ESPN.com's ranking of 2B Dustin Pedroia as 2009's top player at his position still vexes me. A simple thought experiment that has someone spending $35 one of Pedroia, Chase Utley or Ian Kinsler is enough to demonstrate the mind-boggling nature of the rank. Yesterday's poll (Currently 69-8 against Pedroia) further supports that.
A closer look at the projections for the three second basemen shows Pedroia with a considerable lead in AVG over Utley and Kinsler - .322 to .295 and .292 respectively, and projects him totalling most runs scored -105 to 82 and 102. In HRs and RBIs, Pedoria trials both. In SB, his 15 SBs trail Kinsler by eight and lead Utley by four.
Accepting Pedroia as the top 2B means accepting his projected AVG will be considerably better than the other projections, that positve differences have a greater net effect than the differences where Pedroia falls short and that Chase Utley will receives 100 fewer plate appearances than Pedroia and Kinsler.