With the top 40 outfielders for 2013 fantasy baseball, we’ve finished all the hitter recaps. We meaning me, but I’ll include you. No, that’s not a cue to try to hold my hand. Why are you now patting my butt? The pitching recap will begin next. To recap, the end of the season rankings are based on our Fantasy Baseball Player Rater. I felt the easiest way to keep it objective would to go this course. This way when I say someone finished 30th and I ranked them 23rd in the preseason it carries more weight. Anyway, here’s the top 40 outfielders for 2013 fantasy baseball and how they compare to where I originally ranked them:
21. Carlos Beltran – Just imagine how good Beltran would be if the entire baseball season were played in October. But then there would be five, and sometimes six, games a day for the Cardinals and he might sit out a few. Preseason Rank #28, 2013 Projections: 75/23/89/.279/10, Final Numbers: 79/24/84/.296/2
22. Alex Gordon – His RBIs would’ve nailed my projections if he had stayed in the three hole like I begged the Royals to do for the better part of the year. The Royals also would’ve made the playoffs if they had done that. See, I have telepathic powers with parallel universes. Bee tee dubya, the parallel universe version of you is getting laid left and right. Gordon’s power never evolved. His 2012 doubles didn’t Extenze another ten feet, but his doubles did plunge (27, down from 51). With another year under his belt, I’m not sure he can ever hit 25+ homers. Preseason Rank #22, 2013 Projections: 92/27/105/.290/10, Final Numbers: 90/20/81/.265/11
23. Marlon Byrd – He won’t be unranked again next year, but he won’t be far off from that either. I.e., I before E except in Teixeira, Marlon Byrd overperformed this year and will come crashing back to earth like he’s one of Andrelton Simmons’s relatives. Preseason Unranked, Final Numbers: 75/24/88/.291/2
24. Brandon Moss – Went over him in the top 20 1st basemen post.
25. Starling Marte – Marte was my Segura of outfielders. I gave you a sleeper post, I ranked him high and I told everyone to draft him. So, he overperformed, but that’s good because you were suppose to draft him; hope you did. The “hope you did” was said in a cute voice. Preseason Rank #44, 2013 Projections: 77/12/58/.252/27, Final Numbers: 83/12/35/.280/41
26. Jose Bautista – As I’ll go over with Nelson Cruz, Bautista didn’t have a terrible season even if his numbers were down, unless you owned him in a very deep league. In most shallower leagues, get a guy’s stats then have them sidelined for the remainder of the season isn’t something you can’t recover from. It’s much worse for guys like Kemp, who linger like they’re going to return and never do. Bautista produced 85% of his stats in only 118 games (73% of the season) and made 92% of us happy. Don’t ask me to show my work. Preseason Rank #10, 2013 Projections: 91/32/100/.272/5, Final Numbers: 82/28/73/.259/7
27. Shane Victorino – This is total broken record shizz by this point, but Victorino’s stats aren’t far from his projections. The final stats are actually a tad lower than his projections. Yet — again with some stank on it — YET, he ended up ranking 27th overall, above where he was in the preseason. Preseason Rank #32, 2013 Projections: 92/14/66/.272/29, Final Numbers: 82/15/61/.294/21
28. Domonic Brown – His home run projections are way off because he was in a platoon when I projected him. I did like him a lot though. Hence, the reason I drafted him in a 12-team mixed league and held him for the month of April before he had his insane May. Speaking of that May, he had 12 homers that month and only 15 the rest of the year and four after the All-Star break. That’s really bad. He’ll be a tough guy to peg next year, because, even with the fall off, I do like his age and talent. Preseason Rank #74, 2013 Projections: 54/13/62/.268/8, Final Numbers: 65/27/83/.272/8
