Fantasy Baseball Advice

Ozzie said that Sergio Santos would be the closer vs. righties.  That means Santos is just the closer closer.  Or as close to it as we’re gonna get.  I don’t know how much I believe this.  Just the other day Ozzie said the White Sox had the best bullpen in the American League.  And he didn’t add “in opposite world,” at the end of the sentence.  I think Sale and Thornton are still in the mix, but it’s old school to go righty vs. righty and maybe Ozzie just wants to kick a little something for the old G’s.  If Sergio Santos can save games for the next week as well as he designs jeans, he could run with the job.  It’s worth the flyer, ya’ll!  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Philip Humber – 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 5 Ks.  Was a terrific start.  Also, he had a 4.42 ERA coming into the game and his stuff would have him in middle relief if Peavy were healthy.

Albert Pujols – Didn’t need anything for his hamstring strain and could be ready to go on Tuesday.  Or as that day will forever be called in St. Louis, Thanktheeffinlordday.

Logan Morrison – Had his cast removed and should be able to return when his DL stint ends.  Logan will be putting his cast on eBay.  I hope it fetches more than my VHS copy of Midnight Madness, that awesome 80′s Michael J. Fox movie where they go on a scavenger hunt.  Can’t believe someone stole that from me for $1.99.  It’s a rarity!

Chris Coghlan – 3-for-4, 3 Runs, 2 RBIs and 2 homers yesterday, now has 3 homers in the last four games.  Hopefully he doesn’t smash a whipped cream pie into his own face.

Brian Sanches – Got his 3rd vulture win yesterday.  Mujica has 2 wins.  Mike Dunn has a vulture win.  Know how many the Razzball-owned Clay Hensley has?  Rhymes with “Why doesn’t he have one?” and it’s spelled none.

Brandon Wood – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs as he started in place of Pedro Alvarez vs. a lefty.  That’s a good move to cause me to claw my eyes out.  Thanks, Pittsburgh!

Chris Narveson – 2 1/3 IP, 7 ER.  Ouch.  Wait, what?  Oh.  Ouch!

Colby Lewis – 5 IP, 6 ER, 11 baserunners, 3 Ks, now has an ERA of 6.95.  To preemptively answer the inevitable Lewis comment, I don’t know what you should do because I wouldn’t have drafted him.

Jose Bautista – Has he got his 50th homer again yet?  Stupid Bautista making me look stupid.

Matt Garza – 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 baserunners, 7 Ks and 4 unearned runs for the always ulcer-inducing ticker shock.

Kosuke Fukudome – 5-for-5, hitting .478 on the year.  He’s always been an April hitter.  That gives you four more days before the clock strikes crap.

Darwin Barney – Hit his first homer as his owners sang, “I love you, you love me.”

Kendrys Morales – Not getting “full explosion” with his runs.  Sounds like he should eat more Mexican food.

Ryan Zimmerman – Given the okay to resume some baseball activities.  Like spitting and scratching himself.

Willie Bloomquist – Sent to the 15-day DL with a strained hamstring.  Chief Justice Ryan Roberts must’ve Gillooly’d him with a gavel.

Brad Emaus – To the Rockies.  Yeah, just what they need, another second baseman.

Jay Bruce – Bruuuuuuce!

Ian Kennedy – After that blip on the radar two weeks ago, it looks like the Kennedy administration is back to kissing babies and glad-handing.

A.J. Burnett – 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 2 Ks.  Someone asked in the comments yesterday what it would take for me to trust Burnett.  He had a 1.46 WHIP and 4.37 ERA going into last night’s game.  Last April, he had a 2.43 ERA and ended the year with a 5.26.  This is someone I have to trust?

Brett Gardner – 0-for-2, hitting .136 on the year.  Yahoo’s Pianowski traded me Gardner yesterday for The Lisper’s Nightmare.  I figure Gardner has to come around…Okay, he doesn’t have to, but should and trading for him with Seth Smith, a fantasy fifth outfielder, seems like a decent gamble.  Now tell me what a moron I am.

Phil Hughes – Had a setback in his rehab.  Hughes and his right arm had a moment as the following song played in the background, “I f**ked you once, I f**ked you twice.  I won’t let a 92 MPH heater go at any price.”

