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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

Player

Team

Mixed $

AL/NL $

PA

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

Robinson Cano

NYA

$27.02

$24.59

701

85

26

98

5

.293

Cano is truly in a class by himself at the position, and although PECOTA doesn’t project there to be much of a difference between him and Dustin Pedroia in 2013, I don’t agree with that. While he’s not likely to repeat his power output from last season, Cano is still a consistent four-category stud, and the difference between Cano and the next-best player at the position is as large of a gap as any one-two margin in fantasy.

Four Stars

Player

Team

Mixed $

AL/NL $

PA

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

Dustin Pedroia

BOS

$26.41

$25.69

666

92

16

70

21

.293

Ian Kinsler

TEX

$20.06

$21.76

601

85

19

66

22

.261

There was a time, not too long ago, when the keystone was led by a class of three, but Cano has left these two in the proverbial dust. Both Pedroia and Kinsler sit perched at the top of lineups that have been extremely impressive in the past, but face additional questions heading into 2013. Pedroia has turned into more of a health risk than Kinsler lately, as Kinsler has played in 155 and 157 games, respectively, the last two years. On the other hand, Kinsler has now badly underperformed his expected BABIP in three of the past four years, and it’s becoming increasingly likely that he’s just not going to be helpful in batting average going forward.

Four-Star Value Pick: Considering they’re being selected only four picks apart, according to the latest NFBC data, Pedroia is the better value of these two. What he potentially lacks in some of the counting stats, he more than makes up for by being projected to tie Cano for the highest batting average at the position—and 30-40 points of batting average can go a long way in terms of value.

Three Stars

Player

Team

Mixed $

AL/NL $

PA

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

Aaron Hill

ARI

$14.56

$19.61

621

80

20

68

12

.257

Jason Kipnis

CLE

$14.82

$18.21

636

82

15

63

18

.255

Ben Zobrist

TBA

$19.12

$21.57

668

83

18

79

18

.253

Brandon Phillips

CIN

$20.39

$23.43

661

86

20

71

16

.266

Rickie Weeks

MIL

$15.93

$19.64

616

85

22

71

12

.246

Jose Altuve

HOU

$21.15

$24.55

664

83

10

55

32

.275

PECOTA tags both Phillips and Altuve as four-star players, projecting them for more value than Kinsler, but that seems a little optimistic on both of them.  Phillips is very consistent, but he hasn’t hit 20 homers since 2009 and he becomes less attractive as a 15-15 guy. Everyone loves Altuve, mostly because of his petite stature, but I’m just not ready to throw a 10-homer, 30-steal projection on him. That feels much closer to his upside than what fantasy owners should expect.

The weakness of the position becomes evident as early as this tier, which is topped by two players, Hill and Kipnis, that won’t make fantasy owners as comfortable as the number-four or -five options at other positions. Zobrist has been very consistent, but he’s getting up there in age, and his 18-steal projection feels too rich. R. Weeks was brutal in the first few months of 2012 and great in the second half; which version will show up in 2013 is anyone’s guess.

Three-Star Value Pick: Hill is currently going sixth among second basemen, and while he projects to be the lowest-earning member of this tier, he is the one guy here who could perform like a four-star player. After all, not only did he do that last season, but he’s cleared 26 homers in three of the last four years—and there’s not a single second baseman projected to hit more than that number in 2013.

Two Stars

Player

Team

Mixed $

AL/NL $

PA

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

Chase Utley

PHI

$11.56

$18.58

541

70

19

69

14

.259

Neil Walker

PIT

$12.66

$18.23

645

79

17

67

9

.264

Dan Uggla

ATL

$7.02

$14.24

537

67

24

75

3

.239

Danny Espinosa

WAS

$7.00

$15.93

541

64

18

64

15

.237

Howard Kendrick

ANA

$5.97

$14.31

565

59

11

60

13

.277

Dustin Ackley

SEA

$3.53

$10.31

640

73

10

53

10

.238

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

Player

Team

Mixed $

AL/NL $

PA

R

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

Tyler Greene

HOU

$10.57

$16.40

556

74

16

55

22

.237

Jeff Keppinger

CHA

$1.63

$9.63

553

62

10

52

2

.282

Daniel Murphy

NYN

$6.62

$15.28

586

69

11

57

8

.279

Marco Scutaro

SFN

($1.53)

