Top 10

Enfield, Carlsbad and Kinston .. Go figure

OK I still have four leagues I am waiting to get results on, USA South, Canada, Germany B, and the International league.
That withstanding, here are the finals regular season rankings for all the teams. Commonly called the Power Players.

B.J. Upton not in the top 100? Wow, just wow.

Here's the idea: We're looking for the Top 100 players in baseball RIGHT NOW. We're not talking about the best in two years. We're not talking about building a team to win over the next 10 years. There are no Stephen Strasburgs here, no Matt Wieters and, frankly, no B.J. Uptons, either. I love B.J. Upton's potential. But the last year and a half ... I just don't think he's quite a Top 100 player.

So the way I tried to think of it was this: Imagine the season was starting again tomorrow and every player was thrown into an expansion draft. You are a general manager. Your owner asks you to give him your dream list, the 100 best players in the game, but the key is you have to win THIS YEAR or you will be fired, and then you will be tarred and feathered, and then you will be forced to spend 10 hours a day for two solid months listening to Steve Phillips tell you how to run a baseball team.

SI.com

And so the two weeks draws to a close, appropriately, with a look at the Top 10 Closers. A volatile position at the best of times, 2008 seemed to be the craziest season ever in terms of the amount of closers losing their jobs through injury or bad performance.

Having put the batters to bed, we move on to the arms, looking at the Top 20 Starters. In my opinion, you need at least one of these in the H2HWS, and preferably two or three, if you can get them without compromising your hitting line-up. This position is arguably the hardest to get any agreement on (those following the Community Rankings of starters in the FBC will know exactly what I mean!), and also the one most likely to have guys entering the Top 20 by season's end whom no one expected to see there (Cliff Lee being the prime example last year).

Sometimes I really hate computers! I'd just finished writing up this list of Top 20 Outfielders (yes, 20, not 10!) when my stupid computer crashed before I could save anything! So here is attempt #2 - hopefully this makes it through without any problems!

We're rounding out the infield today as we take a look at those who ply their trade at third base. This position appears to be another of those where you really want to get one of the elite options if you can, especially now that Ryan Braun is no longer eligible. Don't worry, though - Bill Hall has regained his 3B eligibility!

Let's take a look at the Captain's Top 10...

We now arrive at what I think is the most interesting position heading into 2009 drafts: that of the Shortstop. We have the elite three in Ramirez, Reyes & Rollins...and after that it becomes hugely debatable. Put any 10 "experts" in a room to come up with their top 10s, and It is extremely likely that no two lists will match exactly. I wonder if any of you would match my list...

Time to take a look at arguably the shallowest position heading into 2009. Premium 2nd basemen are few and far between and even some of the elite have injury questions about them. Let's take a look at the Captain's Top 10:

2009 2nd basemen top 10

1. Ian Kinsler, Tex
2. Chase Utley, Phi

The UK has just been hit by the worst snow storms in 20 years (apparently). Living as I do in a valley where the only way out is up a snow-covered hill (the gritters don't seem to have made it to our little town!) it's a work-from-home kind of day today! Perfect opportunity to take a break and bring out the next top 10 list: 1st basemen