Reflecting on 2009: It's All About Guys Like Choo!

by Mark Kieffer on Oct 5, 2025 6:37 PM EDT

I gotta tell you folks, there is not enough love for a guy that saved my fantasy baseball season. I picked him up on the Waiver Wire in Mid-May when one of my Utility slots opened up, Carlos Delgrado (Carlos Del WHO???)

I picked up a Shin-Soo Choo. It's a guy that no one talks about, but was pretty valuable. At the time he was batting .286 with 5 HR, 6 SB, 21 Runs, and 23 RBI. All he did when I picked him up in Mid-May was bat .304, go 15/15, drive in 63, and score 66 runs. On a team with Adrian Gonzalez, Chase Utley, Ryan Zimmerman, and Ryan Braun, you don't need a guy that does too much. Just someone who can add to your totals, and not hurt you anywhere.

What I don't understand why is there no love for Choo? No one really talks about him, and some even rip on him for how much he strikes out. If you look at his fantasy numbers, though, he batted .300, went 20/20, drove in 80+, and scored 80+. Not impressed? Do you know how many guys went 20/20+ this year? The Answer: 12.

He was rated 54th overall and was only owned by 77% of fantasy owners. I think his average and power are for real, but the steals came from nowhere. If he's committed to running on the bases, he is a solid under the radar guy that can help your roster out.

In fantasy baseball there is such a premium on basestealers. People are willing to take up a roster spot owning the Michael Bourns of the world, just so they can get their steals. In a 10 team, 10 batter lineup setting, it doesn't make any sense to me to waste a spot in a one-trick pony. I'd much rather have a 15/15 guy who hits for average, drives in runs, and scores, than a 3/40 guy. We put too much emphasis on picking up the steals at any cost. Don't be one of those people!

Take a look at the teams in my league that finished at the top in steals in 2009:

Team A: 1st in Steals, last in HRs, last in RBI, 6th in Runs, finished tied for 7th overall
Team B: 2nd in Steals, 5th in HRs, 5th in RBI, 9th in Runs, finished 6th overall
Team C: 3rd in Steals, 8th in HRs, 7th in RBI, 7th in Runs, finished tied for 7th overall

Now take a look at the guys who finished at the top of the league overall in 2009:

1st Place: 2nd in runs, 2nd in HRs, 4th in RBI, 5th in Steals, 4th in Average. Pitching put him over the top
2nd Place: 1st in runs, 1st in HRs, 1st in RBI, 4th in Steals, 3rd in Average
3rd Place: 3rd in runs, 3rd in HRs, 2nd in RBI, 6th in Steals, 5th in Average

What do these guys have in common? They had great stats in 4/5 categories and were middle of the pack in steals.

All leagues are different. I'm sure there are lots of cases in which guys have won in steals and won their league. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I do think it's more difficult to do. I'd rather win the other 4 categories and get a 4 or 5 in steals, than winning steals and getting a 4 or 5 in the other categories. This is a league of some knowledgeable baseball fans, and all I'm trying to point out is that you can win your league as long as you are just "good enough" in steals.

I think a mistake that many experts do is emphasize steals too much. It's a tricky category, so they spend lots of time covering it, and I think it gives the casual fantasy player the impression that you "must" get a 40+ steal guy or you won't win your league.

At the end of the day, I take the following approach: Pick up 15/15 and 20/20 guys (also potential 30/30 guys in the first round). Build up the the other 4 categories. Don't underestimate the guys that can give you a little bit of everything when you are in the middle rounds of your draft. Let the others in the league fish for steals at the expense of the rest of the offensive categories.

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Read More: Shin-Soo Choo (RF - CLE), Chase Utley (2B - PHI), Ryan Zimmerman (3B - WAS), Ryan Braun (P - ANA), Ryan Braun (LF - MIL), Adrian Gonzalez (1B - BOS)

Comments

What?

Everyone was all about Choo weren’t they? He went for $6 in my league, everyone knew he was a “sleeper” or breakout candidate. He was Mr. Obvious Matthew Berry’s biggest sleeper as well.

by kellemonster on Oct 6, 2025 12:12 AM EDT reply actions

Heh. I don’t know… I remember seeing Choo as a $1 dollar guy… In a non-auction draft, his average draft position was 212.6 in ESPN leagues, and usually it’s the ESPN leagues that jump on the Berry suggestions more than others.

He’s also 94% owned in ESPN leagues vs. 77% in Yahoo leagues.

Just checked all of this ESPN stuff now, as I don’t play in ESPN leagues… Maybe ESPN players are more knowledgeable and/or have better fantasy writers and/or copy the fantasy writers more.

Clone Chronicles

by Mark Kieffer on Oct 6, 2025 9:35 AM EDT up reply actions

Well, I know with yahoo leagues, the standard league is much shallower than an ESPN standard league. Plus, in my main league it was 10 team mixed, but with 15 hitters (two C and two U). I remember Berry, Shandler, multiple websites, etc jumping on Choo, but you’re right, his draft place is pretty low.

by kellemonster on Oct 6, 2025 8:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Regarding 15/15 Guys

I tried the 15/15 thing this year and I did come in third, but the guy who came in first had people like Bourn on his team.

The problem with many 15/15 guys is in a good league they usually go at value. Guys like Rios, McLouth, Pence, they usually go for $14-16, which is what they usually produce at. So the real question is how many players do you think will be in that 15/15 club that no one will know about?

by kellemonster on Oct 6, 2025 12:24 AM EDT reply actions

There's a difference

Between there being a 15/15 guy that no one knows about, and a 15/15 guy that you can get for a better value than one of the others.

I guess what I am saying is that I don’t see as much love for Choo as there should be, relative to the stats he’s putting up.

