Cafe Positional Rankings: Week 19

Enjoy the Week 19 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	.500 last week; running laps around the competition
2	Victor Martinez	2
3	Pablo Sandoval	3
4	Brian McCann	4
5	Jorge Posada	5	Ages like a fine wine….still producing
6	Brandon Inge	7
7	Ryan Doumit	6	Has struggled since I touted him last ranking
8	Geovany Soto	NR
9	Mike Napoli	8
10	Russell Martin	10
11	Miguel Montero	11
12	Chris Iannetta	12
13	Matt Wieters	9	Could be a good player to own down the stretch
14	A.J. Pierzynski	13
15	Kurt Suzuki	NR

First Basemen

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Albert Pujols	1
2	Miguel Cabrera	2
3	Prince Fielder	3
4	Mark Teixeira	5	Finding another groove; Yankee offense is on fire right now
5	Justin Morneau	4
6	Mark Reynolds	6
7	Kevin Youkilis	8	Wishing Porcello had clocked him last night; throws helmets like a girl
8	Ryan Howard	7
9	Adam Dunn	10
10	Adrian Gonzalez	11	6 hits last night; streaky player about to heat up
11	Joey Votto	9	Bizarre season continues with recent cold streak
12	Derrek Lee	12
13	Kendry Morales	13
14	Carlos Pena	15
15	Paul Konerko	14

Second Basemen

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Chase Utley	1
2	Aaron Hill	3
3	Brandon Phillips	2
4	Brian Roberts	4
5	Dustin Pedroia	5
6	Ben Zobrist	6
7	Robinson Cano	8	.347 since ASB; sound familiar?
8	Chone Figgins	7	.156 AVG in August kills his value
9	Dan Uggla	10
10	Alexei Ramirez	9	Could GW HR last night jump start a stretch run hot streak?
11	Mark DeRosa	11
12	Jose Lopez	12
13	Asdrubal Cabrera	NR
14	Ian Stewart	13
15	Adam Kennedy	NR

Third Basemen

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Alex Rodriguez	2	Takes over #1 spot; has had 50-HR power all year
2	Miguel Cabrera	1
3	Evan Longoria	3
4	Mark Reynolds	4	Hits lengthy HRs and is on legendary tear; just ask Neato
5	David Wright	6
6	Kevin Youkilis	5
7	Ryan Zimmerman	9	.500 over the last week; probably a top-5 3B next season
8	Pablo Sandoval	8
9	Aramis Ramirez	7	.448 OPS this month nothing short of pitiful
10	Michael Young	12
11	Chipper Jones	10
12	Chone Figgins	11
13	Russell Branyan	13
14	Gordon Beckham	NR
15	Jorge Cantu	15

Shortstops

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Hanley Ramirez	1
2	Jimmy Rollins	2
3	Michael Young	4
4	Derek Jeter	3
5	Troy Tulowitzki	5	Leads Zobrist in battle for second half supremacy
6	Ben Zobrist	6	Hurts to type this but has hit a cold streak; Aussie and I are patient
7	Miguel Tejada	7
8	Gordon Beckham	8	A candidate to be over-drafted next season based on solid play
9	Jason Bartlett	11
10	Alexei Ramirez	9
11	Stephen Drew	10
12	Jhonny Peralta	12
13	Yunel Escobar	13
14	Marco Scutaro	NR
15	Orlando Cabrera	15

