I'm trying something new this week. With some owners now looking to build for next year, I'm publishing a very, very preliminary set of 2009 rankings for keeper leaguers. I'll be doing the usual position rankings and an overall top 100. These rankings are for 2009 only, so I'm not giving top prospects credit for what they might do in 2010 and beyond.
One note: I've fixed some, but there's still probably a few players here listed with their old teams. I was using my preseason spreadsheet for the new rankings.
In more interesting news, I'll be in Stamford for the next two weeks providing commentary for the live Olympic baseball broadcasts on NBCOlympics.com. So, if you want a glimpse of some top prospects like Matt LaPorta and Trevor Cahill or potential imports such as Kenshin Kawakami and Yu Darvish, be sure to check it out. I will still be posting columns as usual.
Click to see other 2009 Rankings:
Relief Pitcher Rankings
Starting Pitcher Rankings
Outfielder Rankings
Catcher Rankings
First Basemen Rankings
Second Basemen Rankings
Shortstop Rankings
Third basemen Rankings
Top 100 Overall Rankings
Rank- Shortstop - Team
1 - Hanley Ramirez - Marlins
2 - Jose Reyes - Mets
3 - Jimmy Rollins - Phillies
4 - Michael Young - Rangers
5 - Troy Tulowitzki - Rockies
6 - Rafael Furcal - Dodgers
7 - Miguel Tejada - Astros
8 - Derek Jeter - Yankees
9 - Stephen Drew - Diamondbacks
10 - Ryan Theriot - Cubs
11 - Jhonny Peralta - Indians
12 - Orlando Cabrera - White Sox
13 - J.J. Hardy - Brewers
14 - Yunel Escobar - Braves
15 - Mike Aviles - Royals
16 - Cristian Guzman - Nationals
17 - Edgar Renteria - Tigers
18 - Bobby Crosby - Athletics
19 - Yuniesky Betancourt - Mariners
20 - Julio Lugo - Red Sox
21 - Khalil Greene - Padres
22 - Jason Bartlett - Rays
23 - Jed Lowrie - Red Sox
24 - Jack Wilson - Pirates
25 - Erick Aybar - Angels
26 - Brendan Harris - Twins
27 - Alex Gonzalez - Reds
28 - Maicer Izturis - Angels
29 - Jeff Keppinger - Reds
30 - Nomar Garciaparra - Dodgers
31 - David Eckstein - Blue Jays
32 - Emmanuel Burriss - Giants
33 - Clint Barmes - Rockies
34 - Michael Hollimon - Tigers
35 - Ronny Cedeno - Cubs
36 - Alcides Escobar - Brewers
37 - Reid Brignac - Rays
38 - Brendan Ryan - Cardinals
39 - Chin-Lung Hu - Dodgers
40 - Elvis Andrus - Rangers
- The only player dropping out of the original 2008 top 10 here is Orlando Cabrera. He could move back up to ninth or 10th if he stays with the White Sox, but he will be a free agent and he could land with a team in a worse park for hitters or one that wouldn't use him as a leadoff man or No. 2 hitter.
- Mike Aviles is hardly a legitimate .340 hitter, but he's already likely done enough this year to guarantee that he'll start for the Royals next season. My guess is that it will happen at second base.
- The Red Sox figure to explore paying another team to take on the two years left on Julio Lugo's contract, allowing them to turn shortstop over to Jed Lowrie. They could always keep both, like they've done with Jacoby Ellsbury and Coco Crisp, but that wouldn't be ideal. For one thing, Lugo will make nearly twice as much next year as Coco has this year ($9 million to $4.75 million).
