I would, but since I’m last in the league in SLG% right now, I can’t. I swear, the vagaries of fantasy scoring make me crazy. I’ve had guys go 0-3 with a walk and gain points, while a 2-4 night with a HR and 2 RBIs will be a night I lose 12 points.
I’ve never been in a league that had Holds as a category before. If any of you have the standings from last year, I’d love to see how the roto teams’ Holds totals compare to their Saves totals. Since it’s possible for a MLB pitching staff to register more than one Hold per game, it may just be that there were more Holds in the majors last year than Saves. If this is the case, I wonder if it translates over to the realm of roto baseball. With managers leaning towards specialized bullpen roles, a lot of teams have a designated Setup Man, and that’s the guy you want to grab for holds. It’s probably the Holds that get attributed to relievers other than the Setup Man that get unclaimed in the roto world - I’m just trying to get a picture of how often this occurs.
I don’t know what the fantasy league totals were for Holds, but you are correct that there are many more Holds than Saves overall. Look at the “All Players” option on the site’s players tab, selecting 2005 numbers. The best Holds guys had 20-20 Holds. The best Saves guys were in that 30-40 range. However the pool of guys with any Saves at all stops around 45 players at best. Guys with 10+ Holds go probably 75 deep at least, but many of those guys also have 7.00 ERAs and a grand total of 25 innings picthed.
It’s not that the stat is more rare, just that in building a balanced fantasy team you’d be a fool to load up on Holds without regard to the other stats. That’s the catch, and with a limited roster you’ve got to be frugal somwhere and get the most bang for your roster buck.
Through the miracles of Yahoo’s new archive setups… this league, final full standings:
Only last year’s has holds. Last year’s is only 17 teams, while two years ago is 18 (what we have this year), which affects depth a little. Also, last year’s was 7x7 instead of 6x6. Clicking on teams gets final rosters rather than team logs, which is somewhat inaccurate, especially given last-two-week maneuverings for specific categories (namely, against TB in those leagues). Both archives still have a bunch of value in looking at what totals or averages have held up where over the last couple of years for this league. Should also note that there was more holds focus in the draft this year than last year.
As far as holds go, more of them are awarded but they’re spread out a LOT more. There are very few “elite” holds guys, and they’re probably worth as much as elite closers, but they’re somewhat harder to predict on a year-to-year basis. As an example, last year there were ~35 guys with between 15 and 26 holds, but only six who had 29+ (and a couple of THOSE guys blundered into the holds with crappy ERAs). Similar patterns hold for other recent years. The best holds guys tend also to be guys with high chances of picking up vulture wins or stray saves, because they tend to be lights-out relievers who happen to have a lights-out closer in front of them. Tom Gordon has been the most reliable holds guy by far the past few years… and of course he’s a closer this year (that sort of thing is pretty common, which screws up the year to year predictions - makes sense that your best non-closer reliever will become your closer when you have the opening).
Really it just becomes a matter of getting your hands on the best middle reliever(s) you can, and throwing them out there every day. Setup guys with track records for K/IP and K/BB are worth their weight in gold (Shields was a freaking six cat MONSTER in this league last year with 10 W, 7 SV, 33 HLD, 98 K, 2.75, 1.12 and only taking up 91.2 of your IP total).
This is the key to holds strat in our league, I think - “without regard to other stats”. With pitching so deep, quality middle relief is going to help with Ks and ratios anyways… but you want to go for that and let the holds come, instead of taking a setup guy who doesn’t strike anyone out, walks too many people, and gets a ton of holds, since your guy is likely gonna be in that 15-25 holds range with everyone else anyways.
Yahoo prevents people who weren’t in the league in 2005 or 2004 from viewing those pages. Could you please post the saves and holds totals from 2005?
Thanks! 
Bah, sorry Not completely sure on how to code the tables, so I’ll do a statistical summary and then throw numbers at you at the end.
Holds ranged from 0 to 90 among the 17 teams last year; that’s a little deceptive, as 55 would have put you in fourth and would have been a good place to be if you didn’t really want to push holds. The median was 32 and the mean was 36; everyone in the top two thirds of the league had at least ~30 and the league winner had 54.
Raw data set: [54, 33, 75, 47, 27, 30, 53, 48, 32, 67, 90, 10, 15, 0, 12, 11, 8]
Saves ranged from 15 to 105 and were distributed much more uniformly. The median was 66, the mean was 64.6, and yes, despite how many more holds there are out there, there were almost twice as many saves credited in this league last year as holds. The league winner had 70 saves, everyone in the top half of the league had 60+, and the best “value” place to sit for the category was probably around 80.
