Top 20 catchers, 1st basemen and 2nd basemen are in the books. What a strange, glorious trip it’s been! Though not really. Today, the top 20 shortstops for 2012 fantasy baseball get to shine. Hmm… Actually, most of these won’t shine. They’re cloudy with a chance of crapballs. To be a bit more specific, the top ten shortstops were about equal with the 2nd basemen through the top 10, then they fall off the map like a 12th century explorer. For instance, Scutaro is 8th on the 2nd basemen list and 7th here, but Mike Aviles is 18th on the 2nd basemen list and 14th here. That’s ugly, y’all! Okay, enough of the hubbub on the tomfoolery. To recap, this final ranking 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 shortstops for 2012 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
1. Jimmy Rollins – I probably should’ve went over this in the intro paragraph. Intro Paragraph, “Take care of your own shizz.” But I’ll talk about it here since there’s not much to say on Rollins. There weren’t a whole lot of surprises with the shortstops. Scutaro and Plouffe were about it, and they were both on waivers in just about all mixed leagues a month into the season. As this list will show, the shortstops could’ve used some surprises. Preseason Rank #6, 2012 Projections: 80/14/55/.270/24, Final Numbers: 102/23/68/.250/30
2. Ian Desmond – Due to poor counting stats, Desmond is below Rollins, but he was really more valuable if you subbed in players when Desmond was injured since he only played in 130 games. The scary thing, though this is more for next year, Desmond had almost exactly the same season as he had in 201o when he hit 10 homers and .269. His HR/FB% and BABIP made up for the differences. And that’s me shining on this crazy Desmond. Preseason Rank #14, 2012 Projections: 70/10/65/.250/22, Final Numbers: 72/25/73/.291/21
3. Hanley Ramirez – He’s lost a bunch of infield hits from his .300+ days. I don’t know this for a fact, because I didn’t feel like Googling it, but my guess is he’s lost a step down the first base line. Whether that’s from not hustling down the line or just age, I’m not sure. Shoot, I wasn’t sure if what I initially guessed at was true, so how would I know if the assumption on the assumption was true? Preseason Rank #3, 2012 Projections: 90/20/105/.305/25, Final Numbers: 79/24/92/.257/21
4. Jose Reyes – You know what’s really hurting these guys from my preseason projections to the postseason? Runs are down. The season Desmond had should’ve gave him 90 runs; Rollins used to get 120 runs with those numbers; Hanley should’ve had 90 runs; Jeter didn’t break 100 runs — huh!?; Castro played in 162 games and only had 78 runs; Reyes didn’t have a 86-run season, he had more like a 105-run season. Maybe baseball will start the 2013 season in Mexico City and get the runs back. Preseason Rank #2, 2012 Projections: 110/12/50/.295/45, Final Numbers: 86/11/57/.287/40
5. Derek Jeter – Besides Desmond, Jeter had the most valuable season for where he was drafted compared to where he ended up. He was drafted at a $3.7 price tag and gave you a eighteen dollar return. Pretty terrible how far his speed has fallen. I mean, not considering he’s 38 years old… Holy crap, Jeter’s 38 years old?! That means I’m old. When the hell did that fresh-faced with pop-star-good-looks, Pasta Diving stallion get so old? Ugh, I just got arthritis thinking about it. Preseason Rank #8, 2012 Projections: 90/10/60/.275/15, Final Numbers: 99/15/58/.316/9
6. Starlin Castro – For value, this is where the first tier ends. If you had one of the first six guys, you were okay. Maybe not great from day to day, but in the grand scale of this whole mishegoss, you did okay. Specifically, Castro was more the victim of a terrible offense than a terrible season. He doesn’t have lights-out power or lightning-fast speed, but he doesn’t kill you in any category, either. If things broke right for his runs and RBIs, he’d be more like a top 3 shortstop. Preseason Rank #5, 2012 Projections: 100/12/70/.310/20, Final Numbers: 78/14/78/25/.283
