Unique 4 x 4 categories in this league and why:
I am going to borrow a lot here from fantasy guru Ron Shandler...
The contention has been that more is better. 5 x 5 may have been an improvement over the original 4 x 4 but not for the reasons we think. It did not really capture that much more of a player's productivity than original 4 x 4 did. The purpose that 5 x 5 really served was to close off some of the loopholes that allowed original 4 x 4 owners to game the system.
Some bright 4 x 4 player realized he could assemble a winning pitching staff of just relievers, so leagues instituted minimum innings requirements. These became unnecessary with the addition of strikeouts as a pitching category. Runs were added on the batting side to provide balance. But the last thing that 5 x 5, or even typical 4 x 4, provides is balance.
With one ratio category on the batting side (AVE) and two on the pitching side (ERA and WHIP) there has always been an inherent imbalance in how batters and pitchers are valued.
Adding Runs on the batters side only serves to double the number of categories that are situation dependent. RBI and Runs provide less a measure of individual skill than a measure of a player's surrounding cast. In addition, including both R and RBI means that we have been triple counting the impact of a home run! In the end, 40% of a batter's value in standard 5 x 5 is composed of stats that are only marginally skills related.
While the natural inclination is to add categories to make up for these types of deficiencies, we can actually capture just as much by going back to a 4 x 4 format. An added advantage is that players and categories are easier to manage when there are fewer moving parts.
So, having said all that, OUR categories for this league will be VERY unique. This league is going to attempt to "right all the industry wrongs"...when it comes to true player values.
Here we go...(insert drum roll sound effect)
Batting:
- On Base Percentage (better than Batting Average)
- Stolen Bases
- Home Runs
- Runs Produced. (we are combining R and RBI into one category to minimize the effects of team environment and remove some redundant HR). Our Runs Produced formula is (R + RBI - HR)
Pitching:
- Wins
- Strikeouts
- Earned Run Average
- we are changing Saves to (Saves + Holds - Blown Saves) to reduce the impact that closers typically have on 4 x 4 values
.
WHIP goes away. Who really manages their pitchers using WHIP anyway?
In the end here, we are back to 4 x 4 but with more balance.
.
Last edited by rusty barr on Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:57 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Cafe Home
Fantasy Football
Fantasy Basketball
Fantasy Hockey
by rusty barr » Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:59 pm 
