Why does Carl Crawford get rated so high???

[Kaliber]

I have never understood this. For the past couple years, Crawford consitently gets rated near, or in the top 10 on most fantasy rankings. And for the life of me, I cant figure why.

Dont get me wrong, CC is a great player in real life, but his fantasy appeal isnt all that outstanding. The only thing he does better than most OF is steal bases. He lags behind (sometimes far behind) in most of the other main catergories.

lets just do a quick comparision:



So, despite the fact that he had an rather large edge in AB's, compared to those other OF, Crawford is 3rd in runs, last in HR (and by a far margin), last in RBI (once again by a fair margin), and second in AVG (which is IMO, one of the lesser catergories in fantasy baseball). The only thing he has an advantage in is SB. And its not like those other guys are slouches in the SB catergory either.

So despite the fact that Crawford gives up 3 of those 5 catergories to the other three players, he is consistently ranked ahead of them? That doesnt make sense to me.

I cant be the only one.



EDIT: I forgot to state that those numbers were projected totals for this year (According to ESPN).

[Zito75]

Don't let Carl fool you. His power and RBI totals have been increasing year over year. He's just now coming into his prime, and will put up more "power" numbers. With Cantu knocking in serious runs, look for Crawford to score and run even more. He's easily a top 5 outfielder and should be drafted in late round 1 or round 2 in smaller leagues.

[digglahhh]

First of all you are comparing him to two consistent 5 category studs (Abreu and Beltran who by the way were ranked in the top 10 last year as well) and Bay who is one of the best young players in the game who seems to be a top 10 or 15 guy as well.

You have to think in terms of supply and demand. 30 SBs is very good, top ten in the league good, Crawford can double that. That's like a player hitting 80 homeruns or driving in 220 runs. Add Crawford to just about any team in the league and the become the leading team in SBs. Can one guy provide half of your team's total in any other category? Think of SBs as a category the way you think of C as a position. Plus he's productive in the other categories too so your not stuck with Ryan Freel or Tony Womack sucking up a roster spot just to give you those 30 steals while negatively impacting your other numbers.

The non glamour categories are the easiest to dominate because one stud guarantees you to be around the top of the board in that category- when he contributes in the other areas too that's golden.

This is coming from somebody who's favorite fantasy player in any sport is Andrei Kirilenko- not the best, but my favorite.

Oh, and the other nice thing about those guys is that you can trade them midseason after building a comfortable lead in their marquee category. Wait until there is a close SB race, like 15 bag seperating 5 teams, and you can ask for anybody you want on those teams, just about.

[Zito75]

Plus he's productive in the other categories too so your not stuck with Ryan Freel or Tony Womack sucking up a roster spot just to give you those 30 steals while negatively impacting your other numbers.

That's why Chone Figgins is a steal (bad pun) if you can get him in rounds 4-6. The dude can run, plus playing 6 different positions doesn't hurt either.

[Kaliber]

First of all you are comparing him to two consistent 5 category studs (Abreu and Beltran who by the way were ranked in the top 10 last year as well) and Bay who is one of the best young players in the game who seems to be a top 10 or 15 guy as well.

Well, I compared him to players he was ranked ahead of who played the same position. I didnt just randomly pick people.

You have to think in terms of supply and demand. 30 SBs is very good, top ten in the league good, Crawford can double that. That's like a player hitting 80 homeruns or driving in 220 runs. Add Crawford to just about any team in the league and the become the leading team in SBs. Can one guy provide half of your team's total in any other category? Think of SBs as a category the way you think of C as a position. Plus he's productive in the other categories too so your not stuck with Ryan Freel or Tony Womack sucking up a roster spot just to give you those 30 steals while negatively impacting your other numbers.

But my point is that there are other players in the same position who wil also put up good SB numbers (Abreu and Beltran for example) and they will also outperform Crawford in most other catergories too.

I fully understand Crawfords value in the SB catergory, but why on earth would take a hit in 3-4 other catergories by passing on guys like Abreu and Beltran just so that you can do slightly better in the SB catergory? It makes no sense IMHO.

[Astro]

Freel doesnt negatively impact people, he can play lots of positions, puts up a pretty good average, SBs and runs...