Outfielders

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Ryan Braun	1
2	Carl Crawford	2
3	Matt Kemp	3
4	Ichiro Suzuki	4
5	Matt Holliday	7	Pujols has finally found a worthy sidekick
6	Manny Ramirez	5
7	Grady Sizemore	6
8	Curtis Granderson	8
9	Adam Dunn	13
10	Carlos Lee	9
11	Jason Bay	10
12	B.J. Upton	11
13	Jacoby Ellsbury	15
14	Nick Markakis	20
15	Raul Ibanez	14
16	Jayson Werth	16
17	Bobby Abreu	23
18	Shane Victorino	17	Poor SB % this season; probably not a top 20 OF
19	Alfonso Soriano	19	Another horrible stretch; as he goes, the Cubs go
20	Nelson Cruz	18
21	Adam Jones	21
22	Shin-Soo Choo	26
23	Brad Hawpe	22
24	Johnny Damon	31
25	Adam Lind	27
26	Josh Hamilton	25
27	Nate McLouth	24
28	Andre Ethier	28
29	Carlos Quentin	29
30	Vladimir Guerrero	34
31	Kendry Morales	33
32	Josh Willingham	37
33	Jermaine Dye	32	Maybe the Rios trade will jumpstart him (.091 last week)
34	Hunter Pence	30
35	Alex Rios	35
36	Andrew McCutchen	36
37	Ryan Ludwick	38
38	Nyjer Morgan	39	Provides great value in the 3 “unsexies” (AVG, R, SB)
39	Michael Bourn	NR
40	Juan Rivera	40

Starting Pitchers

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Tim Lincecum	1	Absolutely worth a top 10 pick next season
2	Roy Halladay	3
3	Zack Greinke	4
4	Dan Haren	2	The perennial second-half struggles are right on time
5	Johan Santana	6
6	Josh Beckett	5
7	Justin Verlander	8
8	Felix Hernandez	7
9	Chris Carpenter	9
10	Josh Johnson	10
11	Javier Vazquez	12
12	Matt Cain	11
13	Jon Lester	14
14	Adam Wainwright	17
15	Chad Billingsley	13
16	Cliff Lee	19	Phils looking like geniuses for this move now
17	CC Sabathia	18
18	Ricky Nolasco	20
19	Cole Hamels	15	*Is only ranked* on reputation alone**
20	John Lackey	22
21	Yovani Gallardo	16
22	Wandy Rodriguez	23
23	Clayton Kershaw	24
24	Edwin Jackson	21
25	Jered Weaver	26
26	Roy Oswalt	25
27	James Shields	27
28	Matt Garza	29
29	Ubaldo Jimenez	31
30	A.J. Burnett	30	1 poor start in his last seven; another great second half play
31	Rich Harden	28
32	Gavin Floyd	36
33	Scott Baker	32
34	Tommy Hanson	35
35	Joba Chamberlain	34
36	Brett Anderson	44	Dark horse candidate for AL ROY; might be a nice value pick next season
37	Jarrod Washburn	38
38	Randy Wells	41
39	Joe Blanton	43
40	Jair Jurrjens	39
41	J.A. Happ	50
42	Joel Pineiro	48
43	Max Scherzer	40
44	Scott Kazmir	33	Much like Hamels is surviving on past performance alone
45	Ricky Romero	46
46	John Danks	37
47	Derek Lowe	42
48	Mark Buehrle	49
49	Randy Wolf	NR
50	Jorge de la Rosa	NR

Relievers

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Mariano Rivera	1
2	Joe Nathan	2
3	Jonathan Papelbon	4
4	Joakim Soria	3
5	Jonathan Broxton	5
6	Heath Bell	6
7	Huston Street	7
8	David Aardsma	11	Will make a lot of money this off-season ($409,000 this season)
9	Francisco Rodriguez	8	Getting destroyed lately; is he healthy?
10	Brian Fuentes	9
11	Brian Wilson	12
12	Ryan Franklin	13
13	Trevor Hoffman	14
14	Francisco Cordero	10
15	Jose Valverde	15
16	J.P. Howell	16
17	Andrew Bailey	18
18	Rafael Soriano	17
19	Chad Qualls	19
20	Brad Lidge	20
21	Bobby Jenks	21
22	Fernando Rodney	22
23	Frank Francisco	27
24	Jason Frasor	23
25	Kevin Gregg	25
26	Kerry Wood	26
27	Jim Johnson	30
28	Matt Capps	24
29	Mike MacDougal	NR
30	Matt Lindstrom	29

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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