One thing I've noticed as the years go by in the NFBC is the hesitancy with which players want to talk about individual players.
Heck, it's gotten so bad that we've had pseudo names in drafts the past couple of years, and this year the introduction to team Anonymous.
So, with that in mind, I thought I'd start a thread about individual players and what we think about them. They can be players you like, dislike, players that are being under drafted or over drafted, just put in your two cents on any player.
I'll start the ball rolling-
I didn't like the Carl Crawford signing by Boston. It like putting a square peg in a round hole. Heck, even after he signed, the Red Sox didn't even know where he'd hit. He made it easier for them by having a dreadful season and found a home at the bottom of the lineup.
His wrist problem totally aside for now, I don't understand why he was being taken in the first two rounds. His power is limited, this year, he definitely won't be near the top of the lineup. Drafters are paying for the past Crawford. The Crawford that was the face of his franchise, who now is just another good player amongst a lot of good players.
Crawford through his career has a years worth of statistics at Fenway.
Are these stats representative of a first or second rounder?
138 games, 559 at bats .275/68/8/60/32
Are they even representative of a sixth round pick?
Throw in the wrist complication and the answer is easy.
Hopefully, this will start a ball rolling for other individual players.
Who is yours?
Let's Talk Players
Let's Talk Players
On my tombstone-
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
Wait! I never had the perfect draft!
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headhunters
- Posts: 1976
- Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 6:00 pm
Re: Let's Talk Players
mine are francour and granderson. i mean, how many years in a row are people going to keep drafting these guys waiting for them to improve? oh wait- never mind.
Re: Let's Talk Players
Josh Hamilton---the poster boy for High Risk/High Reward.
I've drafted him 3 out of the last 4 years...guess which year I didn't?
It seems like you're always waiting for that injury or, like now, fo him to fall off the wagon.
I've drafted him 3 out of the last 4 years...guess which year I didn't?
It seems like you're always waiting for that injury or, like now, fo him to fall off the wagon.
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OaktownSteve
- Posts: 79
- Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 1:36 pm
Re: Let's Talk Players
I like Neil Walker. I like watching him play. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Pirates. I like losers. The player I would most like to have seen play is Clemente. Not least of all becauase I love right fielders with great arms. When I played wiffle ball growing up, I used to switch hit and my left handed stance was Willie Stargell, windmilling the bat and bobbing around. I liked We Are Family and I liked the stove pipe hats. I was once at a Pirates Padres game in which Bruce Kison hit a grand slam.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 99,3304585
I like Pittsburgh. I have a few friends from there, enjoyed myself on a couple of visits. So when the Pirates come on I'll watch them in a way I might not watch the Indians, for example.
From a fundamental analysis standpoint, there are a couple of things I like about Walker. He's about to come into his junior year (third more or less full year in the majors). We talk about rookies and the sophomore slump, I say we can extend the metaphor. If the freshman year is about making an impression and surviving and learning. And the sophomore year is about making making mistakes and getting depressed. The junior year is about finding your stride and working hard. Senior year is about staying in place or graduating. I figure this "junior" year suits Walker.
I like that he's an athlete in the middle infield. 6'3", 215. I think I heard on a Pirates radio broadcast that he's an old high school football hero. Two sport guy.
From a technical anaylisis side (the numbers), I like that he hits a lot of line drives (per Fangraphs). In a middle infielder with limited power potential, you like a Michael Young type that sprays the ball around. He ran a little more last year and somewhere in my mental archives, I seem to remember Clint Hurdle teams like to run. Might be wrong about that last bit.
Walker is a pretty classic no downside, limited upside guy. His ADP is 150 which, when you ditch the last few rounds as fliers, is basically right in the middle of the draft. So what interests me from a fantasy perspective is that if you consider him a known entity, is there room on your roster for him? A lot probably depends on where you are in the draft. You might be at the back end of a middle infield run and say "damn, I better get Walker." And then imediately reconsider the pick. Or do you have Walker on your radar right from the beginning as a guy you figure you can get as an emergency or to allow you to take more upside risk somewhere else. A part you can use, in other words. So it depends on where you are in the draft and also on what your strategy is overall. How are you trying to get all the numbers to add up so that you can win.
And if he's more than a known entity, if he's one of these guys that enters the season with no buzz and then breaks out, because yu kind of like his fundamentals you think it could happen...then you end up with a good player on your team that seems like the type to stay on the field and that outperforms the pack around where you drafted him.
So I'm not sure if I'll end up owning Walker or not...and that's kind of the fun of it all in a nutshell.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 99,3304585
I like Pittsburgh. I have a few friends from there, enjoyed myself on a couple of visits. So when the Pirates come on I'll watch them in a way I might not watch the Indians, for example.
From a fundamental analysis standpoint, there are a couple of things I like about Walker. He's about to come into his junior year (third more or less full year in the majors). We talk about rookies and the sophomore slump, I say we can extend the metaphor. If the freshman year is about making an impression and surviving and learning. And the sophomore year is about making making mistakes and getting depressed. The junior year is about finding your stride and working hard. Senior year is about staying in place or graduating. I figure this "junior" year suits Walker.
I like that he's an athlete in the middle infield. 6'3", 215. I think I heard on a Pirates radio broadcast that he's an old high school football hero. Two sport guy.
From a technical anaylisis side (the numbers), I like that he hits a lot of line drives (per Fangraphs). In a middle infielder with limited power potential, you like a Michael Young type that sprays the ball around. He ran a little more last year and somewhere in my mental archives, I seem to remember Clint Hurdle teams like to run. Might be wrong about that last bit.
