The top 60 outfielders for 2013 fantasy baseball become a sloppy mess towards the end. I almost went with guys like Leonys Martin over, say, Angel Pagan, but that’s upside for upside’s sake over a known entity. Guys near the top of the 80 outfielder post, which will be up next, like Adam Eaton and Leonys Martin are great, but I can’t rank them above guys who have shown 10-15 homer and 20-30 steal skills in the majors, even though I could see owning Eaton or Martin before Pagan. I’ll just wait until Pagan is drafted by someone else and then lay my big, beautiful, blue eyes on upside outfielders. With these outfielders, we’re officially in a crop of players (or maybe that’s crap) that won’t even be drafted in some shallower leagues. If you have only 3 outfielders in your 10-team league, you might never see Michael Brantley drafted. In deeper leagues, where these guys will be drafted, you need to match up needs with wants. I want Ben Revere if I have heavy RBI/power guys on my team. I don’t need him if I have, say, Reyes, Aoki and Ichiro. Oh, and if I had Reyes, Aoki and Ichiro, I might consider fantasy rugby. All of the 2013 fantasy baseball rankings are there. As always, my projections and tiers are included. Anyway, here’s the top 60 outfielders for 2013 fantasy baseball:
41. Carl Crawford – The first 40 outfielders for 2013 fantasy baseball are there. This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Morse. I call this tier, “You turn my entire world upside/downside.” Guys in these tier can be number one outfielders, and my projections might be a little ambitious, but what, you want me to get excited about Nick Swisher? Crawford is supposed to be ready for Opening Day after having Tommy John surgery last year. He probably won’t be able to throw his curveball, but his legs should be fine to steal bases, assuming he still has that aspect of his game. He hasn’t topped 20 steals since 2010, but his speed still looks to be there. 2013 Projections: 78/12/84/.270/31
42. Brett Gardner – Hey, if you go to the well enough times, eventually the trolls who live under the bridge will stop peeing in said well and you’ll have some decent drinking water. Or so Mother Albright told me on a cold night in 1917, when I was but a wee boy. I remember that night almost 100 years ago, because I was all pell-mell, bemoaning a lost fantasy championship when my Tris Speaker was kicked out of the final game of the season because he threatened to kill the 1st base ump’s horse. So, I’ve gone to the Brett Gardner well before. Probably every year he’s been in the big leagues. Last year, he killed me when he went down with his injury, and became the first person listed as critical condition with a sore elbow. “I think B.G. will be back on Monday or in five months.” That was Joe Girardi, as he chewed gum, then spent 45 minutes picking it out of his braces. The elbow is healed, and Gardner is ready to go. I like him a lot. 2013 Projections: 102/8/45/.281/46
43. Chris Davis – Davis’s projections are at the top 20 1st basemen for 2013 fantasy baseball.
44. Starling Marte – I already went over my Starling Marte 2013 fantasy. I wrote it while hearing about the breeding history of a farm-raised chicken in Portland. 2013 Projections: 77/12/58/.252/27
45. Michael Morse – This tier is also filled with a bunch of guys that are getting by on good vibes and bad farts. Morse is probably the worst offender of this. If he didn’t have 2011, he’d be a guy that always had promise but never had a healthy year or showed anything and he’s about to be 31 years old. Unfortch, we don’t know if he’ll be hurt again, and if he’s healthy, he can give a 25+ homer, .290+ season. He’s a lot more valuable in shallower leagues where you can replace him with a waiver wire guy when he invariably gets hurt. As for the move to Safeco, he’s back to the club he was with when he was suspended for PEDs. The Mariners tried to trade John Jaso for Adam Jones and Chris Tillman, but alas… This move won’t help his value, but he’s more tied to whether or not he’s healthy. 2013 Projections: 67/25/81/.286
46. Michael Cuddyer – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Prado. I call this tier, “Fifty shades of ‘okay’ when drafted at other positions.” Cuddyer’s projections are at the top 20 1st basemen for 2013 fantasy baseball.
