Rankings/List

The 2010-11 MLB offseason is nearing its end, and most players of note have now been signed to contracts. There are some free agents lurking around, mainly in the DH department, such as Vladimir Guerrero and Manny Ramirez, but nearly all position players have found a home at this point.

While baseball as a sport has the least amount of physical contact amongst players, it seems to spawn some of the worst attitudes in all of sports.

Football, basketball, soccer and hockey have their fair share of jerk players, but because they can take it out on each other with such force as a helmet-to-helmet hit, swift elbow to the ribs or face, a dirty slide tackle, or a check from behind followed by dropping the gloves; baseball players seem to be pent up with the most rage of them all.

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.

The Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2011 inducted two very different, yet (in my mind) two very deserving players. Roberto Alomar was perhaps the premier all-around player of our time, and Bert Blyleven was a strikeout machine who could at least keep his team in games, even if they didn't get the win.

While the Class of 2012 will likely be empty, there are many active players who seem like sure things when their time comes. Albert Pujols, Roy Halladay, and Joe Mauer are examples of players who will probably have no trouble.

Shortstops are rarely known for their offensive prowess.

Instead, they are generally known for their defense. They play a position that sees more scorchers than any other and a team benefits greatly from having a sure-handed player there. 

This is a list for the men who played the position the best, who sat in there and took countless bad hops to the chest just to record an out. 

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Here’s an early look at the 2011 shortstop rankings:


1. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies: After a .315 89-27-95-11 season, Tulo has jumped up to the No. 1 spot. He posted those monster numbers in just 122 games.

2. Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins: Han-Ram is 1-A. He should post a higher SB total than Tulo, but fewer HRs and RBIs. You can’t go wrong either way.

With so many of the big name free agents signed early on this off season, it has been a winter of trade rumors, and while most have proved to be nothing beyond just rumors, the Brewers managed to pull off two of the bigger trades of the off season.

However, the rest of the NL Central has been fairly busy as well, as the Cubs, Reds, Cardinals, and Brewers all look to be in the running for the division. Even the Astros and Pirates made a handful of moves that could make series' against them that much tougher.

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.

This year's crop of first basemen is very top-heavy.

After the top five are off the board, there is a lack of hitters who can hit for both average and power. In fact, in standard 10-team rotisserie leagues this season, there are only 11 first basemen I would be content with as my starter.

In signing relief pitcher Rafael Soriano, the New York Yankees took a big step in shoring up their bullpen before heading south to Florida for spring training.

The team had already made a number of signings including pitcher Pedro Feliciano, pitcher Mark Prior and catcher Russell Martin.

The Yankees also retained two major free agents in agreeing to terms on multi-year deals with closer Mariano Rivera and shortstop Derek Jeter.