We already went over the top 20 catchers and the top 20 1st basemen for 2013 fantasy baseball. Today, we dip our big toe into the top 20 2nd basemen. End of the season-wise, the 2nd basemen don’t seem as shallow as I thought they were in the preseason, but, really, they’re not that much deeper on second glance. They are just barely shallower than shortstops, but it’s so close, I’m sure an argument could be made for the shortstops being shallower. Before you make that argument, remember what you’re arguing about. To recap, 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 2013 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
1. Robinson Cano – You can set your watch to his stats. If you have a watch with an RBIs hand and a batting average hand. I’ve liked owning him the past two seasons. I could own him again next year too, depending on where he signs…Let’s go Rockies! (Yes, of course, he’s going to be an Angel. Arte Moreno just sold Zimbabwe on eBay for $400 million to lock Cano up for two years.) Preseason Rank #1, 2013 Projections: 105/30/110/.310/4, Final Numbers: 81/27/107/.314/7
2. Jason Kipnis – I have an excuse for my poor projections and ranking for Kipnis. He had one full year under his belt and I thought his collapse in the 2nd half last season was a sign he wasn’t going to be good this year. Turned out he’s just a 1st half hitter. Noted and that morsel of info stashed in my brain cheeks for next year. Just trade him in July. Just trade him in July. Just–ooh, birdie. Preseason Rank #12, 2013 Projections: 78/15/72/.251/15, Final Numbers: 86/17/84/.284/30
3. Matt Carpenter – Went over him in the top 20 1st basemen post.
4. Daniel Murphy – Nothing says I love you like a hundred dollar bill. Nothing says yawnstipating like Daniel Murphy. Pretty weird year for 2nd basemen since a guy that was ranked 4th overall (and probably Carpenter above him in most leagues) wasn’t even owned the whole year. The Cardinals giving counting stats up the wazoo (though, shouldn’t it be out the wazoo?) makes sense. The Cardinals were good. The Mets were not good and here Murphy sits like King Shizz from Shinola. He tore the ceiling off his steals projection, built a sunroof above that, then tore that off, grabbed onto a passing hot air balloon and rose even higher. I’m trying to make all of these recaps about this year and not next, but Murphy has no chance of being in my top ten next year, let alone top five. If you owned him, you enjoyed his career year. Preseason Rank #29, 2013 Projections: 65/4/60/.295/6, Final Numbers: 92/13/78/.286/23
5. Dustin Pedroia – Solid year from Pedroia…If he only had 300 ABs. When he had around 3 homers on the year in May, I told you to sell him because he was playing with an injured thumb. He never got right and his power numbers were way down. If you didn’t heed my advice — you no heed me? Why, over-the-internet friend? — the good news is Jeff Keppinger could show up for 160 games in the middle of the Red Sox order and get counting stats, so Pedroia did just that. Preseason Rank #3, 2013 Projections: 90/17/100/.291/20, Final Numbers: 91/9/84/.301/17
6. Brandon Phillips – This is obvious like the latest Malcolm Gladwell book, but offense is like the homeless man who hides in a hamper in The Container Store — stinky. Phillips had 103 RBIs and ranked tenth for all of baseball. He ranked 4th for the NL! As recently as 2012, he would’ve ranked 15th for all of baseball. In 2008, he would’ve ranked 21st overall. In 2001, he would’ve ranked 37th overall tied with Corey Koskie and Cliff Floyd. And you thought the next time you heard Corey Koskie’s name was when your mom remarried and you had to start calling Corey, “Dad.” Preseason Rank #4, 2013 Projections: 82/18/75/.275/15, Final Numbers: 80/18/103/.261/5
7. Ian Kinsler – His power was way off, and maybe there’s a reason for it. I’m not sure if I believe this 100%, but it could be true. Frequent commenter, OaktownSteve, relayed this message, “Something you probably didn’t know but will want to think about next year: Arlington was only the 19th best place to hit home runs. I heard their announcer and former GM Tom Grieve on MLB radio yesterday and he said when the ballpark was built they made it so that it could be easily reconfigured. In the offseason, they put a model of the stadium in a water tank with die in it to simulate wind currents and based on what they found they rebuilt the stadium club behind home plate and the end result was no more jet stream. Interesting that it coincided with the departure of Hamilton, who benefited from it more than anybody.” And that’s me quoting OaktownSteve! Preseason Rank #2, 2013 Projections: 102/25/77/.258/20, Final Numbers: 85/13/72/.277/15
8. Jed Lowrie – I liked Lowrie better when he struggled to hit .250 and hit 15 homers in two-thirds of a season. This year his peripherals changed fairly dramatically. His K-rate dropped, his line drive rate went up, ground balls went up (not literally), fly balls went down (literally) and his homers per fly ball ratio was down. It seems odd that at 29 years old he’d become a different hitter, but he was. For this year, at least. Preseason Rank #20 for shortstops, 2013 Projections: 52/17/62/.254/2, Final Numbers: 80/15/75/.290/1
