Due to popular demand (well, okay, not really), I am releasing my final player rankings. I know, there are a lot of top 10 lists out there, but considering that most of us play in 12 team leagues, I thought it’d be useful to post the top 12 at each position (and the top 36 outfielders). Here we go!
1B 2B SS 1. Albert Pujols 1. Chase Utley 1. Hanley Ramirez 2. David Ortiz 2. Brandon Phillips 2. Jimmy Rollins 3. Prince Fielder 3. Robinson Cano 3. Jose Reyes 4. Mark Teixeira 4. Brian Roberts 4. Derek Jeter 5. Ryan Howard 5. B.J. Upton 5. Carlos Guillen 6. Lance Berkman 6. Dan Uggla 6. Troy Tulowitski 7. Derrek Lee 7. Ian Kinsler 7. Michael Young 8. Justin Morneau 8. Kelly Johnson 8. Miguel Tejada 9. Travis Hafner 9. Chone Figgins 9. Rafael Furcal 10. Adrian Gonzalez 10. Dustin Pedroia 10. Jhonny Peralta 11. Joey Votto 11. Orlando Hudson 11. Orlando Cabrera 12. Todd Helton 12. Howie Kendrick 12. Khalil Greene
3B C 1. Alex Rodriguez 1. Russell Martin 2. David Wright 2. Victor Martinez 3. Ryan Braun 3. Joe Mauer 4. Miguel Cabrera 4. Brian McCann 5. Chipper Jones 5. Jorge Posada 6. Ryan Zimmerman 6. Geovany Soto 7. Garrett Atkins 7. Brandon Inge 8. Aramis Ramirez 8. Bengie Molina 9. Adrian Beltre 9. J.R. Towles 10. Edwin Encarnacion 10. Kenji Johjima 11. Josh Fields 11. Ronny Paulino 12. Alex Gordon 12. Ivan Rodriguez
OF 1. Matt Holliday 13. Curtis Granderson 25. Ichiro Suzuki 2. Vladimir Guerrero 14. Bobby Abreu 26. Hideki Matsui 3. Alfonso Soriano 15. Adam Dunn 27. Manny Ramirez 4. Carlos Lee 16. Magglio Ordonez 28. Jermaine Dye 5. Grady Sizemore 17. Matt Kemp 29. Johnny Damon 6. Nick Markakis 18. Chris B. Young 30. Josh Willingham 7. Carlos Beltran 19. Jason Bay 31. Raul Ibanez 8. Carl Crawford 20. Jeff Francouer 32. Jacoby Ellsbury 9. Corey Hart 21. Delmon Young 33. Mike Cameron 10. Torii Hunter 22. Eric Byrnes 34. Aaron Rowand 11. Alex Rios 23. Andruw Jones 35. Brad Hawpe 12. Hunter Pence 24. Vernon Wells 36. Melky Cabrera
I know many of you will have gripes with this, especially the outfield rankings. But what can I say? I’m predicting a lot of breakouts for young players. I’ll save discussion and analysis for a future post. Pitcher rankings to follow shortly.

3 comments
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April 2, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Nick
Renteria, to me, has to be a top 12 SS. I do not see any scenario unfolding, save injury, that Tejada has a better year than Edgar.
Also, I think that Alex Gordon is going to be one hellava player, but not next season. Troy Glaus had 38 and 39 home runs before his foot caught up to him in Toronto. Playing on the grass he’ll be healthy and should launch that many again this season at Busch III.
April 3, 2008 at 3:53 am
redsoxtalk
Nick, thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts. Renteria can be a tough one, though I agree he has a good shot at busting into the top 12, especially atop Detroit’s order. However, my rankings rely heavily on professional projections like PECOTA, which has him at .280-63-7-49-8 as a weighted mean. It seems his lack of power, RBI and speed will hurt his value relative to other shortstops this season, though I think they totally underestimated his runs. Tejada is listed at .299-71-16-75-5, quite a bit better. I am also not an Edgar fan, considering his stint in Boston (where I live).
Alex Gordon may push his way higher up this list; he certainly has the potential.
Glaus is an interesting case; his foot troubles have continued this year, though they are certainly better than on the turf in Toronto. While he did have 40 HR power, PECOTA is much more conservative at .258-65-21-68-3. I have to be a little skeptical about him, and wouldn’t want to start him at 3B on my team, due to injury risk, etc. Even at his 90th percentile, they have him at only 30 HR for 2008. So it would take one whopper of a season to do what you’re talking about.
April 4, 2008 at 6:55 am
edtajchman
ah I see, you are right, Gordon has a lot of potential, I think with Trey Hillman at the helm, all the Royals prospects are more focused.