J.P. Crawford or Nicky Lopez?

[Gregg]

AL only 5x5. 12 teams $260 OBP instead of Ave.

Crawford is 8 Lopez is 10.

Who would you rather have?

[Bene Futuis]

Lopez

[GwynnInTheHall]

Lopez

[virgonomic]

What's the rationale? JPC ADP about 50 higher. JDP more power, Lopez better AVG and speed. Lopez higher ceiling?

[pitbull]

What's the rationale? JPC ADP about 50 higher. JDP more power, Lopez better AVG and speed. Lopez higher ceiling?

I think the difference is Lopez steals. He could swipe 20.

[Gregg]

I traded my 7.05 reserve pick for Lopez and his 10.12 reserve slot.

Thanks to all for the input.

[Sharky]

Yep. Good move. All about the SB here.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Yep. Good move. All about the SB here.

Exactly, speed seems to be the rarest commodity nowadays, especially finding it in 1 player.

[Big Tymer]

Count me as a multi-league Crawford guy. Still think there is more speed there and much better real life player. Good average and maybe with rose colored glasses I can see a path to 15-15. Just never been a Nicky fan personally.

[Sour Masher]

I'd have gone with JP too, as the safer option. But I get why folks would go with the bigger speed upside.

[Bene Futuis]

I think it's Lopez pretty easily. He's a better real life player and fantasy option. I don't really see any aspect where Crawford is better than Lopez, with the exception of a few HRs here and there.

Edit: To be fair, Crawford is a couple bucks cheaper, making them closer.

[pitbull]

I think it's Lopez pretty easily. He's a better real life player and fantasy option. I don't really see any aspect where Crawford is better than Lopez, with the exception of a few HRs here and there.

Totally agree. If Crawford hits 20-25 HR you might have an argument but he might not even get 10 this season. His ISO last year was .103. Case closed!

[Big Tymer]

We’ll see but that’s what’s fun about baseball. I value the hit tool pretty high when evaluating players and so guys like Crawford will always rate higher. Now, Nicky somehow hit .300 last year but that was an outlier so let’s see how this plays out. I look at Crawford and (again perhaps with rose colored glasses) I see someone like Brandon Crawford who was also a slappy early on in his career.

But again, I’m biased as I’ve owned JP for several years now in multiple leagues and I still think of Nicky as that .280 OBP guy with no power.

[Sour Masher]

We’ll see but that’s what’s fun about baseball. I value the hit tool pretty high when evaluating players and so guys like Crawford will always rate higher. Now, Nicky somehow hit .300 last year but that was an outlier so let’s see how this plays out. I look at Crawford and (again perhaps with rose colored glasses) I see someone like Brandon Crawford who was also a slappy early on in his career.

But again, I’m biased as I’ve owned JP for several years now in multiple leagues and I still think of Nicky as that .280 OBP guy with no power.

Well, to be fair, neither player has a lot of power, and if you believe even half of Lopez's massive step up in the hit tool last year is real, he is the clear choice as a 5hr and 20 SB guy hitting .260 or more vs Crawford as a 10hr and 5SB guy hitting about the same. So, after what he showed last year, the upside is definitely there to pony up the extra $2. But I lean Crawford, just because he is a more known quantity to me and I don't really trust Lopez yet. But he is now 27 and it is possible he figured out how to hit last year and it will stick. Or the step forward last year was more about h% luck and less about improved skill and he could revert to being a .200 hitter. If that happens, he becomes worthless, as he would likely lose his every day job. I think that could happen. And I think Crawford could improve too. He too is 27, has shown a more consistent hit tool, and has enough speed to get a few more SBs. I don't know the numbers, but I'd bet he is just as fast as Lopez. He just doesn't know how to steal bases. The speed is there and how to steal is a learnable skill, so there is SB upside for Crawford.

Lopez showed a lot last year, but the dude was a slap hitting nobody with one SB vs 6 CS, and a OBP under .280 over 548 ABs in 2019 and 2020. So, the bet on Lopez over Crawford is that his 2021 was the real him, or that his regression will be less than Crawford's progression in 2022.