2008                         2009                            

 
Matt Holliday              Grady Sizemore                     
Grady Sizemore         Matt Holliday                   
Carl Crawford            Carlos Beltran                     
Carlos Beltran            Alfonso Soriano                    
Bobby Abreu              Ryan Braun                       
Curtis Granderson     Matt Kemp                     
Ichiro Suzuki              Alex Rios                         
Magglio Ordonez       Carl Crawford                    
Vladimir Guerrero       B.J. Upton                    
Eric Byrnes                Nick Markakis                      
Carlos Lee                Carlos Lee                         
Alfonso Soriano         Ichiro Suzuki                      
B.J. Upton                  Josh Hamilton                      
Alex Rios                    Jason Bay                          
Lance Berkman         Carlos Quentin                     
Adam Dunn               Manny Ramirez                      
Chris Young              Nate McLouth                       
Torii Hunter               Bobby Abreu                        
Gary Sheffield           Curtis Granderson                  
Nick Markakis            Corey Hart                      

SUNDAY

Pitch:  Lewis, Dice-K, Liriano, Danks, Lackey, Morrow, Gallagher, Sabathia, Arroyo, Pelfrey, Oswalt, Od. Perez, Dempster, Haren, Volstad, Cain, Lowe

MONDAY

Pitch:  Beckett, Meche, Miner (gamble), Garza, Weaver, Nolasco, Harang (he’s baack!), Webb

Closers, closers, closers.  Aside from the elite guys, there’s a significant amount of turnover here.  This is why I’ll always target a Papelbon/Rivera/Nathan/K-Rod and after that, not worry about the position too much.  Make sure you draft at least two of them with solid job security, but your second one doesn’t have to be a big name.  Soria’s a perfect example.  Sure the Royals don’t win a lot of games, but his peripherals last season were outstanding.  Save opportunities tend to vary quite a bit from year to year, so I’m not at all surprised that he’s emerged as a top tier option.  Don’t panic if you can’t draft a third closer.  Plenty emerge during the season.  As long as you constantly monitor all these developments, being competitive in the saves category shouldn’t be all that difficult.  

    2008                                        2009               

Francisco Rodriguez                 Jonathan Papelbon                                                          Joe Nathan                              Mariano Rivera        
Takashi Saito                           Joe Nathan    
J.J. Putz                                   Francisco Rodriguez   
Billy Wagner                            Joakim Soria          
Mariano Rivera                        Brad Lidge
Jonathan Papelbon                 Jose Valverde
Bobby Jenks                            Kerry Wood
Francisco Cordero                   Brian Fuentes
Jose Valverde                          Francisco Cordero     
         

I ‘m in full agreement with what was said on today’s show.  Third base is loaded.  If you can’t get A-Rod, Wright, or Ramirez, definitely wait as long as possible to take a third baseman.  As much as I like Longoria, who I own in a long-term keeper league, he’ll almost certainly be selected very early, maybe even within the top three rounds.  Now can Longoria perform at a third round level in 2009?  Absolutely.  But it’s also possible he disappoints relative to where he’s drafted.  In a single season league, I’d much rather snag Adrian Beltre in the 10th round and use my third round pick on someone at another position with a proven track record of elite production.  You could even take this a step further and pick an Eddie Encarnacion or Ryan Zimmerman, young players with upside who could easily crack the top 10 next year. 

Feel free to chime in on this subject or any other.

Zach

     2008                                    2009

Alex Rodriguez                      Alex Rodriguez
David Wright                         David Wright
Ryan Braun                           Aramis Ramirez
Miguel Cabrera                     Chipper Jones
Garrett Atkins                       Evan Longoria
Aramis Ramirez                    Garrett Atkins
Adrian Beltre                        Mark Reynolds
Ryan Zimmerman                  Adrian Beltre
Chone Figgins                       Chone Figgins
Chipper Jones                       Troy Glaus

On to the shortstops. 
Despite his place on these lists (7^th on both), Furcal’s the
obvious pick here as a guy who could hang around longer than he should in
drafts.  Unfortunately, not everyone
watches the 411!  Hitting atop that emerging
Dodgers lineup, especially if Manny stays, Furcal will score a ton of runs
while swiping 35+ bags.  I always like to
get speed out of the shortstop and second base positions so I can focus on power
outfielders.  Furcal’s been a longtime favorite
of mine, as outside of the elite names you see below  (H-Ram, Reyes, Rollins), he’s the only one who
fits that profile.

