Getting to second base

Written by Xach on February 10, 2006

-- Written by Xach on February 10, 2006

So it's 1992. You're in the front seat of your car. You have one hand down her pants and one hand up her shirt. My friend, you're going places. You're getting somehwere. Daddy's little girl's gonna make you a man some day. Oh the joys of second base.

Say what you will about those introductory words, but second basemen truly are the hand jobs of fantasy baseball. It's nice if you get a great one, but chances are that it'll just be okay. Lest you should think me a chauvenist, I'd wager that the feeling is mutual. For men and women alike, second base is nice, but it's not where the action is. Lucky for you, Xach's here to play third base coach. And believe you me, he's about to waive you home. Read on and be amazed...

Specialists in all styles: The dilemma of second base rankings
If you're looking for straight up 5x5 rankings of second basemen, cheat sheets can be found at nearly every site on Al Gore's Internet (or as newspeak would have it, on the "interweb"). My opinion, however, is that where second base is concerned, these rankings will most likely be meaningless in shaping your fantasy team. Second base is a finicky position. There are second basemen who hit for phenomenal power and do little else. There are second basemen who steal lots of bases. There are second basemen who do a little bit of everythig. And there are second basemen who score tons of runs. The key isn't to rank them, but to figure out which ones fit into your team plans based on what you see available at other positions. With this in mind, I offer you a "what have you done for me lately?" look at second base. Or, to steal a page from UPS: what can second base do for you?

As a side note, one thing I like to do when drafting a team is to look at my middle infielders as a one-two punch. I find this simplifies the manner in which I can approach my draft. If I have a power hitting short stop, I will usually target a base steeling or otherwise well-balanced second baseman. And vice versa. In this way I hope to achieve balance from my middle infield. If I have Miguel Tejada at Short Stop, I can then focus on, say, Ryan Freel at Second. But if I have Rafael Furcal or Jose Reyes at short, I'll be looking moreso toward Jeff Kent or Jorge Cantu at second. Because the one thing I can't afford is to get a zero in several categories from my middle infield. So okay, moving on...

The fast
Perhaps the most popular roto category to seek out in a second baseman is stolen bases. Last year alone there were 14 second basemen with 15-plus steals. Among those second baseman, there are six that stand out from the pack in my opinion.

-- 1: Alfonso Soriano: I will admit that this year Alfonso Soriano is more of a wild card than ever before. There are some hints that he may be somewhat of a malcontent in D.C. I take these hints with a big grain of salt, but the concern is still there. On top of that, D.C. plays in a cavernous park and we are therefore likely to see a modest decline in Soriano's power numbers. That said, I'm not aware of any mitigating factors so far as his stolen base totals would be concerned. In fact, since the Nats lineup is not as power heavy as the Rangers lineup, it might even stand to reason that Soriano could be on the run more often in 2006. Just don't expect a repeat on those 102 runs and 104 RBI. Worst case scenario for those categories, however, probably lands somewhere in the mid 80's. And for second base that's still more than fine. Soriano isn't the best option for steals, but he gets number one on my list because among the stolen base crop, he adds the most value elsewhere on the stat sheet. 30 to 40 steals are in the works, if I had to guess.

-- 2: Chone Figgins: I'll admit it: Chone "don't spell it 'Shawn' or 'Sean'" Figgins is more reliable than I had wagered coming into last season. Dude lead all second basemen with 62 steals. Hello! That's 26 more than the next guy down the list. What's more, he lead the position in runs with 113. Oh, and he hit .290. Sure, he doesn't hit for power or produce RBI, but what the hell do you want from the guy? Snatch him up and then grab a power hitting short stop. An argument could easily (and I mean very easily) be made that he's the best of the speed crop in spite of Soriano's wide array of talents. I'm not aware of any reason why we shouldn't expect more of the same from Chone in 2006.

-- 3: Face Buttley: And by Face Buttley I mean Chase Utley. Buttley had a measley 16 steals in 2005. But those 16 steals are only measley in comparison to a handful of second basemen. To go along with those 16 steals, he had 93 runs, 28 homers and 105 RBI. In case you're wonderingm these numbers wiull also land him nearthe top of my power hitters list for second basemen. At 28 years old and hitting in a strong Phillies lineup, I'm expecting more of the same for 2006. In case you're wondering why I've listed him ahead of Brian ROberts, well, I'm not a huge believer in Roberts' ability to repeat his numbers from last seaon, but that said, the next speed freak on mist is, in fact. . .

-- 4: Brian Roberts: Roberts really belongs higher on this list so far as steals are concerned. He's certainly more of a threat on the base paths than Chase Utley, for instance. If you have a solid power team -- or even a reasonably power team -- you'll likely want to consider Roberts ahead of Utley. That said, I have more faith in Utley's all-around game and didn't want to lead the casual rankings browser astray. I don't feel the need to regurgitate every player's numbers when talking about them, but suffice to say that even on the craptastic Orioles, Roberts should deliver nice stolen base numbers along with well-rounded numbers across the board in all other categories. I refuse to believe he will approach 18 homers in 2006, but if you think he will then I won't argue... much. I believe he will hit over .300 and steal a buncha bags though, for what it's worth.

