How does the roids scandal affect your fantasy strategy?

[sportznut]

With all the rampant speculation of who is and who isn't juicing, and with the strongest tests to date, how does this affect your fantasy drafting strategy?

Last year they had testing and not a single player eclipsed 50 HRs, a number that has become all too common these days.

So with the speculation abound and mixed results, does it change how you perceive a person's value?

Afterall Barry Bonds had another MVP year even with all the speculation.

Gary Sheffield is another guy in the middle of the BALCO scandal, yet when he played last year he was hurt and still put up MVP worthy numbers.

Jason Giambi fell off the map, and was hurt most of the year. Now he vows that he'll be on a mission to prove detractors wrong.

Sammy Sosa has become an all or nothing guy, with more nothing these days.

Rafael Palmeiro and Brett Boone have already seen their numbers diminish.

Juan Gonzalez can't stay healthy, and might not even make the Indians roster.

Pudge Rodriguez was an MVP candidate on a team that won only 73 games.

Now I'm not saying they all use, and certainly they aren't the only ones to use, but these are the names out there that we are hearing about the most.

Noone cares about Jeremy Giambi, Benito Santiago, or any other scrub that also used steroids (allegedly from BALCO).

So will you be drafting any of these guys, and how are you going to determine their value?

[ryr8828]

I've tried to stay away from all of them. I'm in a Diamond Mind league, so a bad decision could haunt me for a few years.

[Boik14 is the shiz]

I tend to lean towards staying away from Bonds unless he represents a great value in say rd 2.

Giambi I think will have a good season. Hes over his injuries and hes already taking BP sessions hoping to regain his form. He knows a fast start is essential before he gets booe dout of NY.

Sheffield I think will be the same old player.

Pudge, Tejada, Sosa, Palmeiro and everyone else Canseco red flagged I dont expect much to change there. Bonds and Giambi will take the most heat out of anyone because of their pedigree, involvement, and media market.

If anything actually expect sosa's production to increase hitting in the boombox in Camden. Tejada is in his prime and will be hitting in front of Sammy so his 150 rbi's could actually go up cause hes going to see more pitches to hit now. IMO, hes a mid 1st rd pick at this point because of his ability and so few SS being productive.

[John3714]

It won't really affect my strategy too much. Steroids by themselves can't make a player hit 50 homers. I've always said that 'roids might add 10, maybe 15 homers in a season. That's quite a bit, but if all the big boppers are falling that much, then 35-40 homers is still good if it's near the top of the league.

[Whiskey]

Yeah, won't affect me at all.

I'm a "catcher, 2nd baseman, starting pitcher" guy to start most drafts, so it's not like I'm going after the big bats right away anywho.

[Spuds]

Won't change my strategy.

Scarcity, scarcity scarcity.....