Previews of Top 10 at each position?

[BatsareBugs]

With the game so close to release and some people already receiving the game. We probably won't be getting a preview anymore.

Edit: Considering that Ubaldo is one of the top 5 pitchers, that's 1/5 spots at SP I whiffed at.

[JoeCoolMan24]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rag3vsW0rld

With the game so close to release and some people already receiving the game. We probably won't be getting a preview anymore. Edit: Considering that Ubaldo is one of the top 5 pitchers, that's 1/5 spots at SP I whiffed at.

Yeah, that's also disappointing. It's really the only reason I have checked this site every day since the demo came out.

[NAFBUC]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rag3vsW0rld

Starting Pitching: 1 - SFG - Tim Lincecum A+ 2 - PHI - Roy Halladay A+ 4 - PHI - Cliff Lee A+ 5 - SEA - Felix Hernandez A+ 3 - FLA - Josh Johnson A 6 - STL - Adam Wainwright A 7 - NYY - C.C. Sabathia A 8 - SFG - Matt Cain A 9 - STL - Chris Carpenter A 10 - BOS - Jon Lester A Relievers 1 - NYY - Rafael Soriano A- 2 - CWS - Matt Thorton B+ 3 - SDG - Mike Adams B+ 4 - ATL - Peter Moylan B+ 5 - BOS - Daniel Bard B+ 6 - SDG - Luke Gregerson B+ 7 - TEX - Darren O'Day B+ 8 - LAD - Hong-Chih Kuo B+ 9 - ATL - Jonny Venters B+ 10 - WAS - Tyler Clippard B+ Closers 1 - SFG - Brian Wilson A+ 2 - KCR - Joakim Soria A+ 3 - SDG - Heath Bell A+ 4 - CHC - Carlos Marmol A+ 5 - CIN - Francisco Cordero A 6 - ATL - Billy Wagner A 7 - TEX - Neftali Feliz A 8 - NYY - Mariano Rivera A 9 - MIN - Joe Nathan A 10 - OAK - Andrew Bailey A Catchers 1 - MIN - Joe Mauer A 2 - ATL - Brian McCann A 3 - DET - Victor Martinez A- 4 - SFG - Buster Posey A- 5 - STL - Yadier Molina B+ 6 - PHI - Carlos Ruiz B+ 7 - CWS - A.J. Pierzynski B 8 - BAL - Matt Wieters B 9 - CHC - Geovany Soto B 10 - OAK - Kurt Suzuki B First Basemen 1 - STL - Albert Pujols A+ 2 - BOS - Adrian Gonzalez A+ 3 - DET - Miguel Cabrera A+ 4 - CIN - Joey Votto A 5 - MIN - Justin Morneau A 6 - NYY - Mark Teixeira A 7 - MIL - Prince Fielder A 8 - PHI - Ryan Howard A- 9 - LAA - Kendry Morales A- 10 - CWS - Adam Dunn A- Second Basemen 1 - PHI - Chase Utley A 2 - NYY - Robinson Cano A 3 - BOS - Dustin Pedroia A- 4 - MIL - Rickie Weeks A- 5 - ATL - Dan Uggla B+ 6 - TEX - Ian Kinsler B+ 7 - CIN - Brandon Phillips B 8 - TOR - Aaron Hill B 9 - BAL - Brian Roberts B 10 - PIT - Neil Walker B Shortstop 1 - FLA - Hanley Ramirez A+ 2 - COL - Troy Tulowitzki A+ 3 - NYM - Jose Reyes A- 4 - TEX - Elvis Andrus B+ 5 - PHI - Jimmy Rollins B+ 6 - CWS - Alexei Ramirez B+ 7 - NYY - Derek Jeter B 8 - AZD - Stephen Drew B 9 - LAD - Rafael Furcal B 10 - ATL - Alex Gonzalez B- Third Basemen 1 - TBR - Evan Longoria A+ 2 - NYM - David Wright A+ 3 - WAS - Ryan Zimmerman A 4 - NYY - Alex Rodriguez A- 5 - BOS - Kevin Youkilis A- 6 - SFG - Pablo Sandoval A- 7 - TEX - Adrian Beltre B+ 8 - BAL - Mark Reynolds B 9 - CHC - Aramis Ramirez B 10 - MIL - Casey McGehee B Left Fielder 1 - TEX - Josh Hamilton A+ 2 - STL - Matt Holliday A 3 - MIL - Ryan Braun A 4 - BOS - Carl Crawford A- 5 - MIN - Delmon Young B+ 6 - NYY - Brett Gardner B+ 7 - CHC - Alfonso Soriano B 8 - LAA - Bobby Abreu B 9 - NYM - Jason Bay B 10 - BAL - Luke Scott B Center Fiedler 1 - LAD - Matt Kemp A 2 - PIT - Andrew McCutchen A 3 - NYY - Curtis Granderson A 4 - PHI - Shane Victorino A- 5 - TBR - B.J. Upton B+ 6 - LAA - Torii Hunter B+ 7 - HOU - Michael Bourn B 8 - CIN - Drew Stubbs B 9 - STL - Colby Rasmus B 10 - TOR - Vernon Wells B Right Fielder 1 - COL - Carlos Gonzalez A 2 - LAD - Andre Ethier A 3 - WAS - Jayson Werth A 4 - TEX - Nelson Cruz A- 5 - TOR - Jose Bautista B+ 6 - CLE - Shin-Soo Choo B+ 7 - NYY - Nick Swisher B+ 8 - CIN - Jay Bruce B+ 9 - SEA - Ichiro B 10 - MIL - Corey Hart B Those are my picks. 2B and SS are really hard to rate after you get past the top players for both positions. NOTE: Players with the same overall grade rating can be interchanged in the list with players with similar overall grade ratings. Meaning Tim Lincecum can be 1 or 3 depending on which order they are listed. At this point it's difficult to tell who's better than who ratings-wise. EDIT II: Rosters are as of 1/1/2011.

