SubscribeWriting about the possibility of Chone Figgins at 2B recently brought something else to my attention: There is a surprising gap in fantasy value between 2B and SS this year.
For fantasy purposes, I don’t see much to get excited about at SS this year: With Jose Reyes starting the year on the DL, the top-tier of shortstops is even more barren — Hanley Ramirez in the early first round and Troy Tulowitzki a bit behind. Then you’ve got an aged Derek Jeter, followed by Jimmy Rollins, who has spent the past two years trying to prove that his 2007 MVP was just a fluke.
After that, it’s a bunch of low-ceiling old guys — Rafael Furcal, Miguel Tejada, Orlando Cabrera. Youngsters like Elvis Andrus and Alcides Escobar are getting some hype, but I’m not seeing much fantasy value for 2010 (and neither are the projections).
Compare that to the depth at 2B: The top fantasy tier at this position runs at least five deep (Chase Utley, Ian Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia, Brian Roberts, Robinson Cano). The projections are high on Ian Stewart’s sophomore year, as well, placing him just outside of those five.
There are also plenty of interesting names in the middle. You can target AVG with Howie Kendrick, HR with Dan Uggla, or a mix of HR-SB with Brandon Phillips. The projections predict a bounceback for Kelly Johnson and Rickie Weeks and a decline for Aaron Hill, but there’s plenty of intrigue with all of them. And all of that is before the boring guys at the bottom of the barrel — Jose Lopez, Placido Polanco, Orlando Hudson, and their ilk.
Look at things this way: The Price Guide puts 7 SS in double-digit values in a standard fantasy league. There are 13 2B who can match them statistically. That imbalance makes the 2B replacement level more similar to 3B than to SS.
The shortage of quality SS is one of the primary reason that the Price Guide propels Hanley Ramirez slightly ahead of Albert Pujols as the top fantasy pick for this year. The high number of quality 2B also knocks Chase Utley a tick lower here than at other sites.
For this year, I’m liking the auction strategy that goes hard after either Hanley or Tulo and then pairs him with either the cheapest of the Big 5 at 2B or one of the 2B bounceback candidates.
Related posts:
Don’t forget about Ben Zobrist. He qualifies at 2B and SS in Yahoo, and 2B in ESPN. And Gordon Beckham will likely be 2B eligible a few weeks into the season. Making 2B really quite deep in mixed leagues. It’s still fairly shallow in NL leagues, though, I think.
SS is a pit in both leagues, but it’s terrible in AL only. I’m thrilled beyond belief that I have Jeter at $11 in my AL only league.
This is a strategy I considered, but I think my keeper selections will preclude it.
In general, I don’t like to enter a draft with a strategy that hinges on bidding for a single player – especially if others are likely to chase the same player(s).
This exact issue has been causing me the most trouble as I get ready to draft – thanks for posting