So after a grueling process of ranking and re-ranking, we bring you the Top 100 players for 2013 from Rotobrian, SDWooden, Backdoor Jared, Madbank Thaller, Shorty, and Smuggling Plums Butler. These rankings were made with a 5×5 rotisserie league in mind. On the right side of the table are the Composite Ranks. Use the comments section to air your praise or grievances. -rotobrian
“I know more about Morneau than Morneau knows about Morneau…and Morneau knows it.”
They say when you’re doing an auction draft, you should spend $180 on hitting, leaving only $80 for pitching. And the reasoning is simple: your hitters play everyday, while your starting pitchers are only going to pitch twice a week at most. In a head-to-head league, where a pitcher is only giving you between 6-15 innings a week, the impact isn’t very significant. Conversely, in a rotisserie league, where you’re compiling numbers all year round, and pitcher stats are valuable due to an innings limit, top-shelf pitchers are a hotter commodity. Regardless of the style of gameplay, there will always be pitching late in a draft. Not listed below are fantasy nuggets like Dan Haren, Derek Holland, Johan Santana, Kyle Lohse, Lance Lynn, Ryan Vogelsong, and Chris Capuano, all of whom will be available near the end of your draft. Because of this ability to get talent late, you won’t need to get seven or eight of these top-37 pitchers. But it should be noted that ending a draft without at least two to three would be a detriment to your team. Having a few mainstays, a few sure things, is without question, the way you’ll win a championship.
Even after going over my rankings, there are a few players who have questions marks, at least for me.
Last year, the Washington Nationals had Stephen Strasburg on an innings limit, but in 2013 apparently they’re taking off the kid gloves. Word to the wise: he’s still going to be on an innings limit, just a higher one. Don’t kid yourself. I can’t see the executives in D.C. letting their prized youngster throw over 200 innings. But the amount of strikeouts he can get with that many innings will outweigh any ball and chain tied to him.
Another player who I worry about is Chris Sale and his paper thin body. In 2012, Sale threw 192 innings, 121 more than his previous high. The work load increase frightens me. He seems like a DL stint waiting to happen. And throw in a post all-star break ERA of 4.03 and I wonder if I have him ranked too high.
Roll the dice, my friends. Starting pitchers always seem to be the most risky picks.
Braun proved that not even controversy can slow him down.
I was rereading my outfield rankings for the 2012 season and, while I had a few players pegged perfectly, overall I’d missed the mark on many occasions. I wasn’t high enough on guys like Mike Trout and Bryce Harper (but who really saw two 20 and unders taking the league by storm?). I didn’t give Andrew McCutchen enough credit (I won’t make the same mistake this year). I was bullish on Justin Upton’s ascension, but he regressed instead. I was a mess.
Because there are so many outfielders, it’s tremendously difficult to calculate. In the following rankings, I’m sure some players near the bottom of my rankings will have career years, while some players near the top will have lamentable seasons. As a fantasy manager, you can’t project those occurrences. All you can do is look at track record (most recent stats being most important) and cross your fingers.
Even though I have Trout as my number two outfielder (and in a few weeks he’ll be ranked pretty highly in my top-100), you can’t expect him to have the same stats from last year. His peripherals suggest a decline, mainly in his power and batting average. Some super fanatics will suggest that Trout should be the number one outfielder off the board, but I’ll take the more projectable Ryan Braun in every draft.
This is supposed to be the year that Jason Heyward becomes “fantasy elite,” and he’s got a great chance to do it (he’s surrounded by outstanding talent). But Heyward still hasn’t shown that he can drive in runs consistently. I’d much rather have Adam Jones a round or two later.
“Follow me to freedom!”
I always struggle to come up with a good story line or metaphor for the third basemen. Last year I wrote about how I finally succumbed to the reality that Jose Bautista was actually a good player; and, of course, he got hurt. For two years I fought the Bautista bandwagon. But he finally broke me down. Like a player who is hitting on a pretty girl at a bar; his charm knocked down all my walls. And then, with one quick motion, he ripped my heart out, and as I stood there, looking at my heart leisurely beating on the bar, I knew it would happen like this. It couldn’t have ended any other way.
Thankfully, Jose is no longer a third baseman. So, I just wasted a paragraph, and three minutes of your precious time.
This is the first year that Miguel Cabrera will enter the season with third base eligibility since the 2009 season (depending on your eligibility rules). He wasn’t even on this list last year, as I refuse to rank players at a position who have yet to gain that eligibility. Gosh, I’m saying eligibility a lot. Cabrera is easily the best third baseman, and quite possibly the best player in Major League Baseball, depending on who you talk to. I’ve said for years, Miguel Cabrera is the key to a fantasy championship. Go ahead, try and argue against it.
I wrote extensively about how I dislike Chase Headley this year, only to end up with him in a 12-team keeper league this past weekend ($17 in an auction draft; got caught trying to raise the price on him. Truly thought he would go for much more). You can read about my reasoning by following the link on his name.
Like I said, I find it hard to come up with metaphors for these guys. So here are the rankings.
