ESPN’s player ratings (overrated?)

When I looked at the 2005 espn player ratings for the 1st time (a couple of months ago), I naturally assumed that the league winner was the one who had players with the highest player ratings. Made sense huh? When you look at a league, take the players on a fantasy team, check out their player ratings (according to the espn fantasy website), added up the numbers and naturally the teams with the highest amounts would be among the league leaders.

But then… I had this crazy thought. Can a team with a few extreme stats players (regardless if they had high player ratings or not) win the championship??? I had this thought two nights before our draft on March 5.

Extreme stats? Yes, player who would give you big stats in only one or two areas… like David Ortiz, Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre… these kind of guys. BUT… I would make sure that I had I balanced it out on both sides… 2 or 3 power guys THEN 2 or 3 speed guys. Don’t worry about getting A-Rod, Abreu, Sizemore, Bay, Beltran, Soriano… combo players (the kind of players that scored well in the Player ratings)…

Now, as I was thinking of this, I visualized what the draft would look like. I saw teams loading up on power, some loading up on speed, some loading up on closers, and some loading up on starting aces. Thus, I visualized different teams winning different categories: one team with the most steals, one team with the most homers, and one team with the most strikeouts…

I then thought, “What would it take to win the league?” I looked at what Mike Millsap’s team (Sting) from last season. He scored 73 points to win.

Hey, wait a minute!!! If I came in 2nd place for ALL the categories, that would be 80 points!!! That would crush last year’s winning 73, and I wouldn’t need to win ANY of the 10 roto categories!!! Just come in 2nd place for each! Even if I came in 3rd for 4 of the categories, I could still get 76 points! Still… good enough to win!

Thus, I began thinking about my extreme stats strategy again. Hey! This thing could work! If I drafted Ortiz, Andruw Jones, and Utley (best extreme power 2nd baseman), BOOM! I could compete for 2nd place in homers and rbis… If I drafted Juan Pierre and Freel, BOOM! I could compete for 2nd place for steals. If I drafted R.Johnson and Schmidt, BOOM! I could compete for 2nd place for K’s and wins. If I drafted 5 closers, BOOM! I could compete for 2nd place for saves (and maybe trade 1 or 2 closers later on for more power).

Of course, the extreme stats players exhausted themselves 7 rounds into the draft and I was left to draft a few combo players like Holliday, Hermida, and Wilkerson… but I wasn’t upset… nothing ever goes perfect for all 25 rounds.

Final thoughts? I don’t expect to score 1st in all categories, but I think I have a decent shot at 2nd place for most of them, barring injuries.