By Dan O’Shea
When you look at preseason fantasy baseball rankings, you are not going to see a lot of Cubs or White Sox near the top of the list for most positions. The exception, of course, is shortstop, where a couple guys named Starlin and Alexei will be worth watching. My top 10 at SS:
Troy Tulowitski, COL: Probably the easiest call at a position with a variety of talent. He has every offensive tool, and should have another 30+ HRs and 100+ RBIs.
Jose Reyes, FLA: He just seems like an Ozzie Guillen type of player, and can deliver on this ranking with a season looking something like this:.330, 100 runs, 40 SBs, 17 triples, 35 doubles.
Hanley Ramirez, FLA: Probably ripe for a comeback and will have the 3B eligibility to go with SS, but it remains to be seen how he’ll respond to Guillen’s tough love.
Starlin Castro, CUBS: The real deal in every way, and I almost want to put him ahead of Hanley. I wouldn’t be surprised by 20 HRs and 30 SBs to go with a .315 average.
Asdrubal Cabrera, CLE: Potential for 30 HRs and 20 SBs, plus a bunch of extra-base hits.
J.J. Hardy, BAL: Probably your last chance for 30 HRs at this position, and 80 RBIs to go with it.
Jimmy Rollins, PHI: A mild comeback last year with 30 SBs, but everything else may be down.
Alexei Ramirez, SOX: I’m giving him some hometown love with this ranking, but I think he still has 20 HR, 20 SB potential in him and may actually excel without Guillen’s scrutiny on him.
Dee Gordon, LAD: A highly speculative ranking based on a small sample last year, but his 24 SBs in 56 games last year project him to lead the league in the category in 2012.
Elvis Andrus, TEX: Like Reyes, he can reach 40 SBs. Unlike Reyes, he won’t hit above .300 or collect 50+ extra-base hits.
Just missed the top 10: Erick Aybar, LAA; Derek Jeter, NYY; Ian Desmond, WAS.
Expert Wire
* The New York Times’s “Bats” blog likes Dee Gordon.
* RotoWorld debates catcher value: Posey vs. Santana.
* Bleacher Report lists Hanley Ramirez as the top high-risk, high-reward player. That about sums it up.
* Full Spectrum Baseball mulls what to do about Justin Smoak.
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Send your comments and questions to Disco Danny O’Shea.
Posted on February 22, 2012