This year, I’m going to change the format of the fantasy rankings a bit. Instead of lumping positions into sections such as infield or outfield and putting then together in a few large articles, I’m going to go position by position. This may take longer, but we are starting earlier this year, and we’re also running two Fantasy Beat pieces per week. This will allow me to fulfill an oft-repeated request from readers of last year’s rankings, which was to provide longer lists in order to give a better idea of what I thought about more players, as well as making things easier on those who choose to play in AL- or NL-only leagues.
Today, we’ll start with first base. This position is in a transition phase, as many of the up-and-coming sluggers of years past are entrenched within the top ten, while many of the former standouts for the position have fallen towards the back of the list. There’s not much of an injection of new blood though, as many of these players have been around for a few years. You’re going to see names that you recognize, but the generational shift in power is in full force.
In order to make these rankings, I used the 2009 weighted-mean PECOTA projections as a base, and then tweaked things as I saw them. This isn’t a descending list of projected 2009 VORP by any means. Remember to check out the players’ 75th– and 25th-percentile forecasts on their PECOTA cards once they’re released as well, as those will help you make decisions between players you may be debating over.
Rank Player Team PA R HR RBI SB AVG/ OBP/ SLG Beta 1. Albert Pujols Cardinals 663 126 35 124 7 .339/.443/.609 0.78 2. Lance Berkman Astros 620 104 28 97 11 .299/.402/.534 0.84 3. Mark Teixeira Yankees 647 94 28 102 2 .287/.379/.506 0.89 4. Ryan Howard Phillies 631 96 40 110 0 .270/.374/.547 1.10 5. Miguel Cabrera Tigers 651 94 32 111 3 .294/.369/.527 0.95 6. Prince Fielder Brewers 661 99 33 105 3 .286/.380/.527 0.95 7. Joey Votto Reds 574 88 26 86 11 .289/.370/.514 0.99 8. Adrian Gonzalez Padres 649 83 27 99 1 .277/.356/.480 0.93 9. Carlos Pena Rays 600 80 30 91 1 .239/.359/.476 0.92 10. Chris Davis Rangers 574 70 29 93 4 .259/.312/.490 0.97
I don’t think it’s a surprise that my first-base fantasy rankings would lead off with the best player in all of baseball. He’s a force of nature whether he’s playing hurt or healthy, and according to his Beta he’s also one of the safest picks to meet that forecast. If you play in a league where defense counts, he’s somehow even more valuable thanks to his excellent play with the glove. His offensive numbers across the board are basically a lock to all be top-five worthy or better, and the seven steals, a solid output from this position, are an added bonus.
Lance Berkman and Mark Teixeira are both switch-hitters who are consistently among the most valuable at the position, and they’d receive more recognition if the best player on the planet wasn’t looking down on them year in and year out. I put Berkman first because of the projected difference in stolen bases. I think PECOTA may be a bit low on Teixeira. If nothing else, he’s a player whose 75th-percentile forecast is worthy of significant interest once it’s released.
Howard’s forecast looks a lot like last year’s campaign; maybe this time, for the sake of head-to-head leagues, he’ll try to spread the production out over more than six weeks. Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder are both capable of hitting some homers, and they should score and drive in plenty of runs. They aren’t quite elite-level players at the position, but they do rate as at least A- types.
Joey Votto gets some extra love from me because of his home park, and because I feel like he’s a safe bet to hit at least .275/.355/.490 or so. There’s some upside there as seen in his forecast, and there’s the fact that he plays his home games in the Great American (Batting Practice) Ballpark.
Adrian Gonzalez has the opposite problem; if he weren’t in Petco for half of his games, I’d have him much closer to the top five, because he’s one of the better hitters in the game. He hit .308/.368/.578 last year on the road, and .304/.367/.560 away in 2006-2008 combined. As it is, I like him better than his forecast, and potentially better than Votto’s, even with Petco in the way.
PECOTA doesn’t trust Chris Davis. The strikeouts are a problem that could become worse before they get better; that would explain the low batting average. His walk rate isn’t anything special, so if he does hit for low average, his OBP will go in the tank as forecasted. That being said, he has massive power potential, and he is playing half of his games in the American League’s version of Coors Field in the middle of what should be one of the most powerful lineups in the game. There’s too much to love here to not give him a shot if you’re a gambling lad or lady, and he’s conveniently ranked in an area where all of the stars are already gone; you have to choose between upside and safety at the position from here on out.
Rank Player Team PA R HR RBI SB AVG/ OBP/ SLG Beta 11. Justin Morneau Twins 655 84 24 101 1 .281/.354/.475 0.96 12. Kevin Youkilis Red Sox 597 81 21 84 3 .275/.366/.475 0.93 13. Derrek Lee Cubs 612 84 19 85 8 .289/.369/.464 1.05 14. Conor Jackson D'backs 602 85 16 76 8 .295/.373/.461 1.00 15. Carlos Delgado Mets 583 77 26 96 2 .277/.355/.486 0.96 16. Adam LaRoche Pirates 551 71 24 82 1 .270/.353/.487 0.88 17. James Loney Dodgers 595 74 15 78 6 .286/.347/.445 0.95 18. Nick Johnson Nationals 430 66 15 58 4 .266/.410/.472 1.09 19. Casey Kotchman Braves 538 64 11 66 1 .288/.353/.423 0.88 20. Todd Helton Rockies 444 62 11 55 1 .291/.405/.449 1.02
You may have noticed that almost all of these projections, save for those of Nick Johnson and Ryan Howard, are considered to be on the safe side via Beta. That lowers the potential upside and downside for all of these guys, but at least it makes it easier to translate the rankings into draft picks.
