Message #5 by Rob Reed @ March 31, 2010, 04:07pm no problem good luck! remember that you can still bid to get ethier.

Message #4 by deadboy18 @ March 31, 2010, 09:10am Thanks! Rob, thanks for the input. You helped me make up my mind - I think I'll go with Strasburg, Nolasco, Jimenez and McCann. As a Dodger fan, I really wanted to keep Ethier, but having 3 pitchers and a stud catcher locked up pre-auction will be nice. I've also been hearing great stuff about Nolasco's performance so far this spring, so if that pans out I'll be in good shape.

Message #3 by Rob Reed @ March 31, 2010, 06:56am hiya john I'm assuming 22 roster spots (14 position players and 8 pitchers and a $260 salary cap)... A $6 Strasburg is way too tempting to keep at $6 in a keeper, so that's a done deal. Strasburg - 6 Nolasco - 16 Jimenez - 10 McCann - 17 Ethier - 17 The odd man out here is Ethier. The no-brainer is the best catcher in all of NL baseball at 17... there are plenty of OFs out there. And, Ubaldo. Great value there. The toss-up is Nolasco vs. Ethier, and it is dependent on your league... I know you're in L.A., so Ethier's value will go high... but I am noticing that nobody has been fooled by Nolasco's peripherals, and he is getting bidded up high in leagues I am in. There is less gamble with Ethier over Nolasco, but starting an NL only draft with Nolasco, Jimenez, and Strasberg (in a keeper) for $32 is NICE.

Message #2 by deadboy18 @ March 30, 2010, 10:18pm speaking of no-brainers Rob, I'm in an NL-only keeper league. The crappy part is that we only have 4 keepers. Here's the list of who I WANT to keep and how much I'd have to pay: Strasburg - 6 Nolasco - 16 Jimenez - 10 McCann - 17 Ethier - 17 I'm leaning towards keeping Ethier, Nolasco, Jimenez for sure, but can't decide if I should hang on to Strasburg for cheap or go for McCann to have a great player in a weak position. Your thoughts? John

Message #1 by Rob Reed @ December 12, 2009, 02:01pm breakout Along with Kevin Orris of fantasypros, we predicted that Ethier would see a tailoff after Manny went out for steroids. Then, Ethier went on a positive tear, and I thought I was gonna eat my shoe. It didn't take long, however, for our prediction to come true... but was it because of Manny? I thought so... but, the reality is that in 2009, Ethier had a break out season AND he suffered from a lot of bad luck in the hitting department. The .272 average, I believe, is an aberration. I believe whether ir not Manny is in the lineup, Andre is a .300 hitter. And, now, with Manny presumably in the lineup for '10 to stay AND one of the hottest young players in the game today in Matt Kemp in the mix, Andre and the Dodgers are here to stay. I can keep Andre in my money league next year for $7. No-brainer.

PLAYERtrack overall ranking graph
        for Andre Ethier

x=year; y=% of available fantasy points per year

PLAYERtrack player stats & ranks
        for Andre Ethier

AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R AVG OBP SB CS 2010 436 128 31 0 20 71 61 .294 .357 2 0 SO BABIP CR% SLG OPS 85 .326 80% .502 0.859 2010 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 55 2010 (OF) PLAYERTRACK RANK: 30

AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R AVG OBP SB CS 2009 596 162 42 3 31 106 92 .272 .350 6 4 SO BABIP CR% SLG OPS 116 .292 80% .508 0.858 2009 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 55 2009 (OF) PLAYERTRACK RANK: 27

AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R AVG OBP SB CS 2008 525 160 38 5 20 77 90 .305 .375 6 3 SO BABIP CR% SLG OPS 88 .336 83% .510 0.885 2008 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 43 2008 (OF) PLAYERTRACK RANK: 26

AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R AVG OBP SB CS 2007 447 127 32 2 13 64 50 .284 .351 0 4 SO BABIP CR% SLG OPS 68 .311 84% .452 0.803 2007 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 255 2007 (OF) PLAYERTRACK RANK: 127

AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R AVG OBP SB CS 2006 396 122 20 7 11 55 50 .308 .365 5 5 SO BABIP CR% SLG OPS 77 .360 80% .477 0.842 2006 OVERALL PLAYERTRACK RANK: 128 2006 (OF) PLAYERTRACK RANK: 63