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Great Debate Standings
| Writers Name | Win | Lose | GB |
| Anthony Catanzaro | 9 | 3 | |
| Boris From DownUnder | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| Greg Marta | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Eric Gehman | 4 | 7 | 6 |
| Richard Carter | 2 | 10 | 7 |
Joey has dropped out of the competition. We'd like to wish him nothing but the best of luck.
16 Mar 2009 |
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| If you are unfamiliar with the RULES for the is contest, you can get caught up to speed HERE. * Spring Training scores do not count for the regular season. This is to get everyone ready for a long season of writing. None of the articles have been or will be modified for the staff of FantasyPros911.com. Spring Training Week One Question:Why Hanley Ramirez is Fantasy Baseball’s number one pick?Richard Carter, the away team, will take the con side to this debate The consensus of the fantasy baseball world and its assemblage of experts have hailed Hanley Ramirez as this year’s number one pick. Thus, that is why YOU come to FantasyPros911. Don’t get me wrong; Hanley Ramirez has skills and I would love to have him on my fantasy squad, but not with the top overall pick. King Albert continues his reign from the pinnacle of the fantasy baseball world. His unmatched combination of power and batting average doesn’t even make this one close. Do we forget that Albert Pujols won the NL MVP last year? When making the first pick, you must consider the value that should be placed on consistency? It’s really more about the consummate skills that Albert displays rather than a criticism of Hanley’s ability As Ron Shandler says, “Once you display the skill, you own it.” Well, if that be the case, then Albert Pujols owns fantasy baseball. Truthfully, I think that you can make a case that David Wright should be seriously considered ahead of Hanley Ramirez. Look, you can’t go wrong with any of these three players. I’m hoping that I get one of the top 3 picks in my upcoming draft. If you look at the facts, Hanley’s SBs decreased by 31% from 2007 to 2008 and they most certainly will go down even further now that he is batting third in the line-up (I’m not going to debate the value of a stolen base - - Rob Reed wrote an excellent dissertation on that topic). Granted, his RBIs should increase from the paltry 67 total of 2008, but not near enough to off-set the decrease in stolen bases and way short of Pujols or Wright. When the Marlins experimented with Hanley in the 3-hole last year, he had trouble driving in runs and they moved him back to lead-off. Oh, did I mention that David Wright finished number 7 in the NL MVP voting? He actually had twice as many points as Hanley Ramirez who finished #11. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that MVP voting and fantasy are necessarily correlated, but it is a “value” rating. Continue to keep up to date on the player trends leading up to your draft. Just a few short weeks ago, Alex Rodriguez was going first in most mock drafts. A year removed from the injury (what injury?), Pujols will be a monster again. He will outperform Hanley in every statistical category except SBs. His batting average is so much higher that it clearly offsets his lack of stolen bases. Even Wright should match or better Hanley’s numbers and is a decent runner. Factor in the 3B scarcity with A-Rod falling out of the mix and David Wright is a legitimate #1 pick. So, there you have it: King Albert #1, D Wright #2 and Han Ram #3. Any questions? Before you vote read Chase Williams' pro side  Loading Poll...
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Comments (3)
  written by Eric Gehman, March 17, 2009
Well written article! The only thing I'm left wondering is... what relevance MVP voting has to do with fantasy drafts - especially given the fact that MVP voting has been largely a popularity contest rather than stats-based award? (see the '07 NL race, where J-Ro beat out Holliday mostly because of his media persona and his role as a "Clubhouse leader" rather than his superior stats...)
written by tonycincotta, March 16, 2009
I love the name dropping Richard ! You made a decent argument with PHAT ALBERT.This one is a tough call.
written by ChaseUA, March 16, 2009
Hey Richard, I was looking forward to your article after seeing your entry article where you stated you go with your "gut feel" and this article was true to that!
Good luck this week and Roll Tide Roll! (Looks like you guys got Bryce Brown, I'm not sure if you follow recruiting but he's a 5 star RB, congrats).
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