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Fantasy Baseball Thoughts: Anthony Rendon, Justin Upton, Corey Hart and Others

Ray Guilfoyle discusses a few players in the news recently including Anthony Rendon, Justin Upton and others.

By Ray Guilfoyle
Brad Barr-US PRESSWIRE

I was reading some of my favorite fantasy sites last evening, and came across these quotes from National's GM Mike Rizzo when discussing top prospect Anthony Rendon over at Federal Baseball:

Where will we say Anthony Rendon playing this year?:

Mike Rizzo: "Anthony is going to come to Spring Training and play several different positions for Davey [Johnson] at Spring Training, but when we send him down to the minor leagues he'll concentrate primarily at third base. We may shift him around a little bit because we want [Matt] Skole to play a little of third base also in Double-A but we think his primary position is at third base, but he's athletic enough to play shortstop and second base and I think you'll get a look at him in those positions in Spring Training for sure."

Am I the only one who thinks Rendon is being showcased for a trade in spring training? With Ryan Zimmerman planted at third base for the next seven years, and recently signed Adam LaRoche at first base for the next two years, Rendon has no place to play. I think we all know any smart GM won't be playing him at shortstop with the number of ankle injuries he has endured over the last few years. Second base is not in his future either.

Brewers first baseman Corey Hart is scheduled to have knee surgery next Tuesday to repair a defect in the joint surface. He will miss the next three to four months, returning in late May at the earliest. Since he will need some mobility moving around first base when he returns, I could see a mid-June return. Teams are usually more optimistic than they should be when discussing offseason injuries.

Mat Gamel will probably get the first chance to replace Hart at first base in the Brewers lineup, so maybe he will be the post-post-post-post hype breakout player for 2013.

I don't know about you, but I try not to miss too many of Mike Newman's prospect chats over at Fangraphs. He held another chat yesterday, and here is one of the questions he responded to:

Comment From Guest

Which of these top prospects would you move for Stanton in a dynasty league? Bundy,Myers,Profar,Taveras,Hamilton,Boagerts,Starling,Wheeler,Cole,S Miller?

12:19

Mike Newman: Any of them.

Correction: I misunderstood the question from the reader. I will have to respectfully disagree agree with Mike. If you can find someone to take any, or a combination of prospects, for Stanton, I would do it, as they are all still prospects. Stanton is one of the most valuable position players in the game due to his 80 power tool, and is a threat to hit 40+ home runs every year, with a small chance at hitting 50+ home runs a few times as well.

Speaking of dynasty leagues, if you are looking for Dynasty League prospect rankings, you are missing out if you don't check out Bret Sayre's Top 150 Dynasty League Prospect Rankings that he published this past week over at The Dynasty Guru. He ranked 30 prospects per day, starting at 150 on Monday morning, and finished with #1 yesterday. He will publish position rankings beginning next week, and finish off with his overall Top 500 Dynasty League Rankings towards the middle of February. You can check out his schedule here.

If you are looking for team prospect rankings, make sure you check out John Sickel's Top 20 Prospect Rankings for each team. You can find each team at this link, as he is finalizing grades for his book.

The Diamondbacks and Cubs were discussing a deal whereby Justin Upton would be dealt to the Cubs for Starlin Castro. The Cubs balked at giving up their young shortstop, and you really can't blame them. This rumored deal tells me DBacks GM Kevin Towers is still out there looking for an everyday shortstop in return for Upton. I am participating an a mock draft with guys from Dynasty Sports Empire and Ask Rotobaseball, and took Upton in the second round with the 19th overall pick.

I traded tweets yesterday with a writer from another fantasy baseball site about drafting Upton too early this season. I think people have to look beyond his 2012 performance on draft day, and instead focus on what Upton will/can do in 2013. His 2012 performance wasn't bad, he just disappointed in the power department. People forget that Upton dealt with a shoulder and thumb injury last season, so it's no wonder the power was down. I look for Upton to approach the 30 home run level this season, and hope guys in my NL -only redraft league let him fall to me in the 2nd-3rd round in a few months.

I also see that Giancarlo Stanton is going early in some of the mocks I am participating in, so if you want him this year, it wouldn't be a reach to grab him in the first round this season.