47. Emilio Bonifacio – Bonifacio’s projections are at the top 20 2nd basemen for 2013 fantasy baseball.
48. Nick Swisher – Swisher’s projections are at the top 20 1st basemen for 2013 fantasy baseball.
49. Trevor Plouffe – Plouffe’s projections are at the top 20 3rd basemen for 2013 fantasy baseball.
50. Martin Prado – Prado’s projections are at the top 20 2nd basemen for 2013 fantasy baseball.
51. Carlos Gomez – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until Span. I call this tier, “In theory, these guys seem like a good idea to draft, but you’ll probably regret it.” What I mean by the tier name is these guys will be drafted and you’re gonna be like, “Yo, Grey, I agree with your fly dance moves, and I’ve never found another straight man as attractive as you before, but I just don’t understand why I’d regret drafting Carlos Gomez. I mean, I’ll take a 15+ homer, 35+ steal guy every day of the week and twice on Muesday.” Cut to May and Gomez is hitting .190 and you wonder if it’s too late to start playing fantasy basketball or too early to start your fantasy football prep. I like Gomez, and might draft him myself, but I’ll also keep in mind that I might drop him by mid-April. In his breakout in 2012, he still had the pre-All-Star break numbers of 26/5/18/.233/11. If you get to July with those numbers again this year, you’re probably going to lose your league or just drop Gomez. His 2nd half was great –> 14 homers, 26 steals and a .278 average, but since he came up in 2007 that would’ve been his best year, not just his best half. 2013 Projections: 79/15/52/.243/25
52. Jayson Werth – I don’t think we’re ever going to see 30+ homers again from him unless he’s traded in April to Coors. Also, for him to hit .300 again, as he did last year in his abbreviated 81-game season, he’ll need to be lucky with his BABIP. So, he’s only good for around 20 homers, 15 steals and a .260 average, but there’s value there. Just depends what that is Werth to you. Hahahahahahaha! Breathe, Grey, breathe! *exhaling* Phew, lost it there for a second. 2013 Projections: 87/19/70/.259/12
53. Ben Revere – As someone who owned Revere last year when he wasn’t bad (40 steals, .294 average), let me say you won’t regret him if you need strictly steals, but SAGNOF is cute for a little while. If you hold him for too long, your RBIs and homers will start to hurt. I already went over my Ben Revere 2013 fantasy. It came with a brand-new free car! (Offer expired.) 2013 Projections: 82/1/30/.291/45
54. Denard Span – This offseason I went over Denard Dawg, “Traded to the Nationals. Here’s where there’s a schism between real baseball and fantasy. This is an excellent real world deal by the Nationals. About as unexciting as deals get from fantasy. Span’s value doesn’t change in the NL. He gets a more productive lineup, so that adds about 10 to 15 runs, but he needs to stay on the field. Something he’s not always excelled at. For NL-Only leagues, he’s a nice late-round outfielder. For mixed leagues, he’s ‘Hey, Grey, Denard Span is on my waivers…Should I grab him? BTW, you change your hair? Mucho machismo!'” And that’s me quoting me quoting you! 2013 Projections: 86/5/42/.281/22
55. Michael Saunders – This is a new tier. This tier goes from here until the top 80 outfielders for 2013 fantasy baseball. I call this tier, “Some power and not incredible speed equals yawnstipating over the course of a season.” It seems like these type of players are today’s answer to the 1990’s 50 homer hitter. These guys are a dime a dozen. Nothing inherently wrong with these guys when you look at their season stats. You could do worse than 15 homers and 20 steals or 7 homers and 27 steals or 12 homers and 22 steals. Some of the guys above here could end up worse. But 7 homers and 27 steals, for instance, is around one homer and 5 steals per month. That’s what? A single and a steal per week? I could get that from picking up Tony Campana for a game. It’s very hard to watch a guy on waivers hit 4 homers in four games and hold tight to your one homer, 4 steals per month guy. 2013 Projections: 72/15/60/.251/20
56. Alejandro De Aza – Seriously, you won’t be able to throw a rock next year without hitting a guy that could give you 7-15 homers and 20-30 steals. Speaking of which, we should have a name for these type of players in the glossary. Feel free to suggest in the comments. 2013 Projections: 88/8/52/.284/30
57. Angel Pagan – All this time I thought his name sounded like a new Dan Brown book, but I just realized something. Angel Pagan is the nickname Tupac would’ve given himself had he lived. There’s no way I can pay you back but the plan is to show you that I understand, he’s an Angel… Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare, he’s a Pagan… 2013 Projections: 85/7/52/.272/26
58. Michael Brantley – From all the names so far in this tier, Brantley is the most intriguing. Sure, when you’re in a tier of Pagan, De Aza and Saunders, being the most intriguing is like being the world tallest dwarf. Brantley hasn’t shown any speed yet in the majors like he did in the minors. One year in Triple-A, he swiped 46 bases with only 5 times caught. So how on earth did he only steal 12 bases last year with 9 times caught? I don’t have a clue, Professor Plum, but it makes me think he could have a big, surprising year. 2013 Projections: 83/7/57/.292/20
59. Melky Cabrera – When he signed with the Blue Jays, I didn’t write anything about him. But here’s what I found on the internet from a site called whymelkyissofreakinawesome.com, “Last year, Melky was suspended for 50 games for drugs that weren’t really that illegal. I’ve taken the same drugs as Melky and they did nothing for me. I think they actually made me a bit lethargic. I bet without these drugs, that are again barely illegal, Melky could have the best season of his career. If I were a major league team, I’d sign him in a heartbeat. (Updated: Melky was signed by the Blue Jays and is probably very appreciative. I don’t know; I am not him. He is also wondering if the drugs he took before that didn’t help him but were illegal are now legal in Canada. If anyone knows, ping me in the comments and I’ll pass along the info to Melky, though I am in no way associated with him.)” Not sure of the accuracy of the site, whymelkyissofreakinawesome.com, and all correspondence sent to the website administrator, Fakey Boobrera, went unanswered. 2013 Projections: 90/9/69/.265/15
60. Cameron Maybin – In 2011, Maybin stole 40 bases and hit .264. In 2012, he stole 26 bases and hit .243. That difference made him a top 30 overall outfielder to a waiver wire guy. Well, I’m here to tell you — and I am here — last year he was unlucky with BABIP and should hit closer to .260. Extra times on base and his steals should go up. He’ll only be 26 years old this year, so there’s really no reason to doubt his ability to bounce back. Why is he ranked so low then? Cause in a good year, he’s still only going to hit .265 with less than ten homers. Continue into the top 80 outfielders for 2013 fantasy baseball. 2013 Projections: 78/9/52/.257/28
