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With the top 40 outfielders for 2014 fantasy baseball, we’ve finished all the hitter recaps.  We meaning me, but I’ll include you.  No, that’s not a cue to try to hold my hand.  Why are you now patting my butt?  The pitching recap will begin next.  To recap, the end of the season rankings are based on our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater.  I felt the easiest way to keep it objective would to go this course.  This way when I say someone finished 30th and I ranked them 23rd in the preseason it carries more weight.  Anyway, here’s the top 40 outfielders for 2014 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:

21. Josh Harrison – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen.

22. Alex Gordon – Went over him in the top 20 boringest players post.  There I said, “Bleh bleh bleh bleh.  Bleh bleh bleh.  Bleh!  Oh, and bleh.”  I think I’ve now owned Gordon for three straight years in multiple leagues.  I always get excited about the thought of a guy that doesn’t hurt you in any category, while forgetting he also doesn’t win you any category either.  Alex “Neither-Here-Nor-There” Gordon, you have been served your ‘Why Won’t You Do Anything Exciting For Me?” papers.  Preseason Rank #17, 2014 Projections:  84/23/92/.282/12, Final Numbers:  87/19/74/.266/12

23. Starling Marte – Players will be all over the map for 2015 compared to this year, but Marte?  Well, Marte will prolly be close to here, give or take five ranking spots, barring injury.  Preseason Rank #16, 2014 Projections:  91/15/40/.259/30, Final Numbers:  73/13/56/.291/30

24. J.D. Martinez – In March, not ranking Martinez didn’t look so bad, since the Astros released him.  That’s right, he couldn’t crack the Astros Opening Day roster.  I’m not even talking lineup.  Here’s what Rotoworld said on March 24th after he signed with the Tigers, “Martinez was released by the Astros over the weekend after batting just .250/.272/.378 in 2013 and then struggling to an even uglier degree this spring in the Cactus League.  Once a major league regular, he’ll now serve as organizational outfield depth for Detroit.”  He appeared to be a 4th outfielder for a major league team in the best case scenario.  So, where did it all go right?  Was it Miggy pushing J.D., and continually trying to open his head and drink his goodness?  Is this the real Martinez?  I got questions, y’all!  He looks like he got insanely lucky with his BABIP, and had a HR/FB rate like nothing he’d ever done before in the majors.  If you had Martinez last year, you must’ve stepped in a giant pile of doo labeled J.D. will do like he never done did before.  Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers:  57/23/76/.315/6

25. Melky Cabrera – This year by Melky couldn’t have been better if it was scripted by him in HTML.  Preseason Rank #105, 2014 Projections:  63/9/71/.272/9, Final Numbers:  81/16/73/.301/6

26. Billy Hamilton – The best (not best) were the comments in the preseason calling me either a buffoon or daft in the head for projecting Hamilton for so few runs, after I assumed he was leading off.  You know where those people are now?  I don’t either, but let them be.  I get enough aggravation in the preseason.  Preseason Rank #23, 2014 Projections:  73/2/28/.250/67, Final Numbers:  72/6/48/.250/56

27. Marlon Byrd – You got a solid year from Byrd if you accidentally drafted him instead of, say, Domonic Brown.  Also, for those of us who can see parallel universes, Byrd did a great job on the World Championship Pirates club!  Great trading deadline move!  Preseason Rank #58, 2014 Projections:  59/18/73/.272/3, Final Numbers:  71/25/85/.264/3

28. Marcell Ozuna – Here’s what I said back in January of last year, “Here’s the part in our program where we get excited about a Marlins hitter.  *struggling to hit the caps lock button*  YAY.  DAH, I CAN’T JUSTIFY THIS LEVEL OF ENTHUSIASM.  UGH, HOLD ON A SECOND.  There that’s better.  Ozuna showed 20+ homer power in the minor leagues and he’ll have as much rope as he needs to hang himself.  My apologies to Michael Hutchenson fans.”  And that’s me quoting me!  The good news is we were able to find the caps lock button for OZUNA.  OZUNA rake baseball.  OZUNA not rake baseball in zen sand garden.  OZUNA not zen.  Preseason Rank #76, 2014 Projections:  53/17/60/.258/9, Final Numbers:  72/23/85/.269/3

