Cafe Positional Rankings: Week 1

Welcome to the first edition of the Cafe Positional Rankings, where we rank the top players at each position every week. Our rankings assume 5×5 format and are based on Yahoo position eligibility rules, which require that a player make five starts or 10 total appearances at a position. You’ll notice that the rankings are not incredibly deep. This is by design as we want players to move on and off the board (based on performance) to keep readers interested throughout the season.

To keep things different from other sites, only players on active major league rosters will be included in our rankings. This means minor league players like Matt Wieters and David Price will be excluded until they are called up. Players on the DL will also be excluded. Once activated, we will slot these players in where we think they belong. Again, this is to keep things interesting and generate player movement.

With each edition, we will highlight two players at each position, one on the way up and another on the way down.

If you are unhappy with our rankings or think we excluded someone you think should be ranked, please let us know in the linked thread in the Article Discussions forum. We will try and respond to each comment and may even be swayed if you can convince us.

Aqua & RC’s Preseason Rankings

	Catcher	First Base	Second Base	Third Base	Shortstop
1	Brian McCann	Albert Pujols	Chase Utley	David Wright	Hanley Ramirez
2	Russell Martin	Miguel Cabrera	Ian Kinsler	Miguel Cabrera	Jose Reyes
3	Geovany Soto	Ryan Howard	Brandon Phillips	Evan Longoria	Jimmy Rollins
4	Victor Martinez	Mark Teixeira	Dustin Pedroia	Aramis Ramirez	Alexei Ramirez
5	Ryan Doumit	Lance Berkman	Brian Roberts	Kevin Youkilis	Stephen Drew
6	Chris Iannetta	Prince Fielder	Alexei Ramirez	Chipper Jones	Troy Tulowitzki
7	Bengie Molina	Justin Morneau	Dan Uggla	Chris Davis	Michael Young
8	Pablo Sandoval	Adrian Gonzalez	Robinson Cano	Garrett Atkins	Rafael Furcal
9	Mike Napoli	Kevin Youkilis	Jose Lopez	Ryan Zimmerman	Derek Jeter
10	Jorge Posada	Adam Dunn	Kelly Johnson	Chone Figgins	J.J. Hardy
11	Ramon Hernandez	Joey Votto	Howie Kendrick	Aubrey Huff	Jhonny Peralta
12	Kelly Shoppach	Chris Davis	Rickie Weeks	Jorge Cantu	Miguel Tejada
13	Dioner Navarro	Garrett Atkins	Mike Aviles	Adrian Beltre	Mike Aviles
14	Ivan Rodriguez	Derrek Lee	Mark DeRosa	Mark Reynolds	Khalil Greene
15	A.J. Pierzynski	Carlos Pena	Placido Polanco	Edwin Encarnacion	Orlando Cabrera

 

	Outfield
1	Grady Sizemore	11	Matt Kemp	21	Bobby Abreu	31	Johnny Damon
2	Ryan Braun	12	Jason Bay	22	Adam Dunn	32	Nelson Cruz
3	Josh Hamilton	13	Carl Crawford	23	Magglio Ordonez	33	Chris B. Young
4	Carlos Beltran	14	Alexis Rios	24	Ryan Ludwick	34	Brad Hawpe
5	Matt Holliday	15	Curtis Granderson	25	Hunter Pence	35	Raul Ibanez
6	Alfonso Soriano	16	Vladimir Guerrero	26	Jay Bruce	36	Jayson Werth
7	Carlos Lee	17	Jacoby Ellsbury	27	Jermaine Dye	37	Lastings Milledge
8	Manny Ramirez	18	Corey Hart	28	Vernon Wells	38	Justin Upton
9	Carlos Quentin	19	Nate McLouth	29	Torii Hunter	39	Adam Jones
10	Nick Markakis	20	Shane Victorino	30	Andre Ethier	40	Elijah Dukes

 

	Starters
1	Johan Santana	11	Roy Oswalt	21	Rich Harden	31	John Danks	41	Ted Lilly
2	Tim Lincecum	12	Chad Billingsley	22	A.J. Burnett	32	Matt Garza	42	Chris Carpenter
3	C.C. Sabathia	13	James Shields	23	Edinson Volquez	33	Kevin Slowey	43	Max Scherzer
4	Cole Hamels	14	Scott Kazmir	24	Ricky Nolasco	34	Erik Bedard	44	Johnny Cueto
5	Jake Peavy	15	Felix Hernandez	25	Joba Chamberlain	35	Ryan Dempster	45	Clayton Kershaw
6	Brandon Webb	16	Jon Lester	26	Matt Cain	36	Josh Johnson	46	Chris Young
7	Roy Halladay	17	Zack Greinke	27	Adam Wainwright	37	Brett Myers	47	Jered Weaver
8	Dan Haren	18	Cliff Lee	28	Javier Vazquez	38	Derek Lowe	48	Randy Johnson
9	Josh Beckett	19	Daisuke Matsuzaka	29	Justin Verlander	39	Aaron Harang	49	Gil Meche
10	Francisco Liriano	20	Yovani Gallardo	30	Carlos Zambrano	40	Chien-Ming Wang	50	Wandy Rodriguez

 

	Relievers
1	Jonathan Papelbon	11	Bobby Jenks	21	Matt Lindstrom
2	Joe Nathan	12	B.J. Ryan	22	Joel Hanrahan
3	Francisco Rodriguez	13	Matt Capps	23	Chad Qualls
4	Joakim Soria	14	Francisco Cordero	24	Jason Motte
5	Mariano Rivera	15	Heath Bell	25	Kevin Gregg
6	Brad Lidge	16	Mike Gonzalez	26	Carlos Marmol
7	Jonathan Broxton	17	Brandon Morrow	27	Brad Ziegler
8	Brian Fuentes	18	Brian Wilson	28	Troy Percival
9	Jose Valverde	19	Frank Francisco	29	Chris Ray
10	Kerry Wood	20	Huston Street	30	J.J. Putz

 
The season is young, so there will be no movers and shakers this week, although players like Emilio Bonafacio and Brandon Inge have come out of the gates swinging, and we intend to keep our eyes on them. We hope you are looking forward to reading and contributing to these rankings!

 
Steven Lorenz is one of a growing number of fantasy experts who write for the Cafe. You can catch up with Steven in the Cafe's forums where he posts under the name of AquaMan2342.
 

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