Choo went for $6 in your league… How about BJ Upton, Hunter Pence, Johnny Damon, Shane Victorino, and Vernon Wells?

Hell, even look at a guy like Nick Markakis. He probably went for, what, $25 or so? For $19 more than Choo, that guy got a lower batting average, less homeruns, 15 more RBI, 7 more runs, and 15 less steals… I

You pointed out Rios, McLouth, going for $14-16, but last year you were able to get a guy putting up better stats for $6. That would’ve saved you $8-10 for another player.

Also, in the title, it says “Guys like Choo”… Obviously if Choo starts going for $14-16, then he’s no longer as much of a value guy.

My point is that every year there’s a new player out there that is more of a value than the established names. Maybe next year it isn’t Choo, but Garrett Jones or Chris Young or Matt Diaz…

Again, you are right that there probably aren’t many players that people will not know about, but knowing who they are, and getting the correct value for them are different.

Clone Chronicles

by Mark Kieffer on Oct 6, 2025 9:52 AM EDT up reply actions

You’re point is a valid one, and a strategy that I already have been thinking about since the middle of the season when I realized I spent too much money on my OF.

Here’s why Choo went for $6 and others went for $14-16: Choo hadn’t shown enough in a large sample size, so you were taking a risk and therefore he was discounted. Now, once the season starts and if he’s on the waiver wire and he’s producing like everyone hoped, yeah, pick him up right away.

I’ve actually written about this a bit myself: link. (Yes, the time honored tradition of linking to one’s own blog in the comments of a more popular blog). The basics of the post is that it might be a good idea to punt OF altogether, draft/buy only guys who have the potential to be the next Choo, and then if there is a better option that appears on the waiver wire early, just pull the trigger and drop that guy you spent $1-5 on.

by kellemonster on Oct 6, 2025 8:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Makes sense

For the most part it makes sense. There is more positional scarcity in other spots.

At the same time, if I were to employ the strategy for picking up only $1-5 dollar OFs, I’d be careful also. I’d probably want to spring for a little more $$ to get at least 1 OF who has been consistent like a Holliday, or Ichiro, even a Torri Hunter or Jermaine Dye… It’s much easier finding a couple of guys on waivers if you have a couple of guys you can rely on.

Let’s say you built the all-upside OF team of Chris Young, Lastings Milledge, and Cameron Maybin… Before you laugh, most of these guys went drafted in leagues I played in, and I know many went for $5+ as well. Your OF wouldn’t be hot, and you’d probably look to replace all three of these guys…

At the same time, if you went Gutierrez, Juston Upton, Jayson Werth, it would’ve been great.

As you can see, there’s a lot of volatility, and the first three guys I listed were being drafted at similar spots as the second three guys listed. I think you need to hedge your bets a little to prevent massive downside and a long, fantasy season…

Clone Chronicles

by Mark Kieffer on Oct 7, 2025 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Another question

Is how much did the first place guy beat you in certain stats? Where were you lacking the most? Was it something where maybe you were fine with offense, but he had better pitching or something like that?

Clone Chronicles

by Mark Kieffer on Oct 6, 2025 9:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Actually, we were almost exactly the same, he was one point better in pitching than I was in three categories, reverse in the two others. In hitting, he punting AVG and creamed me in HR and RBI, and came in first in steals.

by kellemonster on Oct 6, 2025 8:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Important key

He was able to cream in HR and RBI while coming in 1st in steals…

I played in a 12 team 5×5 league as well (different from the one I talked about in my post). In that league the winner was first in steals as well. He was also 9th in HR, and 6th in RBI. He was able to win because he got 1st in Ks, ERA, WHIP and 2nd in Saves… If you’re going to come in 1st or 2nd in 6 of the 10 categories, there’s a good chance you will win.

The guy that got second was 3rd in runs, 1st in HRs, 1st in RBI. If his pitching was better, he would’ve won the league (last in Ks or WHIP IIRC).

All I am saying is the league winner didn’t do so hot with HRs and RBI… I’d rather do well in those categories, and have steals be my category that I finish in the middle of the pack, as opposed to being in the middle in HRs and RBI. The league winner narrowly got 4th overall in hitting (by half a point), as building with speed cost him other offensive stats. He was able to win because he dominated with his pitching, and his hitting was good enough.

He had a different strategy than mine, and it worked out for him this year. I personally that you have to be somewhat lucky for this strategy to work year in and year out, but it worked in 2009 for him.

Clone Chronicles

by Mark Kieffer on Oct 7, 2025 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions

I guess one more thing

Is that I may have been somewhat misleading wtih my writing.

Personally I stay away from Bourn and guys like that, but that’s just me.

The real problem I find with people who have these types of guys, is that they draft them ahead of where they should go (or spend more $$ on them than they should). They are being overvalued.

Also, a lot of this argument comes into play depending on how many guys you start on your roster and how many teams are in your league. If it’s a very deep league then a lot of what I wrote doesn’t really apply.

This was more about those that play in a standard 5×5, 10-12 team mixed league.

Clone Chronicles

by Mark Kieffer on Oct 6, 2025 10:03 AM EDT reply actions

I think most guys in the league were too smart for their own good. We “knew” so much that pure speed guys were actually under valued. Bourn was on the waiver wire to start the year. Crawford went for $12 (don’t look at me that way, he was coming off a leg injury). The winner this year picked up on it and did a really good job. At the time the auction was done, I knew that he would finish in the top three, it was that good of a auction for him.

by kellemonster on Oct 6, 2025 8:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

When everyone has the same strategy, you can see some glaring opportunities to pick up value. Like you said, it was good of him to recognize and switch it up.

Clone Chronicles

by Mark Kieffer on Oct 7, 2025 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions