2005 Ratings: Year of the Platoon?

[bleacher_creature]

I got my book yesterday!

I scouted catchers and CFs a little bit, and noticed a few points. Please keep in mind that this is just a first glance:

-catchers who can swing the bat from both sides at least are quite thin. V. Martinez might be one, but he has no pop vs LHPs. Mauer kills RHPs, but can't hit lefties etc...

-same thing in CF as far as I can see. We'll see about the price, but M. Bradley seems like one of the better options there. Again, Wells kills LHPs, is a "1", but can't hit righties.

-1B/DH is where the production seems loaded.

-D. Ortiz is much more balanced than in 2004.

-I don't see pitching as being a big problem. There should be a lot of tight games in 2006 SOM online (2005 players).

[doug_tucker10]

i dont use the ratings book but i was just looking at the splits for Brian Donnelly and if it reads correctly he gets annihilated by righty bats and is unhittable against lefties, which would make for a very bizarre one sided card.

[vince0501]

bleacher creature beat me to it.
I have not had a thorough look at the ratings guid yet, but my first impression was the same.
I was generally scouring the OB chances, in search of lead off options, and everyone I spotted so far with over 40 OB chances, was one sided.

Even a couple guys that were not lead off options (Matsui i.e), had huge differentials.

Pricing will be very interesting. Wondering if TSN will consider the splits, when setting salary levels.

[bleacher_creature]

[quote:abe667cb99="jamesgang77"]i dont use the ratings book but i was just looking at the splits for Brian Donnelly and if it reads correctly he gets annihilated by righty bats and is unhittable against lefties, which would make for a very bizarre one sided card.[/quote:abe667cb99]

Good one. I happened to be looking LAA's players over, and Donnelly's splits jumped out at me. Definitiely a reverse righty. "Avoid RHBs."

Thanks vince. Nice to know that I wasn't seeing things.

[bleacher_creature]

Of course there ARE going to be some great players (some will be pricey) with balanced cards:

-A-Rod
-D. Lee
-Jeter looks good (no pop from RH side; 2e16 - $7M I'll bet)
-J. Giambi ($9M?)
-B. Giles (OB = 51.4/51.7!!)
-D. Wright
-B. Roberts
-M. Alou
-M. Ellis
-L. Castillo
-L. Berkman

To name a few. These were taken from a glance at the "Leading Hitters" page, looking at who had high, consistent OB chances from both sides of the plate.