I get it – Dee Gordon probably burned you in 2012, when you took him as the 10th shortstop off the board, expecting 60-plus stolen bases and a Billy Hamilton-esque layup in the steals category.

Coming off a 24-steal performance in just 56 games the year prior, it was easy to look past the fact that Gordon only sporadically showed a good discipline profile in the minors. This guy can run. ZIPS wasn’t quite as friendly as public opinion but still saw a .271 average and a .310 on-base percentage that was good enough to afford Gordon 74 stolen base opportunities.

He failed. He stole you 32 bases, sure, but scored just 38 runs, appeared in only 87 games and had a pathetic .228/.280/.281 slash line.

It’s time to forgive him.
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On Mondays during the season, I generally focus on the second base position, whether that’s highlighting a specific player or breaking down my tiered rankings for the position. The tiered rankings ran last week and it’s too early in the season to meaningfully analyze individual player performance; however, I have noticed a couple things I wanted to touch on as we begin the second week of the season.

One of the more interesting aspects of the 2013 fantasy baseball season was the realization that the second base position was actually quite bad. It didn’t dip below the anemic level of shortstops, but its collective .305 wOBA wasn’t far behind and was worse than the league-average catcher. When discussing position scarcity and the shortstop position, fantasy owners should lump second base into the same group. In deeper leagues, the second base position can get ugly rather quickly.

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It’s hard to believe that it’s that time of year again — the start of a new baseball season and the return of the deep league waiver wire. Ownership rates are sometimes dramatically different depending on the league site, so it’s always a little difficult to determine what pool of players to choose from for recommending. Just like in previous years, I will only consider players owned in 10% or less of leagues on CBS.

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It’s Opening Day for the vast majority of teams, which means it’s also the day in which fantasy leagues begin in earnest. Let’s run down the tiered rankings for the second base position, with the kind reminder that not every player with second base eligibility will be named in this space and that rankings will certainly shift throughout the season. This captures a moment in time and serves as my rough rankings coming into the season.

TIER ONE

Robinson Cano
Jason Kipnis

Cano may not flirt with 30 home runs in his new pitcher-friendly ballpark — as Yankee Stadium was one of the best power parks for lefties and Safeco is below-average — but his fantasy demise has been slightly overblown. He’s still hit over .300 in seven of the past eight seasons. People are also placing too much weight on Cano’s switching to a “lesser” offense. The Yankees weren’t exactly a juggernaut in 2013. Cano compiled 100+ RBI for a team that only scored 26 more runs than the Seattle Mariners. Admittedly, he likely shouldn’t be expected to log 100+ runs and 100+ RBI this year; however, the 31-year-old didn’t do that in 2013 and was still the number-one second baseman at the end of the season.

Kipnis could very well be the top fantasy second baseman in 2014, but that’s more because I’m high on Kipnis, not necessarily because I believe Cano’s production will fall off a cliff in Seattle.

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Preseason injuries have hit the Texas Rangers pretty hard, and Jurickson Profar is the latest member of the team to suffer one.

Jurickson Profar will miss 10 to 12 weeks with a torn muscle in his shoulder. #Rangers

— Jeff Wilson (@JeffWilson_FWST) March 23, 2014

First things first. If you’ve already drafted, it will be time to hit the waiver wire once the season starts and Profar is eligible to be moved to your DL slot. If Profar was filling your second base slot, here is a list of names from which you should look to replace him in order of my preference (I realize some of these guys will not be available depending on the depth of your league): Anthony Rendon, Kelly Johnson,  Marco Scutaro, Marcus Semien. And if you had Profar in your middle infield slot, here is a list of potential replacements that includes shortstops: Brad Miller, Rendon, Alcides Escobar, Johnson, Scutaro, Zack Cozart, Erick Aybar, Semien. The list of candidates to replace Profar in Texas is fairly long and uninspiring at this point, but in the event that they go with prospect Rougned Odor (unlikely), those of you in keeper leagues might consider a stash.

It’s no surprise that the list of acceptable replacements is thin, but this is also a good time to talk about the state of second base as we head into the last week of fantasy drafts. It would seem that there are four clear tiers of second basemen. Below is a chart showing the four tiers along with each player’s ADP on ESPN.com. Read the rest of this entry »

OK, so not really. In fact, if you don’t know Brad Ausmus personally, then he probably doesn’t even know you have a fantasy team, let alone care about it. But the headline is a good attention-grabber and you all know how I love to lure you in with the headline. But while we all know that real-life managers don’t make their decisions based on how they’re going to impact the fantasy world, some times it feels like that when you own a player or two on that team and you don’t agree with a decision…or potential decision as the case may be here. I’m talking about the idea of Ian Kinsler batting leadoff for Detroit this year while Austin Jackson is moved down to the five-hole, or possibly even lower. Kinsler? Really? Read the rest of this entry »

I think second base stinks this year. It gets boring real quick and there is a serious lack of speed. In the past, we use to rely on our middle infielders for significant stolen base production, but the second base crop for the most part can no longer be counted on.

The second base edition of Pod’s Picks may help you find value or learn who to avoid at their current going rates. The bullish section will only include players from my top 20, while the bearish group will only include those whose RotoGraphs consensus is in the top 20.

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Here’s a super easy post, I’ll admit it. All I did was take the difference between my rankings and the consensus rankings (which you can find on the right-hand nav bar) and sort. But I’ll do a little writeup for each group of hitters so you can know why I like them. The numbers listed for each player are steamer projections, which aren’t exactly what I used, but can give you an idea of how useful the player will be in your league. Good luck drafting.

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Currently, Jed Lowrie is going as the 16th shortstop or 17th second baseman in Yahoo! leagues. This is the third hitter on a playoff team who played a full season last year with a high average and solid power production, and as I previously alluded to, is eligible at two of the notoriously weakest hitting positions in the game.
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Maybe we all use rankings differently. Most of the time, I look at rankings and try to find where I value players differently. That’s gold! A ranking that’s too high for my liking means I can throw that player to get money on the table, or wait a round because I’m sure someone will take him. A player I like better than others is someone I can wait for.

I guess there might be a ranking out there that would be perfect for me, that I would take and use for myself without editing. Not even sure my rankings are those rankings. Because we’re getting information daily and that can nudge a guy up or down. But sure, I’ll be using my rankings in my drafts, in some form.

What you could also do is use the spreadsheet that will come at the end of these rankings, bump guys up or down a bit as you see fit, and really personalize your ranks for your needs, wants, desires and outlook on life. That might work, too.

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