It's unfortunate, sad but true, that the fantasy baseball season is winding down. A few (to many) managers have stopped paying to their teams, and have shifted their focus to fantasy football. There is nothing wrong with paying attention to your FFB team, but if you manged to play 23 of the weeks, I'm sure you last another 3.
With that being said, most managers have an idea of what their roster will like next season in keeper leagues. Other mangers in one and done leagues, know which players they're going to draft, which they aren't, who "their" sleepers are, and some even have a rough idea of where they're drafting those guys. Count me in that category.
Others will go through the winter without even a wandering thought about fantasy baseball. Come February, when the first magazine comes out they buy it and read through it. Start to formulate a basic draft strategy, and then wait.
By this time, March has rolled around and now they're starting to see that "their" sleeper is on everyone's list (ie 2008 Dustin McGowan). Some will start to buckle down and do some research, others will wait until the day before the draft. Bring their books and notes(you do make notes right?) to the computer sit down for 3 hours, and draft away.
Fanatics such as myself, will have spent all winter breaking down, stats, farm systems, and displaying, generally neurotic, and overly obsessive behavior. We'll wake up in cold sweats screaming, "Lastings Milledge, $12!".
Hunched over our laptops, and PC's creating crude spread sheets, and notes, all to gain the slightest edge over the competition ( a group of guys you've likely never met in person. We'll learn, and begin to become consumed by menial, and generally useless facts, such as, Matt Cain posting just 30 career victories in 103 games. But you'll still draft him, hoping the one day he'll get run support and finally win 16-18 games like he was meant to from the time he left his mothers womb. But I digress.
This is the first in a series of installments in this blog, ranking the top 20 players at each position, followed by a list of the top 50 prospects for next season, and finally, my own "sleepers" , or players that I like to refer as undervalued commodities, that I like to think no one else on the planet knows about.
So without further ado, and all that good junk here they are...
Catcher-
1- Brian McCann- Best pop at the position, make your argument.
2- Russel Martin- Will he ever get a rest?
3- Geovony Soto- Sure this was break out season, do you doubt him?
4- Joe Mauer- Consistently making you wait for power. I'm done waiting.
5- Victor Martinez- Sure he's been injured, but the position flexibility
helps.
6- Ryan Doumit- Finally seized the job, Ronny who?
7- Benjie Molina- Yeah he's getting old, but he's still productive
8- Kelly Shoppach- Is V-Mart a full time 1b next year? I say yes.
9- Chris Iannetta- An improvement this season, I look for more next year.
10- Dioner Navarro- Finally delivered on his promise, a poor mans Joe
Mauer.
11- Yadier Molina- His best is yet to come. Will be the best Molina.
12- AJ Pierzynski- Don't draft him, let him fall to you.
13- Chris Snyder- Will he ever be the full time guy?
14- Pablo Sandoval- I love catchers who don't spend all their time at catcher.
15- Jesus Flores- Is he the Nats saviors? No too sac religions OK sorry.
16- Kurt Suzuki- Not a great fantasy option, but he'll get AB, plenty of them.
17- Jorge Posada- Did surgery prolong his career?
18- Jarrod Saltalamacchia- Remember your catcher/1b sleeper last year? Ouch.
19- Taylor Teagarden- Highly touted prospect, will he grab the job from #20?
20- Gerald Laird- Will he finally get dealt or hold onto the job?
Other notable catchers- Ivan Rodriguez, Rob Barajas, Jason Varitek, Kenji Johjima, Mike Napoli, will all likely get draft and will all definitely be owned at some point, but are better left on the waiver wire. These options are either too old, not productive enough, or too streaky to be your everyday catcher.
So those are my tentative, no authoritative, catcher rankings for next season.
Next week, we'll cover 1b, guess who reigns supreme there...
As always leave a comment.
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2 comments:
Hey man I love to read your posts on ESPN.com baseball fanboards and this list is phenominal. I can't wait to see the rest of the lists at other positions and I'm saving them all on my computer for next season. Thanks so much!
Thanks man, that's good to hear.
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