Cafe Positional Rankings: Week 24

Fantasy baseball has just about wound down, but the MLB season is heating up. Yankees, Phillies, Angels, Dodgers, Red Sox, Rockies, Tigers, Cardinals. Who you got? Because that’s the real discussion topic at this point in September. Of course, since Bryan and I love giving you guys something to talk about, we’re still churning out some fantasy rankings for your perusal and (hopefully) enjoyment. I posted my thoughts on how the preseason rankings will look in 2010 earlier this week. If you want to be part of the ranking team this off-season and help shape the Cafe’s 2010 rankings, give me a holler. You can post in the comment section or send me a private message in the forums.

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
5	Jorge Posada	5
6	Miguel Montero	6
7	Ryan Doumit	8
8	Brandon Inge	10
9	Geovany Soto	12
10	A.J. Pierzynski	7
11	Russell Martin	11
12	Mike Napoli	9	3 for 27 in September
13	Bengie Molina	14
14	Kurt Suzuki	13
15	Matt Wieters	NR	Homered in back-to-back games; finally coming around?
Also receiving votes: Carlos Ruiz

First Basemen

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Albert Pujols	1
2	Prince Fielder	2
3	Miguel Cabrera	3
4	Mark Teixeira	4
5	Ryan Howard	5	1 HR in September after huge August
6	Adrian Gonzalez	8
7	Mark Reynolds	6
8	Kevin Youkilis	9
9	Adam Dunn	10
10	Derrek Lee	11	.442 with 7 HRs in 43 September ABs; winning leagues
11	Lance Berkman	12
12	Kendry Morales	13
13	Billy Butler	15
14	Joey Votto	14
15	Garrett Jones	NR
Also receiving votes: Todd Helton, Nick Swisher

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Second Basemen

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Chase Utley	1
2	Ian Kinsler	2	.259, 1 HR, 0 SBs in September, major funk
3	Brian Roberts	4
4	Aaron Hill	3
5	Dustin Pedroia	6
6	Robinson Cano	5
7	Brandon Phillips	7
8	Dan Uggla	11	Three-game homer stretch last week, great aveage
9	Ben Zobrist	8
10	Alexei Ramirez	9
11	Chone Figgins	10
12	Jose Lopez	14
13	Chris Coghlan	15
14	Asdrubal Cabrera	12
15	Casey McGehee	NR
Also receiving votes: None

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Third Basemen

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Miguel Cabrera	1
2	Alex Rodriguez	2
3	Evan Longoria	4	Great one week, bad the next; he’ll bounce back
4	David Wright	6
5	Mark Reynolds	3
6	Ryan Zimmerman	5
7	Kevin Youkilis	7
8	Aramis Ramirez	8	.500 with a HR over the past week
9	Pablo Sandoval	9
10	Chone Figgins	10
11	Gordon Beckham	11
12	Chris Davis	13
13	Chipper Jones	12
14	Jorge Cantu	14
15	Carlos Guillen	15
Also receiving votes: Casey McGehee

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Shortstops

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Hanley Ramirez	1
2	Derek Jeter	2
3	Jimmy Rollins	3
4	Troy Tulowitzki	4
5	Jason Bartlett	5
6	Ben Zobrist	6
7	Gordon Beckham	8
8	Alexei Ramirez	7
9	Yunel Escobar	10
10	Asdrubal Cabrera	9
11	Elvis Andrus	13
12	Stephen Drew	11	Not hitting for average or power, not stealing bases
13	Jhonny Peralta	12
14	Juan Uribe	NR	.365, 5 HRs in September
15	Macier Izturis	15
Also receiving votes: Marco Scutaro, Miguel Tejada