Excellent job with your ratings Rags.

[pittsburgher86]

I take it the previews aren't happening this year. Anybody know anything?

[ImBaconBeckham]

Quote: Originally Posted by Apostle

Yeah, I agree with all of this. Miguel Cabrera is the man... The only hitter who has been better year in and year out over the past six or so seasons has been Albert Pujols. Cabrera > Gonzo, and it's not even close IMO. Gonzo is very, very good but Cabrera is in a different league.

Gonzalez hit in the most hitting depressing park in all of baseball for the majority of his career. Comerica is a very neutral park while Petco depresses run scoring by almost 10% annually. You'll see just how good of a hitter A-Gon can be this year when he gets to play half his games in a hitter friendly park.

Miggy had a hell of a season last year, but after his issues off the field and him being totally overweight at the moment, I'd expect him to drop down to his career averages (wRC+ of 140ish instead of 170).

When you look at stats that adjust for park differences (like wRC+ or OPS+), the two aren't all that different offensively.

[slickkill77]

Drop down to his career averages? What are you talking about?


HR past 4 years: 38, 34, 37, 34
Avg past 4 years: .328, .324, .290, .320
RBI past 4 years: 126, 103, 127, 119

Seems pretty in line with his career avg's other than some minor fluctuations up and down. Not including his first year where he only played 87 games he has hit under .300 two times (.294 and .292), he's hit under 30 hr's one time (26) and he has driven in 100 + rbi's every year. That's over 7 years.

4 of those years were in Florida which is a pitchers park.

[ImBaconBeckham]

Quote: Originally Posted by slickkill77

Drop down to his career averages? What are you talking about? HR past 4 years: 38, 34, 37, 34 Avg past 4 years: .328, .324, .290, .320 RBI past 4 years: 126, 103, 127, 119 Seems pretty in line with his career avg's other than some minor fluctuations up and down. Not including his first year where he only played 87 games he has hit under .300 two times (.294 and .292), he's hit under 30 hr's one time (26) and he has driven in 100 + rbi's every year. That's over 7 years. 4 of those years were in Florida which is a pitchers park.

Cabrera had his best offensive season last year. He posted the highest wOBA of his career at .429, 16 points better than his previous career high. He had his highest wRC+ at 170, 18% better than his previous high of 152.

It was also the first time he posted an OPS over 1.000.

I was saying he's most likely not going to produce those numbers again this upcoming season given his current playing shape (you should see some of the pics in comparison to last year). And if that's the case, he and A-Gon are very comparable on offense.

[CabreraMVP]

Okay Jenny Craig. Hold up.

Cabrera is in the best shape of his career. He tested stronger and quicker than he has ever been just a month ago. He always shows up Spring Training BIG, and he says he loses 20 pounds throughout the season.

Comparison to last year? He looks the same today as he did a year ago today. Big. And he always loses that weight by June.

You just were watching sportscenter since the Media is obsessed with him this year, you noticed he looked out of shape and much different from last August. But you don't know anything else.

He's not overweight right now. He's 270 yes, but he reduced his body fat from last year. So the more weight isn't a problem, because he's stronger and quicker and his body fat is down. He always shows up looking bad, he gets back into shape as the season goes. But this year "looking bad" isn't how to slow him down, he's in great shape. He added much more muscle.

It's the same thing all 3 years with the Tigers. In Spring, April, and May he is big. All 3 years. And then he loses it in June when the weather is hot. It's nothing new. Except this year, the weight is more muscle.

So if you are going to say something ridiculous like his numbers will go down, you will need a better excuse than his weight. He has played a whole career fat, drunk, on horrible teams in big pitchers parks, and he still out hits Adrian Gonzalez. This year he has more protection than he ever has.

His numbers are not going to down any time soon.