29. Brett Gardner – Batting third on the Indians (in Yankee Stadium; don’t ask me how that works), Gardner would’ve been Michael Brantley.  When did Gardner become a 20/20 guy and not a 10/40 guy?  This year, apparently.  That’s actually a dangerous misnomer for his future perception, because he’s more of a 12-homer, 20-steal guy than what he showed in 2014.  I.e., he doesn’t have power and he’s surprisingly old (will be 32 next year).  Preseason Rank #49, 2014 Projections:  64/7/54/.279/22, Final Numbers:  87/17/58/.256/21

30. Denard Span – We should start a league where if you draft one guy, you have to draft his doppelganger.  With Span comes Revere, with Matt Adams comes Billy Butler and with Jayson Werth comes WWE wrestler, Edge.  Preseason Rank #66, 2014 Projections:  64/4/51/.276/20, Final Numbers:  94/5/37/.302/31

31. Christian Yelich – Yelich’s year started with him going to his senior prom and it ended with him doing his first keg stand at Mount Holyoke.  Hopefully his Criminal Justice major won’t hinder his steals in the future.  Preseason Rank #54, 2014 Projections:  76/11/51/.278/22, Final Numbers:  94/9/54/.284/21

32. Ryan Braun – Ah, remember the salad days when Braun was sticking needles in his ass?  (Not to be confused with the tossed salad days and his ass.)  He was a lock for 35-ish homers and 25-ish steals.  Now he’s a lock for “My thumb boo-boo makes me go boo-hoo and I need to sit out after three straight 1-for-4’s.”  Braun, you’re just lucky the Jewish Athlete Pamphlet is simply stapled together for easily removal.  Preseason Rank #24, 2014 Projections:  88/24/94/.280/15, Final Numbers:  68/19/81/.266/11

33. Torii Hunter – He’s really been able to hold his top 40 outfielder value for a ton of years.  Or as I like to say, “Hunter isn’t staying good, the other players are getting crappier.”  Preseason Rank #43, 2014 Projections:  77/17/90/.288/5, Final Numbers:  83/17/71/.286/4

34. Ben Revere – Not a bad year (assuming he accumulated all of these stats and it wasn’t Denard Span switching his tie like Michael J. Fox at the prom).  Preseason Rank #65, 2014 Projections:  72/0/28/.291/31, Final Numbers:  71/2/28/.306/49

35. Rajai Davis – The King of SAGNOF beat his preseason projections, overthrew the King of Lichtenstein and made Jarrod Dyson fetch him a piss bucket over 500 times.  All in one year!  Preseason Rank #64, 2014 Projections:  59/4/28/.266/39, Final Numbers:  64/8/51/.282/36

36. Kole Calhoun – Here’s a guy that came out of nowhere!  Well, not really.  I wrote a sleeper post about him in January and told you there was a chance for more with his projections.  We can pretend we discovered him together though, if you like.  Preseason Rank #52, 2014 Projections:  68/14/62/.289/10, Final Numbers:  90/17/58/.272/5

37. Brandon Moss – Went over him in the top 20 1st basemen.

38. Jason Heyward – To fetch my preseason projections I go through my old rankings posts.  The top 40 outfielders in the preseason was a real doozy!  Trumbo, Granderson (!), Soriano (!!), Aoki (!!!!), Victorino (!?!), Desmond Jennings —  Did some of these guys retire?  Here’s a great one:  Allen Craig!  No wonder Heyward finished in the top 40, half of the outfielders from the preseason were as impressive as John Rocker on Survivor.  “If you weren’t a girl, I’d punch your teeth out!  On second thought, you don’t look like much of a girl.”  Smooth game play, Rocker.  Preseason Rank #25, 2014 Projections:  83/19/69/.273/10, Final Numbers:  74/11/58/.271/20

39. Danny Santana – Went over him in the top 20 shortstops.

40. Drew Stubbs – I want someone next year to look at least one of my teams and say, “Why did you draft only Rockies hitters and only Padres pitchers?”  Seriously.  Preseason Rank #86, 2014 Projections:  41/12/44/.241/15, Final Numbers:  67/15/43/.289/20