Starlin vs Asdrubal

[SilverPickles]

I'm in a 5x5 H2H league that starts C, 1b, 2b, SS, 3b, OF, OF, OF, Util. Keeping Pujols, McCutchen, Zimmerman, Pence, Hosmer and F-Her. Picking second in my draft.

Choosing between guys like Hamilton, Crawford, Starlin, Asdrubal, Zobrist, Phillips - leaning shortstop because the drop after Starlin and Ass-Cab is drastic.

Looking for some insight as to why Starlin is being selected around 30 picks before Asdrubal on average. In a head to head league where average is fickle and SAGNOF, does Asdrubal's power and RBI potential (along with his spot in a far superior lineup) make him the clear choice over Castro? I love Starlin as a hitter/real life guy, but just don't see the attraction to him over Asdrubal in my format.

[Deltron]

The general thought is Asdrubal has a lower floor and is a bigger risk to flop. 2011 may have been a career year for Asdrubal so you would be buying high so to speak.

Starlin is still so early in his development that you have to assume he can keeping improving his production...which is already pretty darn good.

[AdmiralTrey]

Cabrera has less speed potential than Castro by a pretty decent margin.

He's had three seasons with a batting average under .280 while only having one over .300, whereas Castro's hit over .300 in every season so far.

Cabrera's slugging percentage last year was .460 as a 25 year old, whereas Castros' was .432 as a 21 year old.

Out of Cabrera's 25 HR's last year, HitTracker labeled only 2 of them as no doubters, 15 of them as Just Enough, 2 of them as Luck, and the other 6 as Plenty: http://www.hittrackeronline.com/detail. ... ype=hitter

For Castro, only 3 of his 10 HR's were Just Enough, with the other 7 being labeled as Plenty: http://www.hittrackeronline.com/detail. ... ype=hitter

This suggests that Cabrera could have just as easily hit 8 HR's last year... Kind of scary.


I personally think that Castro has more speed, more power potential, and the potential to hit .330+. Cabrera could be a .300 hitter at his best but I don't think he has more than teens SB ability and I really don't think he has more than teens power. Castro could easily hit 15 HR's this season to go along with a significantly higher batting average and more stolen bases.


Castro is in a weak lineup, sure, but Dejesus is a career .284 hitter, Byrd is a career .281 hitter, Stewart is capable of 25+ HR's with full playing time, and Soriano somehow has 50 HR's in the last two seasons... Not amazing, no, but honestly Cleveland's lineup isn't that amazing either. Santana is a legit power hitter, Choo ought to rebound with a 20 HR, .300 BA season, but honestly who do they have past that? Kotchman might hit .300 with 10 HR's or he might hit .270 with 5 HR's. Neither is that good. Kipnis might produce, but he's unproven thus far. Hafner would be lucky to play 100 games. I don't see Cleveland's lineup as being all that much better than Chicago's.

[Bourne]

Grey has Castro as 2 SS and 24 spots higher.