2005 Fantasy Baseball Scouting Reports and 2005 Rotisserie Baseball Scouting Reports

  2005 Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report: for Mixed 5x5 Leagues of AL & NL Players
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Notice how the values of these selected players differ depending on the type of league you play in. In a 5x5 Mixed League of AL & NL Players, top of the order players like Ichiro and Patterson are very valuable. Take a look at the same players on the 4x4 page and you will see that both hitters drop 15 spots in the rankings.

Look at the two pitchers. Wood is ranked higher than Hudson in 5x5 Mixed Leagues, mainly on the strength of his strikeouts. Hudson is otherwise better in the rest of the categories. In a 4x4 League, Hudson shoots up 17 spots in the rankings while Wood drops a gigantic 51 spots all the way down to 93.

NL Players

Rank Player Yr Value Pts. HRp RBIp SBp BAp Rp AB HR RBI SB BA R
31 Corey Patterson '05 $22 6.7 -0.1 -0.7 3.5 -0.7 1.2 660 24 72 38 .276 111
104 ChN  OF-157  '04 $16 6.0 -0.1 -0.8 2.6 -1.3 -0.2 631 24 72 32 .266 91
H-24   OF-10 2004 was a showcase of his power/speed potential. He rates as somewhat of a sleeper. After being moved to the leadoff spot, he responded with 12 steals in August alone - 5 more than Carl Crawford had. He slumped in September with a .198 BA, but still stole 6 despite getting on base 17 fewer times than in August. At that rate, he would steal 54 for the season!
Rank Player Yr Value Pts. Wp SVp ERAp WHIPp Kp IP W SV ERA WHIP K
41 Kerry Wood '05 $20 6.2 0.2 0.0 0.4 0.0 2.2 212 15 0 3.45 1.268 255
163 ChN  SP  GP-22 GS-22 '04 $3 0.9 -2.2 0.0 0.2 0.0 -0.2 140 8 0 3.72 1.268 144
P-11   SP-8 Obviously Wood missed some games with only 22 starts. Actually, he has never started more than 33 games so you can count on him missing at least a couple games. You can also count on some phenomenal strikeout numbers and a good ERA. Top 10-15 pitcher.
Rank Player Yr Value Pts. Wp SVp ERAp WHIPp Kp IP W SV ERA WHIP K
42 Tim Hudson '05 $20 6.1 1.4 0.0 1.0 0.3 -0.1 218 18 0 2.98 1.231 163
124 Atl  SP  GP-27 GS-27 '04 $5 1.9 -0.5 0.0 0.5 0.1 -1.2 189 12 0 3.53 1.261 103
P-12   SP-9 His trade to the Braves is a positive fantasy-wise. Former teammate Mark Mulder predicted Huddy would have a 1.90 ERA in the NL. As the 4th best sinkerballer in the majors, Hudson was made for the NL, challenging hitters and going deep into games. He did miss a few starts and his K/9 dropped below 5 in 2004, but throwing to the opposing pitcher instead of a DH should cure that. An intriguing storyline to watch is how Leo Mazzone will do with a front-line pitcher. Glavine, Maddux and Smoltz have been good for years. Lately, Mazzone has turned mediocre pitchers into top performers (i.e.. Wright). Who knows what he can do with Hudson, but he won't make him any worse - that's for sure. To top it off, most of his family lives within 90 miles of Atlanta. An easy transition did wonders for JD Drew.
Rank Player Yr Value Pts. HRp RBIp SBp BAp Rp AB HR RBI SB BA R
99 Luis Castillo '05 $14 4.1 -1.7 -1.2 2.8 0.4 0.3 601 1 45 31 .293 91
184 Fla  2B-148  '04 $14 5.2 -1.5 -1.1 1.2 0.3 0.5 564 2 47 21 .291 91
H-64   2B-8 This guy drives fantasy owners crazy. Why won't he steal more? Obviously he was a valuable 2B in the years he stole 62, 50 and 48 bases. If he only steals 20 or so, his lack of power and RBI are really going to hurt your team. Last year, you could have replaced him with a free agent and gained 4 points in the standings in HR and RBI.

AL Players

Rank Player Yr Value Pts. HRp RBIp SBp BAp Rp AB HR RBI SB BA R
23 Ichiro Suzuki '05 $24 7.3 -1.9 -1.4 1.9 3.5 1.7 680 10 60 28 .345 118
22 Sea  OF-158  '04 $30 11.1 -2.2 -1.4 3.2 5.2 0.5 704 8 60 36 .372 101
H-16   OF-8 Suppose your team has a BA of .285 and you want to improve that. Trade for Ichiro early in the season and voila! Your team now has a .295 BA good enough to catapult your team 5 to 6 places in that category. If you have power already, Ichiro is worth twice any other player when it comes to bumping up your BA. With all the thunder he has behind him in the lineup, expect his SB to go down. Why run when you can trot?
Rank Player Yr Value Pts. Wp SVp ERAp WHIPp Kp IP W SV ERA WHIP K
49 Curt Schilling '05 $20 6.0 0.6 0.0 0.5 1.0 0.5 199 16 0 3.35 1.116 187
8 Bos  SP  GP-32 GS-32 '04 $27 10.1 3.2 0.0 0.9 1.6 1.3 227 21 0 3.26 1.063 203
P-18   SP-14 On a great hitting team, the wins will be there for this elite pitcher when he pitches. Boston will score runs for him, no doubt, but he did lead the league in run support at 7.54 per game. You have to assume he will receive less in 2005. His ankle has been slow to respond to rehab post-surgery and Schilling estimates that he is about a month behind - dropping him from the very top choices at SP. Another note of caution is that he was worse in just about every other pitching statistic compared to 2001, 2002, and 2003. Of most concern was his disappointing 8.06 K/9, down from 10.39 in 2003. Even in 4x4 leagues, this should be of interest. It may be a general deterioration of stuff, or it could simply be related to his ankle injury.
Rank Player Yr Value Pts. Wp SVp ERAp WHIPp Kp