Five Aces, Which Three Do you Keep?

You should always consider how your leaguemates are going to view your players. Like drafting, a significant portion of selecting keepers is perceived value. The ADP order for this list is: Jimenez, Kershaw, Weaver, Hamels, Hanson. If you keep Jimenez but don’t really like him, can you get value for him in a trade? Probably more so than you could with Hamels. Also, is Jimenez or Hanson more likely to come back to you in the draft? Sometimes if I have a guy I like but I believe I can snag him in the first or second round, I’ll throw him back into the pool and keep a guy that comes in higher on the ADP charts.

As far as your individual pitchers go:

Jimenez was pretty lucky last year with his HR rates, but his K/9 has been steadily rising. In addition to adding a pitch to his arsenal, his four-seamer’s vertical movement (and value) skyrocketed. If he does regress, it won’t be a hard regression. He seems like a safe keeper.

You’re right about Kershaw, but his reduction in walks may account for the additional innings with no real increase in workload. He’s young and a stud. Gotta keep him.

Weaver really turned a corner last year. Are you willing to bank on that high K-rate as a representation of the true Weaver, or will it be an outlier when we look back? I honestly don’t know what to do with him.

Hamels is sort of the same song, second verse, though with possibly more risk. Don’t bank on the matchups; those always get screwed up after the first week anyway.

Hanson is going to rise on draft boards as news of his workout habits gets out, but these stories are always overrated. Did you know that Matt Harrison lost 30 pounds last offseason and told reporters that he worked out like he wanted to win the Cy Young? Yeah. Having said that, Hanson’s numbers seem to be more sustainable than Weaver’s or Hamels’ and his age seems to suggest room for improvement as he matures.

TL;DR – Due to perceived values and a look at the peripherals, I think Jimenez and Kershaw are slam dunks, and though I would lean toward Hanson as my third, I can definitely see an argument for one of the other two.

I’m going to try to trade Weaver and Jimenez for 1st round draft picks (13th rd technically) simply because those two are the most attractive as far as last season’s stats are concerned.

Jimenez – Only other SP’s with sub 3 era’s and 200 k’s were Doc Halladay, King Felix and Adam Wainwright (<he needs a nickname.)

Weaver – Led AL with 233 K’s, 2nd in MLB with 27 quality starts. That will be my sales pitch ;)

When all is said and done, I believe there’s a good chance Jimenez and Weaver will look back at 2010 as the best season of their respective career’s. I also believe that I can procure two 1st round picks by moving them, unless of course my fellow owners are reading this.

I love Hanson cause he’s young and has only gotten a taste of success. He is the only candidate on this list who has yet to have a monster year and I expect it to be coming soon. I don’t plan on protecting Hamels, I think he will fall back to me in the 2nd round.