-- 5 (tie): Ryan Freel: For speed factor, Ryan Freel is 5th on my list here. I have him tied with Marcus Giles, but for pure speed there's really no contest. I only have them tied because whil Giles will steal fewer bases, I still see him snagging 15-20 nd I think he will have superior numbers elsewhere across the board. Freel is nice if you need speed, but his other numbers are unimpressive. In truth he should be lower on the list than Giles, but I already wrote the listthis way and besoides, Giles will appear in another section and Freel.. well, this is the lasttime you will read his name: Ryan Freel.

-- 5 (tie): Marcus Giles: If he stays healthy, he steals 20+ and gets you the other numbers, which are nice. Runs, runs and more runs. Although my experience with Giles over the past two seasons is that he is the ultimate cock tease. I always expect more from him than he gives. Still, if 115 runs, 15 homers and 16 steals are a disappointment at second base, sign me up!

If you're desperate for steals at second base and can't land anyone on my list, sort the available players from your league in order of stolen bases and punt, because while I'm here to point out the obvious, I'm not spending my early morning hours typing out things that are that obvious.

The furious
If you have speed elsewhere in your lineup, the rankings for second basemen change considerably. I view the top power options as follows:

-- 1: Face Buttley: I'll admit it: I rank Utley as my numberone power option with a lot of hesitation. My gut istinct isn't with him for some reason. It's not that I think he isn't good, it's just... I can't really explain. Regardless, he gets the number one spot on my power rankings because, quite frankly, I think he's the "smart" choice. Other than Soriano he's the only power option that also bnets you a decent number of stolen bases. And while Soriano's power numbers might potentially be in flux, I thionk we can reasonably expect Utley to stay in the smae neighborhood as his 2005 power numbers. The Phily lineup didn't get any worse and he's a talented hitter entering his prime. As I said in my speed rankings above, expect more of the same from him.

-- 2: Alfonso Soriano: Even if SOriano falls off, I still expect 90 runs, 30 homers and 90 RBi from Soriano in 2006. And as conservative estimates, you can't really shit on those numbers; especially when they're tied to 30-plus steals. I'm not a huge Soriano fan and my better conscience tells me that he'll be over-valued on draft day (which means you'll have to over-pay for him), but placng him outside the top two here just seems dumb. He's the best all-around second baseman in the game.

-- 3: Jorge Cantu: I'll come right out and say it: I had Cantu on my team last season, I loved having him around, and I am therefore biased in his direction. For pure power numbers, he's the best bet in my opinion. That said, he's a big zero so far as other elements of the all-around game are concerned. He doesn't steal bases at all and he plays in a weak lineup, which means you'll have to compensate for both runs and steals elsewhere in your lineup. That said, he just turned 24 and last season he lead all second basemen with 117 RBI. Clutch hitting can't be taught, and he has it in spades. He also tied for third in home runs among second basemen with 28. These are great numbers from a 24-year old. I expect improvement. It's only the fact that he lacks the all-around numbers that keep him lower on my list, and I'm not sure he'll improve much on his runs total.

-- 4: Jeff Kent: Kent's still the cream of the crop so far as power numbers are concerned at second base. My main concern is that at his age I expect his numbers to go down instead of up. Still, we can't assume that they will drop significantly until we actually see them drop significantly. And up to this point, Kent has still shown he has the goods. I think this may be the year he falls off a bit, but even if he does, he'll still be the 4th best power option at second base. Consider him a conservative 4th best here and a possible all-out stud. Also consider him someone about whom I will say "I told you so" if you draft him expecting 100 runs, 29 homers and 100 RBI and he doesn't get there.

-- 5: Marcus Giles: May God help me for placing Guiles on any of my lists. I've been in love with his game for two years and for two years he has let me down. Why Lord? WHY?! For starters, Giles has his share of injury concerns atthis point. Second, he flashes 25-home run power, but never seems to sustain it. That said, I think we'll see 100-plus runs again along with 20-plus homers and 20 steals. But then again, I always think that, and so far it's never been true.

-- 6: Brian Roberts: I want to make one thing perfectly clear: I don't think Roberts will come close to what he did last season, power-wise. Nevertheless, the numbers tell me he has to go here. Please just dont reach for this guy expecting last year's numbers. If he gets them, great; write me an email about how much of an unfair retard I am. Until then just remember that while I ranked him ahead of Felipe Lopez, I didn't really want to.

-- 7: Felipe Lopez: Felipe belongs higher on this list. In fact, for the realists in the crowd, he belongs ahead of Marcus Giles, nestled right up against Jeff Kent in the number 5 slot. Felipe is only 26 years old and his numbers aren't so far off from Cantu's or Utley's where power is concerned. Sure, they're a step below and are no doubt aided by his ballpark, but he does play in Cincinnati, so the numbers should be there. And besides, for second base he has a nice combo of speed (15 steals in 2005) and power. Lopez is on his way up, not his way down and if you're looking for a bargain pick anywhere in my second base rankings you've likely found it right here.

It's late now and I have got to go to bed. Know that when you read articles on Rotogods.com, you're usually reading articles written at 2:00 in the morning by people who have day jobs. But hey, at least we write our articles like we fucking care. I'll be back before the weeknd's done with notes on the rest of the fantasy-worthy second basemen.

Until then...