Jerry Sands – 3-for-4 with his 2nd steal for his first game in one our team’s lineups.  Hey, we popped our Jerry!

Jonathan Broxton – Blew his first save.  Huh?!  He only has one blown save?  That’s crazy talk.  He hasn’t pitched well in seven months.  And this blown save was due to an error.  If Kuo is on waivers, I’d grab him; he should be back by the end of the week.

Juan Uribe – Missed the entire weekend and out on Monday too.  On a completely unrelated note, how does someone who is bedridden because they are so fat keep eating?  Stop bringing them food!

Don Mattingly – A recent winning streak had Donnie Baseball refusing to shave his goatee.  Andre Ethier had also paused his Brazilian waxing routine.

Elijah Dukes – Arrested for driving with a suspended license.  Elijah said, “I had to get to the Katz’s house before the end of seder!”

We at Razzball realize that exporting our views across the country has damaging consequences on the blogosphere. To help make amends, we are reaching out to leading team blogs and featuring their locally blogged answers to pressing 2011 fantasy baseball questions regarding their team. We feel this approach will be fresher, more sustainable, and require less energy consumption (for us anyway). The 2011 Dodgers Fantasy Baseball Preview comes courtesy of Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness.

1. I’ve put Matt Kemp about as high as any reasonable person can in my top 20 for 2011 fantasy baseball.  I can’t help it, but I see a guy in the prime of his career who is going to be more successful in his rebound from Rihanna than Chris Brown.  Am I being crazy here?

Kemp had an OPS over .900 in April of last year, and ended the season by homering in each of the last five games of the season. If you ignore the middle 5 months or so, he was the best player in baseball history.

Seriously, though, 2010 was a mess on all fronts. The GM called him out at the end of April for his poor fielding, despite the fact that there were about 40 bigger reasons the team was sucking. Then he got into it with old crusty coaches like Bob Schaefer and Larry Bowa.. and got benched by Joe Torre.. and got accused of slacking because he had a celebrity girlfriend.

Whether or not you buy into the Rhianna distraction bit – I don’t – she’s gone, as are Torre, Schaefer, and Bowa. Kemp apparently has a very good relationship with Don Mattingly, and new coach Davey Lopes – who’s not only revered for his baserunning coaching, but is good friends with Kemp’s agent Dave Stewart – should be a huge positive influence on him. Kemp did a poor job of handling the criticism last year, so it’s not all on other people, but publicly accepted the blame late in the season, which is another good sign – as is the season-ending homer streak.

The funny thing is that expectations were so high that people were killing him for a year in which he had a 107 OPS+; it’s not like he went all “Andruw Jones in 2008″ on us here. Call me biased – and I probably am – but I think he’s going to destroy the world this year.

2. Last year, I picked Clayton Kershaw in the preseason to win the Cy Young. He finished with a 2.91 ERA and 212 Ks so it wasn’t like I was playing back up for Daniel Johnston and eating cereal out of my Nikes. This year, I might pick him again. What kind of year do you expect from Kershaw?

I’ve been calling Kershaw an “ace” for about 2.5 years now, and he’s barely old enough to drink. If you look at the stats, he was arguably the best pitcher in baseball, and he was almost certainly the hardest to hit. He even made progress in reining in his wildness, allowing him to work deeper into games. And he’s not even 23 for another few weeks!

To be honest, the only reason that he doesn’t get more credit is that his W/L record is mediocre, as though we don’t know how useless that is. He could have easily been 18-6 or something similar last year with just a little help from the offense, and I think that’d have really changed the viewpoint on him.

It’s hard to say he’s “going” to win the Cy in a league with guys like Lee, Halladay, Lincecum, Wainwright, etc., but choose against him at your own peril. Half of those guys hadn’t even been in the bigs at this age, and he’s already dominating.

3. Rafael Furcal can’t stay healthy, Juan Uribe, well, he’s kinda terrible. Any chance we see Dee Gordon this year? If so, when? (For Razzball readers, Gordon is a Dodgers infield prospect who can steal 50 bases.)

