I've noticed there are a lot of players who have high ratings but just don't put up great numbers. One that come to mind is this guy:

https://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=7483628

He is young and rated 83 and has solid stats across the board but he just doesn't put up great numbers. He is a career .266 hitter and a below average center fielder. He doesn't steal a lot of bases, doesn't hit a ton of homeruns, doesn't play plus defense, is it smart to trade someone like this away knowing he'll never put up 83+ rating numbers?

Posted by kartchy on 12/27/2016 11:47:00 AM (view original):
I've noticed there are a lot of players who have high ratings but just don't put up great numbers. One that come to mind is this guy:

https://www.whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerRatings.aspx?pid=7483628

He is young and rated 83 and has solid stats across the board but he just doesn't put up great numbers. He is a career .266 hitter and a below average center fielder. He doesn't steal a lot of bases, doesn't hit a ton of homeruns, doesn't play plus defense, is it smart to trade someone like this away knowing he'll never put up 83+ rating numbers?

If you can get someone to bite because of his overall rating, absolutely. It's meaningless. What I like about him is he'd be a plus defender in the corner outfield and will have an OBP around .350 and an OPS around .800. I'd hang on to him while he's cheap and then shop him after his 2nd arb year. If he's asking for $6m or less annually, I'd hang on to him - solid player, but don't pay any attention to his overall rating. I've seen guys under 70 overall in MVP contention and players in the mid 80s be average defensively and hit under .250 every season. It doesn't matter.

Pretty much what mbreise said.

He's just barely a CF. He's not going to produce plus D there. I'd move him to LF and watched him rack up + plays. Offensively, he is what he is. With those splits and that power, 20 homers is about it. 50 BR is going to limit SB and, in all likelihood, make him a sub-par threat on the paths.

So, yeah, he's not going to put numbers you're expecting. That said, if I was going to move him, I'd do it now. Everyone has access to his production. His value will be a lot less when he starts asking for 9m in arb, 8.2m LT.

Durability for a position players seems to over inflate overall ratings. Your guy is 83 OVR, not because he is a great hitter or defensive stud but more because of his 87 durability rating.

OVR is more indicative of "value" rather than talent, it's a composite. Durability has value. Playing 150-155 games at 100% is better than playing 130-135 games at 100%. Health has value- never going on the DL is better than hitting the DL every 1-2 seasons and losing man-games. Makeup (career longevity) has value. Speed has value; in this instance 50 baserunning kind of counterfeits the 88 speed a bit, but 88-50 is still better than 48-50.

In terms of the defensive matrix, 84 range 75 is pretty bad for a CF, he is slightly below break-even in +/- and would be basically last in the league in fielding percentage for CFs, but on the flipside a .828 OPS is above average for CFs so it balances his WAR a bit. In LF that player would have a much more average bat, but on the flipside would almost definitely win gold glove or be in the top 2-3. The .828 OPS has less WAR in left but the top-notch defense is where the value comes from, hence if you consider all of these factors- 83 OVR.

Not everybody hits 50 HR, not everybody is an MVP, not everybody is all-star. Talent and value mean different things. The season is ridiculously long, playoff series are ridiculously short. For the regular season you want value, for the playoffs you want talent

Well I traded him. And the guy accepting the trade basically said I was giving up too much so that's always great to hear.

Tough to trade a guy when you don't understand his value. Spend more time looking for comparable player ratings in your world and in other worlds if you can't find comps in your own. Do this any time you plan on acquiring a player (draft, IFA, trade). You do that enough and you'd be able to tell your guy is a solid role player, just not L-T contact material. (And don't forget to account for differences in park factors)

EDIT: You be really disappointed by Cesar Bennett. Very similar to your guy but a 90 OVR