Being ranked 11th is not a knock against Justin Morneau; first base is just loaded with talent, and PECOTA and I agree that he was a bit higher than he should have been in 2008. Those of you who know that I watch the Red Sox may be surprised to see that Kevin Youkilis has fallen all the way to 12th, but he was ranked third in the American League in home runs that were classified as Just Enough, with 12. “Just Enough,” according to Hit Tracker, is when “…the ball cleared the fence by less than 10 vertical feet, or that it landed less than one fence-height past the fence. These are the ones that barely made it over the fence.” You can’t expect Youkilis to get all 12 of those home runs again this year, which significantly reduces his power value.
Derrek Lee’s stock has fallen, but he started out at such a high place that we can still pretend he’s likely to recover and not be too upset when he doesn’t. Conor Jackson is solid, but he’s kind of like the poor man’s Youkilis. PECOTA thinks that Carlos Delgado still has something left in the tank; I’m a bit skeptical, but PECOTA is usually pretty good about sounding the death knell on players who are losing their skills, and it clearly doesn’t think that Delgado’s there. If you believe he’s going to keep it up at least one more year, then he and Adam LaRoche are pretty fungible, with LaRoche’s upside about the same, despite being significantly younger.
What is it about potential sluggers turning into mid-range first basemen for Los Angeles teams? Loney is starting to look like a better version of Casey Kotchman, but that’s not enough in fantasy leagues that use both AL and NL rosters. Speaking of Kotchman, he makes it on to the list by virtue of having the starting job in Atlanta; you will probably only want to pay attention to him if you’re in a deep NL-only league.
Nick Johnson would get more love if you could promise me he wasn’t going to shatter into a million little pieces because he swung too hard at a fastball. As it is, I think ranking him at all is being generous, so feel free to strike his name from the list and replace him with your favorite of my “Just Missed” candidates. Last, we have Todd Helton. The same deal that applies to Johnson applies to Helton; if you could guarantee his back was healthy, I would have an easier time believing PECOTA. Until then though, only deep NL-only leagues need apply, and that’s only if you get hosed out of your other options.
Just missing the top 20: Jason Giambi, who may lose a little more power due to age and the switch to pitcher-friendly Oakland; Nick Swisher, who should be considered as a rebound candidate that can play multiple positions (problem is, I’m not sold on just how much he’ll rebound yet); and Paul Konerko, who apparently didn’t hear that the White Sox were finished with spring training until August last year. PECOTA thinks he’s capable of .256/.345/.458, but if you’ve got more faith in his big finish than his lackluster start, swap him on the list with one of my guys who you don’t approve of and go from there, as a productive Konerko grabbed late in the draft is a good way to boost your own team’s chances of victory.
Thank you for reading
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\"At the beginning of the Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball season, Yahoo! Sports placed all players into positions based in part on information from official rosters, but focusing mainly on past performance.\"
If you have 5 starts or 10 appearances at a new position during the season they will add you.
As for the beginning of the season positions, it just has that vague quote above, so it is hard to tell.
So expect a rebound to 2006/2007 Konerko, but not 2004/2005 Konerko. 30 HR, .275 AVG.
Like I said though, part of the reason I want to go 20 deep with these lists and include a few just missed guys is so that all of you have a list you can use on draft day that you can tweak to your own liking. If Pena doesn\'t work for you in your own league because of the BA, or you don\'t think he\'ll hit for a decent one, then shift him down and swap someone else in. That\'s not a knock on you either, just my general idea with these rankings.
Expanding on the comments above regarding positional eligibility in Yahoo leagues, many of the fulltime DHs have 1B-eligibility. How would that eligibility affect your rankings above?
Also, you\'re obviously not basing this on eligibility, but 2009 primary position, otherwise Atkins and Gordon would have to fit in here someplace, probably in the top 10 based on PECOTA.
What\'s difficult about making these lists is that so many people play with different rules, or don\'t even play the same type of fantasy game. It makes creating a universal rank kind of difficult, so I do my best to make note of things like that when I can.
1. I\'d be a fan if you went even further than 20 players per position. I\'m in an NL-only auction league where every player is relevant, and I\'d bet many BP readers are similarly in very deep leagues where guys like Sandoval matter (recognizing that for guys like Gaby Sanchez, the playing time variable is probably more important, and a lot harder to predict, than the performance variable, especially in February). And I don\'t think it needs to be consistent for every position - for example, going with only 20 at 1B but 25 or 30 at 3B might make sense, since 1B has more overlap with DH/OF.
2. Since you\'re starting so early, you might also consider adding some kind of \"UPDATE\" at the top of each article every few weeks, to note any risers/fallers. Will feel a lot better about Helton and Nick Johnson if we\'re hearing good things in March.
If some new items pop up, I\'ll try to wrap that stuff up when I can in future articles as well. Thanks.
I\'d also add in a 5x5 projection for what PECOTA thinks the production of an average player at each position would be.
I agree with the rankings for the most part, except for Conor Jackson and Casey Kotchman being ranked so high. I prefer to draft players who, at minimum, would be average with the potential to be above average.. and neither of those two players have shown a high enough average or power to justify taking them over more interesting gambles like Butler, etc... though if it was a points league, Conor Jackson makes more sense.
Re some of the comments above, obviously the more players you can cover the better. Also, I wouldn\'t comment on position eligibility or any non-traditional categories - let the readers apply their own league eligibility rules to the PECOTA stats; that\'s what PFM is for.
I\'m curious as to your ranking of Howard ahead of
Miguel Cabrera. Are 8 HRs really more valuable than .24 points of batting average. Plus, Howard has that riskier Beta. What was your reasoning here?