All-2000’s: Leo
Last Sunday, I introduced a new database tracking players’ career stats, rather than season-by-season performance. At that time, I had only completed running the numbers from the last decade (2010 thru 2020), but since then I’ve gone all the way back to the year 2000. With that milestone reached, I plan to make this new database a hallmark of this blog moving forward, by analyzing depth charts for each astrological sign going back the last twenty years.
I know two decades seems like a somewhat arbitrary amount of time, but it’s as far back as I’ve gotten so far. And when I return to my reverse-chronological trip through FABL history, I’ll be sure to update these depth charts as new top tier talent emerges. So think of this as an ongoing all-time look into Fantasy Astrology excellence.
The first such new top-tier talents to emerge come from Leo. Not only did the Lions have the top career point scorer who started for a FABL team in the last decade (Alex Rodriguez, if you recall, who barely outscored Albert Pujols), but two new players surpass him when you go back the next ten years. These are 7-time MVP winner Barry Bonds and 7-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens. Ironically, all three of these all-time greats will likely be frozen out of the Hall of Fame for the foreseeable future, due to their inextricable links to performance enhancing drugs.
The numbers columns from left to right are: total career points, points-per-season, and points-per-game.
The next two Leos on the list make up the top two spots on the first base depth chart – or 1B and DH if I were building an actual lineup. Todd Helton was the more complete hitter, albeit with some Coors Field-aided power production, while John Olerud made his bones from contact hitting and plate discipline. The next best hitter after Olerud is Edgar Renteria, who technically sits behind A-Rod on the shortstop depth chart - even though the latter could shift over to third base to accommodate the former. For a bit of trivia, Renteria is the top foreign-born Leo point scorer in the last two decades, and the top Colombian point scorer in that time period.
The third Leo shortstop brings up the total points vs. points-per-game controversy. Nomar Garciaparra has a per-game advantage over Renteria of nearly four points, despite having nearly 3,000 fewer career points. One of those two could slide over to second base in a hypothetical all-2000’s Leo team, but since this project is more about historical context than maximizing fantasy points, we’ll just continue to stack up the shortstops in the depth chart. For reference, the top-scoring Leo second baseman is Dustin Pedroia, who racked up fewer than 20,000 points in a career that was prematurely ended by injury troubles.
The dates columns from left to right are: first year in MLB, last year in MLB, and total years in MLB.
Shifting back to the outfield, two speedy left-handed-hitting leadoff types follow Bonds in the depth chart. Carl Crawford was a more complete hitter than Juan Pierre, with a points-per-game average two points higher, but the latter had the advantage of qualifying for center field. One spot behind Pierre in the career points column is Mike Trout, although he’s guaranteed to finish his career many places higher. Incidentally, Trout leads all batters in points-per-game, minimum three or more seasons – Fernando Tatis Jr. has an identical 17.5 PPG, but he’s only played in 2019 and ’20. Behind Trout and Tatis is Alex Rodriguez with 16.8, currently in a three-way tie with the still-active Mookie Betts and Ronald Acuna Jr.
A player needs at 20% career appearances at a position for me to include it in the POS2 column.
The Leo rotation is quite top-heavy, but that’s bound to happen when your ace is the top fantasy point-scoring pitcher of the 2000’s. Max Scherzer has actually produced at a similar per-game rate as Roger Clemens, but it’s unlikely that Mad Max will eclipse Clemens’s 24-year big league career without the aid of steroids to keep him young. Javier Vazquez is the only starting pitcher in Leo’s top ten to be born outside the continental United States (his hometown is Ponce, Puerto Rico). Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield spent a significant portion of his career in the bullpen, but he has the fantasy points to serve in the rotation. And rounding out the top five in total points, we have still-active Madison Bumgarner, who actually clocks in third overall in points-per-game.
Top Leo reliever Billy Wagner has the third-highest point total among all Leo pitchers. He has a 6,000 point lead over the next closest competitor, but then numbers two and three - John Wetteland and Troy Percival - are separated by less than 30 points. Dominican-born Joaquin Benoit is the only reliever in the top six who didn’t spend the majority of his career as a closer.
Next time I’ll go back to the current sign in 2021, with a look into how Gemini connects with the Tarot. But after that, expect a nice long run of these All-2000’s rosters!