Walker is a pretty classic no downside, limited upside guy. His ADP is 150 which, when you ditch the last few rounds as fliers, is basically right in the middle of the draft. So what interests me from a fantasy perspective is that if you consider him a known entity, is there room on your roster for him? A lot probably depends on where you are in the draft. You might be at the back end of a middle infield run and say "damn, I better get Walker." And then imediately reconsider the pick. Or do you have Walker on your radar right from the beginning as a guy you figure you can get as an emergency or to allow you to take more upside risk somewhere else. A part you can use, in other words. So it depends on where you are in the draft and also on what your strategy is overall. How are you trying to get all the numbers to add up so that you can win.
And if he's more than a known entity, if he's one of these guys that enters the season with no buzz and then breaks out, because yu kind of like his fundamentals you think it could happen...then you end up with a good player on your team that seems like the type to stay on the field and that outperforms the pack around where you drafted him.
So I'm not sure if I'll end up owning Walker or not...and that's kind of the fun of it all in a nutshell.
Re: Let's Talk Players
I don't think Ichiro Suzuki has ever been on one of my teams, and that's a lot of teams over 7 or 8 years of the NFBC.
I can't remember him not being over-drafted. I don't think everyone thinks too highly of him, but it seems like at least one guy does, every draft, every year. Last year we was going in the 4th round in a lot of drafts, sometimes slipping to the 5th or early 6th. That was down from a higher ADP the year before; still wasn't worth it.
This year I see him going around 8th-9th - based on what he did last year that's not completely unreasonable. He will turn 40 later this year, but he says he's phyically more prepared this season than last. Maybe he's got one more solid year in the tank. If so he has a chance to live up to his ADP for the first time in five years. If not, he'll fall to 0-5 against-the-spread and again punish that one guy that just has to have him.
I can't remember him not being over-drafted. I don't think everyone thinks too highly of him, but it seems like at least one guy does, every draft, every year. Last year we was going in the 4th round in a lot of drafts, sometimes slipping to the 5th or early 6th. That was down from a higher ADP the year before; still wasn't worth it.
This year I see him going around 8th-9th - based on what he did last year that's not completely unreasonable. He will turn 40 later this year, but he says he's phyically more prepared this season than last. Maybe he's got one more solid year in the tank. If so he has a chance to live up to his ADP for the first time in five years. If not, he'll fall to 0-5 against-the-spread and again punish that one guy that just has to have him.
Re: Let's Talk Players
I agree that he has been overrated for years. Not only by at least one NFBC team per league, but by millions of fans voting for the All-Star-Game players. While he will play until he is 40, he's not there yet...he will be 'only' 38 this year.KJ Duke wrote:I don't think Ichiro Suzuki has ever been on one of my teams, and that's a lot of teams over 7 or 8 years of the NFBC.
I can't remember him not being over-drafted. I don't think everyone thinks too highly of him, but it seems like at least one guy does, every draft, every year. Last year we was going in the 4th round in a lot of drafts, sometimes slipping to the 5th or early 6th. That was down from a higher ADP the year before; still wasn't worth it.
This year I see him going around 8th-9th - based on what he did last year that's not completely unreasonable. He will turn 40 later this year, but he says he's phyically more prepared this season than last. Maybe he's got one more solid year in the tank. If so he has a chance to live up to his ADP for the first time in five years. If not, he'll fall to 0-5 against-the-spread and again punish that one guy that just has to have him.
He always has punished his owners in the power categories. But this year it just might be different. Manager Eric Wedge is hinting that Ichiro may bat further down in the lineup. If he does, say, bat third, he is capable of hitting 15HR and driving in 85 plus while keeping his average over .280. That might, and it is a long shot at this point, just might make him worth more than par for the first time since his rookie season.
- Robert
Re: Let's Talk Players
Mark Reynolds.
A three-category guy that will destroy your team's batting average and hurt you in SBs.
How can he keep being drafted in the 7-8th rounds?
A three-category guy that will destroy your team's batting average and hurt you in SBs.
How can he keep being drafted in the 7-8th rounds?
- Robert
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OaktownSteve
- Posts: 79
- Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2011 1:36 pm
Re: Let's Talk Players
Players I want to like:
Paul Goldschmidt. Could put up Hosmer numbers minus the average. Like Hosmer, runs a little. Could out produce Hosmer. Minor league numbers profile out similarly. But Goldschmidt swings and misses a ton.
Chad Billingsley. Always had good stuff. My wife's favorite player of all time is Mark Ellis, so I keep an eye on him. His defense is really underrated. He's worth runs to a staff. I think his defensive genius rubs off on other guys. He brings a lot of stuff Ron Washington used to teach to the table. Wash is underrated, just like Ellis. You have to watch to understand. So I want to think Bills will get it together and the Dodgers will back him when he needs it most. Nobody talking about him. Always a good sign.
Eric Bedard. Nasty when healthy
Vernon Wells. I saw him hit a foul ball in Phoenix this spring. He was quick inside and hit it with authority. I saw quick hands. He has some good seasons on the books and Pujols on his side.
Paul Goldschmidt. Could put up Hosmer numbers minus the average. Like Hosmer, runs a little. Could out produce Hosmer. Minor league numbers profile out similarly. But Goldschmidt swings and misses a ton.
Chad Billingsley. Always had good stuff. My wife's favorite player of all time is Mark Ellis, so I keep an eye on him. His defense is really underrated. He's worth runs to a staff. I think his defensive genius rubs off on other guys. He brings a lot of stuff Ron Washington used to teach to the table. Wash is underrated, just like Ellis. You have to watch to understand. So I want to think Bills will get it together and the Dodgers will back him when he needs it most. Nobody talking about him. Always a good sign.
Eric Bedard. Nasty when healthy
Vernon Wells. I saw him hit a foul ball in Phoenix this spring. He was quick inside and hit it with authority. I saw quick hands. He has some good seasons on the books and Pujols on his side.