Raw data set: [70, 98, 86, 60, 64, 105, 64, 73, 79, 27, 47, 66, 40, 100, 15, 71, 33]
Hope that’s helpful
For ease of viewing, Mr. brain, first the rankings and then the raw numbers:
Rank Team R HR RBI SB K OBP SLG W SV K HLD TB ERA WHIP Total
1 Cano 13.5 17 17 6 3 12.5 17 9.5 10 17 14 6 14 15.5 172
2 Cougars 15 10 8.5 8 6 14 9 15 15 15 10 11 17 15.5 169
3 Socks 9 15 11 11 9 5 14 17 14 16 16 3 12.5 10.5 163
4 Rack 16 16 12 4.5 2 9 15 12 6 11.5 11 7 16 17 155
5 Sveum 13.5 9 15 17 12 17 9 5 7.5 5 7 17 6 9 149
6 Winnow 17 12 16 15 5 15 12 3.5 17 1 8 13 1 1 136.5
7 OOW 7 7.5 5 13 11 6.5 6 9.5 7.5 7 13 16 12.5 13.5 135
8 Samoan 11 6 10 4.5 7 11 7 6 12 11.5 12 15 9 10.5 132.5
9 Topes 10 14 14 2 10 16 16 1 13 9 9 10 3 4 131
10 Pete 12 13 13 12 1 12.5 9 15 2 10 15 2 2 3 121.5
11 Viking 6 5 7 7 4 3.5 2 11 5 14 17 8 15 12 116.5
12 Guitar 5 11 8.5 3 8 10 11 2 9 2 3 14 10.5 13.5 110.5
13 Mully 2 7.5 6 1 14 8 13 13 4 8 6 9 10.5 5 107
14 Chimera 1 2 2 9.5 13 1 3 8 16 4 1 12 8 7.5 88
15 Harvey 3 1 1 14 17 3.5 1 15 1 13 5 1 5 6 86.5
16 Taz 4 3 3 9.5 15 6.5 4.5 3.5 11 3 4 4 7 7.5 85.5
17 Sox 8 4 4 16 16 2 4.5 7 3 6 2 5 4 2 83.5
Rank Team R HR RBI SB K OBP SLG W SV K HLD TB ERA WHIP
1 Cano 986 221 902 173 1115 0.35 0.46 60 105 664 30 1675 4.82 1.45
2 Cougars 948 249 831 79 1140 0.34 0.46 78 60 960 47 1810 3.23 1.2
3 Socks 929 205 798 95 1047 0.35 0.45 83 98 987 33 1705 3.17 1.21
4 Rack 909 258 969 81 1125 0.35 0.48 73 70 1097 54 1828 3.61 1.21
5 Sveum 909 204 886 181 942 0.36 0.45 64 64 776 27 1592 4.09 1.28
6 Winnow 900 230 857 104 1149 0.35 0.45 83 27 919 67 2169 4.6 1.43
7 OOW 861 193 820 79 1033 0.35 0.45 66 73 960 48 1659 3.74 1.26
8 Samoan 858 235 872 54 990 0.36 0.46 54 79 897 32 1756 4.43 1.34
9 Topes 846 241 824 97 993 0.34 0.46 87 86 1050 75 1971 3.64 1.26
10 Pete 845 164 766 177 890 0.33 0.43 70 33 830 8 1873 4.42 1.44
11 Viking 835 201 783 121 953 0.34 0.44 73 64 852 53 1597 3.64 1.24
12 Guitar 800 191 791 83 1119 0.33 0.42 76 47 969 90 1776 3.54 1.25
13 Mully 766 210 798 58 1030 0.35 0.45 59 66 722 10 1661 3.73 1.24
14 Chimera 741 157 696 96 892 0.34 0.43 60 71 752 11 1882 4.05 1.29
15 Harvey 737 132 587 133 850 0.33 0.4 83 15 968 12 2265 4.29 1.3
16 Taz 723 201 790 44 931 0.34 0.46 81 40 883 15 1767 3.73 1.31
17 Sox 712 153 683 96 932 0.33 0.42 72 100 771 0 1704 3.82 1.29
I had to gerrymander the team names and such to make it look all right, but I’m fairly certain the data wasn’t compromised. As you can see, there were about the same number of wins and saves accounted for and far, far fewer holds. Like Kiros (and you) were saying, the total number of holds available is sort of misleading, because holds often come in fours, fives, and sixes per pitcher, while saves tend to be more concentrated. Holds are more like wins than saves strategy-wise, really, because you can’t necessarily just draft a guy who’s going to win/hold a certain number of games – if you have the best pitchers you’ll be all right come what may.
