Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Ranking the second basemen

Time to continue the series of rankings for 2010 fantasy baseball.  We've gone throuh the catchers and first basemen, two positions that are drastically different in terms of quality of talent.  I mean, Kurt Suzuki in the top 10?  Ouch.  Catchers suck.  Anyway, we move to second basemen this week, which is a position where talent can certainly be found.  I know I feel this group is much deeper than shortstop, and isn't too far behind third base in my mind.  Still, it certainly is top heavy, with a top five overall player anchoring the rankings at number one.

1.  C. Utley -- Like Mauer and Pujols, Utley way ahead of number two.
2.  I. Kinsler -- 30-30 is hard to ingore, and I love him, but he gets hurt every year.
3.  D. Pedroia -- Lock for .300-15-15 with a bunch of runs.  Average and consistency.
4.  R. Cano -- Second half player, but will finish with great #'s save SBs.
5.  A. Hill -- Same chance of reaching 35 HR again as Bartolo Colon winning Cy in 2010.
6.  B. Roberts -- I guess I like the steals, but SBs have gone 50-40-30 over last three years.  Average declining too.
7.  B. Zobrist -- I need to see him back it up, but could be top three option next year at 2B.
8.  B. Phillips -- Average so low that any SB drop off would kill his value.  Still 20-20.
9.  H. Kendrick -- Still I look to find a reason to believe.
10.  R. Weeks -- I know, I know, Weeks, as in, enjoy the first few...tougher sell than Kendrick, but 140 games= 25-25.
11.   D. Uggla -- Probably should be #9, I just hate the average and want speed in a MI.
12I. Stewart -- Has a chance for 25-30 HR.  Average will be key.  ABs should be there.
13.  J. Lopez -- Another 25 HR contender, and likely the last guy on the list worth anything.
14.  A. Cabrera -- Value only due to 17 SBs.  Huge dropoff from top 13.
15.  C. Barmes -- Hunch says not to believe 23 HR or 12 SB.
16.  K. Johnson -- New home in AZ, could rebound in 2010.  Should get the ABs.
17.  S. Sizemore -- I'd rather take a chance on a rook than draft Freddy Sanchez...
18.  F. Sanchez -- ...who starts the waiver wire list.
19.  F. Lopez -- Will he get 500 ABs when and if he signs?
20.  O. Hudson -- Won't hurt you, won't help you.  Kinda like eating lettuce.

A couple other names to be aware of here.  Gordon Beckham doesn't qualify yet, but he is slated to be the Chi Sox 2B this year.  He fits somewhere in the 8-12 range when he hits the requirements.  Mark Ellis will help in streaks, but is more of a two week cup of coffee guy.  Kaz Matsui is a threat for cheap speed, and Chris Coghlan is a natural second baseman killing his fantasy value in LF due to the presence of Uggla.  As far as prospects go, there isn't much here worth noting at this point.  Not much at all.  I do like Brett Lawrie in Milwaukee, but consensus seems to think he is more than a year away and may have to move off the position.  Oh, and there's Dustin Ackley, who is a polished hitter, but most think the second base experiment simply will not work and he'll head back to CF and appear in Seattle in 2011.

I think we'll run with the hot corner on Saturday.

Cheers,
TFAM

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