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Fantasy Baseball: Midseason Second Baseman Rankings

Below you will find the compiled chart of our second baseman rankings. I'll tell you now it was a murky, murky group and while each of us only ranked 20 players, 27 different names (and it could have been more) made the list, which certainly says something.

These rankings were done Sunday evening by most of us, so bear that in mind when considering Dustin Pedroia

Rank Player Ray Jason Brian Seth Average
1 Robinson Cano 1 1 1 1 1
2 Chase Utley 2 2 2 2 2
3 Brandon Phillips 3 3 3 3 3
4 Ben Zobrist 5 6 4 5 5
5 Dan Uggla 6 4 11 4 6.25
6 Martin Prado 7 5 9 6 6.75
7 Ian Kinsler 9 7 6 7 7.25
8 Rickie Weeks 4 12 5 14 8.75
9 Dustin Pedroia 15 8 7 8 9.5
10 Howie Kendrick 10 9 8 15 10.5
11 Aaron Hill 8 19 13 9 12.25
12 Juan Uribe 11 14 16 10 12.75
13 Kelly Johnson 16 NR 12 11 15
14 Ian Stewart NR 18 10 12 15.25
15 Casey McGehee NR 11 18 13 15.75
16 Ryan Theriot 14 10 20 NR 16.25
17 Orlando Hudson 19 13 NR 16 17.25
T-18 Ty Wiggington 12 NR 19 18 17.5
T-18 Gordon Beckham 17 17 15 NR 17.5
20 Chone Figgins NR 16 17 19 18.25
21 Placido Polanco NR 15 NR 17 18.5
22 Carlos Guillen 13 NR NR NR 19
23 Jose Lopez NR NR 14 NR 19.25
24 Neil Walker 18 NR NR NR 20.25
T-25 Ian Desmond NR 20 NR NR 20.75
T-25 Alberto Callaspo NR NR NR 20 20.75
T-25 Christian Guzman 20 NR NR NR 20.75

As you can see, the whole chart is pretty ugly, a lot of differing opinions at second base. I think first I would like to mention a few players who did not make anyone's list.

First off: Brian Roberts. I've heard Roberts may be returning in 4-5 weeks, yet he still doesn't make the top 20. I can't speak for everyone else, but for me, we still have no clue when Roberts will actually return to the field. He's relatively old and has continually had setback after setback this season. Just not worth using up a bench/DL spot on him with potentially no end in sight. 

Next up is Freddy Sanchez. I think Sanchez is worthy of being owned in many leagues--he posts a high average and has done it for some years now. Similar to Callaspo, my No. 20 player, but I kept Callaspo above him because of his slightly additional pop. 

Star-divide

Last one is Sean Rodriguez. Rodriguez is really picking it up and as a result is seeing more playing time. If you are searching for power/RBIs and can afford to lose BA, then Rodriguez moves up the list. 

As far as Pedroia is concerned, I ranked him as if playing in a 10 or 12-team mixed league. This matters here--my feeling is that if you lost Pedroia, filling in any of the guys at the bottom of this list for 5-6 weeks isn't all that different than the mid-range players like Theriot, Stewart or McGehee. So while you might lose production for that time, it will be more than made up for when Pedroia (hopefully) returns. Note that this is a fairly optimistic approach, I certainly understand Ray's thinking in ranking Pedroia 15th, he could be out longer than we think. 

Interestingly everyone ranked Cano over Utley, I was guessing at least one person would have stuck with Chase. I'm assuming most of us were scared enough of Utley possibly playing hurt that it sealed the deal for Cano. 

As mentioned previously, there were definitely some differing opinions. We'd love to hear readers' thoughts on some of the more polarizing selections like Rickie Weeks, Kelly Johnson, Aaron Hill and Ryan Theriot. I'll add Gordon Beckham to the list because while I was the only one to not rank him, he wasn't even close to making the top 20 for me. Maybe it's just a person vendetta though after how bad he burned me this year. 

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Weeks

I think for me, the problem is I do not believe he will stay healthy. I know it’s not necessarily that he’s injury prone so much as unlucky, but I think I’ve been burned too many times by him on that one.

by Jason Hunt on Jun 28, 2010 3:05 PM EDT reply actions  

me

I am using Fangraphs for my rankings, and apparently there are alot of guys with 2B eligibility that they have at other positions like Figgins, Stewart and McGehee. I guess I should use ESPN or CBS going forward.

raygu
www.faketeams.com
www.sbnation.com

by Ray Guilfoyle on Jun 28, 2010 3:42 PM EDT reply actions  

Yea I’d say if they’ve played 10 games at the position therefore making them eligible in most leagues they should be ranked at each position.