29. Allen Craig – Went over him in the top 20 1st basemen post.
30. Ben Zobrist – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen post.
31. Alejandro De Aza – What do Victorino, De Aza and Brantley have in common? No, not that they were all in that question. I mean, yes, that is true, but I wanted more. They’re guys that are being helped in the rankings by the dearth of offense. If a guy can hit 10+ homers and steal 15+ bases, he has a great chance of being a top 40 outfielder. He just needs to avoid hitting .250 or below and have a decent amount of counting stats. Preseason Rank #56, 2013 Projections: 88/8/52/.284/30, Final Numbers: 84/17/62/.264/20
32. Yoenis Cespedes – Yoenis was a wild card coming into the season. I mentioned that in the preseason rankings. His track record was short. Now we have two seasons of data — .326 BABIP vs. .274; 18.9% K-rate vs. 23.9; 14.8 HR/FB% vs. 14.4%. So, we know he’s a 25 home run hitter, everything else is still murky. My guess is the book on him got a bit bigger and Cespedes is more of a .260 hitter than a .292 hitter. The picture’s clearer now, but the rule of three wants another year. Preseason Rank #20, 2013 Projections: 82/25/95/.281/15, Final Numbers: 74/26/80/.240/7
33. Will Venable – Easily his healthiest season with 481 ABs in 151 games. He wasn’t even platooned that much, but he was here and there, and that’s why his runs and RBIs are low, even for the Padres…Okay, not for the Padres. For a Padres hitter, he could get his number retired if he records back-to-back seasons this good. It’s a long tradition, started by Tony Gwynn and, um, that other guy. Preseason Rank #105, 2013 Projections: 52/9/41/.260/20, Final Numbers: 64/22/53/.268/22
34. Martin Prado – Went over him in the top 20 2nd basemen post.
35. Michael Brantley – A’la Mark McGwire, I’m not here to talk about next year. But gee-dee almighty do I want to own me some Brantley. There’s forty steal-speed in his gams, I know there is. There’s no way he steals 46 bases in Triple-A and that just abandons him. Next year, he’ll be 27 years old and coming off a ten-homer season and capable of 35+ steals. And the really3 great thing is, who the hell will be excited about Brantley next year? No one, I promise you. Matthew Berry has more hair on his head than ‘perts who will talk about Brantley. Preseason Rank #58, 2013 Projections: 83/7/57/.292/20, Final Numbers: 66/10/73/.284/17
36. Bryce Harper – Wasn’t really that disappointing of a season if he would’ve just played in 150+ games. Too bad The Kool-Aid Man inhabited his body one night in Los Angeles. Preseason Rank #16, 2013 Projections: 102/25/69/.261/22, Final Numbers: 71/20/58/.274/11
37. Nelson Cruz – See Bautista, Jose or 9 inches above, which isn’t really four inches with shrinkage. Preseason Rank #27, 2013 Projections: 74/25/86/.265/7, Final Numbers: 49/27/76/.266/5
38. Leonys Martin – Can I just talk something out so I don’t think I’m going crazy? Michael Brantley steals 46 bases in Triple-A; Leonys steals 19 bases between Double and Triple-A. Brantley can’t steal more than 17 bases in the majors and Leonys steals 36?! Martin, you so crazy! Preseason Rank #63, 2013 Projections: 85/12/50/.280/17, Final Numbers: 66/8/49/.260/36
39. Brett Gardner – Here’s a weird one. I love Gardner. Lurve. For a few years now. He finally makes it to the top 40 outfielders at the end of the year and it’s with a yawnstipating season. Well, color me unimpressed. And don’t color gray hair into my mustache, my shizz is young and vibrant. Preseason Rank #42, 2013 Projections: 102/8/45/.281/46, Final Numbers: 81/8/52/.273/24
40. Desmond Jennings – Guys like this don’t bother me that much. By “guys like this,” I don’t mean guys who sneak in or out of a door when I’m holding it without saying thank you; those guys do bother me. I mean, guys that underperform a bit. If someone is ranked in the top 20 and they give top 40-ish stats, they’re not killing your team. Guys like Matt Kemp or CC Sabathia are killing your team. You just have to deal with guys like Jennings and have solid pieces around them. They are not the problem or the solution. They’re just there giving you some stats. This was brought to you by the Committee to Re-Elect Grey Albright as your Fantasy Level-Headed ‘Pert. Preseason Rank #18, 2013 Projections: 92/17/59/.262/35, Final Numbers: 82/14/54/.252/20