I don’t think there’s any chance you see Gordon this year. Put another way, if you do, the Dodger season has gone completely sideways. Just about all the scouts agree that he’s a fantastic athlete, but despite his famous dad he didn’t take baseball seriously until late in his teens, making him exceedingly raw. He had a good – but not great – year at AA last year, and it’s likely he starts there before moving up to AAA. The absolute best case scenario is a September call-up, and even then I think he’s more of a 2013 target date to be the full-time starter rather than 2012.

That doesn’t mean he’s not an exciting prospect; he surely is, if he can put it together. He’s just not going to shoot through the system at a Heyward-esque pace.

4. I kinda love relief pitchers who can K a shizzload. Jonathan Broxton fits that bill and he’s only going to be 26 years old to start the season. Last year’s problems will be behind him or the Dodgers will experiment with other closers in 2011?

The holy war over Jonathan Broxton is one of the least fun parts about being a Dodger fan right now. I honestly have written about his troubles so many times that I can’t bring myself to go through it all again, so I’ll sum up his 2010 like this:

April 8 – June 26: 0.83 ERA, 48/5 K/BB, awesomesauce
June 27: Torre leaves him out for 48 pitches, capping a stretch of 99 pitches in 5 days, which is more than a lot of starters throw.
June 28 – Oct 3: 6.59 ERA, 24/21 K/BB, craptactular

I don’t think that’s exactly a coincidence, no? Mattingly says that Broxton gets the first crack to retain the job, which makes sense; no one wants a $7m setup man. I think that a winter of rest and a season away from Torre can really do wonders. If not him, Hong-Chih Kuo filled in capably last year and may do so again, though his fragile arm makes him an iffy proposition since he can’t really pitch on back-to-back nights.

If you love relievers who whiff people, don’t sleep on Kenley Jansen. He only switched from catching to pitching at the tail end of 2009, yet struck out 13.7/9 in 25 MLB games last year. He barely knows how to pitch yet, but he was blowing people away.

5. What on earth is going on in this picture of Andre Ethier?

I’m pretty sure that picture is at least 5 years old; it’s probably from when he was a rookie in 2006 and was forced to participate in rookie hazing. I like to think that instead he’d just robbed the 7-11 in the background and that was his costume.

The top 20 shortstops for 2011 fantasy baseball are a shallow bowl of dung and ranked only ahead of the catchers for depth.  All the 2011 fantasy baseball rankings can be found under that thing that says 2011 fantasy baseball rankings.  (Don’t worry, one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to link to things a little more seamlessly).  Shortstops usually get the short end of the stick when I’m drafting.  If I don’t get Hanley, I’ll probably just take a flier on some late round player.  Yes, I don’t even really want to mess with Tulo.  In leagues that play a middle infielder, then you might need two of these schmohawks.  Hopefully, you can grab two decent 2nd basemen and only need one of these guys.  As with the other top 20 rankings, I point out where I think tiers start and stop and my projections.  Anyway, here’s the top 20 shortstops for 2011 fantasy baseball:

1. Hanley Ramirez – In the top 10 for 2011 fantasy baseball post is Hanley’s projections.

2. Troy Tulowitzki – In the top 10 for 2011 fantasy baseball post is Tulowitzki’s projections.

3. Jose Reyes – This is a new tier.  This tier goes from here until Andrus.  I call this tier, “These are the last two shortstops you should draft for about eight rounds.”  I would not under any circumstances draft a shortstop between Andrus and Desmond unless they fall about six rounds after where I think they should be drafted.  As for Reyes, for those thinking Reyes had a poor 2010, consider he was the 3rd best shortstop on ESPN’s Player Rater.  Sure, that has its flaws, but who was better?  Jeter?  Alexei?  Elvis?  Reyes hit 11 homers and stole 30 bases last year.  Not to mention it was in only 133 games so if you filled him in halfway decently from your waiver wire, you had additional stats from his spot.  2011 Projections:  110/12/60/.290/40

4. Elvis Andrus – I already went over my Elvis Andrus fantasy for next year.  At 22 years old, he might be still come in under my projections, but he’s capable of a huge fantasy-defining season.  I’m willing to take the chance that it happens.  2011 Projections:  95/5/50/.270/45

