Fantasy Factory: Hanley Ramirez, Mr. Overrated

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The name of the fantasy player in front of the statistics.

It is the most misleading thing in all of fantasy sports.

Everyone, even myself, is completely guilty of doing this exact same thing time and time again. We turn a blind eye to the stats in front of us, and only focus on the name of the player that is involved in the trade.

If the trade is of a mediocre value, possibly an Adam Jones and Tim Wakefield for an Adam Lind type deal, then the names really go away and we focus on what is important. Will that player help you win?

But all of a sudden, throw in the name of a big time athlete, a la Hanley Ramirez, and nothing else matters.

A close friend of mine and I are in my 12-team school league (currently we rank 2nd and 3rd). We decided to take a look at some stats, due to not one, but a couple trades that have gone down involving Han Ram.

Players that have, how can I put this, BETTER numbers than Hanley

I, like most fantasy players, love reading Matthew Berry's columns on ESPN.com and often take every bit of info that I can.

One thing that he often does is not include the names of players, but has players labeled 'A' and 'B', to take away the value that a players name carries.

Take a look below and you'll see what I mean. I will even spice it up a little by putting the stats of 5 players below. I will do two players who are NOT shortstops, and two players that are, to give you a better look at position v.s. position.

Player A: .321 ... 46 Runs ... 16 HR's ... 51 RBI's ... 11 SB's
Player B: .314 ... 40 Runs ... 12 HR's ... 39 RBI's ..... 9 SB's
Player C: .325 ... 39 Runs .... 8 HR's ... 34 RBI's ..... 9 SB's
Player D: .376 ... 35 Runs .... 7 HR's ... 31 RBI's ... 14 SB's
Player E: .305 ... 39 Runs .... 9 HR's ... 30 RBI's ... 13 SB's

Well, well, well, that is a lot of numbers to take in at the brain at one time, so let's digest some together.

Player A leads all of them in runs, home runs and actually leads all in RBI's too.

Player B is pretty solid in all stats too, second in most major categories, even though he slightly drops off in SB's.

Player C has a great average and solid numbers in everything else.

Player D is leading in batting average, though he missed plenty of at-bats on everybody else, roughly 65 to be exact, but doesn't that make the other numbers just as impressive? Throw in those 65 AB's and he may be close to 45 runs, 50 RBI, and 20 SB's. Which in my opinion, makes him one of the elite players on the list.

Finally we get to Player E. Again, he is middle of the pack in most categories, but has a very solid number of SB's and runs.

So, curious as to the players we just checked out?

Players A and B were the non-shortstops, and they were Torii Hunter, and shockingly, the great statistics of Player B is Justin Upton of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Player C is the one and only Hanley Ramirez, who doesn't lead in any category, except for possibly batting average due to Player D, Jason Bartlett, missing so many games.

Player E is "way past his prime," Yankee captain Derek Jeter, on pace for a 20-20 season.

What YOU can do with someone like Hanley Ramirez

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