Thoughts on scoring categories

[SkipperStyle]

Every year I do a league with a bunch of my buddies. I'm not really crazy about the scoring categories we use, but there is no convincing my buddy who is the commissioner. Here is what we do:

Avg., R, HR, RBI, S, BB, SLG

W, SV, ERA, WHIP, K, K/BB, K/9

Here are some of the issues I have:

For hitting, it seems redundant to have walks and slugging when they could be consolidated into OPS. As a fan of straight 5x5 leagues, I feel the categories are well balanced because it caters to both power and contact hitters. If you are a guy like Adam Dunn or Richie Sexon who rarely makes contact with the ball, but when they do, theres a good chance its a home run, then you get HR and RBI. If you are an Ichiro or a Juan Pierre who gets on base, steals, etc., then you get steals and runs. What sets great players apart in 5x5 roto is the ability to balance all of these, which is why A Rod, D Wright, etc., are so valuable. When you put slugging in there, its certainly nice that you get credit for extra base hits (which helps penalize guys like F Thomas, since he is practically incapable of turning a long drive that isnt a homer into a double, given that he is so slow). Slugging helps value guys with lots of extra base hits like Sizemore. However, slugging overvalues power guys. Suddenly A Rod is worth way too much, and speedy guys like Figgins or Pierre, who already are penalized for having no power, are hurt even more. It could be said that they are helped by the walks, but then again, plenty of power hitters get walked if there is an open base and their team is threatening. Thus, power hitters continue to be overvalued.

My beef with the piching categories goes even deeper. Having Ks, K per 9 AND Ks to Walks is far far too strikeout heavy. In the end, all that should matter for a pitcher is how many earned runs he gives up. When you put so much emphasis on strikeouts, it undervalues groundball pitchers. My buddy claims the strikeout to walk ratio is meant to be a measure of control, but isnt that what WHIP is for?

Any thoughts?

[Matthias]

I don't like it.

First, I don't like walks as a stand-alone category. Really, what's the point? Walks are valuable, but they're valuable when viewed alongside hits so the solution is not to add BB's but to incorporate walks into AVG and use OBP. Or, as you suggested, incorporate OBP & SLG into OPS. If you used AVG, R, HR, RBI, S, and OPS that's a fine weighting. AVG/OBP get counted twice which is fine b/c not making an out is about twice as valuable as power.

Also the K's are way out of whack, as are the pitching categories in general. You could go without a single starter and dominate 5 of the 7 categories; that's just bad. If he wants to leave K/BB in as a measure of control, fine, but then yank K/9 in favor or something like QS that strongly favors starting pitching. IP is also another starter-friendly stat. Either one would be preferable and I'm sure you could come up with others.

[SkipperStyle]

All good points. Thanks for your help, I'll be lobbying for these changes with everyone in the league.