5. Jimmy Rollins – This is a new tier.  This tier goes from here until Furcal.  I call this tier, “Holy crap, the shortstops are really shallow.”  Seriously, Rollins is the 5th best shortstop?  Rollins has been getting progressively worse the last three seasons and I don’t think he’s suddenly going to turn things around at the age of 32.  Yeah, you really should punt at this point.  Look at Drew or others later on.  A few things on Rollins.  In 2006, Rollins had 15 infield hits.  That number has gone down every year.  His line drive rates have fallen every year since 2008.  His ground ball rate last year was a new career high.  His speed was at an all-time low last year for his career.  You know what happens when a guy gets older and hits the ball on the ground?  He gets thrown out at first.   2011 Projections:  85/14/65/.260/20

6. Derek Jeter – So I’ve been watching the first season of Friday Night Lights.  Great show.  I’d say SPOILER ALERT! but the show’s like seven years old.  Anyway, when Riggins was stealing Minka from Street, I kept imagining Street yelling, “So, Jeter, it’s okay to steal a cripple’s girlfriend, but you won’t fight a cripple?!”  Maybe it’s just me.  As for Jeter — eh, you know what you’re getting by this point.  Light power, some steals, good runs.  Plus, you can tell your lady friend that you drafted Jeter and watch how much tail you get.  Unless you live in Boston.  Then put on the Nomar jersey.  “I’m dating Charlene, Ma.  You gotta get used to it.”  I love Mark Wahlberg.  2011 Projections:  105/12/65/.280/15

7. Alexei Ramirez – Here’s one of those borderline guys.  If he hits 17-20 homers and steals 15 bases, you’re okay.  Shave just a few off either and you have a 15/12 guy, i.e., a guy that steals 2 bases and hits less than 3 homers per month.  That grows boring really fast during the course of the season.  I don’t mind trading for Alexei on May 1st, but his first month makes his overall stats look just a’ight.  BTW, we should have a glossary term for Latin players who don’t play well in the cold weather months.  2011 Projections:  80/17/70/.280/14

8. Rafael Furcal – Last year in only 97 games, he went 8/22, but I wouldn’t prorate that over a full season.  Seems to actually play better when he plays an abbreviated season.  Maybe because he’s 33 years old.  If you’re in a shallow enough league where you can readily replace him when he’s hurt, I’d consider drafting him.  In most leagues, I wouldn’t bother.  2011 Projections:  75/8/45/.280/17

9. Stephen Drew – This is a new tier.  This tier goes from here until Escobar.  I call this tier, “Okay, grab one quick because they get ugly again real fast.”  (Note:  All projections in this tier are optimistic, but whatevs.)  Feels like we’ve been waiting forever for Drew’s big breakout.  At 28 years old in 2011, this is the year.  Or so my gut is telling me.  He had a solid 2nd half — 11 homers, .281 in 267 ABs and that’s about as much positivity I can muster.  He has so many major league ABs, he shouldn’t just explode for an incredible year, but I can’t help think he’s due.  Hey, I said it was a gut call more than anything.  His 2011 won’t be MVP-worthy, but it could be valuable and at shortstop you gotta take some upside fliers.  2011 Projections:  90/24/70/.275/7

10. Ian Desmond – Could be a cheap version of Alexei Ramirez.  I know, that sounds about as enticing as walking in on your grandparents having sex.  But if Desmond exceeds expectations and Alexei falls just short and if and but’s were dollar bills I’d be a millionaire.  Okay, Desmond’s an upside flier, just go with it.  2011 Projections:  80/15/70/.280/20

11. Alcides Escobar – I already hit you up with an Alcides Escobar fantasy sleeper thing-a-woozie.  2011 Projections:  70/3/40/.275/30

12.  Starlin Castro – This is a new tier.  This tier goes until Tejada.  I call this tier, “And they just got ugly again.”  I almost put Castro in the above tier, because he does have yute on his side.  In the end, I’m too worried Castro may get drafted as if he has this huge upside.  I’d lower my expectations with him.  He gets caught stealing way too much and he doesn’t have great power.  2011 Projections:  75/5/55/.305/12

13. Ryan Theriot – Wanna know the problem with the state of shortstops?  How about this:  Theriot was ranked 18th for 2nd basemen.  That about covers it.  Went over Theriot’s projections in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2011 fantasy baseball post.