Zobrist is a good example of that. He’s eligible at 2B, SS, & OF and should be ranked differently at each position.

This is the Texas Rangers, professional destroyers of hope, we're talking about. - BAC

by nikpin on Jun 28, 2010 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions  

Few things...

1. I mean no disrespect, but who is Brian, and has he ever watched a baseball game? He has Uggla at 11? Jose Lopez at 14? He knows this is fantasy and so fielding doesn’t matter, right?
2. It’s interesting that Seth and Jason both think Weeks will fall off (Jason explained above, and I can see his point). Personally, I think his average position (8) is right around where he should be. He could be great or horrible (read injured) in the second half.
3. I would likely have Kendrick higher than all of you.
4. Why has Kinsler been so bad (by his standards) this year? Is an injury still bothering him?

by rmarx on Jun 28, 2010 4:25 PM EDT reply actions  

Kendrick

I think it comes down to whether he will meet his hype. People have been saying for years he will be a batting champion. If it happens then yes, he should be ranked higher. I just don’t think it will.

Also, love the Yankee stuff in your comment below.

by Seth Walder on Jun 28, 2010 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions  

1. Thought this was very strange. Uggla is having a hell of a year and while Lopez is playing better after a disastrous start I still wouldn’t consider it close.
3. Pre-All Star 244 921 119 254 57 6 17 117 34 160 23 10 .276 .309 .406 .715
 Post-All Star 189 702 100 227 53 3 12 98 27 116 16 4 .323 .352 .459 .811
Kendrick is notoriously a second half hitter.
4. He pretty much rushed back from a high ankle sprain and just isn’t 100% and might not be until the off-season. Also slightly modified his swing and approach to hit for less power than last season.

This is the Texas Rangers, professional destroyers of hope, we're talking about. - BAC

by nikpin on Jun 28, 2010 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions  

thx for the Kinsler info

I didn’t realize he modified his swing.

by rmarx on Jun 29, 2010 1:03 PM EDT up reply actions  

no disrespect taken...

These rankings are how we feel the players will perform from this point forward to the end of the year. (I assume you felt it was a low rank for Uggla)

I did not use the following data to rank Uggla but I found it interesting that he has a significantly higher ground ball rate, a lower fly ball rate, and drastically lower line drive rate (amongst other things)… there was an article over at Fangraphs that talked about the number of plate appearances where a specific stat stabilizes (http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/on-babip-and-buying-low/)...

Again, I can get a bit more in depth with those numbers if you want – I didn’t use them, just a gut feeling on how I thought he would perform the rest of the year… but the numbers seem to point to something giving in the 2nd half… some of the other players that I ranked, I looked at some statistics, but Uggla is a player I have always avoided for no specific reason…

by Bluethunder33 on Jun 28, 2010 5:24 PM EDT up reply actions  

no need to go further

I completely understand and always appreciate when people have a different (or very different) point of view on things. It makes me think :-)

And of course with ranking, a lot of it is gut feeling, as you said.

by rmarx on Jun 29, 2010 1:04 PM EDT up reply actions  

As a Yankee hater

I have to agree that Cano is very easily the #1 here. I even think there’s a big difference between him and Utley (and I live in Philly). Something is just not right with Chase. Due to being a Yankee hater, I’ll assume that Cano found out about HGH and roids from Pettitte, A-Roid, et al. I’m half joking.

by rmarx on Jun 28, 2010 4:27 PM EDT reply actions  

Cano

When the Rangers traded A-Rod to the Yankees they were supposedly given the option of Joaquin Arias or Robinson Cano along with Alfonso Soriano. Ouch…

This is the Texas Rangers, professional destroyers of hope, we're talking about. - BAC

by nikpin on Jun 28, 2010 5:15 PM EDT up reply actions  

Prado vs Phillips

I’d swap them because Prado as shown more consistency and progression than Phillips, even though Cincinnati offers a better environment to get Runs and RBIs.

by MonkeeDude on Jun 28, 2010 5:23 PM EDT reply actions  

Phillips

I can see him hitting better in the second half, and driving in more runs. If I am not mistaken, he only has 25-30 RBIs to date.

raygu
www.faketeams.com
www.sbnation.com

by Ray Guilfoyle on Jun 28, 2010 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions  

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