Corner Infield Shuffle Up: Rest of season fantasy values
Corner Infield Shuffle Up: Yonder Alonso blasts off
What we’re doing is ranking the players for expected 5×5 roto value the rest of the season. What’s happened to this point is merely an audition. Don’t worry about the prices in a vacuum; what really matters is how the commodities relate to one another on this list. Players at the same cost are considered even.
Today’s assignment: corner infield. You won’t find outfielders on this list, and I’ll give catchers their own shuffle, too.
I reserve the right to tweak this list in the first 24 hours of debut. Your intelligent and respectful disagreement is most welcome, but be sure to defend your arguments. Win that debate, win that rank. I’m still fiddling around with the ideal format for the presentation; if you don’t like what you see, no worries. I welcome suggestions, as well.
And please remember the golden rule of Shuffle Ups: no player gains (or loses) 15-20 percent of value simply because you roster him.
Enough preamble, game on:
$42 Paul Goldschmidt
$40 Nolan Arenado
$39 Kris Bryant
$37 Joey Votto
$34 Manny Machado
$34 Freddie Freeman
I think Freeman’s every bit the hitter than Votto is, but the help is better in Cincinnati. Freeman is always one of the line-drive and hard-hit leaders, which is an easy way to identify (or validate) the guys you want.
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$30 Eric Thames
$28 Miguel Cabrera
Does it main me to have Miggy this low, and below Thames at that? Yes. But Cabrera is hobbling around like Fred G. Sanford these days, and I can’t stand the Detroit lineup.
$27 Anthony Rizzo
$26 *Josh Donaldson
$25 Daniel Murphy
$21 Kyle Seager
$21 Edwin Encarnacion
$21 Jose Abreu
$20 Wil Myers
I year ago I got into a heated argument about Myers vs. Adam Lind. I guess we’ve settled that. Not going to walk much, but the park is no longer a nightmare, and he’ll run, too. The injury-risk factor was always overblown.
$19 Hanley Ramirez
$18 Matt Carpenter
$18 Ryan Zimmerman
$18 Miguel Sano
He’s still striking out a ton, so don’t believe the average. But he could hit 30-plus homers, and that’s not a bad park for right-handed power.
$17 Todd Frazier
$17 Jay Bruce
$17 Cody Bellinger
His playing time is secure, and I won’t blame (or fight) anyone who wants to go higher. Why does a lefty swing look so much prettier than a righty swing?
$16 Evan Longoria
$16 Jose Ramirez
A contact king, and one of the five most underrated hitters in the game today. This lineup wears you out, wears you down.
$15 Chris Davis
$15 Anthony Rendon
$15 Yonder Alonso
He’s always had the pedigree, if you’re willing to look far back enough: seventh overall pick in his class. He’s made a conscious change to start lifting the ball. Launch angle is a real thing. And sometimes that noise from Spring Training isn’t noise at all. (I have Alonso on zero teams, which makes me want to vomit.)
$15 Jedd Gyorko
$15 Jonathan Villar
It’s a swing-and-miss league, and yet his contact is still a big problem. Major pumpkin risk here. The category juice offers some buoyancy, but I have no interest in paying the sticker price.
$14 Travis Shaw
$14 Eugenio Suarez
$14 Jake Lamb
$14 Mark Reynolds
Might have the widest range of outcomes on this list. Could be a $20-up hitter in the thin air. Could be the odd-man out if everyone gets healthy. To be fair, that rarely happens on any team.
$13 Carlos Santana
$13 Justin Turner
$12 Ryon Healy
$12 Mike Moustakas
$11 Eric Hosmer
$11 Alex Bregman
He’ll probably get there someday. But I don’t understand why he’s treated as a sure thing right now, right away.
$11 Albert Pujols
$11 Nick Castellanos
$11 Josh Harrison
$11 Maikel Franco
$11 Brad Miller
$10 *Adrian Beltre
$10 Joey Gallo
The stolen bases are a nice perk. I think he’ll stay in the lineup even when Beltre returns, whenever that happens to be. We can live with the strikeouts and average more today than we could 5-10 years ago.
$10 Hernan Perez
$9 Brandon Belt
I’m making peace with the idea that it’s never going to fully happen for him. And that lineup is anemic.
$9 Javier Baez
$9 Yangervis Solarte
$9 Yulieski Gurriel
$8 Logan Morrison
$8 Matt Holliday
$7 Ryan Schimpf
$7 Tim Beckham
Maybe he can be this year’s Brad Miller, though I’m thinking more 18-22 home runs, not 30.
$6 Brandon Drury
$6 Marwin Gonzalez
$6 Kendrys Morales
$5 *Adrian Gonzalez
I cut him in Tout Wars because the $80 in FAAB reclaim was worth more to me than the odds at a comeback. That tells you all you need to know.
$5 Victor Martinez
$5 Eduardo Nunez
$5 Mitch Moreland
$4 Mike Napoli
Jeff Banister is the last to figure it out. Every night I see the nonsensical Texas lineup, I want to throw things.
$4 Josh Bell
$4 Justin Bour
$4 Chase Headley
$3 *Lucas Duda
$3 Danny Valencia
$3 Justin Smoak
$3 Kennys Vargas
$3 Andrew Romine
$2 Chris Carter
$2 Jose Reyes
$2 Yunel Escobar
$2 Adonis Garcia
$2 Christian Arroyo
$2 Matt Davidson
$2 *C.J. Cron
$2 Tommy Joseph
$2 Jorge Polanco
$2 Taylor Motter
$2 Gerardo Parra
$1 *Martin Prado
$1 *Greg Bird
$1 *Howie Kendrick
$1 *Matt Duffy
$1 Joe Mauer
Something happened on the way to heaven. Apparently the Twins are going to keep kissing the ring, to the detriment of what’s best for the team.
$1 Steve Pearce
$1 Trevor Plouffe
$1 Wilmer Flores
$1 Derek Dietrich
$1 Tyler Saladino
$0 *Pablo Sandoval
$0 *Jhonny Peralta
$0 Ryan Rua