14. Cliff Pennington – What a butt ugly group we have here.  Pennington is basically Theriot with a few more steals and homers and a potentially terrible average.  Also, he looks good in plaid pants, if that’s a category in your league.  2011 Projections:  60/5/40/.245/30

14 1/2. Mike Aviles – Went over Aviles’ projections in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2011 fantasy baseball post.  (Note:  Only has 13 games at shortstop so he got a half.)

15. Juan Uribe – Went over Juan Uribe’s projections in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2011 fantasy baseball.

16. Jhonny Peralta – Member the days when Jhonny and Khalil Greene would go around putting silent H’s in people’s names?  Charlos Lee got so mad!  Ah, yes, and I have nothing to say about Jhonny Peralta.  2011 Projections:  65/17/80/.255

17. Jason Bartlett – Went over my Bartlett fantasy when the Padres got him.  Go there to read the Bartlett blurb.  Or Blurblett, if you’re into portmanteaus.  2011 Projections:  80/5/55/.270/17

18. Yunel Escobar – Um… Well… Uh… Wait, why is he being ranked?  Oh, because he basically has the same projections as Mike Aviles.  Yeah, shortstops are bad this year.  Have I mentioned that before?  2011 Projections:  75/10/60/.290/7

19. Omar Infante – Infante’s 2010 reminds me of Zobrist’s 2009 on a much smaller scale.  Utility man makes good, news at 11.  I’m gonna move on before I bore us both any further.  2011 Projections:  65/5/40/.280/8 ( Note: Only has 19 games at shortstop.)

20. Miguel Tejada -  Somewhere Sabean is twirling his mustache thinking about how much he’d love to sign Bartlett in three years.  My Tejada projections are assuming he won’t start shooting up again.  2011 Projections:  65/13/75/.275/3

After the top 20 shortstops for 2011 fantasy baseball, there’s a bunch of names, but here’s two that stand out:

Reid Brignac – I just couldn’t end the top 20 shortstops with Miguel Tejada.  The Rays have to play Brignac, right?  I mean, they can’t let him just keep getting older and not give him a fair shake, can they?  Yeah, I don’t know.  If they give Brignac an everyday job, his fantasy value will drop him around 10th on this list.  Since it’s the shortstops, I’d throw a flier Brignac’s way with or without a job and hope you get lucky and he starts.  2011 Projections:  60/15/75/75/.260/7

Asdrubal Cabrera – Consider Asdrubal above Starlin Castro on this list, but I wanted to highlight him.  Gotta throw out 2010 with Asdrubal.  He got injured, can’t hold his bad year against him. Plus, a bad year is so amorphous, how are you gonna hold that against anyone?  At 25 years old, Asdrubal is still in his prime and can put together a decent season for a MIF — Middle Infielder Flier.  2011 Projections:  80/7/60/.295/20

Top twenty catchers, 1st basemen and 2nd basemen are in the books as we throw it around the horn.  Today, the top 20 Shortstops for 2010 fantasy baseball get to shine.  Hmm… Actually, most of these won’t shine.  They’re cloudy with a chance of crapballs.  As I said in the beginning of the year, the shortstops are even shallower than the 2nd basemen.  This held true.  A good two weeks in the major leagues and you too can make the top twenty list for shortstops!  Okay, enough of the hubbub on the tomfoolery.  To recap, this final ranking is from ESPN Player Rater with my comments.  The Player Rater allows me to be impartial while looking at how I ranked them in the preseason.  Anyway, here’s the top 20 shortstops for 2010 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:

1. Hanley Ramirez – Hanley doesn’t need to work on his swing in the offseason, he needs to go on Breakthrough with Tony Robbins or maybe a Biggest Loser spin-off show where people aren’t fat, just unmotivated.  Let’s call it, Just Losers.  Or get him a friggin’ motivational poster with a kitten climbing a mountain.  Hanley was one of the few players in their prime that I actually lowered their power number projections and he ended up coming even below those projections.  A shame isn’t it?  Not a shame, a problem, Treach.  Preseason Rank #1, 2010 Projections:  100/25/110/.320/25, Final Numbers:  92/21/76/76/.300/32

