Psst! This post is gonna list 2nd basemen that you should target in your 2016 fantasy baseball drafts. I’m whispering because you don’t want everyone to see this post. No, I can’t whisper louder, then it WOULDN’T BE WHISPERING! Okay, gig’s up (or maybe that’s jig’s up), the love I’m about to reiterately (Made Up Word of the Day!) confirm are guys I love later in drafts. I’m not going to mention Rougned Odor other than this one mention of him where I say I’m not going to mention him. I love Odor, and not just because when he chops a 3-2 pitch into the dugout the announcer says, “Foul…Odor stays alive. Hey, Bill, change your shirt.” I’m not mentioning Odor other than this mention of not mentioning him because these are players that you’re looking at later and all of them have ADPs after 200. Some could be the 2nd baseman on your team, they are more than likely MIs. This is a (legal-in-all-countries-except-Spanish-speaking-ones) supplement to the top 20 2nd basemen for 2016 fantasy baseball. Click on the player’s name where applicable to read more and see their 2016 projections. Anyway, here’s some 2nd basemen to target for 2016 fantasy baseball:
Starlin Castro (Yahoo 206, ESPN 215) For full disclosure purposes or for full disclosure porpoises if the dolphins have invaded the land already, I would’ve ranked Castro slightly later than I have him in my rankings if I would’ve seen how late everyone else was ranking him. Let’s quickly run down my projections for him: 72/16/77/.274/7. The runs and RBIs need help from lineup placement. I’m assuming he hits sixth or seventh on most days. Right now, he’s slotted into the nine hole. For that to stick, no one in the Ancient Alien Yankees lineup will get hurt all year. Okay, the homers of 16. Two of the past four years he’s hit 14 homers, he’s moving to Yankee Stadium and he’s going to be 26. I’m saying his power is going to peak, but it’s not like I’m calling for him to grow Brady Anderson sideburns and hit 50 homers. As for his 7 steals, he had a year of 25 steals in 2012; he’s averaged 6 steals per year the last three years. Seven steals isn’t crazy. Finally, his .274 average. He hit .265 with a .298 BABIP last year. With neutral luck, he hits .270. .274 is far from a huge get. Okay, finally, would you say the line 69/17/68/.281/9 is essentially the same thing? (It is, I just want you to agree.) That is the line for Logan Forsythe last year who ranked at the end of the year as the 100th best fantasy player, according to our Player Rater. I have Castro ranked as the 95th best player this year. I.e., I don’t think I’m that crazy. You know who is crazy? ESPN has him projected for 63/16/68/.260/9. That deserves to be ranked over one hundred spots later? C’mon.
Jonathan Schoop (Yahoo 357, ESPN, 306) I already gave you my Jonathan Schoop sleeper. There I said, “Hardy Hoes….dipping their nachos…that’s gravity getting annoyed…cheery O’s.” Damn, I can’t pull quotes worth a shizz. The only thing that’s changed from my sleeper post is Davis re-signed with the O’s and they signed Pedro Alvarez. That knocks Schoop back to the seven or eight hole, but that’s the same as with the Castro blurb above. Lineups change, the season is long, Matt Wieters is going to stay healthy? Please, I just got an eye roll headache. I have a feeling I’m even going to be low on Schoop’s power production when I project him for 26 homers.
Brett Lawrie (Yahoo 327) I already gave you my Brett Lawrie sleeper. I admittedly got overexcited with Castro, Schoop and Lawrie. I ranked them all so much higher than ESPN or Yahoo, that you can wait seven rounds between my ranking and where they have them. Would I wait? Yeah, sure, a bit. Who doesn’t love a bargain?! With that said (Grey’s about to negate everything he just said!), I’d still draft the team that I wanted. If that meant drafting Lawrie around 150 overall in Yahoo, where he’s ranked 327th, then so be it. This is where the skill comes into drafting. If you could just draft every player you wanted and your leaguemates didn’t get to snipe you, it would be no fun. Okay, it would be some fun, but no challenge.
Alen Hanson (Unranked overall by both, ranked 46th for 2B by ESPN) I won’t even go into how ESPN has him ranked after Eric Sogard, who they have projected for 1 HR and 5 SBs, after Ryan Goins, who they projected for four homers and 2 steals, and after Kelly Johnson, who hasn’t been good since the Truman administration. I won’t mention how Hanson had six homers and 35 steals in Triple-A last year. Won’t even mention how he hit 11 homers the year before with 25 steals. Won’t mention how he gets on base or can hit .270. Not going to mention any of it. Only thing I’ll mention is he could be out when Kang returns. Though, the Pirates could bench Jordy Mercer, and I’d take the bet that Jordache Mercer is the one pantsed when picking someone in the 300s overall.
Jace Peterson (ESPN 554) I hear ya, I hear ya, know your Jace, and your Jace is a bottom dweller like a crustacean on the sea floor of the middle infield ocean. No doubt, homey. He also has 40 steal speed and he’s currently being drafted after such stalwarts as Martin Prado, Spangenberg and Marwin Gonzalez. Emphasis on ‘warts.’
Trea Turner (Yahoo 365, ESPN unranked, but 42nd in their 2B positional ranks) Trea Turner sounds like a guest on The Real. “Loni Love is gonna be real with y’all for a second, I love Trea Turner’s new album!” That’s Loni Love on The Real introducing Turner. Also, mentioned on The Real is that the only thing standing between Turner and lighting the NL on fire is Danny Espinosa. Granted, if anyone’s going to be a wet blanket, it’s Espinosa.
