Kris Medlen- how much of his value is RP?

[mkultra]

I pretty consistently see Kris Medlen ranked in the Top 25 SP's, if not Top 20. How much of that is coming from his RP eligibility? He showed amazing stuff in the 2nd half of 2012, but we don't have much more than that to go on.

Is his skill set alone worthy of a #2 spot in your rotation, or is it inflated because he's also eligible at RP?

[Skin Blues]

I would assume his ranking has almost nothing to do with RP eligibility, as most people here don't play in leagues where that matters. I could be wrong about that, but I assume most of the value is coming from his amazing stretch of a dozen or so games at the end of last season against extremely weak competition with expanded (AKA watered down) rosters.

[fsbarren]

Agreed with the prior post.

Best summary I've seen: "If you're the type willing to gamble on a limited track record, you won't want to let him slip too far beyond the top 15 starting pitchers" (I'd say top 20 -25 though)

That being said, his solid walk rate and pretty good secondary pitches suggest he could be a nice #2/#3 SP for your team, but he's definitely no slam dunk at this point.

[Izenhart]

Agreed with the prior post.

Best summary I've seen: "If you're the type willing to gamble on a limited track record, you won't want to let him slip too far beyond the top 15 starting pitchers" (I'd say top 20 -25 though)

That being said, his solid walk rate and pretty good secondary pitches suggest he could be a nice #2/#3 SP for your team, but he's definitely no slam dunk at this point.

I'm a bit gunshy when drafting unproven pitchers with mediocre fantasy K rates. If he were a K per inning guy I'd probably be targeting him, but I'm playing the wait and see game on him and don't plan to have Medlen on any teams this year. (based on his auction val and ADP) I'd rather take a guy like Morrow or even Fister for now.

[Element]

I have Medlen just outside of my top 20 (21st actually) and it has absolutely nothing to do with his RP eligibility.

[AKhomebrewer]

In my experience, SP eligibility in a quality reliever adds more value than does RP eligibility in a starter.

[Ender]

I am playing in 4 leagues. In 2 of them this doesn't help him at all. In the H2H league with 3 RP slots and weekly rosters it does help quite a bit. In the 4th league it might help a tiny bit. It just depends on your league setup. As for Medlen's value in general, this is just typical rabid upside seekers driving a players value way over where it should be. You have a 15% chance that he is worth this draft slot and then most of the time he is a bust.

[dannahann]

I am playing in 4 leagues. In 2 of them this doesn't help him at all. In the H2H league with 3 RP slots and weekly rosters it does help quite a bit. In the 4th league it might help a tiny bit. It just depends on your league setup. As for Medlen's value in general, this is just typical rabid upside seekers driving a players value way over where it should be. You have a 15% chance that he is worth this draft slot and then most of the time he is a bust.

Nailed it, I just took a look at mock draft central WOW?!? Medlen is currently being drafted as SP #13. Pitchers going immediately AFTER Medlen are Gio (6 picks later), Greinke (10 pks), Dickey (11) Sale (13) Doc (15) CC (20) Scherzer (24) Cueto (30) Zimmermann (35) Gallardo (40). I think I'd take all those guys before Medlen. That and there are high upside guys like Moore Aroldis Latos Samadzija going 5 to 7 rounds after Medlen if you feel the need to chase upside.

[HighHeater]

I am playing in 4 leagues. In 2 of them this doesn't help him at all. In the H2H league with 3 RP slots and weekly rosters it does help quite a bit. In the 4th league it might help a tiny bit. It just depends on your league setup. As for Medlen's value in general, this is just typical rabid upside seekers driving a players value way over where it should be. You have a 15% chance that he is worth this draft slot and then most of the time he is a bust.

Nailed it, I just took a look at mock draft central WOW?!? Medlen is currently being drafted as SP #13. Pitchers going immediately AFTER Medlen are Gio (6 picks later), Greinke (10 pks), Dickey (11) Sale (13) Doc (15) CC (20) Scherzer (24) Cueto (30) Zimmermann (35) Gallardo (40). I think I'd take all those guys before Medlen. That and there are high upside guys like Moore Aroldis Latos Samadzija going 5 to 7 rounds after Medlen if you feel the need to chase upside.

Ill definetely take Latos and Moore over Medlen myself, every time up. Id need to see how Chapman transitions to starting before I cast judgement there.

[Frenchiegangsta9]

In my experience, SP eligibility in a quality reliever adds more value than does RP eligibility in a starter.

This. Its a large part of my innings mgmt strategy when I want to maximize my ratios.