Step Four: Combine Your Lists and Evaluate Your Results
Now that you’ve ranked your players using the previously mentioned methods, the next step is to combine your lists and evaluate your player rankings.
Synthesizing your two lists into one list usually means ranking your players somewhere in between where they landed on your Fantasy Number list and your “general impression” list, if they made the latter. If not, going just by the Fantasy Number is usually acceptable.
After you do that, it’s time to evaluate your rankings. This is where your knowledge of the players’ histories comes into play. When you saw these players on TV or at the ballpark, did they look as healthy as a horse, or ready to suffer multiple injuries? Did they look like they were a steady performer or just giving that “I’m a free agent at the end of the season” push? Were they unfazed by the pathetic attendance at their home park, or lacking motivation playing for a loser?
For example, let’s check out 2007’s power hitters. At the top of the home run category, after A-Rod, we’ve got Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, and Carlos Pena. How do we rank those guys? Do they belong in the same category, or even in the same realm as other power hitting first basemen like Albert Pujols, Mark Teixeira, and David Ortiz et al.?
Personally, I’d put Fielder in the first round with the big shots, but I’d hold off on Howard and Pena unless they moved way down in the draft, which is very unlikely in the case of Howard. Why? In Fielder’s case, he can hit just about anything and looks like he will do so for a number of years. Plus, don’t underestimate his motivation to outperform his father and incinerate his pop’s legacy into the dustbin of paternal history. As for Howard, even though we’ve said batting averages are subject to the whims of baseball luck, his dramatic 45-point drop and gargantuan strikeout total are alarming. As for Pena . . . remember Kevin Maas?
Step Five: Read This Book »
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