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This is a quick post on which NL second baseman you would rather have in 2013: Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks or Phillies second baseman Chase Utley? I ranked Weeks as my 5th ranked NL-Only second baseman, with Utley coming him just ahead of him at #4. Both come with a question mark or two, with Utley's injury risk and age a concern for fantasy owners, while Weeks has an injury history himself, but has played 157 or more games in two of the last three seasons. But, before 2010, Weeks had never played more than 129 games, with three seasons under 100 games played.
Former Fake Teams writer, and Brewers fan, Kevin Boger made his case for Weeks in the comments section of my NL-Only Second Base Rankings:
R. Weeks
Hard to imagine Weeks being any lower than 3rd on this list. Would definitely have him ahead of both Walker and Utley.
Walker is coming off an injury plagued second half of the year and offers almost no upside and Utley is coming off an injury plagued two and a half years. Weeks has averaged 145 games per year over the past three seasons, is a lock to hit 20+ HR, should reach 10+ SB and should have plenty of runs hitting in front of Braun, Ramirez and Hart for the majority of the season. Not to mention there is no one in Milwaukee even coming close to battling him for playing time so if he struggles at all there is zero chance he gets booted from the lineup.
The only category he "hurts" you in is BA and even then he has a career .251 BA and close to a .270 BA over the course of ‘09, ’10 and ’11. It’s not as if he is Mark Reynolds or Adam Dunn in the category. The first half of last season destroyed his BA last year, but the good news is that that makes him cheap (or at least not overpriced) this year. I find it hard to believe he was 100% healthy at the start of last season – that shouldn’t be a concern this year.
Also, he is 30 years old.
What spurred me to rank Utley ahead of Weeks was the decent second half he had in 2012. He hit .258-.374-.431 with 9 HRs, 45 runs, 42 RBI, 11 stolen bases (!) and an excellent 35-42 K/BB rate in 267 at bats. The 11 stolen bases showed me his knees are as healthy as they can be, and after he struggled to a .211 BA in July, his first full month back after knee surgery, he hit .260 in August and .269 in September. The Phillies will be counting on a healthy Utley this season, and i think he has another 20-80-.285 season in him this season.
So, who would you rather have: Rickie Weeks or Chase Utley?