Simple Category Fillers

[DOUGHBOYS]

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'

[Bama]

speaking of 5 cat guys. how many guys have averaged 25+ HR'S, 20+SB'S, 95+Runs, 95+rbi's and .310+ Batting average over the last 3 years.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Without looking, I'd say Braun and CarGo. Especially with the weird perameters.
I'm not a big fan of three year stats.
It makes guys like CarGo look better now than he really is.
CarGo's career year was three year's ago. Some are expecting a repeat or at the least, hoping for one.

[Bama]

Without looking, I'd say Braun and CarGo. Especially with the weird perameters.
I'm not a big fan of three year stats.
It makes guys like CarGo look better now than he really is.
CarGo's career year was three year's ago. Some are expecting a repeat or at the least, hoping for one.

Career year in first full year at age 24 is not the norm. Those 2 are correct and i could lower the parametes in each cat and it would still be the same 2. Guys that are what i would consider 2 plus in every cat are hard to find but what we need to figure out is the guys that could do that this year and draft accordingly.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Without looking, I'd say Braun and CarGo. Especially with the weird perameters.
I'm not a big fan of three year stats.
It makes guys like CarGo look better now than he really is.
CarGo's career year was three year's ago. Some are expecting a repeat or at the least, hoping for one.

Career year in first full year at age 24 is not the norm. Those 2 are correct and i could lower the parameters in each cat and it would still be the same 2. Guys that are what i would consider 2 plus in every cat are hard to find but what we need to figure out is the guys that could do that this year and draft accordingly.

At the same time, the same comparison could be made with Trout in a couple of years. Even after two lackluster years.
And he'll be younger.
You're exactly right. We need to know who'll do it THIS year.
I can see Harper possibly having one of those dream years too and others must feel the same way as I've now seen him go in the first round of a draft.
Those 5 category guys, when they have a great year like Trout last year and CarGo three years ago, it just helps a team so much.
You can have a lot of 0-4, then, here comes Harper, Trout, or whoever with a hr, two stolen bases and three rbi. Even though the rest of the team sucked for the day, that one guy carried it.

[Bama]

So you think Harper going to be a .300 hitter maybe as soon as this year or even .290+ ? If thats the case then i may need to move him up some.

[DOUGHBOYS]

So you think Harper going to be a .300 hitter maybe as soon as this year or even .290+ ? If thats the case then i may need to move him up some.

It is possible that he gets close enough with the counting numbers. I'm just a guy so don't move him up because of me.
I can tell you this, I think Bryce Harper will lead the NL in homers at least three times during his career. The power is real.
I also think he ends the year in the middle of the Nats lineup. It'll mean more rbi and probably less running opportunities.
Harper is not fast. But, he is young, exuberant, and stupid. And I mean that as a compliment in a fantasy way. He'll steal bases when there is no need to steal bases.
If wanting the five categories, or four and a half, drafting him while young is the way to do it.
When older, with exuberance gone and the same ol, same ol mentality comes to play, Harper becomes a three and a half category play.