Cafe Positional Rankings: Week 16

Enjoy the Week 16 rankings and as always, if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, don’t hesitate to post in the forums or e-mail us at fbcmailbag@gmail.com.

Note: Our rankings do not include any player that was on the DL or in the minors at the time the rankings were submitted.

Catchers

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Joe Mauer	1
2	Victor Martinez	2
3	Pablo Sandoval	3
4	Brian McCann	4	15 RBI in his last 17 games
5	Brandon Inge	6	Hunch as a Tigers fan that he’s going to slow down
6	Jorge Posada	5
7	Bengie Molina	7
8	Matt Wieters	8
9	Ryan Doumit	9	Two HRs today as I write this; if he’s available I’m buying
10	Mike Napoli	10
11	Russell Martin	11
12	Chris Iannetta	12
13	A.J. Pierzynski	13
14	Miguel Olivo	14
15	Jarrod Saltalamacchia	15

First Basemen

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Albert Pujols	1
2	Prince Fielder	3	Pretty sure he’ll avoid the Derby curse
3	Miguel Cabrera	2
4	Mark Teixeira	4
5	Ryan Howard	5
6	Justin Morneau	6
7	Lance Berkman	7
8	Kevin Youkilis	8
9	Joey Votto	9	.333 in July; hasn’t missed a beat when in the lineup
10	Adrian Gonzalez	10
11	Mark Reynolds	11
12	Adam Dunn	12
13	Derrek Lee	13
14	Paul Konerko	15	July and August are his best power months
15	Carlos Pena	14	.224 BA is a killer

Second Basemen

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Chase Utley	1
2	Ian Kinsler	2	Horrible numbers this month but I’d buy in on him
3	Brandon Phillips	3
4	Brian Roberts	4	69 runs scored this year, including 14 in his last 15 games
5	Aaron Hill	5
6	Dustin Pedroia	6
7	Alexei Ramirez	7
8	Ben Zobrist	8
9	Robinson Cano	9
10	Chone Figgins	10	Should be higher!
11	Dan Uggla	11
12	Jose Lopez	12
13	Ian Stewart	13
14	Orlando Hudson	14
15	Casey McGehee	15	Not sure if he’ll hang on here

Third Basemen

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Miguel Cabrera	1	Hitting the ball, but not driving a lot of runs in
2	Alex Rodriguez	2	1.086 OPS this month; looking like A-Rod again
3	David Wright	3	Numbers are comparable to an OF3
4	Evan Longoria	4
5	Kevin Youkilis	5
6	Pablo Sandoval	7
7	Aramis Ramirez	8	Is he healthy?
8	Chipper Jones	9
9	Michael Young	10
10	Chone Figgins	11
11	Ryan Zimmerman	12
12	Russell Branyan	13	Starting to slow down
13	Jorge Cantu	14
14	Scott Rolen	15
15	Hank Blalock	NR

Shortstops

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Hanley Ramirez	1
2	Derek Jeter	2
3	Jimmy Rollins	3	As he goes, Philly goes; .371 in July leads to winning streak
4	Michael Young	4
5	Ben Zobrist	6	Still leading in the Zobrist/Tulo debate
6	Alexei Ramirez	5
7	Troy Tulowitzki	7
8	Jason Bartlett	8	Holding steady but fantasy numbers are lacking lately
9	Miguel Tejada	9
10	Gordon Beckham	11	Who’d have thought this kid would be ahead of Drew and Hardy?
11	J.J. Hardy	12
12	Stephen Drew	10
13	Yunel Escobar	NR
14	Ryan Theriot	14
15	Jhonny Peralta	13