PS, just in case somebody notices, the second table isn’t sorted right, so the team names are associated with the wrong totals. It’s sorted itself by runs somehow, but that shouldn’t make a difference in terms of the holds numbers.
Isn’t The Onion supposed to be satire?
Cardinal fans the world over just nodded in approval and said “Sounds about right.”
How about the “Todd Zeile Participation Award” story?
A week or so ago, I complained about the extreme lopsidedness of my roster in the message area of the league page – all hitting, no pitching. No More Idiots countered that his was even more lopsided the other way round, which prompted me to run the numbers, and he was right – at the time. Since then, however, his hitting has improved, while my pitching has . . . not. I decided to pull together the numbers again, with a little more detail this time around. The first time, I simply calculated the percentage of each team’s total from hitting and from pitching. No More Idiots was the most one-sided (21% hitting, 79% pitching), and Winnowill’s Winners the most balanced (50.44% hitting, 49.56% pitching). This time, I decided to total the points each team is getting from hitting and pitching and rank them, as well as calculating the percentage.
So, here’s the numbers:
Team Offense Points
Petelin 91
project mayhem 90
rackensack diamonds 84.5
Isotopes 82.5
OutOnWaveland (Omni) 69.5
Sepotosi 69
Winnowill's Winners 68
The Tuffies (Wilson) 66
UU's House of Blades 51.5
No More Idiots 50.5
Pastafarians (Munch) 49.5
The Cougars 49
California Quakes 43
Sea Bass' Revenge-WL 42
Tazmanian Devil 38
Puget Sound 32
All Juiced Up 27.5
Roid Boys 22.5
Team Pitching Points
No More Idiots 94.5
Petelin 76
Sepotosi 75
Isotopes 71
Tazmanian Devil 70
project mayhem 67.5
Sea Bass' Revenge-WL 66.5
Winnowill's Winners 66
OutOnWaveland (Omni) 64.5
The Tuffies (Wilson) 57
The Cougars 51
All Juiced Up 50
UU's House of Blades 42
Puget Sound 41
Pastafarians (Munch) 36.5
Roid Boys 33.5
rackensack diamonds 32
California Quakes 32
Team Offense Pitching
Petelin 54.49% 45.51%
project mayhem 57.14% 42.86%
Isotopes 53.75% 46.25%
No More Idiots 34.83% 65.17%
Sepotosi 47.92% 52.08%
OutOnWaveland (Omni) 51.87% 48.13%
Winnowill's Winners 50.75% 49.25%
The Tuffies (Wilson) 53.66% 46.34%
rackensack diamonds 72.53% 27.47%
Sea Bass' Revenge-WL 38.71% 61.29%
Tazmanian Devil 35.19% 64.81%
The Cougars 49.00% 51.00%
UU's House of Blades 55.08% 44.92%
Pastafarians (Munch) 57.56% 42.44%
All Juiced Up 35.48% 64.52%
California Quakes 57.33% 42.67%
Puget Sound 43.84% 56.16%
Roid Boys 40.18% 59.82%
As you can see, I’m now the King of Lopsided Land, with a 7% gap between me and No More Idiots in the percentage breakdown. I’m third overall in offense, and tied for last in pitching. Winnowill’s Winners are still the most balanced.
Of the top ten teams, only three – No More Idiots, Sepotosi, and Sea Bass’ Revenge – are getting more points from pitching than offense. No More Idiots’ domination of the pitching categories is amazing – nearly twenty points separate him from the rest of the pack, while in the hitting categories, there are four of us within ten points of Petelin’s pace.
I’m going to do a round-by-round review of the draft here now that it’s June 1st and pretty much 1/3rd of the way through the season. I figure a analysis of the players is a little more appropriate than of the teams at this point in the season, plus it offers more chance for me to talk a little smack. For each round I’ll give a best and worst pick award.