Every year, fantasy baseball grows in size, exposing more of the population to the sad, masochistic, stat-filled addiction that the strange few of us already know like the back of our hands. Usually, the first decision new managers have to face is which format they want to play under: rotisserie (roto) or head-to-head. My recommendation to new owners: join one of each because even though both are amazingly addicting, they’re remarkably different. I enjoy head-to-head formats better than rotisserie because I like the thrill of week-to-week drama. The rivalry aspect is also unique to head-to-head formats. But let’s not put the cart before the horse.
Before we delve into the differences, let’s make sure we don’t leave any stone unturned and quickly discuss the history of the “sport.”
He’ll listen to all your girl talk, ladies.
For as long as anyone can remember, shortstops have been the black sheep of the family. While all the other players are interested in manly things like home runs (Chicks dig the long ball) and RBI and human growth hormone, the six spot is more interested in sensitive things like glove work and eking out infield singles. I mean for Pete’s Sake, Lou Boudreau is a Hall of Famer with 68 career home runs and 51 career stolen bases. Boudreau even made the All-Star Game in 1941 with this fantasy line: 95 R, 10 HR, 56 RBI, 9 SB, and .257 BA. If he isn’t the Solange Knowles to Babe Ruth’s Beyonce, I don’t know who is.
It’s true, shortstops are the redheaded stepchildren. They’re the sensitive ones. While all the boys are out hunting with father, the shortstops are back at home with mom baking pistachio walnut tassies.
In 2013, you’ll likely find better numbers than what spritely Boudreau mustered in 1941, but let me tell you, this group is a sad state of affairs. Jose Reyes and Troy Tulowitzki are huge injury risks. Hanley Ramirez, the diva that he is, might rather hang out in West Hollywood instead of Chavez Ravine. Starlin Castro would probably rather look at the hot guy standing behind him in left field than play hard. And Derek Jeter is more concerned which fragrance of body butter he’s going to put in his gift baskets.
Cano is the last solid rock in the once great Yankee lineup.
Ever since Chase Utley fell out of the top five second basemen two years ago, this list hasn’t dramatically changed very much. But just because this list is more stagnant than an African pond infested with malaria carrying mosquitos, doesn’t mean we aren’t going to go in for a dip.
The top five in this position are staple guys. They’ve been at or near the top for years now. You can pretty much look at what they did the year before and expect similar, if not identical production. Robinson Cano is a perfect example of this. Over the past three years Cano has reached 100 R, 28 HR, and nearly 100 RBI (last season he dipped in this department). Dustin Pedroia, who does come with his fair share of risk due to injury, is easily the number two second basemen when healthy because of his speed and power. But the most consistent source of HR and SB is Brandon Phillips, who has produced exactly 18 HR in each of the past three seasons to go with SB totals of 16, 14, and 15.
Last year I incorrectly had Dustin Ackley above Jason Kipnis in my rankings. While Ackley was a more consistent player (consistently poor, in fact), Kipnis produced the better end of season numbers, by far. Neither of these two players are slam dunks, but both have immense upside if they ever produce what they’ve been expected to do.
Special thanks to Sparta and Darkest Hour for providing the music for this episode.
Brian Dorsey: Creator/Editor
Jared Cothren: Contributing writer
Don’t let his name fool you.
[Editor's Note: Mark Teixeira is expected to be out 8-10 weeks, putting his return date around the middle of June. He has fallen out of the Top 14]
It’s easy to fall in love with the protectors of first base (also known as the league’s best kissers) because they’re the producers, big boppers. They’re usually the easiest to project and most consistently reliable. Even in an off year, Albert Pujols still put up numbers that any other player would’ve been proud of. Billy Butler, the bigger, better known cousin of Ryan “Quentin” Butler, turned in an ox of a season. Even seemingly part-time player, Allen Craig, reminded us of Red Bird of old, Jack Clark.
But that doesn’t mean the position doesn’t come with its question marks. Joey Votto spent most of 2012 nursing a sore knee (not to worry, Jay Bruce kissed it better). Adrian Gonzalez had a power outage, changing his nickname from “A-Gone” to “Dirty Gonzalez.” Marcus Teixeira, who can’t seem to justify his hefty contract, didn’t come to play in ’12.
But with the influx of young talent (Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Eric Hosmer, and Anthony Rizzo), everyone in a standard 10-team league should get to first base this season.
It’s been a long road since this moment for Posey.
With the Super Bowl over and the commencement of Februany and Subway, it’s time to start rolling out the Twenty-Thirteen rankings. Since pitchers and catchers are reporting soon, I figured to start with catchers and work my way down the position list.
Over the past couple seasons, we’ve seen a shift in the position. Once top heavy, catcher is now a flooded market. In 2013, drafting a catcher is like buying a beer; there are so many good ones to choose from, you almost can’t go wrong. As I said on our last podcast, there are easily seventeen startable (not a real word, but in fantasy sports it is) catchers, although I’m only choosing to list 13 here.
It would prove pointless to talk about the reigning MVP, Buster Posey, but it is worth noting that he is the only catcher who should be drafted in the top-50 of any draft (and that includes keeper leagues) because on top of being a ridiculously deep position this year, catcher is the weakest position on the fantasy diamond. Most catchers only play 4-5 games a week and suffer in the AB department because of it.
