For 2013...Butler or DeAza

[luckyheel]

AL only 5x5 (R, BA, SB, HR, RBI)

Butler - 23
DeAza - 10

[Lucky]

I absolutely love Butler, but at those salaries I would go with De Aza. No question.

[Lucky]

Oh yeah, I forgot to put why.

They will both hit for average, Butler a little higher. Butler should hit 30 bombs, and approach 100 ribbies, but De Aza should swipe 30 or more bases. He'll have some pop and should have decent RBI numbers. De Aza will score a ton of runs, though, enough to make a difference. Butler is station to station. It takes a triple to score him from second base. (slight j/k)

So, overall, it's power versus speed. Butler is probably worth a few dollars more, but with $13 difference in salary (and the positional eligibility issue), I would definitely go with De Aza.

[virgonomic]

I absolutely love Butler, but at those salaries I would go with De Aza. No question.

Agreed. The difference between them is much smaller than $13. De Aza is a much better value.

[luckyheel]

based on the above responses (thx btw), I would also have to assume that a $10 BLawrie, $7 ACabrera and $12 Addison Reed are also better keepers than Butler, correct?

[joncarlos]

based on the above responses (thx btw), I would also have to assume that a $10 BLawrie, $7 ACabrera and $12 Addison Reed are also better keepers than Butler, correct?

Yes, yes and yes. Butler at 23 is a pretty marginal keeper. The others are legitimately good values.

[Porcello]

Yes, yes and yes. Butler at 23 is a pretty marginal keeper. The others are legitimately good values.

Yep, difficult to expect much profit from Butler at $23, reasonable to expect profit from the others.

[virgonomic]

Without inflation, Butler earned $23 last year. He's on pace to well exceed that this year (he's already up to $20). In a normal only league, you can expect a guy like Butler to go for $40+ next year with CrAzY inflation.

Fixed. Really, Butler at $40? If he's a $28 player this year, that's 43% inflation. I have never been in a league where it was close to that.

[joncarlos]

Butler is on pace for about .300-30-95-70r-3sb. His career highs are 78 runs and 2 steals. Yes, those first 3 categories are really, really nice. And yes, power is down this year. But Butler's doubles are way down too which is a bit of a red flag. If he earns $30 this year that is probably about his max value. I know ADA isn't exactly the sexiest player but he's on pace himself for .290-9-70-95r-30sb.

And yes, if you are talking 30% or more inflation, then Butler is closer in value, because the $13 you save is really only worth $9 or whatever.

[virgonomic]

I knew my opinion was going to be in the minority on this one but I place a high premium on proven producers.

That's fair, as there's nothing wrong with having a couple at-value studs among your keepers.