ASK ROTOMAN: A One Or A Two?

Rotoman!

I’m in a 12 team roto league keeper. my keeper options are either keeping Paul Goldschmidt and Carlos Gonzalez or Goldschmidt, Yasiel Puig and Jason Kipnis?. So really the question is Cargo or Puig/Kipnis? We can keep players forever so I want to make sure I make the right decision. 

“Eternally Yours”

Dear Eternally:

What I don’t know, because you didn’t tell me, is why you can only keep one extra guy if you keep Cargo, or  the two other guys if you go that way. That feels unusual to me, but let’s run with it because we can make something of a closer look, whatever your rules are.

Of the three, Gonzalez is probably the best hitter, but because of injuries he didn’t earn as much as Kipnis last year. Still, I have him at $34 for this year, with Kipnis at $27 and Puig at $24. Puig is a bit of a wild card here. It would not be a surprise if he was a bust, but it would not be a surprise if he earned well into the 30s. We don’t know how he’s going to adapt to pitchers adaptations, and we don’t know whether the 26 pounds he added in the offseason was because of hard work or sloth.

But we do know that Kipnis earned $29 as a 26 year old. We also know that Gonzalez is 29 this year, while Puig turns 24. Which means the two guys have seven years on Gonzalez. If we assume each of these guys will play well until they’re 35, you’ll get six years out of Gonzalez, while you’ll get 19 years out of the other two. By that measure take the two.

But, I’m sure that isn’t the measure. Here’s what is:

Let’s assume that Cargo is $7 more valuable than Kipnis in a deep league for each of the next six years. That’s $42 more value, which is whittled down some amount in a shallow league because Kipnis plays a more valuable defensive position.

The question for you is whether Puig is going to outearn the player you would end up with instead by that same $42 or more over the next six years. Obviously, given the information I have I can’t answer that.

But what is important here for everyone to remember is, in multiplayer deals the measure isn’t just the players in the deal, but also the player who would have to be added or dropped who isn’t in the deal in order to make the rosters whole.

Completely incomplete,
Rotoman