright and Hamels today.

Utley, Wright, Hanley, Reyes, Alex Gordon (I'm psychotic), Webb, Santana are there too. And Andruw Jones.

But I was looking for the best possible combination of winning now and also in 2013.

And I think with Papelbon, there's a legitimate thought process to taking him. He's a completely dominant closer, but we haven't even seen the guy pitch as a starter -- he went straight to the bullpen based on need. And people still can't figure him out, so what's his upside in the rotation?

Mullet: Then Beckett and David Wright might have to be my picks there. You can win now and in the future with both players. You could win with Hanley Ramirez in the future, and you could probably win with him now
but on the Marlins, how can you tell?

Or I could choose Carlos Delgado just so his agent could call the local media "retards".

Alper: I was looking for that combination too. I figure, with the kind of pitcher he is and his age, Webb's window remains open until 2013 or so.

With Papelbon, the fact that he's already had some arm issues and the unknown about how he'd actually perform as a starter would keep me from choosing him. From a strict value standpoint, I don't think I'd ever take a closer as one of my first two players and without knowing he could front my rotation, I'd pass.

Brinson: Yeah, exactly. And I'm not saying you have to think that way, but I'm not willing to put all my eggs in one win now basket, or punt for the future by taking someone like Kershaw.

Also, I hate Beckett. And blisters.

Mullet: Yeah, blisters suck. For me, it's Beckett only because of his phenomenal record in the postseason. Webb and Peavy might have better stuff on any given day, but Beckett has been great in two playoffs
with two different franchises. That's too great for me to ignore.

And if Jose Reyes was hitting as he did in 2006 and the first half of 2007, he'd be a slam dunk for me. His defense and his tools make him the most unique weapon in baseball when he's right. But he hasn't
been right for too long now.

Nick Dallamora -- Hanley Ramirez and Fausto Carmona.

Jon Bois: At this point I'd pick Hanley Ramirez over any other batter. I'm almost tempted to pick Jair Jurrjens over Brandon Webb, but I know better. Besides, Webb's Baseball-Reference page features the greatest sponsor line I have ever seen.

Pat Lackey: Crap, Jon just stole my answer. Both of them. GET OUT OF MY HEAD.

Ian Snell and Nate McLouth?

No, wait ... we'll go with Chase Utley and Peavy.

Brinson: That Webb line is one of my new favorite quotes.

And stay away from Jurrjens. I had the exact same thought and that screams "poorly choiced bias".

Bois: Yeah, I only picked Webb and Ramirez so I wouldn't sound like an idiot. If I'm being truthful? Pete Orr and Pete Orr.