Barry Bonds Effect

Since Barry Bonds has such a great card (and was the best hitter of all time during his steroid years), I was wondering if getting Bonds was a ticket to win the 2000s. So, I looked at all 12 leagues of the Mystery Tournament. In 5 leagues, a team with Bonds on the roster is leading their division. In 3 leagues he's been cut. So, it looks like getting Bonds is not an automatic trip to the post season.

If he doesn't land on '06, you're probably a pretty good bet to make the playoffs with the other cards. Probably just need to give it enough time to play out.

I’ve got his 2000 version (2nd worst) and it’s a struggle. While he has the top OPS in the league he’s missed 15 of 90 games. I have solid lower value cards (Bard, Jeremy Giambi, Vina, Boone, Erstad) to pare with him but the lineup regularly gets shut down. I’m in a tough division and it will quite a battle to make the playoffs. I’d likely be 4-6 games better on one of his top three cards.

I think his top three cards provide a lot of value. His fourth card may provide a little or is a wash but it would better to find other big bats for millions less if one was certain of the card. In fact, I think it would be very difficult to win in the tourney finals on that 2000 card when you have $13mm of salary tied up on a card pretty much delivering its assigned value. His last card is a definite minus. 60% great card is quite the success rate so I remain a fan of drafting him.

Ben

I’ve got his 2000 version (2nd worst) and it’s a struggle. While he has the top OPS in the league he’s missed 15 of 90 games. I have solid lower value cards (Bard, Jeremy Giambi, Vina, Boone, Erstad) to pare with him but the lineup regularly gets shut down. I’m in a tough division and it will quite a battle to make the playoffs. I’d likely be 4-6 games better on one of his top three cards.

I think his top three cards provide a lot of value. His fourth card may provide a little or is a wash but it would better to find other big bats for millions less if one was certain of the card. In fact, I think it would be very difficult to win in the tourney finals on that 2000 card when you have $13mm of salary tied up on a card pretty much delivering its assigned value. His last card is a definite minus. 60% great card is quite the success rate so I remain a fan of drafting him.

Ben

Last tourney, gritch had Bonds best (I think) and he flat out dominated, winning 122 games in the regular season and scoring a whopping 137 points for that league. Truly the most dominant tourney performance I'd witnessed (I wasn't in the league but watching the standings) with an otherworldly +479 run differential.

I’ve got his 2000 version (2nd worst) and it’s a struggle. While he has the top OPS in the league he’s missed 15 of 90 games. I have solid lower value cards (Bard, Jeremy Giambi, Vina, Boone, Erstad) to pare with him but the lineup regularly gets shut down. I’m in a tough division and it will quite a battle to make the playoffs. I’d likely be 4-6 games better on one of his top three cards.

I think his top three cards provide a lot of value. His fourth card may provide a little or is a wash but it would better to find other big bats for millions less if one was certain of the card. In fact, I think it would be very difficult to win in the tourney finals on that 2000 card when you have $13mm of salary tied up on a card pretty much delivering its assigned value. His last card is a definite minus. 60% great card is quite the success rate so I remain a fan of drafting him.

Ben

I forgot he can get hurt more than 3 games on 2000, that does make it much more difficult. I had him on '04 a couple Tournaments ago, despite the 2 injury he can only be hurt for 3 games so it's a lot more tolerable. He got hurt 6 times in the regular season but still played in 147 regular season games and crushed 66 HR's, so he was well worth the investment. Unfortunately, he got hurt 2 times in the playoffs and ended up missing game 7 in the Finals.