Round 1:
1. A. Pujols The Cougars
2. Á. Rodríguez Isotopes
3. Jo. Santana Got Melky?
4. D. Lee rackensack d...
5. V. Guerrero All Juiced Up
6. M. Ramírez UU's House o...
7. C. Crawford Tazmanian Devil
8. M. Teixeira project mayhem
9. D. Ortiz Petelin
10. Mi. Cabrera California Q...
11. D. Wright Pastafarians...
12. M. Young No More Idiots
13. B. Abreu Puget Sound
14. J. Bay Sea Bass' Re...
15. C. Carpenter Roid Boys
16. A. Soriano OutOnWavelan...
17. M. Tejada Sepotosi
18. C. Figgins Winnowill's ...
Best Pick: Alfonso Soriano
I realize it’s totally self serving for me to give myself the award here but I think it’s warranted. Pujols is absolutely off the charts, but the value of Soriano at the 16th pick makes him the winner here. Add in the fact that I was ridiculed for ignoring the preseason drama (something I thought was totally overblown from a fantasy perspective since his defensive position has minimal effect on his always great stats) and that he contributes in all 6 categories with 2B eligibility makes this pick great.
Worst Pick: Michael Young
This one isn’t really up for debate so long as you excuse guys who were injured (at least ones where the injury couldn’t have been predicted). He was taken way too early ahead of several SSs like Jeter and Tejada who reliably put up big numbers.
Round 2:
1. C. Utley Winnowill's ...
2. R. Oswalt Sepotosi
3. A. Ramírez OutOnWavelan...
4. R. Halladay Roid Boys
5. J. Peavy Sea Bass' Re...
6. I. Suzuki Puget Sound
7. G. Sheffield No More Idiots
8. A. Jones Pastafarians...
9. C. Beltrán California Q...
10. V. Martínez Petelin
11. A. Dunn project mayhem
12. T. Helton Tazmanian Devil
13. J. Reyes UU's House o...
14. P. Martínez All Juiced Up
15. M. Rivera rackensack d...
16. C. Delgado Got Melky?
17. L. Berkman Isotopes
18. J. Rollins The Cougars
Best Pick: Jose Reyes
This round is pretty chalk. For the most part everyone has played up to expectations with only a couple exceptions and none of these guys is really setting the world on fire. Reyes probably isn’t playing too far above value here but he’s tied for the lead in SBs and probably wasn’t charted by most as being a second rounder. Speaking as a guy who’s team is in dire straits at the SS position I envy him.
Worst Pick: Aramis Ramirez
I suppose this balances out any preference given with the Soriano love. Aramis has killed me so far. He’s always been a really slow starter so I’m not panicking at all, this was somewhat predictable, but as a die-hard Cubs fan and Matt Murton owner he’s killing me on a number of levels. The loss of D-Lee makes it crucial that he get it together sooner than later.
Round 3
1. J. Mauer The Cougars
2. C. Zambrano Isotopes
3. G. Sizemore Got Melky?
4. B. Roberts rackensack d...
5. J. Pierre All Juiced Up
6. T. Hafner UU's House o...
7. R. Furcal Tazmanian Devil
8. J. Damon project mayhem
9. J. Kent Petelin
10. K. Johjima California Q...
11. C. Lee Pastafarians...
12. R. Harden No More Idiots
13. D. Jeter Puget Sound
14. S. Podsednik Sea Bass' Re...
15. R. Howard Roid Boys
16. S. Rolen OutOnWavelan...
17. P. Konerko Sepotosi
18. D. Willis Winnowill's ...
Best Pick: Travis Hafner
I was tempted to go with Ryan Howard here but Hafner’s OBP is just awesome and well worth the positional sacrifice. Frankly it’s a crime Hafner slid this far, those numbers were totally predictable, so I’m not sure how much this was skill versus luck.
Worst Pick: Juan Pierre
This one hurts me, again as a Cub fan, but there’s no denying that he’s been a bust. A lead-off hitter with a .585 OPS and only 28 Runs is pretty unredeemable, those SBs don’t offset the deficiencies when you’re talking about a CF position that could be replaced with a guy with some pop. Both the Cubs and All Juiced Up would probably love to have Corey Patterson instead.
