Fantasy Tiered Rankings: Second Basemen

Today we continue our positional tier rankings. Last offseason, Derek Carty tackled the tiers by himself; this spring, we've decided to attack them as a team. Players at each position will be divided into five tiers, represented by the number of stars.

Five-star players are the studs at their respective position. In general, they are the players that will be nabbed in the first couple of rounds of the draft, and they'll fetch auction bids in excess of $30. Four-star players are a cut below the studs at the position. They will also be earl- round selections, and they're projected to be worth more than $20 in most cases. Three-star players are the last tier in which players are projected to provide double-digit dollar value in auctions, and two-star players are projected to earn single digits in dollar value in auctions. One-star players are late round sleepers and roster placeholders. As was the case with our positional rankings series, the positional tiers aren't simply a regurgitation of the projected PECOTA values.

We retained last year's roster requirements for the positional tier series. Dollar values come from our PFM using a 12-team, standard 5×5 scoring format, with 23-man rosters and the following positions: C (2) 1B (1) 2B (1) 3B (1) SS (1) CI (1) MI (1) OF (5) UT (1) P (9). The minimum bid for players is $1, and, as we did last year, we'll allocate $180 of a $260 budget to hitters. Players needed to play in 20 games at a position to qualify there. The PFM is customizable, so if your league uses a different format, you can adjust it to match your league settings and see how it impacts players’ dollar values.

You can find Josh Shepardson’s catcher tiers here. Now, here are our second-base tiers…

Five Stars

Three Stars

This tier is a friendly mix of players with huge risks and lower upsides. The two safest options here are Walker and Kendrick, although they take on more value as your league gets deeper. Walker is generally underrated, because he’s a Pirate and a relatively boring option, but he just continues to produce value. PECOTA projects him to be the top earner in this class, and barring a 150-game season from Utley, I agree with that. Kendrick, on the other hand, still carries a little residual inflation from his prospect days when he was anointed a future batting champion. That upside just isn’t there anymore.

The risks here tend to be pretty extreme. Utley and Espinosa both carry huge health concerns, and expecting either of them to top 450 plate appearances is likely a fool’s errand. Utley appears healthier this spring than he has been in recent memory, but degenerative conditions don’t just fix themselves. Espinosa, meanwhile, is taking the oft-maligned “rest-and-rehab” method to fixing a torn rotator cuff. If Utley’s flag is red, Espinosa’s should be vermilion. Then there’s Uggla and Ackley, who are both trying to prove that 2012 was not their new normal.

Two-Star Value Pick: Despite being tagged with the highest projected value here, Walker is still not being given the respect that he deserves. He’s currently being drafted behind Utley, Espinosa, and Kendrick—a trend that should be taken advantage of. With scant reliable options in the next tier, taking a good, but not great, hitter makes all the sense in the world. Lock in the value and move on.

One Star

And this is why you want to make sure you get a solid second baseman early this year. Sure, it’s possible that you could hit the jackpot with one of these guys, but even the ones with upside are long shots at best. Do we think Roberts is actually going to stay healthy? When do we think Profar is going to get called up to the majors? Will Beckham ever become anything that we should care about?

If you’re stuck feeding at the bottom of the keystone rankings this year, at least those players with huge question marks carry upside. Unless you’re in a deeper league, the replacement level at the position will be wide, which should allow owners to take more chances. Scutaro, Forsythe, Keppinger, Infante, and Murphy are all players who will be on and off the waiver wire in shallower leagues.

One-Star Value Pick: I’m going to completely agree with PECOTA on this one and say that if you’re looking for someone who could stick all year, Tyler Greene is your man. Yes, he strikes out a ton and will sink your batting average, but you’re not going to find anyone else this late who can provide the type of power and speed that Greene can. If things work out, he could provide Espinosa-type value. If they don’t, you couldn’t possibly have paid much for him anyway—after all, he’s not even being drafted in NFBC leagues.