2. Troy Tulowitzki – See if this rings a bell for you, “Without a poor April and May, he’d be the top ranked shortstop.  Yeah, he was that good.”  That’s what I said after the 2009 season.  This year he hit 1 homer in April and missed just about the whole month of July.  If it wasn’t for an otherworldly September when he single-handedly won people H2H leagues, we’d be talking about Tulo’s busted season.  Remember, he had only 12 homers going into September.  That is not a good five months.  Preseason Rank #2, 2010 Projections:  95/35/105/.280/12, Final Numbers:  89/27/95/.315/11

3. Jose Reyes – Not quite the bounce back I envisioned when I drafted him on all of my teams and told you to draft him, but it’s hard to fault a guy who is ranked 3rd overall and missed extended periods of time with injuries.  He’s about the only Met I truly love and, at some point, the Mets will realize that Reyes is the key to their offense and that means him running like crazy.  Especially in Metco.  Preseason Rank #4, 2010 Projections:  105/11/55/.285/45, Final Numbers:  83/11/54/.282/30

4. Alexei Ramirez – Pretty pathetic that Alexei is ranked this high considering the year he had.  They’re not middle infielders, they’re middling infielders.  It’s so tough to own someone like Alexei who doesn’t ever really get hot.  He just hits one homer every week and a half or so and steals a base every two weeks.  That almost put me to sleep typing it out.  Or am I asleep?  I need to spin a top.  Preseason Rank #9, 2010 Projections:  70/18/80/.280/15, Final Numbers:  83/18/70/.282/13

5. Derek Jeter – Here’s a theory.  You know how once all the great filmmakers find happiness they start producing crap?  Coppola’s Jack, Woody Allen’s 1990s, Oliver Stone post-Natural Born Killers… Maybe Jeter needed the motivation of not having a serious girlfriend.  Once he committed to Minka he no longer cared how well he played since a long term piece of tail was in place.  Or maybe it’s just age.  Preseason Rank #5, 2010 Projections:  110/16/70/.315/20, Final Numbers:  111/10/67/.270/18

6. Rafael Furcal – I know it seems like I’m a total downer on all of these guys, but Furcal’s numbers are terrible for this ranking.  Look at his Runs.  That’s a top of the order guy?  66?!  F(urcal) my life.  Preseason Rank #10, 2010 Projections:  90/10/55/.275/20, Final Numbers:  66/8/43/.300/22

7. Stephen Drew – He hit 4 homers in the first 4 months.  Yes, to get ranked this high all you needed was one good month.  (His August:  8 homers, 19 RBIs, 25 Runs and a .310 average.) Preseason Rank #10, 2010 Projections:  85/22/75/.265/4, Final Numbers:  83/15/61/.278/10

8. Omar Infante – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2010 post.

9. Elvis Andrus – I had mad love for Elvis in the preseason and it’s not going to stop going into 2011.  He’s still very young and this season was a good first step.  Now if he can work on his first step on steal attempts, we’ll be all set.  Preseason Rank #8, 2010 Projections: 75/8/50/.270/37, Final Numbers:  88/0/35/.265/32

10. Ian Desmond – Wanna hear something scary?  In my Ian Desmond sleeper post, I had Desmond down for pretty much exactly what he ended doing.  His projections really aren’t far off.  Yet, he was kinda unownable for long stretches of the season.  Preseason Rank #21, 2010 Projections:  85/10/60/.275/20, Final Numbers:  59/10/65/.269/17

11. Mike Aviles – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2010 post.

12. Marco Scutaro – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2010 post.

13. Alex Gonzalez – This list pretty sums up why I punt middle infield every year.  You obviously could’ve drafted 12 of these 20 shortstops at any point in a draft.  And, even better, you draft one then rotate from hot middle infielder to hot middle infielder.  Why do I rotate my middle infielders and ‘Set It and Forget It’ with my catchers?  Will have to be an offseason post.  Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers:  74/23/88/.250/1

14. Cliff Pennington – I call this middle infielder, a Puntington.  Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers:  64/6/46/.250/29

15. Miguel Tejada – The fact that he came pretty close to matching my projections, combined with the fact I wouldn’t own him anywhere should give you an idea of the state of shortstops and the state of offense, in general.  It’s like Hamsterdam without the drugs.  Preseason Rank #14 for Shortstops, 2010 Projections:  70/15/85/.295/4, Final Numbers:  71/15/71/.269/2