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Outfielders

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Ryan Braun	1
2	Matt Kemp	2
3	Matt Holliday	4
4	Carl Crawford	3
5	Adam Dunn	5
6	Jason Bay	7
7	Ichiro Suzuki	6
8	Manny Ramirez	8
9	Justin Upton	9
10	Carlos Lee	10
11	Jayson Werth	11	Keeps on crankin’ them out
12	Nick Markakis	12
13	Bobby Abreu	14
14	Jacoby Ellsbury	15
15	Curtis Granderson	13	Sub-.200 in September, OPS under .800
16	Torii Hunter	17
17	Nelson Cruz	19
18	Adam Lind	20
19	Shane Victorino	16
20	Carlos Beltran	18
21	Kendry Morales	23
22	Johnny Damon	21
23	Vladimir Guerrero	25
24	Andre Ethier	22
25	Raul Ibanez	26
26	Shin-Soo Choo	24
27	Hunter Pence	27
28	Brad Hawpe	29
29	Nate McLouth	NR
30	Michael Bourn	31
31	Carlos Gonzalez	35
32	Rajai Davis	34	Hitting over .400 with 8 SBs this month
33	Nick Swisher	36
34	Josh Willingham	30
35	Andrew McCutchen	32
36	B.J. Upton	33	At this point, he’s an FA in my five-keeper league
37	Julio Borbon	NR
38	Josh Hamilton	28
39	Garrett Jones	NR
40	Carlos Quentin	37
Also receiving votes: Jason Kubel, Ryan Ludwick, Vernon Wells

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Starting Pitchers

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Tim Lincecum	1
2	Zack Greinke	2
3	Roy Halladay	3
4	Felix Hernandez	7
5	Chris Carpenter	5
6	CC Sabathia	8
7	Dan Haren	4
8	Justin Verlander	6
9	Adam Wainwright	9
10	Javier Vazquez	10
11	Josh Johnson	11
12	Cliff Lee	12
13	Matt Cain	13
14	Jon Lester	15	Back-to-back shutouts, eight straight QS
15	John Lackey	17
16	Josh Beckett	14
17	Ubaldo Jimenez	16
18	Cole Hamels	18
19	Wandy Rodriguez	19
20	Ted Lilly	23
21	Chad Billingsley	20	Horrible second-half splits means discounted 2010
22	Jered Weaver	22
23	Edwin Jackson	21
24	Yovani Gallardo	24	Getting rocked and may get shut down
25	Tommy Hanson	33	Just 1 ER in 20 September innings (3 starts)
26	Scott Baker	34
27	Randy Wolf	28
28	Gavin Floyd	25
29	Clayton Kershaw	26
30	Jair Jurrjens	36
31	Rich Harden	31
32	Ricky Nolasco	27
33	Matt Garza	32
34	Scott Kazmir	37
35	Pedro Martinez	45	5-0, 2.87 ERA, 34 Ks, 6 BBs; gamble paid off
36	John Danks	42
37	Joel Pineiro	41
38	A.J. Burnett	30	Another blowout loss; one win since start of August
39	Ryan Dempster	NR
40	Andy Pettitte	40
41	James Shields	35
42	Clay Buchholz	49
43	Bronson Arroyo	47
44	Joe Blanton	38
45	Randy Wells	39
46	John Smoltz	NR
47	Brad Penny	NR
48	Scott Feldman	46
49	Brett Anderson	NR
50	Hiroki Kuroda	NR
Also receiving votes: Jason Marquis

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Relievers

Rank	Player	Prev.	Comments
1	Mariano Rivera	1
2	Joe Nathan	2
3	Jonathan Broxton	4
4	Jonathan Papelbon	5
5	Heath Bell	3
6	Joakim Soria	7
7	David Aardsma	8
8	Brian Wilson	9
9	Francisco Rodriguez	10
10	Jose Valverde	15
11	Andrew Bailey	13
12	Ryan Franklin	6	6 ER in 3.1 September innings; what happened?
13	Carlos Marmol	20	Named 2010 closer, has owned the role
14	Francisco Cordero	14	Getting lots of save opps, and converting
15	Huston Street	11
16	Trevor Hoffman	16
17	Brian Fuentes	12
18	Rafael Soriano	17
19	Frank Francisco	19
20	Bobby Jenks	18
21	Fernando Rodney	21
22	Mike MacDougal	23
23	Juan Gutierrez	27
24	Jason Frasor	24
25	Ryan Madson	NR
26	Leo Nunez	25
27	Matt Capps	26
28	Kerry Wood	28
29	Jim Johnson	22	Another poor outing (Sept. 12) and he free-falls
30	Franklin Morales	NR

R.J. White is a fantasy blogger at the sports site FanHouse. Check out his work both here and there, and feel free to talk to him in the forums, where he posts under the name daullaz.

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