LOGIN

Please see our player page for Jose Altuve to see projections for today, the next 7 days and rest of season as well as stats and gamelogs designed with the fantasy baseball player in mind.

After going over keeper relievers, keeper starters and keeper catchers in October, we turned our attention to the top infield keepers last week with a look at the keeper first basemen.

This week we continue the trip around the infield by looking at the second basemen.

I’m pretty sure I said this last year, but I will say it again: second base is the scrapheap of major league baseball. It seems every manager believes anyone can play second base – and they may be right. You have players getting starts at the spot that you would think would never play there – like a Brandon Drury. Right fielders, center fielders, third basemen, first basemen – they are all getting time at second base.

With so many fantasy leagues requiring middle infielders, the list of keepers is long and the bar to be on the list consists of players who had to have at least 10 starts at second base.

Enough with the chit chat, on to the 2024 Top Keepers – Second Basemen

Please, blog, may I have some more?

We already went over the top 20 catchers and the top 20 1st basemen for 2023 fantasy baseball. Today, we dip our big toe into the top 20 2nd basemen pool. Make sure to go feet first here, because it’s shallow and I don’t want you cracking your medulla oblongata all over the place. To recap this crap (rhyme points!), this final ranking for last year is from our Fantasy Baseball 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 2023 fantasy baseball and how they compared to where I originally ranked them:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

I’ll get to Jose Altuve, but, damn, the Astros were like, “Oh, yeah, Rangers, you’re going to challenge us for the division? That’s what you’re going to do?” Mean’s while, Mariners are like, “Hey, what about us?” Okay, now the lede: Jose Altuve did what? Three homers in three innings? Finishing with: 3-for-5, and his 13th, 14th, and 15th homer, which he hit in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd inning. Mark Whiten must’ve been sweating! I know this is about fantasy, but he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer. I’m not a denier of the Cheaty Cheaty Bang Bang Scandal. I am not an ostrich. But cmon. Has he been cheating every year of his career? Fine, wanna dock him one year for cheating? Do whatever you want, but he’s a Hall of Famer. I’m not just saying this because we’re the same height. Fine! It is that reason! Us Short Kings get one guy every 20 years, let us have Altuve! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

There’s no point in me pointing out that I wrote a Justin Steele sleeper this preseason. It’s so long ago now! So much has been written since then! Has anything, perchance, been written that was that illuminating that the Pulitzer committee, all 12 people in Switzerland, all drafted Justin Steele in their fantasy leagues? Does it matter that people, who have been stopped on the highway doing 120 MPH, have been allowed to leave after showing the police officer my Justin Steele sleeper? Does it matter that my Justin Steele sleeper has made advancements in medicine to cure the hiccups? No! None of this matters! What matters is I wrote that gee-dee post, snitches! Yesterday, he went 8 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, 2 walks, 12 Ks, lowering his ERA to 2.55. But that doesn’t even matter! The hiccups are now gone! Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Liberatore sounds like a work of art by Picasso. “Did you see Liberatore? It’s his answer to Guernica. Masterful!” Or it sounds like something that is followed by a long list of side effects in a brand new weight loss drug commercial. Read really fast, “Liberatore can cause stomach bloating, stomach lining erosion, stomach ooh-oohs, stomach ah-ahs, stomach explosion and the runs.” Liberatore actually causing the runs with his pitching, but not last night! Matthew Liberatore went 8 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, zero walks, 7 Ks, ERA at 5.72, and showed that promise that was hinted at when he was first called up. Liberatore, also, has some of the worst peripherals in baseball. Could he be good one day? Sure. Matthew Liberatore for 2024 fantasy? I’m interested, potentially. For this year? I have my doubts. I wouldn’t even Streamonator with him. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

She bingo’d on my bango until I chucked my Woolery–Oh hey! Sorry, didn’t hear you come in! I was talking to myself in the mirror. I do that when there’s no baseball games. That, and rank players! So, let’s get some exposition out of the way up front before we drop the top 100 for 2nd half of 2023 fantasy baseball. Not too much exposition because this is going to be a long post as it is–I’m making it longer, aren’t I? Ugh, my bad! Before we get into the top 100 for the 2nd half of 2023 fantasy baseball, let’s just be glad our 18-year-old selves can’t see us now, we’d get beat up! But our twelve-year-old selves would think we’re the coolest! So, as with all of the other 2023 fantasy baseball rankings, slop this up with a grain of salt. If you need a 2nd baseman, but an outfielder is above him that doesn’t mean you can’t trade that outfielder for that 2nd baseman. Also, things change in fantasy baseball. Daily. I could put Ronald Acuña Jr. number one, and he could pull a–Well, we won’t even mention an injury with the top players after we lost Oneil Cruz. As I say about the Giancarlo underwear I bought off eBay, why soil a good thing? This list is a road map for where I think guys are valued. It’s not the Holy Grail in the Church of Grey, that would be my mustache. This list is NOT (caps for emphasis, not aesthetics) where I see guys ending up if you were to take their first half and combine it with the 2nd half. This is simply a list of the top hundred fantasy baseball players if you were to pick them up today. So while Dansby Swanson did not have the greatest first half, he will appear on this list because, well, we have to believe in miracles — my 12-year-old self would want that, and to sleep with Cher. 12-year-old Grey loved Cher. The projections are not their combined 1st half and 2nd half numbers; these are their projections for the 2nd half of 2023. I also liberally used our rest of the season Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. That’s right, we have a Player Rater that tells you what players will do. It’s like that camera from The Twilight Zone. Welcome to the future! Anyway, here’s the top 100 for fantasy baseball for the 2nd half of 2023:

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Good day to you, Razzfam! Happy almost All-Star Week! Also, welcome to Strained Oblique Season! *toots weak, off-key party horn* That’s right. We have 3 folks that joined the IL because of that nasty oblique injury (Altuve, Jazz, Royce Lewis). Fear not (or fear…not too much)! The All-Star break is upon us. Some guys get […]

Please, blog, may I have some more?

Our father, who Arte Moreno knows in heaven that’s how he owns the Angels, hallowed be thy name, from kingdom come, from sea to shining sea, we’ve lived to see the day when the Orioles are way better than the Yankees. Luis Severino (2 2/3 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 7.38), the Yanks’ 2nd best pitcher, wouldn’t even make the Orioles’ pitching staff. I am howling like Jack Nicholson in Wolf. The Yankees would basically betroth Kyle Bradish (6 IP, 0 ER, 5 baserunners, 5 Ks, ERA at 3.32) to Rhoda Berra, Yogi’s grand niece, to join their team. The Yankees would give Lou Gehrig’s childhood home, that is currently in a giant glass case at the Steinbrenners’ ranch, for just one of their prospects. Send them Gunnar Henderson (4-for-7, 3 runs, 5 RBIs and his 12th and 13th homer) and the Yankees will give them the baseball fan who ran onto the field to congratulate Chris Chambliss, who has been in a dungeon for the last 45 years. That is their monkey’s paw and the Yanks will give it to the Orioles for just a taste of the Orioles’ success. I am laughing. What a world. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Please, blog, may I have some more?