Round 4
1. M. Buehrle Winnowill's ...
2. B. Lidge Sepotosi
3. Fr. Rodríguez OutOnWavelan...
4. J. Cantú Roid Boys
5. F. López Sea Bass' Re...
6. J. Nathan Puget Sound
7. R. Johnson No More Idiots
8. R. Sexson Pastafarians...
9. E. Gagne California Q...
10. H. Matsui Petelin
11. A. Pettitte project mayhem
12. B. Bonds Tazmanian Devil
13. B. Ryan UU's House o...
14. B. Wagner All Juiced Up
15. B. Colón rackensack d...
16. F. Hernández Got Melky?
17. H. Street Isotopes
18. C. Cordero The Cougars
Best Pick: B.J. Ryan
This round was tough. Not a lot of great picks here, Felipe Lopez was really the only other guy I considered for best pick. It’s probably predictable since this was the “pitcher round” and the highest rated pitchers league wide so far, Pedro excepted, are sleepers. However it’s undeniable that B.J. Ryan is the premiere closer not named Papelbon this year and none of the old guys listed here are doing anything close to their career averages.
Worst Pick: Richie Sexson
For as mediocre as a lot of those pitchers have been Sexson stands out amongst the flops. A power hitting 1B with a OPs of .634 and no injuries to blame. The fact that the lineup around him has struggled makes him an even greater liability and provide little expectation for those R and RBI stats to improve.
More rounds to follow in another post.
Round 5:
1. T. Iguchi The Cougars
2. E. Chávez Isotopes
3. M. Giles Got Melky?
4. M. Ensberg rackensack d...
5. M. Holliday All Juiced Up
6. H. Blalock UU's House o...
7. B. Sheets Tazmanian Devil
8. B. Webb project mayhem
9. M. Mora Petelin
10. T. Hudson California Q...
11. J. Peralta Pastafarians...
12. J. Varitek No More Idiots
13. D. Davis Puget Sound
14. J. López Sea Bass' Re...
15. C. Jones Roid Boys
16. V. Wells OutOnWavelan...
17. P. Burrell Sepotosi
18. F. Cordero Winnowill's ...
Best Pick: Vernon Wells
There are some terrific picks in this round. Webb, Wells, Holliday and Ensberg all could have been considered but Wells stands above them all. His numbers stand out over the rest of the hitters and his value at CF is terrific. Webb’s numbers are probably a shade above Wells but pitchers are slightly less valuable than a CF and Wells was taken 8 picks later. Doesn’t hurt his case that I took him either.
Worst Pick: Doug Davis
Really it’s not even up for debate. I killed this pick at the time and considering the arms that were still available it’s really can’t be rationalized away. He can’t even use the excuse that the Brewers suckitude is holding him back. For comparison I took Josh Beckett 50 picks later and Tom Glavine went over 300 picks later.
Round 6:
1. R. Canó Winnowill's ...
2. R. Hernández Sepotosi
3. B. Jenks OutOnWavelan...
4. M. Mulder Roid Boys
5. D. Turnbow Sea Bass' Re...
6. B. Fuentes Puget Sound
7. T. Hoffman No More Idiots
8. C. Tracy Pastafarians...
9. É. Rentería California Q...
10. B. Wilkerson Petelin
11. T. Glaus project mayhem
12. M. Prior Tazmanian Devil
13. J. Schmidt UU's House o...
14. J. Isringhausen All Juiced Up
15. J. Lugo rackensack d...
16. J. Thome Got Melky?
17. C. Crisp Isotopes
18. A. Béltre The Cougars
Best Pick: Jim Thome
Another excellent round overall with some very solid picks at a fairly late stage but really Thome blows everyone out of the water. Had he been taken in the first round he’d have been in the discussion for best pick, and would have gotten it hands down in the second. Just wow.
Worst Pick: Adrian Beltre
I realize that the Mark Prior pick looks like a really sketchy one after that poor rehab start and that Beltre was the last pick of the round but he’s just been so bad he overshadows any other missteps. Just to put it into perspective he’s slugging 5 points worse than Juan Pierre at an even .300.
Round 7:
1. B. Zito The Cougars
2. J. Smoltz Isotopes
3. A. Benítez Got Melky?
4. C. Lee rackensack d...
5. B. Crosby All Juiced Up
6. T. Gordon UU's House o...
7. A. Burnett Tazmanian Devil
8. J. Edmonds project mayhem
9. J. Giambi Petelin
10. P. Fielder California Q...
11. R. Weeks Pastafarians...
12. A. Huff No More Idiots
13. R. Winn Puget Sound
14. J. Patterson Sea Bass' Re...
15. C. Floyd Roid Boys
16. C. Barmes OutOnWavelan...
17. R. Freel Sepotosi
18. B. Giles Winnowill's ...
Best Pick: Prince Fielder
Gordon, Smoltz and Zito are all putting up excellent numbers but I’m giving the nod to Fielders .914 OPS and youth over the inherent fragility and streakiness of those elderly pitchers. Plus those monster homers are fun to watch.