Outfielders

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Ryan Braun	1
2	Carl Crawford	2
3	Matt Kemp	3	OBP near .400 has owners and Dodgers fans giddy
4	Grady Sizemore	4
5	Ichiro Suzuki	5
6	Jason Bay	6	What’s cooler than being cool? Jason Bay.
7	Manny Ramirez	8
8	B.J. Upton	9
9	Curtis Granderson	7
10	Carlos Lee	10
11	Raul Ibanez	12
12	Justin Upton	11
13	Josh Hamilton	15
14	Adam Dunn	14
15	Jayson Werth	16
16	Nelson Cruz	13
17	Jacoby Ellsbury	17
18	Nick Markakis	18	Overall numbers are a huge disappointment so far
19	Alfonso Soriano	19
20	Matt Holliday	21	Was the comeback game a coming out party?
21	Brad Hawpe	20
22	Shane Victorino	22
23	Hunter Pence	23
24	Nate McLouth	24
25	Adam Jones	25
26	Shin-Soo Choo	26
27	Bobby Abreu	27	You’d be surprised to know he’s outproduced David Wright
28	Adam Lind	28
29	Johnny Damon	29
30	Jermaine Dye	30
31	Alex Rios	33
32	Andre Ethier	31
33	Ryan Ludwick	36	Starting to find last year’s stroke
34	Juan Rivera	34
35	Luke Scott	32
36	Corey Hart	35
37	Jason Kubel	37	Killing the ball this month
38	Franklin Gutierrez	NR
39	Andrew McCutchen	NR
40	Michael Bourn	39

 
Starting Pitchers

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Tim Lincecum	1
2	Dan Haren	2
3	Zack Greinke	3
4	Roy Halladay	4	Could move up to #2 depending on where/if he’s traded
5	Johan Santana	5
6	Felix Hernandez	6
7	Josh Beckett	7
8	Justin Verlander	9
9	CC Sabathia	11
10	Javier Vazquez	10	141/24 K:BB ratio is unreal; top five with more run support
11	Chad Billingsley	8	Inability to keep runners off base is hurting him
12	Josh Johnson	13
13	Matt Cain	14
14	Yovani Gallardo	12
15	Cole Hamels	15
16	Roy Oswalt	19
17	Chris Carpenter	16
18	Edwin Jackson	17
19	Jon Lester	20
20	Adam Wainwright	21
21	Cliff Lee	22	Quietly having another great season; will he be traded?
22	Jered Weaver	18	His run as a top-20 SP might be over
23	Ricky Nolasco	25
24	Ted Lilly	23
25	John Lackey	28	4 of his last 5 starts have been excellent
26	James Shields	24
27	A.J. Burnett	26
28	Erik Bedard	27
29	Clayton Kershaw	33	5-0, 0.63 ERA in his last seven starts; has he arrived?
30	John Danks	29
31	Matt Garza	31
32	Scott Baker	32
33	Johnny Cueto	30
34	Wandy Rodriguez	34
35	Tommy Hanson	36
36	Ubaldo Jimenez	35
37	Jair Jurrjens	39
38	Scott Kazmir	38	Needs to pitch more than six innings per to warrant this ranking
39	Ricky Romero	37
40	Aaron Harang	40
41	Francisco Liriano	41
42	Derek Lowe	42
43	Carlos Zambrano	43
44	Rich Harden	44
45	Ervin Santana	NR	K numbers are going up; the rest should follow
46	Joba Chamberlain	45
47	Gavin Floyd	46
48	Jordan Zimmermann	NR
49	Jarrod Washburn	48
50	Randy Wells	47

Relievers

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Joe Nathan	1
2	Jonathan Broxton	3
3	Heath Bell	2
4	Mariano Rivera	5
5	Joakim Soria	6	Far better numbers than Papelbon; is a better pitcher period
6	Jonathan Papelbon	7
7	Francisco Rodriguez	4
8	Brian Fuentes	8
9	Francisco Cordero	10	1 run in his last 11 appearances
10	Huston Street	9
11	Ryan Franklin	11
12	Bobby Jenks	12
13	Andrew Bailey	13
14	Scott Downs	14
15	David Aardsma	15
16	Rafael Soriano	22
17	Trevor Hoffman	16
18	Brian Wilson	17
19	Jose Valverde	18
20	Brad Lidge	21
21	Matt Capps	20
22	J.P Howell	23
23	Chad Qualls	24
24	George Sherrill	25	Could lose his value if traded to a contender
25	Fernando Rodney	26
26	Kevin Gregg	27
27	Kerry Wood	29	Poor Indians; worst FA signing of the off-season
28	Leo Nunez	28
29	Mike Gonzalez	30
30	C.J. Wilson	NR

 
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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