What's More Important: Hitting or Pitching?

Before we get down to business…yes I have heard about the three way TMac trade rumor. New York is one place that TMac would fit in well. Running in an offense like that would suit his skills well. If he’s on the FA wire, he’s worth a deep add. Also, if the move sends Butler and Haywood to Houston, I’d upgrade Butler. He instantly becomes their top scorer (and their top ego). Haywood moves into a starting role at the Center position. Chuck Hayes becomes a thing of the past, Landy and Scola will see their numbers drop for sure. Ariza will………continue to destroy fantasy squads. Finally, upgrade Mike Miller and Andray Blatche for the Wizards. Unless somehow Kyle Lowry is added to the mix, then it appears Foye is stuck at the point so no bonus there (bonus comes if he can slide to the 2). This is all still rumors at this point, but the deal does make a lot of sense.

On to the post!

One question I’ve fielded a lot over the last 24 hours with respect to baseball is essentially: What’s more important, hitting or pitching? Ahhh, it’s not quite as simple as that, you see they are both important. Both very important. Whether you play Roto or H2H, each side of the game has an equal impact on your team’s outcome. You need to have solid hitting, and you need to have solid pitching. Don’t try to ‘punt’ one for the other (unless your rules allow for streaming) as that never works out the way you think it will.

SO – why do people often give the advice that hitting is more important than pitching, or say to not draft a pitcher until deep in the draft? This is a little misguided on the information, but it is close to the truth. You see, the fact is, in a standard league where you can start roughly 4 or 5 pitchers, you only need ONE ace (for those new to the game, an ace is a top tier to second tier pitcher). One Ace will provide you with enough stats to cover the rest of your rotation, assuming you plug in somewhat reasonable players. An Ace will provide you with so many more strikeouts, so many wins, and offers so much help to your ERA and WHIP, that having more than one offers no benefit. Plug in a guy like Tim Lincecum, surround him with 3 or 4 ‘middle of the rotation’ pitchers (Tier Fourish) and you’ll compete for the whole season in pitching.

Alternatively, the same does not go for hitting. The reason being that there aren’t wide variations in player abilities at the plate, and you have to plug people in to certain slots. In other words, it’s going to be tough to get a solid producer at 2^nd, 3^rd and SS, unless you spend the bucks. A guy like Albert Pujols is going to hit 42 home runs and 121 RBI’s. Those are huge numbers for sure, but they can be recreated pretty easily with two players. On the flip side, a guy like Lincecum is going to have 268 strikeouts, which I can recreate (not as easily though) but he’s also going to have a 2.50ish ERA and a 1.08ish WHIP, those numbers can not be recreated with two players.

So think of it this way, Lincecum is tied with about four other pitchers who will have similar numbers, then there is a huge drop-off in talent. Pujols is tied with one other player who will have similar numbers, but then the drop-off isn’t as big. I guess where I’m going with this is, I’d like to see you score a top talent like Pujols or HanRam, a top pitcher like Halladay, Lincecum, Greinke, or Sabathia, then focus the rest of your efforts on hitting. Once you’ve completed your hitting lineup, then you can move back over to pitching, and don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of talent left to chase. If you’re doing a Snake draft, it would be (hopefully) HanRam, Pujols or Arod in round 1, then (hopefully) one of those pitchers in round 2. If we’re talking Auction, I’d like to see you score HanRam or Pujols for around $60, then nail one of those pitchers in the $40 - $50 range, then fill out your hitters. In the late rounds we can target plenty of sleeper pitchers, not to mention all the FA pitchers we’ll find, to keep you atop the league.

I know I can ramble at times, but I hope this was coherent enough to offer some help. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go back to praying that the Celtics land Kevin Martin for Ray Allen.