Heading into a big draft weekend, here's my latest update:
1. Miguel Cabrera
2. Albert Pujols
3. Matt Kemp
4. Ryan Braun
5. Troy Tulowitzki
6. Jose Bautista
7. Adrian Gonzalez - In the heat of the draft moment, I've split my picks between Adrian Gonzalez and Robinson Cano when given the choice. The small lean is towards Gonzalez, as I'm still comfortable with the depth at second base.
8. Robinson Cano
9. Carlos Gonzalez
10. Justin Upton
11. Joey Votto
12. Jacoby Ellsbury
13. Hanley Ramirez - All the news has been great this spring. This might not get him.
14. Dustin Pedroia
15. Ian Kinsler
16. Evan Longoria - I've been increasingly uncomfortable with the notion of taking Longoria in the first round.
17. Prince Fielder
18. Curtis Granderson - Sore elbow scare earlier this week, but homered on Friday.
19. Jose Reyes - Back in the circle of trust.
20. Mark Teixeira - This is the comfort zone drop-off; after Teixeira, there's a nagging issue with every hitter in the next group for me.
21. Clayton Kershaw
22. Adrian Beltre - Someone has to go there - might as well be the player I want to take, right?
23. Andrew McCutchen
24. Roy Halladay
25. David Wright
26. Cliff Lee
27. Giancarlo Stanton - Slight downgrade thanks to his spring training injuries.
28. Brett Lawrie
29. Starlin Castro
30. Alex Gordon
31. Desmond Jennings
32. Justin Verlander
33. Matt Holliday
34. Josh Hamilton - Friday's groin injury
Heading into a big draft weekend, here's my latest update:
1. Miguel Cabrera
2. Albert Pujols
3. Matt Kemp
4. Ryan Braun
5. Troy Tulowitzki
6. Jose Bautista
7. Adrian Gonzalez - In the heat of the draft moment, I've split my picks between Adrian Gonzalez and Robinson Cano when given the choice. The small lean is towards Gonzalez, as I'm still comfortable with the depth at second base.
8. Robinson Cano
9. Carlos Gonzalez
10. Justin Upton
11. Joey Votto
12. Jacoby Ellsbury
13. Hanley Ramirez - All the news has been great this spring. This might not get him.
14. Dustin Pedroia
15. Ian Kinsler
16. Evan Longoria - I've been increasingly uncomfortable with the notion of taking Longoria in the first round.
17. Prince Fielder
18. Curtis Granderson - Sore elbow scare earlier this week, but homered on Friday.
19. Jose Reyes - Back in the circle of trust.
20. Mark Teixeira - This is the comfort zone drop-off; after Teixeira, there's a nagging issue with every hitter in the next group for me.
21. Clayton Kershaw
22. Adrian Beltre - Someone has to go there - might as well be the player I want to take, right?
23. Andrew McCutchen
24. Roy Halladay
25. David Wright
26. Cliff Lee
27. Giancarlo Stanton - Slight downgrade thanks to his spring training injuries.
28. Brett Lawrie
29. Starlin Castro
30. Alex Gordon
31. Desmond Jennings
32. Justin Verlander
33. Matt Holliday
34. Josh Hamilton - Friday's groin injury is a reminder of why we have to discount Hamilton.
35. Hunter Pence
36. Jay Bruce
37. Carlos Santana - I don't want to take a catcher in the second round, so I had to discount Santana appropriately.
38. Cole Hamels
39. Felix Hernandez
40. Tim Lincecum
41. Paul Konerko
42. Shin-Soo Choo - I don't like the player any less, but his price has been so low, there's no reason to take him earlier.
43. Ryan Zimmerman
44. Mike Napoli
45. Nelson Cruz - Had a brief scare with a hit-by-pitch on his hand, but it turned to be much ado about nothing.
46. Elvis Andrus - Dealing with a hip flexor this spring, but back in the lineup this week.
47. Aramis Ramirez
48. Alex Rodriguez
49. Ben Zobrist - Elevated because of the position flexibility and the production across the board.
50. Brian McCann
51. CC Sabathia
52. David Price
53. Zack Greinke
54. Eric Hosmer
55. Michael Cuddyer
56. Pablo Sandoval
57. B.J. Upton - Beginning the year on the DL, but stay there is expected to be a minimum.
58. Brandon Phillips
59. Dan Uggla - I'm consistently ranking Uggla beneath where he goes. Your mileage may vary.
60. Jered Weaver
61. Yovani Gallardo
61(a). Michael Bourn - Inadvertently left off the list earlier. This is where I'd slot him.
62. Buster Posey
63. Jon Lester
64. Dan Haren
65. Matt Cain
66. Michael Young
67. Matt Wieters
68. Stephen Strasburg - Slightly down because of innings cap.
69. Miguel Montero
70. Adam Jones
71. Joe Mauer
72. Shane Victorino
73. Drew Stubbs
74. Dan Hudson
75. Kevin Youkilis
76. Mark Reynolds - Make sure you pair him up with a high-average, high at-bat guy, or punt batting average entirely if you get him here.
77. Jayson Werth
78. Andre Ethier
79. Rickie Weeks - With Chase Utley effectively taken out of the picture, we boost Weeks a little bit to close off the tier at second base.
