Matt Kemp

[benb18a]

Do you guys think he'll justify a first round pick this year?








































What do you think his ceiling is? Is there absolutely no sense in trying to trade for him in the near future? Or do you think he is the next 'roid-era Barry Bonds? One thing going for him, is he is now entering his prime years, so his production would have room for improvement, naturally. Going against him, is the fact that his OPS would by far break the record of BB's walk-a-game seasons, and his pace has to slow down significantly. I believe he is also playing with a "I'll show you I'm the MVP (even though Fielder has been shafted at least once due to being on a nonplayoff team)" chip on his shoulder, currently. The question is, where will he end up? Last season's production, or the best fantasy season of the last decade?

[Ender]

I don't think he is assured of ending up the #1 player in baseball this year. I wouldn't see 'high' on him either though. I think it is silly that people drafted Cabrera over him to begin with though, pure downside move to me.

[kab21]

I don't think he is assured of ending up the #1 player in baseball this year. I wouldn't see 'high' on him either though. I think it is silly that people drafted Cabrera over him to begin with though, pure downside move to me.

I think at the end of the Cabrera is not the player that will be considered silly to draft instead of Kemp. Cabrera is going to have a great season despite your vendetta against him. Kemp looks like he will have a better season but taking Cabrera is not silly.

[Ender]

I don't think he is assured of ending up the #1 player in baseball this year. I wouldn't see 'high' on him either though. I think it is silly that people drafted Cabrera over him to begin with though, pure downside move to me.

I think at the end of the Cabrera is not the player that will be considered silly to draft instead of Kemp. Cabrera is going to have a great season despite your vendetta against him. Kemp looks like he will have a better season but taking Cabrera is not silly.

I have no vendetta against Cabrera, he just doesn't have the skillset to be a top 10 player in fantasy baeball. He doesn't steal, he doesn't BB he wont score enough runs. Last year was likely he his best season ever and was heavily BABIP influenced and he still wasn't a top 10 player. Cabrera is a fantastic first round pick but he isn't a #1 pick, he is like a # 4 or #5 as a safe guy who will produce for you but has very little chance to be a top 5 or so guy.

[daullaz]

I don't think he is assured of ending up the #1 player in baseball this year. I wouldn't see 'high' on him either though. I think it is silly that people drafted Cabrera over him to begin with though, pure downside move to me.

I think at the end of the Cabrera is not the player that will be considered silly to draft instead of Kemp. Cabrera is going to have a great season despite your vendetta against him. Kemp looks like he will have a better season but taking Cabrera is not silly.

I have no vendetta against Cabrera, he just doesn't have the skillset to be a top 10 player in fantasy baeball. He doesn't steal, he doesn't BB he wont score enough runs. Last year was likely he his best season ever and was heavily BABIP influenced and he still wasn't a top 10 player. Cabrera is a fantastic first round pick but he isn't a #1 pick, he is like a # 4 or #5 as a safe guy who will produce for you but has very little chance to be a top 5 or so guy.

Cabrera finished 7th last year according to ESPN: http://games.espn.go.com/flb/playerrate ... sonId=2011

He finished 9th in 2011 according to Yahoo (Y! had two extra SPs ahead of him that ESPN did not).
He finished 3rd in 2010 according to Yahoo, behind just CarGo and Pujols.

I'd say his skill set is fine.

[BigZ38]

I don't think he is assured of ending up the #1 player in baseball this year. I wouldn't see 'high' on him either though. I think it is silly that people drafted Cabrera over him to begin with though, pure downside move to me.

I think at the end of the Cabrera is not the player that will be considered silly to draft instead of Kemp. Cabrera is going to have a great season despite your vendetta against him. Kemp looks like he will have a better season but taking Cabrera is not silly.

I have no vendetta against Cabrera, he just doesn't have the skillset to be a top 10 player in fantasy baeball. He doesn't steal, he doesn't BB he wont score enough runs. Last year was likely he his best season ever and was heavily BABIP influenced and he still wasn't a top 10 player. Cabrera is a fantastic first round pick but he isn't a #1 pick, he is like a # 4 or #5 as a safe guy who will produce for you but has very little chance to be a top 5 or so guy.

He doesn't walk? 108 BB in 2011 was 3rd in the MLBs.

[Neato Torpedo]

69.2% HR/FB rate

[bayside]

he just doesn't have the skillset to be a top 10 player in fantasy baeball. He doesn't steal, he doesn't BB he wont score enough runs.

Maybe you are thinking about a different Cabrera?
Because Miguel walked over 100 times last year and scored 111 runs.
Seems like enough to me, and the runs should only improve with Fielder batting behind him.

[kab21]

Cabrera has avg'd this over his career: .316, 100R, 33 HR, and 115 RBI's. Of course the SB's aren't there but those are the easiest stat to find relatively cheap. And 100R's would have ranked 17th in the majors last year.

He likely won't end as the #1 player because of the SB's but he's a pretty safe pick to finish in the top 10. I certainly wouldn't fault someone for taking him above Kemp even though Kemp has been ridiculous this year. And Cabrera wasn't the only player that was drafted over Kemp. I can think of 4 players in the noobs draft.

[CBMGreatOne]

I looked it up. As of this point in the season Kemp has 9 HRs and 22 RBIs. As of April 20th 2007, ARod had 12 HRs and 30 RBIs. No doubt Kemp is off to a smoldering start, but I don't think he'll be the best fantasy player of the decade. I'd love to have him, but we've seen hot streaks like this to start seasons before. That said, the sky is still the limit and he's the best player in baseball. Not much to take away other than that.