$9.10

594

62

3

43

7

.261

Omar Infante

DET

$1.24

$10.55

524

54

8

52

8

.284

Jurickson Profar

TEX

($19.53)

($0.28)

248

29

5

22

5

.237

Gordon Beckham

CHA

($0.83)

$8.02

492

54

13

54

5

.253

Kelly Johnson

TBA

($7.63)

$4.69

386

43

10

43

8

.233

Brian Roberts

BAL

($8.37)

$5.21

337

43

5

29

13

.259

Maicer Izturis

TOR

($0.42)

$9.83

462

52

7

43

15

.266

Logan Forsythe

SDN

($7.25)

$6.54

424

50

5

34

10

.243

Johnny Giavotella

KCA

($13.57)

$2.44

330

34

4

31

5

.276

Darwin Barney

CHN

($2.96)

$8.60

552

56

5

44

6

.260

Mark Ellis

LAN

($2.33)

$8.88

530

58

8

43

9

.242

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.

Thank you for reading

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dandaman
3/20
Joe- I know you received a lot of feedback yesterday, but I'm sorry, you still seem to be missing the main point being made- the tier rankings are important to a great many of us and are coming out too late. I realize that you "don't know everyone's draft dates" as you told a reader in yesterday's comments, but, with the season set to open next weekend, it's reasonable to assume that most drafts happen by this weekend. No? I'm not trying to beat a dead horse, but the top 15 lists are not enough. The PFM, while very interesting, does not jibe at all with my rankings (much less BP's). I understand you want to put out interesting content on a daily basis, but you'd avoid a lot of headaches for the both of us if you just swallowed your pride and decided to put out the rest of the tiers in the next day or 2. I think this is realistic as it doesn't fall to one person and the content is probably already done. If you decide not to do that, I love the suggestion of a reader survey for next year.
joechris96
3/20
Swallow my pride? Who do you think is going to do the work to get these out in the next day or two? That's a serious question. I'm not sure you realize, but people aren't just sitting around here doing nothing. And no, the content is not already done.

We will address the possibility of putting these out early next year. That's the best I can do. I spelled out all the details in various comments yesterday. I'm not going to go through it again today. We'd just be rehashing the same information and wasting everyone's time.

I appreciate everyone's input, and as I said, we take that seriously. Just realize that there is a lot of off-line input too that people provide, and we count that too.
dandaman
3/20
Actually Joe, when I tried contacting several writers via the website to get a few different opinions, I was contacted by your customer service and told that your staff was working on getting content together "so they have such limited availability right now" and that I should submit questions via the twitter (which I find too limiting) or via a chat (which I had but there not always picked). So excuse me if I seem a little annoyed by the overall quality of the product this year.
joechris96
3/20
We do our absolute best to try to respond to everyone we can. But we're not available 24/7 for everyone. We just can't physically be able to do that. If we didn't get to you, I'm very sorry. We publish tons of material and keep trying to improve. I've laid it all out the past two days. I don't know what else to really say anymore. If you're really that unhappy and want to cancel your subscription, please contact customer service. I will instruct them to give you a pro-rated refund of your subscription fee.
mschieve
3/20
Is it possible to add HBP in the Pitcher categories for the PFM? My points league assigns negative points when a pitcher hits someone.
cjbuet
3/20
Where would Gyorko be?
BurrRutledge
3/20
And my namesake Rutledge in Colorado?
bretsayre
3/20
I'm admittedly very much a non-believer in Rutledge, at least compared to those who are pimping his as a huge sleeper. His plate discipline is brutal, and could very well catch up with him as he continues on through the league. I'd put him below Dustin Ackley as the last name in Tier 2.
bretsayre
3/20
For me, Gyorko would be right around where Ackley is at the bottom of the second tier. He's risky, just like any rookie is, but he has the potential to hit .275 with 15 homers.
kenraty
3/20
In a vacuum, the production/cost of Tyler Greene looks incredible, but the reality is Altuve will get probably get 550-600 PA's at 2nd, while the Astros much prefer the defense of Marwin Gonzalez at SS. I don't see them sacrificing defense for the sake of a little offense, particularly this year. So that leaves Greene with maybe 300 PA's, and those numbers aren't happening.
bretsayre
3/20
Obviously, there are defensive concerns - but I'd argue that if there weren't, he'd be in the two-star range. The numbers can be there if he gets the at bats, and if he only gets 350-400 PA, there's still enough value to warrant the pick. But there's no getting around it, it's ugly at the bottom of this position.
gweedoh565
3/20
My concern with Greene is that he's already had 4 extended cups of coffee in the majors (>115 PA 2009-2012) and has yet to show he can replicate his gaudy minor league numbers (which must be driving his projections) in the majors.

