Comments on: 2009 Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Top 20 Outfielders

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:23:15 +0000

@Dani: I like Holliday better than those three guys, but he's a bit of a reach at 20. He's not awful though. I could see it.

By: Dani

Dani — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:18:24 +0000

Yes grab holiday with 20th pick even though hes ranked at 35.

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:15:41 +0000

@Dani: What do you mean? Should you grab Holliday at 20?

By: Dani

Dani — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:55:30 +0000

Great thanks. One more Q for you, If I have lets say the 19th/20th picks and not gonna pick again until 40, should I grab Holliday at 35 with other guys like quentin, phillips, manny ranked ahead of him?

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:38:41 +0000

@Dani: I'd choose them Holliday, Kemp then Markakis, in that order.

By: Dani

Dani — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:36:41 +0000

In Yahoo Markakis is 34, Holliday 35, and Kemp 36. If you had to pick one in a 5×5 who would you pick and why?

By: Grey

Grey — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:48:17 +0000

@gleeksquad: Agreed, I like Kemp a lot this year. Seems like great value for where he's going. @mikey boy324: BJ's a 3rd rounder.

By: mikey boy324

mikey boy324 — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:28:58 +0000

grey what round would you draft upton in?

By: gleeksquad

gleeksquad — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:02:03 +0000

I’m with you on BJ and Kemp. Everyone points to Upton’s 08 but in 07 he went on a few dinger tears before hurting his shoulder. He showed again in the playoffs he is capable. 20 seems right with a +/- around 4ish.
Is it me or is everyone talking about Kemp but the drafts i see he’s still hitting the 4th round. Is it because he’s not all over sportscenter? Lets travel back in time to 2007-2008 off season. Grady had just come off a .277 24/78/38 campaign and played 162 games with no time share whatsoever. Pretty much everyone had grady as a solid 2nd rounder and maybe gambling on 1st for the 30/30 potential right? So Kemp who basically does the same thing 2 years younger with less P/T is going 4th? Is this crazy just to me?

By: Grey

Grey — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:38:36 +0000

@TBone: Most ranking systems are for 5 x 5 then if you count OBP, etc., you need to bump up or take down your own players' rankings. As for Rios v. Markakis (which could actually make a good post), I think Rios is a slam dunk for more steals and Markakis and him are a push on power, so in 5 x 5 Rios always ends up the dominant male, until Markakis can show more than 30 HR power.

By: TBone

TBone — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:27:57 +0000

Every ranking system I see, Rios and Sparkakis go back-to-back, hand-in-hand. Almost as if they were secret lovers. And in every ranking system, Rios is on top of Sparkakis (pun?) Isn’t there a valid argument to be made that Sparkakis actually has a higher ceiling than Rios?

I know Rios has Wells for protection, but Sparkakis walks a shiznit (valuable OPS leagues or leagues that account for BBs) and although he has not stolen 20 bases, certainly he has the capability of stealing 15. Rios and Spark’s pop is essentially the same, and I fear the new manager in Toronto will not run Rios as much, hence the 20 sb projection you estimate (Rios stopped run in July, conveniently the same time new management took over). Is 10 additional steals worth more than .10 in AVG + 60 more walks + 10 to 15 more RBI?

My guts says Sparks should be on top, men have feelings too!

By: Grey

Grey — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:05:09 +0000

@Brian: Lee has the most consistency, Markakis has the most potential and Bay has the best lineup around him. It is tough but I'd rank them exactly how you have -- Lee, Markakis then Bay.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:51:37 +0000

I think you may be underrating Jason Bay. Compare your projections for him to Carlos Lee and Carlos Quentin. He’s pretty much right there.

I’m in a keeper league and trying to decide between Lee (around pick 52), Markakis (around pick 68) and Bay (around pick 63). I can only keep this player for one season though. Of the 3, I think I would rank Markakis last since I don’t see the power potential there. It’s a tough call though.

If you’re thinking it’s absurd to have those keeper options, I agree. But I’m in a shallow league and played the wire well.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:53:28 +0000

Add one in Charles County, MD to the list of the seven in Calvert who are all over “I am Sparkakis”!!! I get wood every time he comes to bat on MASN.

By: BigFatHippo

BigFatHippo — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 03:19:55 +0000

@Grey: Hope Chris Duncan's not in it. And you're not dumb, mentally challenged is the politically correct term.

By: Grey

Grey — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:53:53 +0000

@BigFatHippo: Oh. Hehe. I'm dumb. @martin: I misunderstood. The rest of the top 40 OFs is coming tomorrow.

By: BigFatHippo

BigFatHippo — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:53:37 +0000

@Grey: I think he means top 40 OF'er........... closer to the season. Word!

By: Grey

Grey — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:28:26 +0000

@martin: I'm going to do a top 20 closer list, then I'm going to list every single closer and every setup man in the monthly closer report that happens at the beginning of the month (though I skipped January b/c jobs were up in the air).