80. Asdrubal Cabrera
81. Derek Jeter
82. Alex Avila
83. Ichiro Suzuki
84. Carl Crawford
85. C.J. Wilson
86. Ricky Romero
87. Josh Beckett
88. Jason Heyward
89. James Shields
90. Madison Bumgarner - Trendy riser, finding myself get shut out on him.
91. Craig Kimbrel - If you're in no-trade leagues, you'll have to begin the closer run earlier.
92. Mariano Rivera
93. John Axford
94. Dee Gordon
95. Brett Gardner
96. Jimmy Rollins
97. Jonathan Papelbon
98. Mat Latos
99. Matt Moore
100. Matt Garza
101. Howie Kendrick - Another guy I'm getting priced out with - and it's because of the Albert Pujols halo. Maybe he deserves to be up with Weeks - but just remember where you were getting him a year ago.
102. Adam Wainwright
103. David Ortiz
104. Paul Goldschmidt
105. Danny Espinosa
106. Chris Young
107. Billy Butler - An on-air conversation with Dalton Del Don has me convinced to rank Butler a little higher, with the notion that more homers may come here.
108. Yu Darvish
109. Cory Luebke
110. Lance Berkman
111. Josh Johnson
112. Jemile Weeks
113. Alexi Ramirez
114. Brandon Beachy
115. Nick Swisher
116. Derek Holland
117. Neil Walker
118. Corey Hart
119. Brandon League - With two closers out (Ryan Madson and Joakim Soria) and Drew Storen dropping down, I have to elevate a handful of closers to the next tier.
120. Ian Kennedy
121. Cameron Maybin
122. Yadier Molina
123. J.P. Arencibia
124. Joel Hanrahan
125. Jason Motte
126. J.J. Putz
127. Johnny Cueto
128. Gio Gonzalez
129. Freddie Freeman - Early health scare gone - bullish on 21-year olds that hold their own at the major league level.
131. Jason Kipnis
133. Max Scherzer
134. Jordan Zimmermann
135. Brandon McCarthy - Happy to get any one of the three starters listed here.
136. Drew Storen - Drops out of the top tier of closers due to his elbow woes this spring.
137. Mike Morse - Beginning the year on the DL with a lat injury - stay is expected to be short.
138. Peter Bourjos - Some concern about the hip, but he's also been playing with this for four years - it's not as if this is a new development.
139. Gaby Sanchez
140. Coco Crisp
141. Erick Aybar
142. Joe Nathan
143. Rafael Betancourt
144. J.J. Hardy
145. Anibal Sanchez
146. Tommy Hanson
147. Jaime Garcia
148. Huston Street
149. Heath Bell
150. Carlos Marmol
151. Brian Wilson - Below a lot of closers because of his elbow concerns this spring that I think the Giants are purposefully downplaying.
152. Ike Davis - Is Davis really past all of his Valley Fever concerns? I can't help think about all the fits and starts that Conor Jackson had - Davis is a better player, mind you, but I'm wary of the potential for false optimism.
153. Jose Valverde
154. Sergio Santos
155. Jordan Walden
156. Nick Markakis
157. Brandon Morrow - Betting on the come here, but why not take the chance of big improvements and ERA/WHIP to go along with 200 strikeouts? Might be too late to get him, even.
158. Carlos Beltran
159. Logan Morrison - Very late start to spring training because of his knee injury, but the Marlins are using him in major league spring training games, suggesting he'll be ready for Opening Day.
160. Wandy Rodriguez
161. Andrew Bailey
162. Hiroki Kuroda
163. Adam Lind - Some back woes this spring - worth noting because of his injury history.
164. Ervin Santana
165. Bud Norris
166. Doug Fister
167. Martin Prado
168. Kelly Johnson
169. David Freese
170. Mike Moustakas
171. Ubaldo Jimenez - Some velocity recovery, but not an encouraging spring.
172. Chris Perez
173. Yoenis Cespedes
174. Torii Hunter
175. Carlos Pena
176. Michael Pineda - Diminished velocity and now shoulder problems this spring. I'll be honest, I might not take him here even if put to the test.
177. Jeff Francoeur
178. Trevor Cahill
179. Kyle Farnsworth - I've been fading Farnsworth everywhere with Joel Peralta, but it's hard to ignore that he was very good before the elbow injury last year.
180. Sean Marshall - The Reds are annoying me with their unwillingness to tap Marshall as the closer, but he's the best reliever they have.
181. Vernon Wells - Like Choo above - I don't like him any less - he's just falling to this point or lower, so why take him earlier?
182. Kenley Jansen - I'm still ranking Jansen above Javy Guerra, even though the latter has been named the closer to begin the season (and yes, I'm drafting as such - I own Jansen in four leagues). Worth the gamble.
183. Austin Jackson
184. Melky Cabrera
185. Emilio Bonifacio
186. Dustin Ackley
187. Matt Joyce
187. Grant Balfour - Officially the A's closer.
188. Colby Rasmus
189. Jhoulys Chacin
190. Ryan Roberts
191. Jeremy Hellickson
192. Lucas Duda
193. Brennan Boesch
194. Justin Morneau - Chris Liss is a one-man consensus mover.
195. Ryan Howard - Back to a pessimistic stance. This won't get him.
196. Mark Trumbo
197. Kendrys Morales
198. Wilson Ramos
199. Jhonny Peralta
200. John Danks
200(a). Delmon Young - By popular demand, he'll fill the vacancy left by removing the duplicate Gaby Sanchez. I'm still wary of him reverting back to the guy that got released by the Twins.
Dropping Out:Chase Utley, Ryan Madson, Chris Carpenter, Scott Baker, Joakim Soria, Angel Pagan, Tim Hudson
