We’re gonna find out if the top 20 shortstops are as Ken Bonerific as the top 20 2nd basemen. Hint: they are. Damn, I gotta work on building suspense. That hint pretty much gives the whole kit away and tacks the kaboodle onto its back as it’s walking out the door. Goodbye, kit and kaboodle, I just gave you away for nothing. I am very charitable. When I go to Whole Foods, I only throw a small hissy fit when they ask me to donate money, “Take a dollar out of the $12 per pound olive bar and you donate!” 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 2016 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
1. Jonathan Villar – Went over him already in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2016 fantasy baseball.
2. Jean Segura – Went over him already in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2016 fantasy baseball.
3. Ian Desmond – He has a serious Saberhagenmetrics thing going on. In 2015, he was one of the least valuable players for fantasy and could barely find a job in 2016. In 2014, he was top 25 overall for fantasy value. In 2013, well, he was good then too, but even Saberhagenmetricians goof sometimes. What does this mean for 2017? Well, did you see Desmond’s 2nd half this past year? Let’s just say he entered August with 20 HRs, and ended the year with 22 homers. Preseason Rank #7, 2016 Projections: 68/21/74/.241/12, Final Numbers: 107/22/86/.285/21
4. Manny Machado – I have a Dr. Seuss book to read to Machado’s owners. It’s called, Who Stole His Steals? “Who stole his steals? I’d like to know, for reals. Who stole his steals? Did he eat too many heavy meals? Who stole his steals? Why is he running in place like Jennifer Beals?” Preseason Rank #1 for 3rd Basemen, 2016 Projections: 94/30/109/.298/18, Final Numbers: 105/37/96/.294
5. Xander Bogaerts – There was a moment in the 1st half where it seemed Bogaerts was going to be a top shortstop and potentially a top 10 pick next year. After his 2nd half, there’s just as many question marks as periods. <–Philosophical! Preseason Rank #2, 2016 Projections: 88/17/84/.306/12, Final Numbers: 115/21/89/.294/13
6. Eduardo Nunez – The one issue with using the Player Rater for the end of the season recap is I don’t fully agree with it every time. Empirically, I understand Nunez had this much value and more value than, say, Seager or Lindor, but I would’ve preferred the latter two all season. Less peaks and valleys and more steady production. Either way, Nunez did give huge value considering where you needed to draft him, which was nowhere. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 73/16/67/.288/40
7. Francisco Lindor – The whole point of these recaps is what we can learn from last year to take with us to next year. Lindor’s lesson is simple, it shows you how valuable a guy hitting third all year can be. If you put Lindor’s year as a seven-hole hitter (which he would never be, but I’m making a point, shut yo face!), Lindor is basically Freddy Galvis with a better average. Before you scoff, you scoffer, Galvis had 20 HRs and 17 SBs. Preseason Rank #4, 2016 Projections: 86/10/62/.289/22, Final Numbers: 99/15/78/.301/19
8. Corey Seager – I’ll tell you what — Disembodied Voice, “What will you tell us?” — I’ll tell you that I may have ranked Seager third in the preseason and he only ended up 8th for shortstops, but I can’t imagine anyone actually upset about drafting him. Or any of the guys above him. Though, I have my reservations about Nunez as mentioned in his blurb. Preseason Rank #3, 2016 Projections: 81/19/63/.284/8, Final Numbers: 105/26/72/.308/3
9. Jose Ramirez – Went over him already in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2016 fantasy baseball.
10. Carlos Correa – Out of curiosity, because like a 1950s pool cue I’m a curio, Steamer projected Correa for 84/23/87/.277/22. Looks closer than mine but his steals still went the way of Machado. As I said in the top 20 1st basemen post about Rizzo, Correa may have disappointed, but it’s hard to be truly disappointed with him. You might have lost your league due to expecting Archer to be your ace, or Bautista to be your #1 outfielder, or thinking The Donkfather and Urban Donkey would combine for a .265 average, but you didn’t lose due to Correa. Preseason Rank #1, 2016 Projections: 103/24/95/.292/26, Final Numbers: 76/20/96/.274/13
11. Elvis Andrus – Couple of things jump out at me with Andrus. A) I’m surprised by his high ranking here. B) He’s not ranked this high because he’s better than the cream of the crap, i.e., he was good vs. others just being bad. C) There’s no C. D) A Google suggested fill-in when you get halfway thru his name cracks me up, “Elvis And Nixon.” Preseason Rank #13, 2016 Projections: 71/7/57/.261/27, Final Numbers: 75/8/69/.302/24
12. Trevor Story – I might’ve been close in ranking on Story and his projections don’t look totally off, but I completely underestimated him and the power of Coors. I’m only close in ranking and projections because Story missed sixty games. I worried about Story’s Ks, and they were terrible, but Coors fixes all ills — aills? — and I’m willing to take a bet that Mario Mendoza would hit .260 in Coors. Preseason Rank #9, 2016 Projections: 62/18/68/.242/17, Final Numbers: 67/27/72/.272/8
13. Brad Miller – Went over him already in the top 20 1st basemen for 2016 fantasy baseball.
14. Marcus Semien – I called Semien a sleeper in the preseason, but I should’ve labeled him nocturnal emission. In the preseason I said 25/20 wasn’t attainable for Semien, but I likely said that due to the 25 HRs and not because of the 20 SBs. So, he didn’t attain it, but not due to my likely reason. Little did I know Ghetto Yellowstone (O.co) couldn’t even suppress power this year. Preseason Rank #8, 2016 Projections:66/18/72/.262/10, Final Numbers: 72/27/75/.238/10
15. Eugenio Suarez – One small note, I doubt any of you were true Eugeniuses and held him all year to get all of his stats, so your fantasy team log stats on Suarez are likely closer to my projections. And that’s how you make it seem like you were right when you weren’t! Preseason Rank #22, 2016 Projections: 54/15/64/.241/4, Final Numbers: 78/21/70/.248/11
16. Didi Gregorius – If in March you would’ve failed to mention that everyone and Ted Williams’ frozen head would hit 20 homers this year and just told me Didi Smalls would hit 20 homers, I would’ve be like, “I see some shortstops tonight that should be having my baby…bay-be.” Preseason Rank #34, 2016 Projections: 51/10/55/.268/4, Final Numbers: 68/20/70/.276/7
17. Addison Russell – Went over him already in the top 20 2nd basemen for 2016 fantasy baseball.
18. Aledmys Diaz – It’s true I didn’t rank him, but he wasn’t on the Opening Day roster (was called up one day after OD when Pham was injured). It’s also true I didn’t have much faith in him the first week of April, but by the 2nd and 3rd week, I told everyone to pick him up, and I know this because I picked him up myself. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 71/17/65/.300/4
19. Brandon Crawford – Here’s the type of player I don’t ever buy in a draft. High floor, low ceiling player, we should call them Mertin Flemmers. Preseason Rank #17, 2016 Projections: 54/14/70/.248/5, Final Numbers: 67/12/84/.275/7
20. Asdrubal Cabrera – He needed a huge last month to sneak into the top 20 and bump out Freddy Galvis, Starlin Castro and Tulo, in that order. That’s right, Tulo was the 23rd shortstop, and I called him a schmohawk in the preseason. The crazy thing (not really crazy), I get the sense that Tulo will likely be drafted around where he was again next year. As for Asdrubal, I like to replace Starboy in the new Weeknd song with Asdrubal. Look what you done? I’m a mothereffin’ Asdrubal! Preseason Rank #21, 2016 Projections: 60/14/63/.249/8, Final Numbers: 65/23/62/.280/5
