Fantasy Baseball

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed.

These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Tigers’ first baseman Miguel Cabrera is the epitome of consistency.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Two years ago, fantasy owners looking for a sleeper second baseman (or, more accurately, a bounce-back candidate) may have taken a flyer on the Toronto Blue Jays' Aaron Hill.  Those that did were rewarded handsomely, as he had a huge 2009 campaign:

682 AB, .286 average, 36 HR, 108 RBI, 103 R, 6 SB

Of course, those same owners felt bitter disappointment in 2010 when Hill followed up his impressive year with the following debacle:

528 AB, .205 average, 26 HR, 69 RBI, 70 R, 2 SB

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Few positions in fantasy baseball can compete with the overall depth of talent you can find at first base. Sluggers. Guys who hit for average. Early-round fantasy studs that you can anchor your squad around.

My early 2011 fantasy first baseman rankings include:

1. Albert Pujols, STL

No surprise here. Pujols has been the cream of the crop for quite some time and there’s no reason to doubt he’ll continue in this role, despite the contract negotiations that seem to be going nowhere.

When the Boston Red Sox completed a trade with the San Diego Padres for 1B Adrian Gonzalez in early December, the move was met with much fanfare.

As sports fans gradually transition from football mode into baseball mode, the excitement surrounding the A-Gone acquisition is sure to skyrocket heading into spring training. 

While the Padres surprised the baseball world by competing for a playoff spot in 2010, they remain a small market team sitting far from the Northeast media machine.

Here’s an early look at the 2011 First Base rankings.


1.  Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals:  Turned in another fabulous season, hitting .312 with 115 runs, 183 hits, 42 HRs, 118 RBI, 14 SBs, 103 walks and a 1.011 OPS. He truly is a machine and should be the No. 1 player taken in fantasy drafts.

There were rumors all offseason long that the Red Sox could look to move Daisuke Matsuzaka, though at this point it does not appear likely.  Instead, Dice-K will again open the season as part of a deep Red Sox rotation with an awful lot to prove.

After a tremendous 2008 campaign (18 W, 2.90 ERA, 1.32 WHIP), he has struggled tremendously. 

This year's list of catcher's was especially difficult to rank, and I'm sure I'll switch some of these players over the course of the next few months. Regardless, this is have currently is as accurate as any.

There are some ranks that might surprise you; however, I can assure you that I have looked more than enough statistics to justify each rank.

Dan Uggla tends to be a rather polarizing player.  The people who like him really, really like him. 

The people who are not as high on him may not “hate” him, per se, but they devalue him based on the potential for a low average. 

The question is: are some people underappreciating the skill set that Uggla brings to the table?

Before we can fully answer that question, let’s take a look at what he accomplished in 2010: