[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by bababui

The stats fantasy baseball players rely on are very apropos for fantasy baseball but they are simply a two dimensional representation of a 3 dimensional game. While stats are a by-product of a baseball game, baseball itself is a game that often sacrifices maximum statistical performance for the sake of winning; ie grounding out to second to get a runner from second to third.

Also, there are social factors that might make a player important to a team. Is he good with his teammates? Will he help younger teammates develop? Will he make sacrifices (like playing out of position) for his team? Will he bitch and moan when either he or the team is in a slump?

For fantasy players to crow about their superior baseball knowledge proves that they have matched their sportswriter/broadcaster brothers in hubris.

Excellent post. Excellent points. How much more valuable than just the sum of his stats was Willie Stargell? A lot.