Batting order question.

[mtarail]

You're right that Soriano's strikeouts make him a tough sell in the leadoff spot. But Soriano's diversity of talent make him viable at any spot in the lineup besides the 4 spot.

[lesgrant]

There is no way Soriano bats in the 8th spot. A back to back 35/35 guy bats near the top, strikeouts or no strikeouts. I say he bats in the 3 spot.

[TheYanks04]

Over Giambi and Sheffield?...not a chance barring Giambi imploding.

[LBJackal]

How many at bats do you think a player loses per position drop in the order?

Every position in the lineup is worth 18 Plate appearances in a 162 game season (162/9=18. So a drop from 1st to 8th would lose 126 p/a on average. Any drop in a lineup hurts any player, since you are taking abs away from him. It won't effect averages like average, oba, or slugging %, but it will effect counting stats like hrs, runs, rbis, and hits. So it's certaintly a negative to Soriano owners, if it indeed happens. I would never put him that low myself. Lofton with a 351 oba is a poor choice for leadoff.

Hootie, I'm disappointed in you. A stat head who doesn't realize that less AB's does affect averages? Shame on you . By having less AB's, a player with a lower average then your team's average will hurt you less. And also, a player with a higher average then your team's average will help you less.

A formula that Eugene Styles helped me with is the following:

[AB(BA-meanBA)] / [(8*meanAB)+AB]

It shows how much a specific player helps your team's average. For example, Bill Mueller's .326 BA helped fantasy teams last year more than Barry Bonds' .341 BA. And Aubrey Huff's .311 BA helped teams more than Vlad's .330 BA.

I'm sure you knew that Hootie, it was just a slip up.

[Madison]

Something else to take into consideration when discussing at bats is that from everything I've seen it looks like the Yankees will score more runs next year. That means more hits, more men on base which leads to more at bats for everyone.

I'm not saying Soriano will have more at bats then he did last year, due to not knowing where in the lineup he will hit.

It's just something to consider.

[HOOTIE]

Soriano in the 8 hole is not going to affect his value much at all. Remeber, he will run because he is in the front end of a 4 speed tandem of Soriano, Boone, Lofton, and Jeter. His RBI opps in the 8-hole might be higher than if he was in the leadoff spot.

Maybe it's me, but i will take a guy getting the extra 126 abs in the 1 slot, versus -126 abs in the 8th slot. You guys are hyping more rbi chances, but the loss in abs means fewer runs also. Less abs also mean fewer hits, which could depress sb, and fewer abs depress hrs as well.

Name me one player in history that got 100 rbis batting 8th? 8th hitters dont get 100 rbis, because they have far fewer abs, and chances. Even studs like Manny and Arod likely wouldn't get 100 rbis batting 8th. The negatives of losing 126 abs far outweigh any positive it may bring. Hrs, runs, sb will decrease with fewer abs, while rbis climb. You decide?

[HOOTIE]

You're right that Soriano's strikeouts make him a tough sell in the leadoff spot. But Soriano's diversity of talent make him viable at any spot in the lineup besides the 4 spot.

Strikeouts don't matter that much. Getting on base does. Jeter strikes out alot, but would be a great leadoff hitter. Lofton is a poor choice versus Soriano. Loftons oba isnt much better, and using last year, Sorianos the better hitter. Runs created per 27 outs

Soriano 6.19
Lofton 5.70

Putting Lofton 1 solves nothing.

[HOOTIE]

Hootie, I'm disappointed in you. A stat head who doesn't realize that less AB's does affect averages? Shame on you . By having less AB's, a player with a lower average then your team's average will hurt you less. And also, a player with a higher average then your team's average will help you less.
I'm sure you knew that Hootie, it was just a slip up.

Hey LBJ, thanks for keeping tabs.
Yes, i knew that more abs of a average, has more merit. What i was comparing, was adding stats, versus non adding stats, and that completely slipped my mind.