I took a flier on him for $1 due to the potential, but he's on a short leash, and his crappy ST numbers make it shorter.
bretsayre
3/20
That's exactly the point - he's worth a flier based on the potential, but the inherent risks are why he's a One Star guy.
boatman44
3/20
To be honest,I think if you dont get Cano 2nd base is pretty much "blagh", I certainly dont like Pedroia or Kinsler where they are going, the third tier stinks, so could probably see myself with either Ackley or Walker late on and fortify my roster with decent shortstops earlier.
A good plan ?
bretsayre
3/20
That's more or less the plan I've been going with as well, except I have targeted Pedroia when he's fallen outside the top 25 picks or so, and I would throw Kendrick into that group with Walker/Ackley. I don't think I've ended up with a player in that third tier in any of the drafts/auctions I've done so far this year.
briankopec
3/20
Emilio Bonifacio is 2B eligible in many leagues this year (including Yahoo). I'd much rather roll the dice on him getting significant at bats and piling up SB than most of the 1 star selections.
briankopec
3/20
Oh, and I should mention that Bonifacio is likely to gain eligibility all over the diamond as the year goes on, making him even more attractive than most or all of those 1 star picks.
bretsayre
3/20
Of course, but he doesn't have 2B eligibility yet (we use 20 games as a benchmark) and that's why he's not included in this list. If he did, he'd be right in the middle of that 2nd tier.
pobothecat
3/21
Local media has quoted A.A. as saying that "right now" Izturis has the inside track to the second base job.
cephyn
3/20
What about Matt carpenter? I don't see any stl player on this list...
bretsayre
3/20
Carpenter looks like he'll have the 2B job, but won't go into the season with the eligibility, which is why he's not on the list. I'm actually not all that high on him in fantasy, as I see his ceiling being in the Walker/Kendrick range, but with the added risk that his defense might not cut it for the Cardinals. He'd sit atop the One Star tier for me, above Tyler Greene, if he had the eligibility.
hotstatrat
3/20
I would have Zobrist and Kinsler switch tiers in almost any fantasy format or real life. Who cares what I think? For what it's worth, I'd match my year after year Scoresheet League success against anyone's.
moonlightj
3/20
I have my concerns with Zobrist because in watching him play on a daily basis, he's lost a step. It showed up last season as he tried to steal bases. He was caught at a high rate for him and most of them weren't close. He's 31 now, has played nearly everyday at a variety of places, and on a lot of turf. In a scoresheet league, I still like him but in straight fantasy, I too would take Kinsler first.
hotstatrat
3/20
Thanks for the insight.
smallflowers
3/20
He's 31 now, but this is his age-32 season. Even more concerning!
spundin
3/20
How concerned is anyone of the Cano/Peds suspension rumors? It's crippling if you spend $30+ on a player that misses time which he will cost in my league. Felt the effects with Longo last year. I really wanted to take him in my auction but with the concerns of that now it looks like I'll be focusing on Zobrist (love the multi position elgibility), Phillips or Pedroia.
Menthol
3/20
I'm freaked out about the rumors also, and am avoiding Cano and Braun (who would be my first pick otherwise) because of them. I just can't handle the risk. I had Melky last year and his suspension was arguably the reason I lost in the playoffs after leading my league most of the way.
bretsayre
3/20
I understand the concern, but even if you knock him down a few spots, he's still a clear Five Star guy. There are plenty of other guys in the second half of the first round and beyond who have question marks, most of which are much more concerning than these rumors.
Behemoth
3/20
To be fair to Cano, the rumour about him is much weaker than the stuff about Braun, A-Rod and Biogenesis.
moonlightj
3/20
Cano/PED rumors are complete bunk
sgrcuts
3/20
Way bigger fan then Kipnis then this. I am willing to bet he outperforms his ADP by a good amount.