Beltran & Prior

[trevisc]

i'll agree with you if he has the same kind of success this year. Until then..i'm not convinced

[tallmike]

I'd like to know which 20 of go ahead of Beltran? He was top 20 roto player last year - especially 5x5. Maybe head to head is different.

I saw one calculator that had Beltran ahead of Bonds as the fourth most valuable hitter last year. I think a couple of reasons. Top end steals are rarer so contribute more. Runs and rbi's were almost identical to Bonds (who admitedly walks alot but look at the numbers). The same one had Abreu ahead of Giambi as the 10th most valuable hitter.

I think we sometimes get enamoured witht he HR numbers. Don't get me wrong. I think that Giambi and Bonds are studs but I often think you can do better in 5x5 by getting a 5 category contributor early and then getting the power guy in the second round as HR numbers decline more linerarly. I took Abreu in the first round of the mock draft earlier than I might have because I wasn's sure he'd be there in the second round but I knew that several of my high choices would be. Maybe just making a bit of a point.

I didn't think I'd get Glaus in the third round (I guess I thought Beltran would go earlier too but we considered taking him in the second and waiting till the third to get a power guy). HR's don't mean leads in all categories which I think sometimes is the perception. Probably one of the reasons Sweeney slips further than he should.

My two cents. If we all agreed we wouldn't draft we'd just pull for draft position and then allocated teams. There'd also be no need for the Cafe which is half the fun.

[kentx12]

I agree compleatly. In the mock draft my first 3 hitters were Beltran in the 2nd round Giles in the 3rd round and Sweeney in the third. I dont have a great number of hr from the 3 but when you add hr, runs scored, rbi, stolen bases and average they help in all catagoreys. I think that is more important than just a power hitter.

[trevisc]

in H2H you have 5 hitting categories and no one is more important than another.

29 hitters hit more hr then he did
22 had more rbis
only 9 had more runs
and only 6 had more stolen bases.

236 players had a higher batting average(not all started)

if you factor in that closers are more rare and the good ones will go in the first 10 rounds and the fact that not everyone picks hitters right away (some go mostly pitchers in the first 6 rounds) then that is how I came up with putting 20 players ahead of him...

If i'm low in steals i may trade for him..but that usually doesn't happen.

[tallmike]

I may buy 20 players but probably not. Someone said 20 outfielders ahead of him though and that's extreme to me.

[trevisc]

we're just talking trash..and to be honest...the more I look at beltran the more he looks good. I just with he didn't play in KC!!!

if he was a yankee he'd be a top 10 player period.