Rankings Update: First Base
I bet some of you fine folks are wondering where your catcher rankings are, right? Well, I am alternating weeks with catcher rankings and corner infield rankings. At this point in the year, rankings won’t change much week to week, so this is a much better option.
Gigantic Two
Miguel Cabrera
Albert Pujols
Dropping Albert to the number two spot doesn’t feel right, but Miggy deserves to be ranked above him.
Big Three
Justin Morneau
Adrian Gonzalez
Joey Votto
Remember when everyone got on my case for keeping Morneau down? Good times. After the top five, the rankings got really tricky. Here goes nothing.
Surprised?
Ryan Howard
Adam Dunn
Kevin Youkilis
Prince Fielder
I never thought I’d see Howard and Fielder down this far, but they’ve looked like mere mortals this season. Howard has an excuse (batting stance), but what’s Prince’s? Did he accidentally eat some meat?
I Am Jack’s First Baseman
Paul Konerko
Mark Teixeira
Garrett Jones
Troy Glaus
Jack has a catcher, so he should probably think about picking up a first baseman. I have no clue what is going on with Mark Teixeira, but it looks like he may have lost some pop in his bat compared to last year.
Writer’s Block
Billy Butler
Adam LaRoche
Nick Swisher
Luke Scott
If you want average, Butler’s your man. If you want OBP, Swisher’s your guy.
The Rest of ‘Em
David Ortiz
Carlos Pena
James Loney
Aubrey Huff
Lance Berkman
Justin Smoak
Derrek Lee
Russell Branyan
Pena falls really far, because I’m not willing to pay for his batting average to get his homers. He has some luck issues, but he’s not helping anything. This is a big group, but I felt like all of them belonged together. Could make good points for all of them being above each other. Papi might belong in the “Writer’s Block” group, but I’m not comfortable putting him there.
Zach is the creator and co-author of RotoGraphs' Roto Riteup series, and RotoGraphs' second-longest tenured writer. You can follow him on twitter.
These are just silly
Are these in a “Rest of Season” context?
Yes. We don’t care about what they’ve done, but what they are going to do going forward.
So, esstenially in a mid-season draft you’d take Paul K over Tex.
Just wanted to clarify. Only an observation, really enjoy these ranking pieces though.
*essentially
Never thought I’d say it, but yes.
But, since Konerko and Teix are in the same group, I wouldn’t fault anyone for putting Teix above Konerko. That’s how the tiers are supposed to work. Arguing over spots inside a tier is just silly.
True, and even ZIPS has Tex and Paul as equals from here on out. Seems unthinkable, but is what it is.
Thanks.
This list looks more like current standings than rest of the season. Miguel Cabrera is not going to outperform Albert Pujols, Justin Mourneau is historically a first half guy, while Tex has always been a second half guy.
I thought I blundered onto Rotoworld when I read this. Then I realized there’s about a dozen guys listed above that all have a WAR worse than Daric Barton, who’s omitted and realized that outside of Fangraphs needing page hits or Twitter traffic, this entry’s barely above replacement level itself.
This is fantasy baseball, why do we care about WAR?
Why anyone would consider rostering Daric Barton is beyond me, unless it’s a 13 team AL-only league. Sure, he scores some runs but his average has finally leveled off. Four homers from one of your corners? Be my guest.
Also, TERRIBLE sabermetrics joke.
Who’s the better 1B in a 5×5 keeper – Morneau or Gonzalez?
I’d keep Gonzalez.
Russel Branyan over both Ike Davis and Gaby Sanchez?
I’ve been deliberating between the last two for a couple days, but BranFlakes is probably available…
How can Youklis be surprise? He is raking this yr
“Surprised” is referring to Howard and Fielder being dropped down that far.
Dunn over Youkilis? Wow.
Rable rable rable Pujols!! Rable rable rable