 
Hanley Ramirez                               Hanley
Ramirez                               
Jose Reyes                                      Jose
Reyes
Jimmy Rollins                                   Jimmy Rollins
Derek Jeter                                      Derek
Jeter
Carlos Guillen                                  Jhonny
Peralta
Troy Tulowitzki                                 Michael Young
Rafael Furcal                                    Rafael
Furcal
Edgar Renteria                                 Troy Tulowitzki
Miguel Tejada                                   J.J. Hardy
Michael Young                                  Stephen Drew

Two weeks to go…Can anyone catch Siano?  And could Stats Sr. actually finish in last place?  Stay tuned!

FANTASYFEUDBREAKDOWN wk 24 (2).rtf

With all due respect to our outstanding trio of S’s, I don’t really understand why Rickie Weeks is so high on this year’s list.  The guy’s having a worse season than last year and wasn’t even among the 2008 top 10.  I guess it’s based on potential more than anything else, along with Upton’s loss of second base eligibility and Kent’s pedestrian year.  I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that no Weeks owner is leading their league in average.  I’m one of them, and sit dead last in that category.

Zach Steinhorn

   2008                                2009

Chase Utley                      Chase Utley
Brandon Phillips                 Ian Kinsler
B.J. Upton                         Brian Roberts
Brian Roberts                    Brandon Phillips
Dan Uggla                         Dustin Pedroia
Robinson Cano                  Dan Uggla
Ian Kinsler                         Rickie Weeks
Jeff Kent                            Howie Kendrick
Howie Kendrick                  Robinson Cano
Freddy Sanchez                 Alexei Ramirez

***Also a reminder that the final 411 chat of the season will take place on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th at 11:30 AM ET (after the show) and will run for about 90 minutes.

Here’s the first base rankings comparison.  Fairly similar lists with M-Cab and Youkilis replacing Pena and Konerko.  Pena hasn’t been the total bust many (including myself) predicted, but we all knew he was overvalued, and that .244 AVG is ugly.  Konerko, assuming he plays every day, could be a sleeper heading into ’09, someone who will slip quite a bit in drafts.  Despite his impressive numbers, I won’t be targeting Youkilis.  Look for all those Red Sox fans to take him too early, and focus on someone else!

Let us know what you think, and keep those questions coming.

Zach

   2008                       2009                         
                           
Albert Pujols            Albert Pujols
Prince Fielder           Lance Berkman
Ryan Howard           Ryan Howard
Lance Berkman        Miguel Cabrera
Justin Morneau         Mark Teixeira
Mark Teixeira            Prince Fielder
Carlos Pena             Justin Morneau
Adrian Gonzalez       Kevin Youkilis
Paul Konerko           Adrian Gonzalez
Derrek Lee               Derrek Lee

SUNDAY

Pitch: Halladay, Lester, Felix, Big Erv, Eveland (gamble), Ollie, Harang (back to form?), Unit (if he starts)

MONDAY

Pitch: Buehrle, Slowey, Lewis (gamble), Dice-K, Kazmir, Pelfrey

On today’s show, we kicked off our series of 2009 positional rankings, starting with the catchers.  From now through September 23rd, I’ll be posting the 2009 rankings along with our rankings from last year so we can see just how much things have changed.  Feel free to post your own rankings, comments, and of course, general questions.

Zach

    2008                                           2009

Russell Martin                             Russell Martin   
Victor Martinez                            Brian McCann
Brian McCann                             Geovany Soto
Jorge Posada                              Joe Mauer
Joe Mauer                                   Victor Martinez
Bengie Molina                              Chris Iannetta
Kenji Johjima                               Ryan Doumit
Jason Varitek                               Kelly Shoppach
A.J. Pierzynski                             Jorge Posada
Jarrod Saltalamacchia                  Matt Wieters