Fantasy Baseball: Midseason First Baseman Rankings

by Seth Walder on Jun 24, 2010 10:32 PM EDT

Below you'll find our midseason first basemen rankings. Brian (bluethunder33) has been added to the rankings corps for a fourth perspective, which is nice to have.

As always, remember that these rankings are the order in which we would like to own these players from this point forward.

Rank	Player	Ray	Jason	Brian	Seth	Average
1	Albert Pujols	1	1	1	1	1
2	Miguel Cabrera	2	2	2	2	2
3	Ryan Howard	4	5	7	3	4.75
T-4	Justin Morneau	3	7	3	8	5.25
T-4	Mark Teixeira	5	3	8	9	5.25
6	Prince Fielder	6	9	5	4	6
7	Joey Votto	9	6	6	5	6.5
8	Kevin Youkilis	7	4	9	6	6.5
9	Adrian Gonzalez	8	8	4	7	6.75
10	Mark Reynolds	13	10	10	14	11.75
11	Adam Dunn	14	12	12	10	12
12	Billy Butler	11	16	14	12	13.25
13	Pablo Sandoval	10	15	13	16	13.5
14	Paul Konerko	18	13	11	13	13.75
15	Carlos Pena	12	NR	15	15	15.75
16	Troy Glaus	19	11	19	17	16.5
17	Adam LaRoche	17	NR	NR	11	17.5
T-18	David Ortiz	NR	17	16	18	18
T-18	Derrek Lee	16	14	NR	NR	18
20	Lance Berkman	15	20	20	19	18.5
21	James Loney	20	18	17	NR	19
22	Justin Smoak	NR	19	18	20	19.5

Doing these rankings made me realize one thing: first base is incredibly deep. Picking and choosing the end of my 20 was difficult to do, those who just missed out were deserving to make the list--there just weren't enough spots.

As I saw it there was a clear tier of 9: Pujols and Cabrera, followed by the other seven players that make up our 3-9 rankings. It appears that everyone agreed with this--while we all ranked the the 3-9 players quite differently, no other player made the top 9 on any of our lists. While I do have an order of preference for those players, I must confess there is little difference between them. If I were to acquire Mark Teixeira today (my No. 9-ranked player) I would have no qualms about it.

Also, I have seen rankings with Miguel Cabrera ahead of Pujols recently, though I had no hesitation in putting Albert No. 1. When he sent in his rankings, Jason said, "I couldn't quite do it, but 1 and 2 are essentially 1 and 1A to me." I wonder how many people feel similarly.

The back 11 were a real mix and match, and its interesting to see where everyone put them. Clearly, Jason is a fan of Troy Glaus, Ray is a Pablo Sandoval believer, and I love me some Adam LaRoche.

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Comments

Howard

I ranked him high because he had a great 2nd half last season, and i can see him having another good 2nd half this season. The Phils are starting to score some runs now and they have just completed the toughest part of their schedule.

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by Ray Guilfoyle on Jun 24, 2010 10:44 PM EDT reply actions

Glaus

He looks like he is finally healthy again, I am a big believer.

It’s also interesting to see how deep it really is – Butler is barely a starter in a 12-team league in our rankings, but clearly would still be a play in all leagues.

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by Jason Hunt on Jun 24, 2010 10:54 PM EDT reply actions

Seth

If you had Teixeira in a non-keeper league, and someone offered you Youkilis or Votto or Gonzo straight up for him, you’d accept?
I’m just curious, I am trying to get Teixeira in a couple leagues and no one is biting.
Also, that’s awfully high for Laroche (borderline crazy actually), I know he is a notorious 2nd half player, but you don’t seem to give Teixeira the same credit.

by hayzer13 on Jun 25, 2010 5:25 AM EDT reply actions

No doubt, a little crazy

I had all these thoughts when I was ranking, and make no mistake, it was tough. I would accept any of those players for Teixeira.

Every one of those top nine is having a really good season (except Teixeira, of course) and so I was trying to find something that separated them. For me, I noticed that Teixeira’s ISO is way down this year, so it’s not like he is just getting unlucky with HRs. Also, he is among the leaders in home runs that “just made it out.” (They showed the shortest home run of the year on baseball tonight recently—it was Teixeira’s.) So do I think Teixeira is still going to put up good numbers in the second half? Yes. But who am I more sure will put up solid numbers, him or Joey Votto’s? I’d take Votto. Why take the risk with Teixeira if the upside production is so similar? I do think Teixeira’s BA will go up to around .280-.285.

I know it seems a little hypocritical to count LaRoche’s second-half numbers and not Teixeira’s, but Teixeira has not been this bad for the first half in recent years. To me, LaRoche hit 14 HRs in July/Aug/Sept last year. He’s only 30 years old. Now that he’s in Arizona, I feel he can top that. While Arizona is bad, I’m confident its offense will pick it up a little bit.

Maybe I’m a little high on him, but if I miss on LaRoche I’ll bet he’s closer to 11th than he is to 21st.

by Seth Walder on Jun 25, 2010 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions

No love for Garrett Jones?

He’s on pace for .291/22/13/103/74… and is ranked 14th in standard 5×5 leagues.

Also, what about Prado? I realize his 2B and 3B eligibility makes him more valuable at other positions, but he’s still 1B eligible in most leagues, so he should be included no???

by ILLZ on Jun 25, 2010 11:35 PM EDT reply actions

Too quiet in Pittsburgh apparently

I didn’t even realize that about Garrett Jones. I don’t know about everyone else, but for me, I would probably put him between Sandoval and Butler (so 16th) right now.

Prado would probably be between 16 and 17 (I think I’d rather have him over Ortiz for 1B), but it’d be hard for me to rank him much higher than that for 1B, since I would have to imagine I would be playing him somewhere else rather than first.

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by Jason Hunt on Jun 26, 2010 12:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Ohhh

Just realized a “NR” is interpreted as nothing, and the player’s rank is compiled by averaging the other 3 opinions (or 2). A “NR” rank should be assumed as 21, and averaged in as such.

by ILLZ on Jun 25, 2010 11:38 PM EDT reply actions