Sat Oct 10, 2020 11:38 am
I assume you mean the 1977 card. I have not used him in a long time.
In ATG8 auto-leagues at $80M his average line was .296 .353 .599.
Assume those numbers go south, particularly the OBP, as the cap goes up.
Personally, I consider him an option in the following circumstances:
80M-100M cap (roughly...maybe higher)
In an OF where he is the only guy not a 1 or a 2
In a hitters' park for singles and HRs to righties
Where he is a complement to solid lefty/switch hitters
Not facing a lot of hard righties (ie, I would be cautious about him being a centerpiece of a Minute Maid or Hilltop team except with specific opponent and supporting cast circumstances)
He has a lot of natural HRs to both sides for the price, but his low OBP and average OF defense makes him a fit to certain circumstances but not others. All depends. He isn't a huge boom or bust. Price is "ballpark."
For instance, as a DH at 100M, he is not an economical choice. His D is valued in his price too highly for DH duty.
Again, HR park park where I don't need his D or OBP, he can fit fine. He always seems to be in the same category as guys slightly cheaper as below if I am already willing to sacrifice some defense at a corner OF anyway, also with their avg 80M ATG8 lines (defense in each case is worse, or a 15g injury):
7.79 George Foster 77 .296 .353 .599
7.56 Albert Belle 98: .293 .366 .616
7.46 Goose Goslin 26 .329 .392 .545
7.68 Honus Wagner 00 .349 .397 .544 (obviously a smallball 15g injury guy with worse D, but for comparison)
*Note you can research this info under the player set browser under Info/Help
The answer is usually it depends. That's the fun of putting a team together. There aren't too many absolutes. And most, though not all, of the extreme lopsided hitter card values are gone in ATG 9 (just look at the Wagner card above as an example--was a huge value in ATG 8--almost worth it no matter the circumstances up to 100M).
just my two cents anyway.
