Archive for First Base

It’s time to update our first base tiered rankings now that we’re into June and more than one-third of the way through the season. Due to popular demand, I’m leaving the catchers (Mike Napoli, Buster Posey, Joe Mauer, Carlos Santana) and middle infielders (Michael Young, Howie Kendrick) out of the rankings since they’re so obviously more valuable at other positions despite having first base eligibility in most leagues. Here are the preseason and May tiers for reference.

Tier One
Miguel Cabrera
Joey Votto
Paul Konerko
Prince Fielder
Albert Pujols

Konerko makes the long overdue jump into the top tier thanks to his MLB-best 189 wRC+. That latest minor wrist procedure doesn’t concern me much, the man has gotten better and better with age.

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The great thing about playing in a league deeper than 12-team mixed for a change is I can now simply check out the week’s pickups in the 15-team LABR league for inspiration. Both the players highlighted today were won with FAAB this past Monday.

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Billy Buter, AKA Country Breakfast, may finally be worth a slot as a full-time first baseman in standard formats. Butler’s often had to be utilized as a fill in at the position or someone to stick in the utility slot, but his increased power has made him a top-12 player at the most hitter friendly position in the game.

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Following the defections of Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols this offseason, RotoGraphs readers voted that Mike Morse was the second-best fantasy first baseman in the National League behind Joey Votto. He received 42.89% of the vote while Lance Berkman trailed at 32.23%. The conglomerate of “Someone Else” brought up the rear at 24.87%.

Less than two months into the season, the NL first base situation is a mess. Morse hasn’t played at all due to a lat problem and Berkman managed just 49 plate appearances between injuries. His latest knee problem will have him on the sidelines for weeks. Ike Davis, one of my preseason breakout picks, has been the worst player in all of baseball at -1.2 WAR and is painfully close to being optioned to Triple-A. Ryan Howard’s hurt, Paul Goldschmidt has only hit two homers, Gaby Sanchez was sent to the minors … it’s ugly out there.

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Eric Hosmer has been a huge disappointment this season with a 0.174/0.243/0.316 slash line. Most of his problems stem from a 0.169 BABIP. I am going to look to see if there are any under lying problems for the drop and any possible reasons for optimism.

As I stated previously, Eric has a BABIP of 0.169. It is the lowest value of all hitters with at least 150 PA. In 2011, he was 50th out of 145 qualified hitters with a 0.314 BABIP.

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When I published our updated first base tier rankings last week, I mentioned that Adrian Gonzalez had hit just 13 homers in his previous 478 plate appearances dating back to last year. That stretch is now up to 509 plate appearances, not all that far off from a full season’s worth of playing time. Considering that Gonzalez is in his prime (turned 30 two days ago) and moved out of Petco Park and into Fenway Park last year, the recent lack of power is a bit troubling.

The first red flag that comes to mind is his right shoulder — the power shoulder for left-handed hitters — which was surgically repaired (torn labrum) just prior to his trade to the Red Sox. Gonzalez admitted to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that his shoulder was feeling weak and tired last September, but he recently told Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe that he’s healthy now…
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You can read all the books and blogs you want, but once you start the (wonderful, frightening) process of being a parent, most of it goes out the window. It’s immediately triage: HOW DO I GET THIS BABY TO STOP CRYING.

You can read all the books and blogs you want, but once you start the (wonderful, frightening) process of being a fantasy manger, most of it goes out the window. It’s immediately triage: HOW DO I FIELD A COMPETENT LINEUP WITH ALL THESE DUDES ON THE DL.

So it’s been a month of triage. Let’s look at the first base consensus rankings and see what happened. Then we’ll head down the line and update all the positions.

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With the calendar now flipped over to May, it’s time to update our position rankings. Here are our first base preseason tiers and consensus rankings. Due to popular demand, I’m leaving the catchers — Mike Napoli, Carlos Santana, Joe Mauer, Buster Posey — out of the first base tiers from here on out. We all know they’re far, far more valuable behind the plate both in real life and in fantasy. Remember, these rankings are geared more towards what players are expected to do from here on out, not necessarily what they did during the first month of the season.

Tier One
Miguel Cabrera
Joey Votto
Prince Fielder
Adrian Gonzalez
Albert Pujols

So, how worried are you about Pujols? The ZiPS rest-of-season projection still loves him (.291/.376/.532) and I’m sure he’ll still whack 20-something homers the rest of the way, but is he still a lock for .300/30/100? I find that hard to believe at the moment. I’m not going to drop him out of the top tier after one bad month, but consider him officially on notice.

Meanwhile, did you know that Gonzalez has hit just 13 homers in his last 478 plate appearances dating back to last season? What’s up with that?

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It’s the best day of the week as we once again take a dip into the free agent pool. My goal by the end of the season is to incorporate as many puns as I can into my introduction, so feel free to offer suggestions in the comments. Today is a look at two hitters who may actually earn some mixed league value, which doesn’t happen very often when looking at the 15% owned and below.

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Once upon a time, Todd Helton was a fantasy monster and one of the very best players in the world. His 2000-2004 seasons were off-the-charts great — .349/.450/.643 with a .452 wOBA in 3,448 PA — and it wasn’t just Coors Field because a ton of other players played there as well, and none of ’em hit like that. Age and injuries have taken their toll on the greatest player in Rockies’ history, but Helton has remained productive in recent years and is currently a nice little buy-low candidate for fantasy owners.

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