Simple Category Fillers
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:18 am
Is it really better to be a five category player in fantasy baseball?
I wonder sometimes.
I know we have to fill those five categories. But is it best to do it with players that deliver a bit in every category or those that excel at one category over another?
It's a conundrum that bugs us each year.
With a simplistic approach (I know no other way), Braun, Trout, and McCutchen were the best five category players in baseball last year.
Lets figure out why. We'll add up their placement in category numbers and as in golf, lowest score wins
Braun was 8/3/5/4/16 in avg/r/hr/rbi/sb, giving him a 36
Trout was 6/1/22/48/1 giving him a 78
McCutchen, a 5/4/20/21/35 giving him an 84
I guess this was the reason Braun was a consensus number one before his 'problems'.
But at the same time, I'm torn. Let's say we're guaranteed of having Braun and Trout's same numbers this year.
I know that Braun scored higher in our simplistic approach, but truth is, I'd rather have Trout.
Braun was more consistent in his category filling. But Trout absolutely killed two of these catgories.
He scored 20 more runs than any other cat in baseball.
He was also the only non-judy to have 40 stolen bases.
Did you know that of the offensive players adp'd to go in the first round, Trout was the only one among the top 15 in stolen bases?
Those two categories are a tremendous head start on the competition.
Miguel Cabrera ranked 116 in stolen bases. If we subtract that category and give Braun and Trout the chance to beat Cabrera in best four category player by removing their worst category, they still couldn't beat Cabrera.
Cabrera has a 4/2/1/1/116 in our simplistic approach. Or just eight in four categories.
Some players are called 5 category players-
Hanley Ramirez was not in the top 25 of any category last year. He is considered a five category player.
Carlos Gonzalez was not in the top 20 of any category last year. He is considered a five category player and is still a first round selection.
Prince Fielder and CarGo are side by side in NFBC at nine and 10. Do you opt for Fielder who was in the top 25 in three categories or Gonzalez?
With Fielder, we know that the runs and speed will be the problem going into the draft.
We can draft with that in mind. Also knowing that 1B isn't a speed position to begin with.
With CarGo, we get an almost pseudo feeling that we have a jump on five categories.
Back to the simplistic approach, there was a player drafted later who put up better numbers than CarGo.
And like CarGo, a five category player.
Cargo has a 24/30/58/41/35 for a total of 188
Alex Rios had a 19.20/40/32/32 for a total of 143
For some reason, most will believe that a player will be healthier in the coming year. It's the reason CarGo is still a first rounder. When performing, darn it, he performs. And if I draft him, I'll take the chance he'll be healthy.
It's tougher to forgive under performance. Rios has stayed healthy through the years, but has under performed badly in some of those years. He outplayed CarGo last year, but past years performances were not erased in our minds.
Injury and under performance are like poison. And in our game, we get to pick that poison.
Picking Rios and having him under perform is like dying at the hands of a million paper cuts.
With CarGo and injury, it is quick, but still painful.
And both will have us wanting a tombstone that reads:
'CarGo Put me Here' or 'Rios Put Me Here'
I wonder sometimes.
I know we have to fill those five categories. But is it best to do it with players that deliver a bit in every category or those that excel at one category over another?
It's a conundrum that bugs us each year.
With a simplistic approach (I know no other way), Braun, Trout, and McCutchen were the best five category players in baseball last year.
Lets figure out why. We'll add up their placement in category numbers and as in golf, lowest score wins
Braun was 8/3/5/4/16 in avg/r/hr/rbi/sb, giving him a 36
Trout was 6/1/22/48/1 giving him a 78
McCutchen, a 5/4/20/21/35 giving him an 84
I guess this was the reason Braun was a consensus number one before his 'problems'.
But at the same time, I'm torn. Let's say we're guaranteed of having Braun and Trout's same numbers this year.
I know that Braun scored higher in our simplistic approach, but truth is, I'd rather have Trout.
Braun was more consistent in his category filling. But Trout absolutely killed two of these catgories.
He scored 20 more runs than any other cat in baseball.
He was also the only non-judy to have 40 stolen bases.
Did you know that of the offensive players adp'd to go in the first round, Trout was the only one among the top 15 in stolen bases?
Those two categories are a tremendous head start on the competition.
Miguel Cabrera ranked 116 in stolen bases. If we subtract that category and give Braun and Trout the chance to beat Cabrera in best four category player by removing their worst category, they still couldn't beat Cabrera.
Cabrera has a 4/2/1/1/116 in our simplistic approach. Or just eight in four categories.
Some players are called 5 category players-
Hanley Ramirez was not in the top 25 of any category last year. He is considered a five category player.
Carlos Gonzalez was not in the top 20 of any category last year. He is considered a five category player and is still a first round selection.
Prince Fielder and CarGo are side by side in NFBC at nine and 10. Do you opt for Fielder who was in the top 25 in three categories or Gonzalez?
With Fielder, we know that the runs and speed will be the problem going into the draft.
We can draft with that in mind. Also knowing that 1B isn't a speed position to begin with.
With CarGo, we get an almost pseudo feeling that we have a jump on five categories.
Back to the simplistic approach, there was a player drafted later who put up better numbers than CarGo.
And like CarGo, a five category player.
Cargo has a 24/30/58/41/35 for a total of 188
Alex Rios had a 19.20/40/32/32 for a total of 143
For some reason, most will believe that a player will be healthier in the coming year. It's the reason CarGo is still a first rounder. When performing, darn it, he performs. And if I draft him, I'll take the chance he'll be healthy.
It's tougher to forgive under performance. Rios has stayed healthy through the years, but has under performed badly in some of those years. He outplayed CarGo last year, but past years performances were not erased in our minds.
Injury and under performance are like poison. And in our game, we get to pick that poison.
Picking Rios and having him under perform is like dying at the hands of a million paper cuts.
With CarGo and injury, it is quick, but still painful.
And both will have us wanting a tombstone that reads:
'CarGo Put me Here' or 'Rios Put Me Here'