'Concept Coop said:
Saw this very interesting trade in my 12 team PPR (2 RB, 2 WR, 1 Flex):
Arian Foster and
Reggie Wayne
FOR
Chris Johnson and
Julio Jones
My take: Initial impression was that the CJ owner panicked and sold too low. I still think that is probably the case. However, after thinking about it further, there's a real chance that CJ's value may fall through the floor if he has another bad season. The scary thing about RBs in dynasty is that their value can fall off of a cliff and it is hard to see that coming sometimes. It's hard to really say what is selling low and what constitutes selling high before the perceived value really evaporates.
Plus, Foster looks to me like the pretty clear #1 dynasty guy at this point. He just produces like crazy and isn't going anywhere. You have to overpay for those type of guys and it is definitely possible that we look back on this trade by the end of the season and see this as a big win for the owner trading CJ/Julio for Foster.
I'm curious what other opinions are. I feel like this is the type of extremely risky, long-term make or break type of trade that makes dynasty so fun.
The Julio side, all day. In this particular format, I like Julio more than Foster. Obviously, CJ still has more value than Reggie. Foster's dynasty value is at it's peak and is about to start dipping. I know many think that statement is blasphemby, but Foster is approaching the wrong side of the baseline for his position, when it comes to age. The career Value Over Replacement that Julio will offer, assuming he is a top 5 WR for 10 years, will likely eclipse what Foster will do over the next 3 seasons.
Because the starting requirements are shallow (you only start 5 guys from the WR/RB field, only 12 teams ) you need to compare value accross positions more. Meaning, it does start to matter that Julio will last 10 years and Foster much less, and that RBs are injured more often than WRs.
I agree with you on the winning side, but I don't agree at all with the Julio vs. Foster analysis. To me, the more shallow league, especially with regard to the WR position, makes RB much more valuable in comparison to WR and makes it tougher for a WR to put up a high VORP. In these types of leagues, I feel like you can always find two decent WRs who will give you 13 PPG at least. For example, WR24 last year (worst starting WR) was Stevie Johnson at 13.7 PPG. Realistically, you are looking at only 30 or so WRs starting every week (including the WRs in the flex spot). If Julio's a top 5 type of dynasty WR, he probably averages 17 PPG or so(15 PPG last year, 17 PPG so far thru 2 weeks, 17 PPG is pretty close to Fitzgerald's career #). He obviously has good value, but on a per game basis, its probably only 3 to 5 PPG over replacement.
With at least 24 RBs starting every week, it is much tougher to find productive RBs and your replacement level is closer to 11 or 12 PPG (RB 24 last year was Cedric Benson at 11.2 PPG). Foster through the last 2 seasons (and 2 games of 2012) has averaged 24 PPG. His value over replacement on a per game basis is 13 PPG.
Based just on this season, Foster is worth about 3 times as much as Julio....If Foster puts up 3 more seasons like the past 2, it will take Julio putting up top 5 WR production for the next decade just to catch him....and that is assuming that you really are stuck with a 12 PPG RB in your lineup for 7 straight seasons...
I respect your opinion, but I think you got the deep vs. shallow math backwards and Foster is a pretty easy choice over Julio in this shallow format. In a league where you start 3 WR plus a flex or two, the replacement level WR is much less productive because there will be 40 or 50 WRs starting every week, which gives Julio a nice VORP bump. Maybe replacement level WR is only 10 PPG in a really deep league. In that case, Julio is 7 PPG better and Foster is 14 PPG better, making the single season ratio 2-to-1 instead of 3-to-1, and allowing Julio to make up the difference in 6 years instead of 9.