16. Juan Uribe – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2010 post.

17. Jeff Keppinger – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2010 post.

18. Starlin Castro – If you remove his first game in the big leagues, he doesn’t make this list.  All you needed was one good game to make the top 20 shortstops!  Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers:  53/3/41/.300/10

19. Yuniesky Betancourt – Yes, it’s comical that Betancourt is listed in these rankings.  Wanna stop smiling?  Jimmy Rollins didn’t even make the list.  (Smile again if you didn’t draft Rollins.)  Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers:  60/16/78/.259/2

20. Ryan Theriot – I just hope if you drafted this schmohawk, you heeded the Emergency Broadcasting System’s warning and got out of The Riot in time to save your team.  Preseason Rank #20, 2010 Projections:  85/3/50/.285/22, Final Numbers:  72/2/29/.270/20

We already went over the top 20 catchers for 2010 and the top 20 1st basemen for 2010.  Today, it’s all about the top 20 2nd basemen.  The 2nd basemen pool is shallow (not as kiddie-sized as the shortstops, though it’s nearly as deep as 3rd basemen, but we’ll get to those).  To recap, this final ranking is from ESPN Player Rater with my comments.  The Player Rater allows me to be impartial while looking at how I ranked them in the preseason.  Anyway, here’s the top 20 2nd basemen for 2010 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:

1. Robinson Cano – In the preseason, I said, “With Cano going to be the magical 27 years old in 2010 when power tends to peak, I hope Cano can pull a high-20s homer season out of his hat.”  And that’s me quoting me!  A note on the projections vs. the final stats.  They’re actually close but since I predicted a 6th place ranking for those stats it goes to show you how weak offense was last year.  In 2010, 6th ranked stats got you ranked first.  Cust kayin’.  Preseason Rank #6, 2010 Projections:  90/27/100/.315/5, Final Numbers:  103/29/109/.319/3

2. Dan Uggla – Again, I wasn’t really that far off with my projections.  The average was much higher than I or anyone, including Uggla, thought he could hit.  Just reiterates my point that average is completely fluky.  Preseason Rank #9, 2010 Projections:  90/32/100/.250/3, Final Numbers:  100/33/105/.287/4

3. Rickie Weeks – And there’s the season we can get if Weeks were to just stay healthy.  Now someone put him in a bubble for the rest of his career.  Thank you.  Preseason Rank #14, 2010 Projections:  75/17/55/.255/15, Final Numbers:  112/29/83/.269/11

4. Kelly Johnson – Easily beat out Jamey Carroll for best 2nd baseman with a girl’s name.  Though Jamey does sound a bit cuter.  Anyway, back on January 4th, I said this, “http://razzball.com/bays-new-years-resolution-drop-15-homers/”  Hmm… That didn’t cut and paste right.  Well, that’s the post URL, you figure it out.  If you didn’t know I liked Kelly Johnson in the preseason, you weren’t reading Razzball.  How’s dem apples?  Sour?  Sorry.  Preseason Rank #21 (though I said he was really ranked 14th, how’s that for hedging?), 2010 Projections:  85/15/65/.270/10, Final Numbers:  93/26/71/.284/13

5. Martin Prado – Went over him in the top 20 1st basemen post.

6. Brandon Phillips – Wasn’t a great year for BP, in every sense of the abbreviation.  He was headed for his fourth straight 20/20 season then the 2nd half of the season happened.  The HBP hit BP’s wrist and sent him Septumbling.  Preseason Rank #3, 2010 Projections:  80/22/95/.275/22, Final Numbers:  100/18/59/.275/16

7. Casey McGehee – He ended up beating his Dad by 18 spots.  Ended up giving a lot more value due to his RBI total, which isn’t something you can count on (see Prince Fielder for further reading).  I have a feeling McGehee won’t be overrated in the preseason, so he could still be a value play.  Preseason Rank #16, 2010 Projections:  55/17/65/.280, Final Numbers:  70/23/104/.285/1

8. Chase Utley – It hurts seeing Utley this low.  It’s like when your girlfriend stops returning your phone calls and then you sit outside her door only to find her come home with another man.  Not that I know anything about that.  Preseason Rank #1, 2010 Projections:  110/32/105/.300/15, Final Numbers:  75/16/65/.275/13

