Derek Lee overrated?

[Dodger Blue]

I have Derek Lee on my team and I selected him because he was to highly rated in preseason drafts. Hes a .260 lifetime hitter with only decent power. Then why is he highly rated?

Also is Preston Wilson gonna come back stong?

[jbones733]

because he is real good , has power & ya figure playing 81 games @ wrigley he could put up 40 jacks, & in a nice lineup

dont know anything about preston sorry

[bell]

I wouldn't be one to say he's highly overrated just because I think there are a good amount of first baseman I would take before him, but I guess him being overrated depends on how high your list had him ranked. His decent power has been somewhat contained in previous seasons because of Pro Player.

Next time you might want to do some more research other than just going by a ranking.

[Tavish]

He was/is highly rated because he has decent power and above average speed (for a 1B). His speed isn't going to be such a big factor this year with the Cubs who play long ball. .270-30-110-10 would be a good year.

[JOEG]

I think he was very overrated at the start of the year. Kinda like all the Marlins were. One thing that hurts him is he bats AFTER the good hitters in Chicago. Look at his stats in his 4 main years

2000 - 281/28/70 123 SO's
2001 - 282/21/75 126 SO's
2002 - 270/27/86 164 SO's
2003 - 271/31/92 130 SO's

What i think really overrated him other then the fact that he played for a really exciting and fun team is that in JUST TWO years he stole near 20 bases. This of corse gives hard ons to people thinking they can get steals from their power hitting 1B. But most didn't relize that he got those steals on a roster that ran nonstop, not a very conservative wait for the homer team like CHicago. One interesting fact is that in about 870 games in his career he stole 13 bases not in his two carzy Marlin years.

Another thing is look at those SO's!!!!!!! Unless your name is Sexon or THome you cannot K that many times. THis year he has the shortstop for Chicago protecting him in the lineup - not good

My 2 cents

[thetongueofire]

so many reasons Derrek Lee was "overrated"-

1.) he was a .300 hitter away from Pro Player last year with and OPS of .979.
2.) yup, his speed at 1B does give people "hard-ons" cos then chances are that you dont have to overpay for someone like Carl Crawford or Juan Pierre, i.e., guys who basically kill you in all the power categories.
3.) theoretically he would've hit 40 last year if he played all of his games outside Pro Player. this power diparity is also true for any of his past seasons.
4.) hes entering his prime at 28.
5.) the NL Central in general is an offensive division if you exclude the Cubs and Astros. not much solid picthing after those two- all ballparks are at pretty good home run and hitting parks in general.

and also for the SO issue, i think its basically the opposite with Lee, i.e., hes been becoming more patient. i think theres a pretty good chance that you can take expect 280 BA, 40 dingers, 110+ RBI's along with 10-15 or so bags from him this year.

[JOEG]

Don't disagree 100% and those are valid IF scenarios, but it hasn't happened yet, so they are nothing more then what if he woulda kinda stuff .... etc. He's right on pace for 120 plus SO's and hasn't played Houston yet.... Not saying he's bad and hhe should be sarting in most leagues, but come on 40 homers???? My prediction 280 (just like every single other year of his career) 27 Homers - 100 RBI's - 145 SO's as theres no reason to pitch him anything good with SS (gonz or Grud or Martinez) Catcher (Bako or Barrett) and the pitcher after him, and with his history of chasing bad pitches - thats not good!

[Dodger Blue]

So in my utility spot should I start Lee Sweeney or J. Dye?
I have Pujlos playing 1st. This is my first draft ever so I made alot of mistakes like 3 1b.

[Longhorns76]

Lee has always been a horrible starter. Sit him if you have better options at the time and wait it out. He will hit better and he will be a valuable part of any fantasy team later on. He's not a great April/May player. Just be patient.