Originally posted by vansmack:
Just for argument sake though, all of you are arguing traditional vs. modern and OPS/OBP/AVG, yet nobody has brought up the over-glorification of the home run?
HR hitters help you in every offensive category in a traditional 5X5 or 4X4 league, yet it will take a random mix of pitching players (starters, setup, and closers) to win the myriad of pitching categories, but the best HR hitters at each position will get you Runs, AVG, OBP/OPS, HRs and RBI everytime they hit a HR. Odd.
I agree ... i'm including doubles and triples in the other leagues i'm running to try to offset the emphasis placed on HRs by fantasy ... and while it can be a rally killer to hit an HR, someone who hits 40 a year is pretty damn valuable to a team ... you should try not to "double-count" stats, and by including SLG and HRs (and not doubles/triples) as stat cats, you are making HR hitters more valuable than doubles/triples hitters ... but you also need to make fantasy accessible to people playing, and it's real easy to track a players HR totals ...
i'm also including defensive assists in my other leagues ... i tried using fielding pct last year , but it's just such a horrible indicator of fielding aptitutde ... i'd really love it if yahoo could somehow include the Baseball Workshop & Project Scoresheet's "Defensive Average" or STATS, Inc.'s "Zone Rating" into the stat cats, guess it's too much of a pipe dream ...
Defensive Average or [DA]
The Baseball Workshop & Project Scoresheet has been methodically placing the location of EVERY hit ball for EVERY game during the last several years. A Defensive Average, or DA, is the rate at which fielders in their respective "zone" turn hit balls into an out. The zone, or area of responsibility, spans the entire field and no section of the playable field is considered beyond the reach of a fielder. The Defensive Average statistics is nice because it is analogous to a fielder's Batting Average Against in that it specifically measures times reached per opportunity.
Zone Rating [ZR]
STATS, Inc. developed their own defensive rating system to also track locations of EVERY hit ball for EVERY game played - similar to the above Defensive Average statistic. The Zone Rating system is different because the area of responsibility, or zone, for each fielder is considered a "playable" area and does not account for balls hit into "Bermuda Triangles", "No Mans Land" or other impossible to field balls. A fielder that turns a double play is credited with 2 outs in the ZR system as their play on the ball actually resulted in both outs versus Defensive Average which only credits the 1 out. STATS, Inc. books area available at every bookstore and their work is updated on a yearly basis for player comparisons.
