Fantasy Baseball! Top Twelve Shortstops

The shortstop position seems better than it has been the last few years due to power boosts from Hardy, Asdrubal Cabrera, and the emergence of Starlin Castro. There's seems to be a plateau after the first three, so if you don't jump in early you would be best served waiting for value later on. Also...Hanley Ramirez might be an incredible value this year, but I personally wouldn't touch him unless he falls in my lap. He doesn't seem to care at all about playing baseball anymore...so it's hard to know how much of his talent will actually show up.

ADR	AG
1. Troy Tulowitzki	1. Troy Tulowitzki
2. Jose Reyes	2. Hanley Ramirez
3. Hanley Ramirez	3. Jose Reyes
4. Starlin Castro	4. Asdrubal Cabrera
5. Jimmy Rollins	5. Jimmy Rollins
6. Asdrubal Cabrera	6. Starlin Castro
7. JJ Hardy	7. Elvis Andrus
8. Elvis Andrus	8. Alexei Ramirez
9. Derek Jeter	9. J.J. Hardy
10. Alexei Ramirez	10. Jhonny Peralta
11. Jhonny Peralta	11. Derek Jeter
12. Stephen Drew	12. Dee Gordon

Fantasy Baseball! Top Twelve First Basemen

This year’s crop of first basemen offers a lot of intriguing youngsters…..so it will be interesting to see which ones emerge as legit fantasy producers. (Neither list even includes the likes of Ike Davis, Freddie Freeman, Anthony Rizzo, Mat Gamel, Justin Smoak, Mark Trumbo, or Paul Goldshmidt). There is a lot of potential value here if you can grab the right guys for cheap early on. ***Bonus points if you grab a young one that starts out hot and then flip him for a more valuable first baseman later on.

ADR	AG
1. Miguel Cabrera	1. Miguel Cabrera
2. Albert Pujols	2. Adrian Gonzalez
3. Adrian Gonzalez	3. Albert Pujols
4. Joey Votto	4. Prince Fielder
5. Mark Texiera	5. Joey Votto
6. Prince Fielder	6. Mark Texiera
7. Lance Berkman	7. Lance Berkman
8. Paul Konerko	8. Paul Konerko
9. Michael Morse	9. Adam Lind
10. Eric Hosmer	10. Eric Hosmer
11. Adam Lind	11. Michael Morse
12. Mitch Moreland	12. Adam Dunn

A few quick comments:

-You’ll notice that Miguel Cabrera got a boost due to his third base eligibility and new partner in crime, Prince Fielder. However, Fielder takes a plunge because of moving from a great hitter’s park to the unfriendly dimensions of Comerica Park. According to Hit Tracker, NINE of Prince’s home runs in Milwaukee from last year would not have left the ballpark in Detroit. (Thanks to Fantasy Focus podcast for that tidbit.)

-AG has Adam Dunn at #12. That’s a great pick. You can’t find 35+ homer upside this late in a draft…..unless a player is coming off one of the strangest and worst seasons of all time. AG and I both fully expect a bounce back for Dunn, and there’s no harm in taking a flier.

-And my #12….Mitch Moreland?? He’s still only 26, and what if Nolan Ryan was onto something when he passed on Fielder and said…..”No thanks, we really like Moreland.” (I was going to ask Nolan whether or not he was serious about these comments but then I remembered that video of him beating the crap out of Robin Ventura. I’m going to take him at his word.) In addition, Moreland plays in a launching pad, and will be stationed toward the back of one of the most potent lineups in baseball. Lastly, he hit some of the longest home runs of 2011, so you know the power is there if he can show it consistently.