9. Ben Zobrist – For next year’s projections, I almost want to take what I think players are going to do and subtract 25%. I’ve made this suggestion before, but I’ll do it again in all caps BRING BACK STEROIDS! Not that Zobrist ever did steroids, as any self-respecting announcer would immediately say to avoid a lawsuit, then he’d go on to talk at length about how said player would never, ever, ever do steroids. Finally, he’d talk about the player’s charity organization. In Zobrist’s case, his charity is BMW. Buy My Wife’s album. Preseason Rank #5, 2013 Projections: 85/18/75/.264/18, Final Numbers: 77/12/71/.275/11
10. Chase Utley – First realistic value play that was drafted. Though, the only one that drafted him is probably the old guy in your league that calls everyone, “Son,” and cares if a player is a great hustler. Murphy and Carpenter were obviously better value picks, but neither were drafted in most mixed leagues. Utley was drafted with the hope of some returning glory. And you got it. Emphasis on ‘some,’ he didn’t win anyone any leagues. Preseason Rank #14, 2013 Projections: 68/14/74/.267/10, Final Numbers: 73/18/69/.284/8
11. Jose Altuve – I heard the craziest thing the other day while standing below the window at the main conference room at Elias Sports Bureau. Altuve stole 30 of 35 bases this year the day after he slept in the palm of Chris Carter’s hand. Preseason Rank #9, 2013 Projections: 87/8/43/.304/28, Final Numbers: 64/5/52/.283/35
12. Brian Dozier – “I like our chances. We have Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia and Dozier coming back with another year under their belt. Kevin Correia worked with our pitchers, so they’re gonna be better. Watch out, Tigers!” That’s the Delusional Twins Fan. Actually, it’s not fair to group Arcia and Hicks in with Dozier. Hicks and Arcia could take a step forward. Dozier? Well, since he had 5-homer, 10-steal speed coming into this year with a likely .230 average, I wouldn’t expect to ever see a year like this from him again. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 72/18/66/.244/14
13. Martin Prado – Two mouthfuls of Viagra and Thora Birch as my next door neighbor and I couldn’t get excited about Prado. He’s still better than Kevin Spacey talking into the camera in House of Cards. Ugh, what a painful show. Preseason Rank #16, 2013 Projections: 86/12/68/.298/12, Final Numbers: 70/14/82/.282/3
14. Jedd Gyorko – Now here excitement, I have. And like Yoda, I talk. In only 125 games, Gyorko hit 23 homers, and for a good month while he was playing he wasn’t even healthy. The K-rate went up a bit this year from his minor league years, but I’m not sure that’s due to the talent level being raised or the injury. It could be a bit of both. Preseason Rank #23, 2013 Projections: 60/18/70/.265/4, Final Numbers: 62/23/63/.249/1
15. Howie Kendrick – Without his injury, he would’ve been right about on par with my preseason projections for counting stats. I don’t say this to toot my own horn, but if I could toot my own horn, I wouldn’t be writing this, I’d be making videos for Red Tube. Preseason Rank #17, 2013 Projections: 70/10/78/.290/14, Final Numbers: 55/13/54/.297/6
16. Omar Infante – If you’re in a 12-team league that starts an MI, you could make a case for Infante being your MI all year. That case would be crackers and you would’ve lost your league. But you could make the case. Maybe you’ll get George Zimmerman’s jury. Preseason Rank #27, 2013 Projections: 62/7/67/.270/9, Final Numbers: 54/10/51/.318/9
17. Neil Walker – Weird fall off for steals this year. I guess some years he just doesn’t feel like running. Must be something to do with his name. Preseason Rank #18, 2013 Projections: 75/14/82/.272/9, Final Numbers: 62/16/53/.251/1
18. Mike Aviles – Can I be honest with you? Do we have a strong enough rapport for that? Okay, cool. Here goes my confession: I had no idea what team Aviles was on when I wrote this up. I knew it was the AL, but I wasn’t sure which one. Talk about making an impression! Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 54/9/46/.252/8
19. Ryan Raburn – 2nd base eligibility + some power + platoon player = Nosferatu. Wow, the math is way off there. Was supposed to be “The reason Ryan Raburn was ranked in the top 20.” Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 40/16/55/.272
20. Emilio Bonifacio – I truly believe that Bonifacio could’ve been a top ten 2nd baseman, as I ranked him in the preseason, if the Blue Jays just would’ve helped him along a little. When he stole 16 bases in 42 games with the Royals and hit .285, he was getting helped along. (I have no idea what helping along a player means. Maybe sending them encouraging texts with lots of emoticons.) Preseason Rank #10, 2013 Projections: 79/3/49/.263/42, Final Numbers: 54/3/31/.243/28
