What is the best way to rate a player's value? By their overall rating?? How accurate are the overall ratings? Some trades that go down are mind boggling to me when someone will trade 2 guys with a 59 rating for a guy with an 80's something rating.

One of my pitchers with a rating of 78 is said to be one of the best pitchers in our entire league. I am just having a hard time finding what to base the players' worth off of.

Overall ratings should not be used to judge how good/bad a player is. It's all about the ratings in individual categories. Plus, the individual ratings all work together so that there's no one "right way" to judge a player. Very strong ratings in some categories can overcome sub-par ratings in others.

Not by overall.

Current are absolutely accurate. Projected accuracty depends on the your ADV budget.

You might be in a 'tard world if 2x59 are moving for a 80. Assuming they are legit 59s and 80s.

Look at previous season stats. Check the ratings of the top performers. That will give you some idea of what ratings are valuable and which ones mean a lot less.

When evaluating pitchers, I look first to see how much he can pitch (DUR/STA). Then I will weigh control, vsL and vsR about evenly. Next I look at what his piutches look like. Finally, if I am in a small ballpark, I look at his GB/FB number.

The only other rating that I will take a glance at is health, but unless its incredibly low I personally dont worry too much about it.

Overall ratings can get falsely inflated or deflated by fielding ratings, hitting ratings, makeup, speed and other factors.

For position players, I will look at the 5 key offensive stats (contact, power, vsL, vsR and eye). I will also look at the four fielding ratings to get an idea of what position the guy plays (dont go by what heis listed on in his card - the prior owner may havebeen playing him out of position. Also make sure you keep an eye out for -handed throwers that someone may have had at 2B, SS or 3B). If he is a catcher, I will fcator in PC as well.

Next I turn to Speed and baserunning. Finally I will look at durability and health to get an idea of how often the guy can play. And again, unless the numbers are grossly low, they dont worry me too much (though low durability means you need a solid backup cos the guy will need more days off)

Once again, in my opinion at least, the rest of the ratings are meaningless.

Look at the top producers in your league. [Click World Office/Stats/League Leaders].

See what their Ratings are in key areas, and see what Ratings, if any, are consistently higher.

This is true for hitting/pitching/fielding. It might not be absolute, but you will notice trends.

Meh, I don't read your posts. I suspect many don't.

Thanks for all of the tips guys. The advice is appreciated and noted. That helps a bunch.

a quick note on overall ratings:

for a pitcher, think of a "100 overall" as pitcher with the best of everything, including being a starting pitcher type who can throw 300+ innings a year (because of his combined DUR/STA) ... in other words, a combination of "quality" and "quantity," with one rating for all pitchers ... a relief-type pitcher might be of equal quality, but just not the quantity, so the best RP in the world will never be a 100 ... and most HBD ownes seem to think that the "quantity" effect on the overall rating calculation is a bit high

for a hitter, think of "100 overall" as a guy who has all the hitting ratings, all the fielding ratings, and the DUR to play 162 games ... one rating for all hitters that counts everything ... as such, a 1B/DH type probably will never be a 100, simply because he doesn't have the fielding ... but he may be the best hitter ever

so a trade of a "80 overall" pitcher for a "59 overall" hitter *could* be a trade of a high "quantity" mediocre "quality" pitcher for a DH who has amazing hitting ratings with a low-ish DUR ... it could be very possible that the hitter is more valuable to a team than the pitcher

And also keep in mind that Ovr is an indicator of the type of compensation given for Type A and Type B players, so don't completely ignore it.

But do note that position players rated 90+ in Durability tend to have an inflated Ovr with respect to what most similar players may have.

Some 78+ Ovr players may actually be completely useless.

And players with 59 current ratings traded for the 80+ may be minor league players who haven't reached their peak.

So how good is a pitcher with the following

Sta - 74

Durability - 28

Control - 93

vsL - 80

vsR - 77

1st Pitch - 79

2nd Pitch - 61

3rd Pitch - 60

4th pitch - 55

5th pitch - 22

GB/FF - 78

Quote: Originally Posted By tugger09 on 10/02/2009
So how good is a pitcher with the following

Sta - 74

Durability - 28

Control - 93

vsL - 80

vsR - 77

1st Pitch - 79

2nd Pitch - 61

3rd Pitch - 60

4th pitch - 55

5th pitch - 22

GB/FF - 78

He's pretty good. It would be nice to see around anther five points on his first pitch, and maybe another 10 on his second to compensate for that nasty bad fifth pitch. But he'll be very effective for you, definitely a front of the rotation starter.

Just going off my personal experience, he's on the low end of staff aces in the league compared to the league I'm in. Around 20th percentile of SPs.

(Just checked, his velocity is 26...)

One thing to note is that you play your games in Colorado, so all the stats you see will be offensively inflated. Your pitcher's 4.5 ERA last season is actually pretty solid overall. Check your player's away stats for a better idea of what they're doing compared to other players in the league.

The pitcher you listed had a 3.42 ERA on the road last season, best on your team by half a run.

The guy half a run behind him (Vizquel) in 2nd place however appears to have gotten lucky and is really more of a replacement level pitcher than any type of guy that should be counted on to contribute to a winning team. (ie he's overpaid and you should be able to find similar pitchers for 1-2 mill in FA, off the waiver wire, in your minors or via Rule V).