9. Howard Kendrick – And now we’re pretty much in the tomato-tomahto section of the program.  This is gonna come as a shock to people, but I think I’m ready to get on the Howie train for 2011.  Won’t reach too high for him because his power and speed still yawnstipate him, but I think he’s about ready for his coming out party, Ricky Martin.  Preseason Rank #15, 2010 Projections:  85/12/70/.310/12, Final Numbers:  67/10/75/.279/14

10. Omar Infante – Was actually more valuable than it seems from this ranking because you didn’t really own him for the whole year, you only owned him when he was hitting in the 2nd half.  So add Theriot’s April with Kinsler’s May-June and Infante’s July and August and you had a solid Frankeninfielder.  Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers:  65/8/47/.321/7

11. Chone Figgins – <sarcasm>I’m sure glad I finally owned Figgy this year after all the years I avoided him.  He will definitely be on my short list of guys I absolutely must own next year.</sarcasm> Figgy is my Bart and I’m Sideshow Bob.  Preseason Rank #8 for 3rd Basemen, 2010 Projections:  105/5/55/.295/40, Final Numbers:  62/1/35/.259/42

12. Ben Zobrist – Not as disappointing as it seems until you factor in where you had to draft him.  Oh, and very disappointing after his historic (for him) 2009 campaign.  Prepare to hear similar things next year with Bautista.  Preseason Rank #8, 2010 Projections:  75/20/85/.270/12, Final Numbers:  77/10/75/.238/24

13. Ian Kinsler – It’s people like Kinsler that will abuse Obamacare.  Actually, I don’t even know what Obamacare is.  I’m ignorant, ya’ll!  Kinsler will be one of those players next year that will reward his current owners and totally piss off all his owners from 2010.  Preseason Rank #2, 2010 Projections:  110/29/80/.270/34, Final Numbers:  73/9/45/.286/15

14. Mike Aviles – Wanna know how pathetic the 2nd basemen were?  You really only needed two great weeks to get ranked in the top 15.  Luckily for Aviles’ owners, those weeks came at the best time of the season.  I accept this H2H trophy on behalf of all the men and women in the Armed Forces, and Mike Aviles.  He rocked!  Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers:  63/8/32/.304/14

15. Marco Scutaro – This — along with Prado’s ranking — is another one of those places I don’t fully agree with ESPN’s Player Rater.  Raburn, Pedroia (for half a year), even Aaron Hill would be above Scutaro if I had my druthers or if I knew what druthers were.  Preseason #15 for Shortstops, 2010 Projections:  70/11/80/.275/7, Final Numbers:  92/11/56/.275/5

16. Placido Polanco – Member all the people in the preseason that were like, “Yo, Grey, check it!  Polanco’s now in Citizens Flank and in a good lineup!  He’s the bomb diggity!  March commenter out.”  Yeah, and Polanco gave you another yawnstipating season.  Preseason Rank #17, 2010 Projections:  100/10/70/.300/10, Final Numbers:  76/6/52/.298/5

17. Neil Walker – Okay, this is a glass half full or half empty test.  If you see Walker ranked here and think about how great Walker was, you’re an optimist.  If you see him ranked here and think about how polluted the womb of 2nd basemen is, you’re a pessimist.  Preseason Unranked , Final Numbers:  57/12/66/.296/2

18. Juan Uribe – You ever see this guy swing?  He shortens his swing on an 0-2 count about as well as JWoww covers her chest.  Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers:  64/24/85/.248/1

19. Jeff Keppinger – Blanco Polanco ranked in the top 20?  Case closed, 2nd basemen are found guilty of being awful.  Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers:  62/6/59/.288/4

20. Ryan Raburn – Is it weird that I’m already excited about him for 2011?  No?  Cool.  Okay, is it weird that I’m typing this in the nude?  No again?  Sweet!  Raburn finally saw a fair number of at-bats in the 2nd half when he hit .315 with 13 homers.  Someone get my man Raburn a full-time job… Or just send everyone on the Tigers not named Jackson, Boesch and Cabrera to the Bermuda Triangle on vacation.  Preseason Unranked, 2010 Projections:  65/22/75/.265/10, Final Numbers:  54/15/62/.280/2