9 Players who give you a complete Fantasy Baseball Lineup Revisited
In February we ran a series of predictive posts as a Countdown to the 2012 fantasy baseball season. Those predictions have come and gone, so we thought we’d revisit them as we Ramp Up to Fantasy Baseball 2013. Yes, it’s never too early to prepare for the 2013 fantasy baseball season.
Previously, I shared a full fantasy baseball lineup, complete with draft round and an approximate draft value you could expect to pay. You can’t just read a list of MLB’s 9 best players and expect to roster them all on your fantasy baseball team. You have to plan in order to get as much talent as you can, while competing against the other owners in the draft. It was no small task trying to layout a seriously talented lineup for our readers without letting guys in my own league know ALL the guys I was targeting!
I feel overall I fared alright, and I would certainly love another shot at doing this post again next year. For now though, let’s run through this lineup and see how well they performed.
C – Joe Mauer
Mauer was just fine this year. In fact, he was the Mauer of old. Unfortunately that means it is time to give up hope on the power ever coming. He is going to be a high average hitter that knocks in runs without a lot of home runs, ala Victor Martinez. You could do a lot worse at catcher.
1B – Joey Votto
I am gonna blame injury here. Votto is elite, and is going continue to be elite. However, I do feel really bad for Votto Owners because you certainly had to take this guy high and to see him on the DL hurts, just as much as the lack of second half home runs. Hopefully you are in a keeper league and are able to build around this stud for seasons to come.
2B – Ian Kinsler
Kinsler had a pretty good year last season, which means he had great runs scored, pedestrian average and just under achieved on home runs and steals. Kinlser is definitely a guy worth taking if he keeps falling to the late second early third round, but if people start taking him in Round 1, be happy that someone better is now falling out of the top dozen or so picks.
3B – Ryan Zimmerman
In a standard 5×5 player rater, Zimmerman ended at 3rd overall among third basemen behind Miguel Cabrera (who was not slated to move to 3b until after this post was originally written) and just .01 behind Adrian Beltre. Zimmerman is the real deal and you should be thrilled to have him on your 2013 fantasy baseball squad.
SS – Erick Aybar
This is the first of many times I will say that I was way wrong on Erick Aybar. This kid spent about 5 months lost at the plate and all of his late season surge was lost on me as I had dropped him off every one of my teams. I wouldn’t take Aybar with the last pick in the 2013 fantasy baseball draft unless somehow he can make it back to hitting 1 or 2 in for the Angels, which won’t happen.
LF/OF – Alex Gordon
I’m gonna go ahead and blame Ned Yost on this one. Who in their right mind takes their 3rd hitter – who just had a breakout campaign – and moves him to leadoff?! Even still Gordon did well, just not as great a power season as he turned out a year ago. Look to him again in 2013 and you should be rewarded!
CF/OF – Chris Young
CY started out like a man on a mission, then he got hurt, and never quite got right at the plate again. Young is one of my favorite players and now with Oakland he is with one of my favorite teams, which no doubt this will lead me to overpay or reach for him. However, do not do the same in 2013, since Oakland is a place where bats go to die.
RF/OF – Nelson Cruz
Cruz was average for a right fielder this year. That is definitely the problem when drafting outfield positions as opposed to general outfield spots. I like Cruz as much as I like Nick Swisher, Cory Hart, or Josh Reddick. They are all fine bats, but nothing to reach for. The one nice things is that Cruz has the highest ceiling of the most right fielders as he is in a hitter friendly park, in a stacked lineup, and has shown some monster numbers before. The down side is that he is injury prone and aging.
UTL/OF – Nick Swisher
I will always have a place in my heart for Swish, but we need to see where he lands this offseason before we make too many bold predictions. Wait and see on Swisher in 2013.
I’ll do this again closer to the 2013 fantasy baseball draft. Stay tuned.