Worst Pick: Clint Barmes
Another dog pick of mine. I was tempted to tab Cliff Floyd as his .234 BA here is more crippling as a LF than Barmes’ .196 as a SS and that there’s a certain risk-reward factor which makes me cut rookie busts some slack, however Floyd is more likely to recover over the balance of the season and his comparatively impressive .330 OBP is hard to ignore. Barmes showed signs in the first couple weeks of being the real deal but he’s since fallen apart. He’s not contributing at all and his place in the starting lineup isn’t certain. And yes, I realize there’s a guy in LA who was still available here. Ugh.
Round 8:
1. B. Molina Winnowill's ...
2. J. Lackey Sepotosi
3. J. Beckett OutOnWavelan...
4. K. Griffey Jr. Roid Boys
5. M. Loretta Sea Bass' Re...
6. F. García Puget Sound
7. C. Schilling No More Idiots
8. B. Myers Pastafarians...
9. J. Garland California Q...
10. C. Sabathia Petelin
11. J. Gomes project mayhem
12. D. Eckstein Tazmanian Devil
13. J. Lane UU's House o...
14. S. Kazmir All Juiced Up
15. T. Hunter rackensack d...
16. N. Garciaparra Got Melky?
17. W. Taveras Isotopes
18. J. Francoeur The Cougars
Best Pick: Nomar Garciaparra
Beckett, Schilling, Sabathia, Myers and Kazmir are all preforming really well and are wonderful values here but I’ve got to give props to Nomar for coming back strong with a capital S. He’s hitting .360 with a .421 OBP and has 36 RBIs in 35 games. At that pace he’d have his best statistical season as a pro, this with a guy who’s already won two batting titles. Durability is a question, but that applies to all those pitchers as well. The fact that he was a Cub last year almost insures that he’ll finish the season with All-Star numbers.
Worst Pick: Jon Garland
This is a really impressive round top to bottom. Very few bad choices and more than half are playing way above their draft spot. Jason Lane’s got a .194 BA but upon closer inspection he’s got a .326 OBP and 9 HRs, just enough to lift him above Garland’s 6.25 ERA and 1.53 WHIP. Both guys will probably improve as the season wears on but it’ll take a herculean effort for Garland to drag his rate stats back to respectability, especially with Ozzie’s propensity to leave pitchers on the mound late in games.
OK, that’s enough for tonite. I’ll continue on to the later rounds tomorrow. Feedback and criticism is welcomed.
I had no choice on Beltre. All the good 3B were gone by the time I came up, and Beltre represented a slight upgrade over whatever warm body would be available on the waiver wire (for example, David Bell, who’s in my lineup now.)
I think I forgot that OBP was a category when I drafted, though, because if my team had a worse OBP I’d have to rename it the Joe Morgan All-Stars.
Dude, you’re drunk. I take it you’re not familiar with the work of Aubry Huff, Casey Blake, Joe Crede or Bill Mueller? None qualify as anything close to a sleeper, though Mueller was still there in the 17th round, and they all have a career OPS higher than Beltre.
Of course Huff is a prime candidate for “worst pick” in the 7th round, but I can’t see how you were in panic mode at 3B at that point.
They’re all AL guys. I am decidedly not an AL guy. I’ll admit punting my shot at Crede.
If he’s drunk, you’re on crack. Huff was the only obvious pick in that group. In the spring, a lot of the experts were predicting Beltre would have a normalizing year somewhere in between his 2004 and 2005 seasons. Blake’s .746 OPS last year was less than impressive, as was Crede’s .756. Mueller’s age and move from Boston to Chavez Ravine had “regression” written all over it.
I think more people were scared off by Soriano’s move to Washington’s cavernous stadium than his behavior. My pick here is Pujols, partially for the fact that in most leagues it was a tossup between him and ARod. The difference in production between Pujols and ARod makes choosing Pujols over ARod the best decision in the first round.
Reyes is currently tied for the major league lead in At Bats, which means that his terrible OBP (.312) and rather bad SLG (.405) are seriously large dead weights (although rather astoundingly his owner’s team has enough helium ballon OBP’s to put him at the top of the league in that category). Just about any way you slice it, Ichiro is helping his owner’s team out more than Reyes. My pick here is Pedro. His rate stats are ridiculous even though his win total is disappointing. Nobody else stands out in the 2nd round to me.