By: martin

martin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:20:29 +0000

“If you heard an “ouch” last year, that was McLouth bumping his head on his ceiling.” LOL, nice.

I’d move Soriano up to #3 and Granderson above McLouth, but other than that we’re on the same page. You going to be doing a top 40 closer to the season or are you keepin’ it at 20?

By: Rudy Gamble

Rudy Gamble — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:48:15 +0000

@Renzo: On the ‘pro’ side of your argument, here’s an interesting article I read today that proposes that Rockie hitters’ road stats are deflated because they have trouble adjusting to the extra movement on pitches at sea level:

http://www.baybridgebaseball.com/2009/01/great-matt-holliday-experiment.html

On the ‘con’ side, I am a big believer that league changes – particularly NL to AL – are tough for hitters. Then again, Manny and Jason Bay weren’t hurt by this and Miggy Cabrera fared okay his first year.

I’d go with Beltran for next year but Holliday is the better keeper candidate…

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:31:24 +0000

@Renzo: These rankings are for the preseason and how I'd draft these guys now. In one year leagues, I wouldn't draft them on the consideration that Holliday might be traded cause you just never know. Though these rankings can be used as a road map for keepers, these rankings also aren't strictly for keeper consideration. I'd want Holliday above Beltran for keepers' sake. If Beltran stays on the Mets all year (extremely likely) and Holliday gets traded to a contender and one that plays in more of a hitter's friendly stadium (likely) then Holliday moves up the list a bit and falls into the same tier as Beltran and around the same value.

By: Renzo

Renzo — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:21:19 +0000

So this is my first post…
First off, great site you have going here. I found it this offseason and it’s been like crack for an addict since no other websites update thier information… The info you guys have here give great insight and always look forwayrd to it…

Now to my point… I value Matt Holliday more than Beltran.
Grey’s projections:
Matt Holliday – 90/22/105/.310/12
Beltran – 110/27/115/.275/22

Extra considerations have to do with my league setup which has 2 extra categories for batting and this is a keeper league…
Matt Holliday – .386OBP, .552SLG (lifetime)
Beltran – .357OBP, .496SLG (lifetime)

Holliday is 29 this season so he should still be in his prime power seasons. Beltran is 32 and could be toward the end of his peak years. We all know Holliday’s change in team hurts him badly, but I think Giambi could potentially give Holliday a lot of protection. Now before you laugh just look at Giamibi’s 32 HR last year… I feel he is a much more consistent and reliable hitter then Beltran.
Plus I think we all know that Billy Beane will trade Holliday to a playoff bound team. This will be at the end of the fantasy season and could have a significant impact down the stretch.

It’s obvious that you value Beltran more than Holliday but do you disagree that Holliday could have a better season then Beltran? He could also be a better keeper then Beltran.

I look forward to more projections.

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:40:51 +0000

@101 M.P.H.: Crisp has never got above 30 steals in a season and hasn't hit more than 10 home runs since 2005. He's a 10/20 player on a poor team. He's not really that close to Crawford.

By: 101 M.P.H.

101 M.P.H. — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:33:53 +0000

I’ll nominate Coco Crisp for 2009′s ‘Crawford Lite’. If all the stars are in alignment, you just might get 85% of Crawford’s production

a) at $30 less than Crawford’s auction price; or

b) 15 rounds later in a snake draft.

By: Petr

Petr — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:42:44 +0000

I own both Ichiro and Victorino as keepers. I know, nothing to brag about. But at least I know what I’m getting from each of them (I should be set in runs and stolen bases). If I can offset that with some power, I’m good.

I share the observation that Victorino isn’t far from being Carl Crawford. Not sure if the skills are the same, but the numbers are similar.

By: Grey

Grey — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:37:43 +0000

@IowaCubs: Dunn and Hart will be in the next set of OFs and I do like both.

By: Frank Rizzo

Frank Rizzo — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:23:56 +0000

@IowaCubs: Wow. I completely disagree with you on Granderson. Guess we'll have to wait and see. I'd say 120/30/85/.290/20. Maybe I'm higher on him than most but I really think he's still getting better and he will be healthy from the start this year.

By: IowaCubs

IowaCubs — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:12:22 +0000

Dunn or Hart coulda prolly made this list over Granderson. Granderson needs to steal more bases for him to have value, and I don’t trust his BA or HR.

Don’t forget that Soriano played in 109 games last year. Give me 25 more games and he’s basically Beltran.

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:10:18 +0000

@Grey: YES. Just started reading a month or so ago.

By: Frank Rizzo

Frank Rizzo — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:00:54 +0000

I see value in Quentin and Granderson here. Quentin could end up the #1 OF overall in 2009 and let’s not forget that Granderson didn’t “get right” until late June because of his finger. Look at his stats in August and September…..I’d probably put him in the top 12 on this list.