Welcome to the fourth and final round in my 20 team dynasty league minors draft. If you want to catch up, here are links to rounds 1, 2 and 3. This round continues the trend of first round pick/bonus babies but also sees some intriguing flier options and a lot of guys that won't make any top 100 lists. Without further ado, I present to you round 4:

Continue reading this post »

With pitchers and catchers reporting as soon as this weekend, Ray, Robert and I will be taking a look at our position rankings again, and Marc will be releasing his tiered rankings as well. You can keep up with all of Fake Teams' ranks via our Google Docs spreadsheet:

Fake Teams 2012 Fantasy Baseball Ranks

These shortstop ranks are for a standard 5x5 mixed league. I've included 30 players, followed by a few brief explanations, especially where there are deviations from previously published ranks, which can be found here (mixed league) and here (league-specific). I produced my fantasy prospect rankings for SS, which can be found here as well. Kevin has also published second base ranks for head-to-head points leagues, which can be found here.

2012 Mixed League 5x5 Shortstop Rankings

1. Troy Tulowitzki, COL

2. Jose Reyes, MIA

3. Hanley Ramirez, MIA

4. Asdrubal Cabrera, CLE

5. Jimmy Rollins, PHI

Continue reading this post »

I saw someone post a best prospects lineup in the comment section of Kevin Goldstein's Top 101 prospects last Monday, so here is my shot at the 2012 Best Prospects Lineup based on Keith Law's Top 100 Prospects for 2012:

C-Travis d'Arnaud, TOR

1B-Anthony Rizzo, CHC

2B-Billy Hamilton, CIN*

SS- Manny Machado, BAL

3B-Anthony Rendon, WAS

OF-Mike Trout, LAA

OF-Bryce Harper, WAS

OF-Wil Myers, KC

DH-Jesus Montero, SEA

RHP-Shelby Miller, STL

LHP-Matt Moore, TB

And to round out the starting rotation for Keith's lineup:

RHP-Gerrit Cole, PIT

RHP-Dylan Bundy, BAL

RHP-Arodys Vizcaino, ATL

Some comments after the jump:

Continue reading this post »

We've arrived at Round 3 of my 20 team dynasty league minor league draft, and this is where the draftniks and prospectors separate themselves a bit, as the talent has thinned (though considerably less so this year than others). In the past, it was the third round where we really started seeing first rounders (or big bonus guys) from the most recent draft start flying off the board and this year was no exception. I'm going with a different format for Round 3, as I tried to say a bit more about each player as we're getting into lesser known territory. Let me know which you prefer in the comments.

Continue reading this post »

Last week we counted down the top dynasty league prospects from #100 (Jeurys Familia) to #51 (Mike Montgomery). Today, it's the cream of the crop. These are either your potential superstars or above average big leaguers ready to help within the next year or so. And to preempt the question that's sure to come up in light of Yoenis Cespedes signing with the Athletics on Monday, I would put him right around #24.

A few disclaimers first. These rankings only include players who are rookie-eligible heading into the 2012 season. You will notice that Yu Darvish is not on this list despite the fact that I think he's awesome, as I don't consider him a prospect. You will also notice there is no Yoenis Cespedes or Jorge Soler, but that is because when I started the list last week, they were not in Major League Baseball. Again, not for lack of either baseball ability or core strength. Finally, the intention of this list is to balance the upside, probability and proximity of these players to an active fantasy lineup. So in a vacuum, I'd rather have the #87 player on this list than #88 on my dynasty league roster right now based on all of those factors.

Additionally, if you want to delve any further into the list or have specific dynasty league questions you want my opinion on, either post them in the comments section here or catch me on Twitter at @tfw_bret and I'll answer all of them. If you want to just say hello or tell me I've over/under rated someone you love/hate, that's great too. I'm a firm believer that an ongoing dialogue is always more helpful than a singular monologue, and the goal of this is to be an additional resource in guiding your team to a championship.

So without any further ado, I give you prospects 50 through 1:

#50 - Michael Choice, OF, Oakland Athletics

It's not easy being a right-handed power hitter in Oakland, but Choice's power will play anywhere. He'll always have issues with strikeouts, but improved as the year went on and struck out only 12 times in 66 Arizona Fall League at bats.

#49 - Anthony Gose, OF, Toronto Blue Jays

Gose is a toolshed, capable of doing nearly anything on a baseball field. The only thing standing in his way is his ability to make contact. If he can be an average hitter, he's a fantasy superstar. If not, he'll join the ever growing graveyard of once toolsy outfielders.

#48 - Nick Castellanos, 3B, Detroit Tigers

The knock on Castellanos was not that he wasn't good in the Midwest League (he hit .312 with 46 XBH), but that he was more raw than anticipated coming out of high school. His plate discipline needs work, but Castellanos will hit and have at least average power.

Continue reading this post »

Happy Valentine's Day and welcome to the review of Round 2 of my 20-team dynasty league minor league draft. If you want to know who went in Round 1, just click here. As a reminder, this draft consists of four rounds and only players with less than 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched are eligible to be drafted. This league is not starting from scratch and has been under way for several years now. One other note, Yu Darvish, Yoenis Cespedes, Jorge Soler and Gerardo Concepcion were all eligible to be picked under our guidelines with the idea that they were or would be with major league teams within a short period of time. And for those of you without love, just remember today for what it really is...a celebration that we're only 5 months away from Bastille Day!!! But seriously, celebrate that we've got two teams (Seattle and Oakland) who already have pitchers and catchers in camp and we're that much closer to baseball.

Alright, let's get to the picks...

Continue reading this post »

As I mentioned in my last article, I take part in a 20 team/15 man minor league dynasty league. We are currently in the midst of the minor portion of our draft and I thought it could be instructive to go through each round and comment on what I liked or didn't and see what you guys think as well. Our draft consists of four rounds and only players with less than 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched are eligible to be drafted. This league is not starting from scratch and has been under way for several years now. One other note: Yu Darvish, Yoenis Cespedes, Jorge Soler and Gerardo Concepcion were all eligible to be picked under our guidelines with the idea that they were or would be with major league teams within a short period of time.

Continue reading this post »