7. Marco Scutaro – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2012 fantasy baseball.
8. Alcides Escobar – According to our Expected Average charts, Alcides should’ve hit .245. So if his average was that low, my projections were pretty money. If I may toot my own horn — though if I could actually toot my own horn, I’d never leave the house — I did really well with projections this year, in general. January Grey was locked in. January Grey, “Funny you use that turn of a phrase cause I’m actually locked up in Guatemala. Look for me on Locked Up Abroad!” Preseason Rank #16, 2012 Projections: 75/5/50/.250/30, Final Numbers: 68/5/52/.293/35
9. Elvis Andrus – I’m starting to grow accustomed to this guy not meeting my power expectations, but now his speed is in the toilet too and no one’s flushing. On a positive note, if you don’t own Hamilton in a keeper league, if Josh has a bad season that usually means Andrus has a good speed season. Though, that will probably end up irrelevant as I’m pretty sure Andrus is going to be playing shortstop for someone else come 2013. Just think, if he goes to the Astros, he could steal 60 bases. And score 50 runs. Preseason Rank #4, 2012 Projections: 105/7/60/.285/40, Final Numbers: 85/3/62/.286/21
10. Asdrubal Cabrera – I figured Asdrubal would come back to earth after his 2011 season, but I hope he put down his landing gear because ouch-choo. (Ouch-choo is my manly way of saying “ouch.” See, when I bump into something, my governed-by-masculinity self can’t act like I hurt myself, so I pretend I just sneezed. “Ouch-choo!” Feel free to use it too.) Preseason Rank #7, 2012 Projections: 80/14/70/.270/15, Final Numbers: 70/16/68/.270/9
11. Alexei Ramirez – Anecdotally, his power decline could be due to the fact that he’s a Latin 31. Less anecdotally, his fly balls were down a tad, but his HR/FB% was garbage and his speed actually was better, according to his Bill James Speed Score. He’s at a career crossroads where he’ll either bounce back or fall into oblivion next year. Totally guessing here, but he could have a Great Zombino season in him, though that will take him having a huge April. Something he’s not exactly famous for. Preseason Rank #9, 2012 Projections: 75/17/80/.270/10, Final Numbers: 59/9/73/.265/20
12. J.J. Hardy – The most surprising thing about his season is the runs, especially considering the dearth of them elsewhere and assuming I’m using that “dearth” word correctly. But since he hit 2nd for 631 ABs, it’s not that surprising. The really surprising thing is he hit 2nd for that many ABs and the Orioles excelled. The third surprising thing in a series of three, the Orioles excelled and Hardy’s .238 average wasn’t that bad relative to the rest of his team. Preseason Rank #11, 2012 Projections: 60/19/75/.255, Final Numbers: 85/22/68/.238
13. Erick Aybar – I doubt anyone was happy with some of the guys above, but Aybar had a two-homer, five-steal 1st half. If you owned that, you lost your league, but in a last desperation move you probably dropped him before his solid 2nd half, so not only did he hurt you but he helped your competition beat you doubly. Why is it whenever I say “doubly” I sound drunk? Hmm, deep thoughts with Grey Albright. Preseason Rank #10, 2012 Projections: 80/6/50/.280/24, Final Numbers: 67/8/45/.290/20
14. Mike Aviles – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2012 fantasy baseball.
15. Trevor Plouffe – Plouffe goes the dynamite! If you did like many people, when Emily Goodface was injured, you went over to Plouffe and Frankenstein’d together a 20/20 shortstop. Then when Plouffe got hurt you went off to another shortstop. So, if you do like me and punt middle infield, there’s a good chance if you owned Plouffe, you got a lot more than the 15th best shortstop. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 56/24/55/.235/1
16. Rafael Furcal – In the early months, everyone was talking about how Furcal found the fountain of youth. In reality, he found the fountain of a good couple of months, which Ponce de Leon Durham went looking for in his early thirties, but never found. Just like he never found that ground ball in 1984. Preseason Rank #20, 2012 Projections: 60/7/35/.245/12, Final Numbers: 69/5/49/.264/12
17. Everth Cabrera – He went unranked, because he wasn’t even on the major league roster in April. If you paired him with, say, Bonifacio, you SAGNOF’d your way to a 55+ steals. If you paired EverCab with Plouffe, you had a 15 homer, 30+ steal MI. If you paired him with Asdrubal Cabrera, you had a fine Caberyay. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 49/2/24/.246/44
18. Zack Cozart – Wasn’t terribly off the value I had for him in the preseason when I liked him as a sleeper, except for the steals. Instead of RBIs, he got runs due to lineup placement. He had 30 steals in his last minor league season, so the lack of steals is baffling. As a team, the Reds just didn’t run, accumulating 87 steals as a team and ranking 26th in the majors. Maybe we could hire some of Aroldis sketchier associates to scare the crap out of the Reds baserunners. Preseason Rank #15, 2012 Projections: 55/14/70/.245/20, Final Numbers: 72/15/35/.246/4
19. Jhonny Peralta – Pretty terrible that this list includes someone like Jhonny. Not simply because his superfluous H freaks me out, but because he wasn’t ownable in most mixed leagues and was death in AL-Only leagues yet he’s in the top 20. Yikes, who’s next? Yunel? Preseason Rank #17, 2012 Projections: 60/17/75/.250, Final Numbers: 58/13/63/.239/1
20. Yunel Escobar – This list makes me long for the days we were recapping catchers. Yunel that? That’s the shortstops. Preseason Rank #18, 2012 Projections: 70/12/45/.280/3, Final Numbers: 58/9/51/.253/5
