Which UTIL player would you rather have?

[Red Leader]

I picked up OF Milton Bradley to use as my UTIL player.

Categories in this league are: R, HR, RBI, SB, K, AVG, OBP, SLG.

Marlon Byrd is also available. Should I drop Bradley and pick up Byrd?

Here are their 2003 numbers:

Bradley: 61R 10HR 56RBI 17SB 73K .321AVG .421OBP .501SLG

Byrd: 86R 7HR 45RBI 11SB 94K .303AVG .366OBP .418SLG

Which player do you think will be the better pick this year? Byrd is scheduled to be PHI's lead off man, and has recently said that he and Jimmy Rollins would swipe 60 bags easily. You can count on him scoring 100+ runs in that offense. I don't know if his power will increase, though.

Bradley looks like he will hit 3rd for CLE. He could drive in more runs in that position, but will he still run?

I really need this player to hit a decent amount of HR's and steal as many bases as possible. Who would you go with?

[westofyou]

They'll both probably steal in the same neighborhood, but Bryd could have a few more... prior to this season he has done 11, 15, 32, 41. A decrease at each level, he has shown good % (.79)

Bradly's last year was the most he's had, he however gets caught more .67%

I'd take Bradley who is a better hitter, unless 10 extra steals is the real goal.

[Red Leader]

Thanks, woy. I am pretty worried about SB's. Jeter, Sheffield, and Bradley are currently the only SB threats I have, and I don't know if ANY of them will run much this year. However, my teams OBP is unreal and definately better than anyone else in the league ( I have 8 guys with an OBP over .390, 7 of them over .400). My team's AVG, and SLG aren't that bad either. Here is my current team.

C Posada
1B Helton
2B Spivey
SS Jeter
3B Blalock
CI M.Cabrera
MI A. Cintron
OF G. Sheffield
OF B. Giles
OF L. Gonzalez
OF M. Bradley
UTIL G. Jenkins
UTIL E. Martinez

My biggest glaring hole is at 2B with Spivey. I can replace him down the line with Hairston, Jr when he is healthy to pick up another SB threat. I'm pretty good in R, HR, RBI, and really good in AVG, OBP, and SLG. I'm weak in SB's. Should I risk trading someone like Edgar Martinez for OF Carl Crawford? Crawford will immediately increase my SB's and the guy who has him has an abundance of SB's and needs more power, but Crawford will decrease my OBP and SLG tremendously, and will hurt me in HR, and RBI. Is it worth dropping that much in 4 categories to strengthen 1? This is a head to head league, and many teams in my league look like they will beat me in SB's each week (except for about 2). I could also drop Martinez and pick up Marlon Byrd...but still I lose some OBP, SLG, HR, and RBI from this move as well. Not sure what the right move is...

[westofyou]

Is it worth dropping that much in 4 categories to strengthen 1?

I'd say no, but that said Edgar is certain to be down at times this season, if your replacement for him drags you down in 4 categories you might want to gamble that Crawfords youth and steals allows you to sacrifice Edgars uncertainty health wise for those steals you covet.

[savafan]

I had heard that Bradley would be leading off for Cleveland, where did you see that he was hitting third?

[Red Leader]

Originally posted by savafan
I had heard that Bradley would be leading off for Cleveland, where did you see that he was hitting third?

ESPN Fantasy.


http://games.espn.go.com/content/flb/2004/story?page=lineups/rotations


Not that their lineups are accurate or anything, but they have him hitting cleanup now in their projected lineups. I'm hoping that he is hitting lead off...more steals for me.