Top 100 Keepers for 2015…And Beyond!

Keeper league rankings are here (the 2014 Rankings can be found here), and I am going to absolutely shock the world with my number one. This is all about zagging when others zig. You gotta get out in front of the pack with advanced statistics and clever strategory. Sometimes you have to be bold and go against the grain to get that competitive edg…what’s that? Everybody else has Mike Trout number one too? It’s common sense? Well…crap. These are my personal rankings and take into account the 2015-2019 seasons. Don’t start flipping through your calendar – that’s 5 years. It means the senior citizen players are really going have to provide some nice statistics in the first year or two to rank highly. It also means players who are in or, better yet, just entering their prime get a bump. It’s not a hybrid list, so no prospects or Cuban rookies…sorry. It’s also not set for any specific pricing or league settings so assume a standard 5×5 roto format with no penalties to keep a player. Basically it’s a ranking of what I think these players will be worth over the next 5 years as a whole. It’s that simple. Here are my top 100 keepers for 2015 and beyond…

But first, a few thoughts…

• Had this been a hybrid list that included prospects, these guys would have been sprinkled in the Top 100: Jorge Soler, Kris Bryant, Byron Buxton, Yasmany Tomas, Carlos Correa, Addison Russell, Miguel Sano, Joey Gallo, Rusney Castillo, and Corey Seager.
• I don’t place much value on catchers or closers in keeper leagues. That’s evident in only ranking a handful of them, but I thought it was worth noting.
• Re: 2B – I’m high on guys like Baez, Wong, and Odor while low on players like Pedroia and Kinsler. It was a tough position to rank in general. The latter two are solid for the next year or so, but I want to get in on the younger guys that could have an impact at that position before there’s a changing of the guard. I am a believer in Baez as a great fantasy option despite the strikeouts. Basically he’s boom or bust, and I’m going with boom.
• There are a lot of great arms like Richards, Arrieta, etc. that didn’t even make the cut thanks to my preference to keep hitters over pitchers. That said, there are a bunch still littered throughout the list. You can see “tiers” of arms and within those I am basically saying it’s a coin flip. Personally if I had ten keepers to play with, I’d probably only protect one or two pitchers no matter who they were.
• It’s worth mentioning again…this is just one list. With all the different league settings out there, you need to adapt them to your team’s needs and window of contention. Ages listed are as of Opening Day 2015.

Just missed: Jacoby Ellsbury, Mark Trumbo, Leonys Martin, Jedd Gyorko, Garrett Richards, Jake Arrieta, Ian Kinsler, Adrian Gonzalez, Tyson Ross, David Wright, Alex Gordon, Dustin Pedroia.