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Here is the list of American League second basemen who should have a fantasy impact in 2008.

  1. B.J. Upton | Tampa Bay Rays
  2. Brian Roberts | Baltimore Orioles
  3. Robinson Cano | New York Yankees
  4. Ian Kinsler | Texas Rangers
  5. Dustin Pedroia | Boston Red Sox
  6. Howie Kendrick | Los Angeles Angels
  7. Placido Polanco | Detroit Tigers
  8. Aaron Hill | Toronto Blue Jays
  9. Mark Ellis | Oakland Athletics
  10. Asdrubal Cabrera | Cleveland Indians
  11. Jose Lopez | Seattle Mariners
  12. Danny Richar | Chicago White Sox
  13. Alexi Casilla | Minnesota Twins
  14. Mark Grudzialanek | Kansas City Royals
  15. Macier Izturis | Los Angeles Angels
  16. Brendan Harris | Minnesota Twins
6 Responses to “2008 American League Fantasy Second Base Rankings”
  1. kidkan says:

    Polanco, no errors in 2007 and third in the batting race (I’m pretty sure, but correct me if I’m wrong). Seventh in this poll, what am I missing?

  2. Knox says:

    First off, sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this. I am in south Florida for the holidays and the sun and surf are keeping me busy.

    I’m looking at this from a 5X5 standpoint right now and, quite frankly, his lack of errors mean nothing to me, or anyone else in most fantasy formats. And while you’re correct about Polanco’s .341 batting average, I am also factoring in projected 2008 numbers when I rank these guys right now.

    I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 20-30 point dip in his batting average and a 10-20 point reduction in his runs scored. Those two things are going to lessen his value, right there.

    Polanco also doesn’t steal bases like some of the guys above him or hit for power like some of them.

    If anything, I may downgrade my ranking of Pedroia instead of raising the value of Polanco, as you have suggested.

    That’s the great thing about the rankings on this blog versus a print magazine. I can change my mind for many reasons (a comment by a user like you, spring training results, injuries etc.) where the magazines are on the shelves to stay. I definitely want my rankings set in stone by late February to mid March so they can be ready for most drafts. But plan on some movement before then as players switch teams or other factors come into play.

    An BTW, thanks for the comment. Keep ‘em coming!

  3. Brian says:

    I’m interested to hear what you think about Ian Kinsler for next year. He’ll turn 26 and this will be his 3rd season in the Majors, and on most days he’ll be batting 2nd with Michael Young providing pretty strong protection behind him. Is a line of .283, 20-25 HR’s, 30 SB’s, 100 runs reasonable? The lineup around Kinsler and Young isn’t as strong as in years past, but Ameriquest is still a good hitting park and Kinsler does well there. Can he have a breakout season?

  4. Knox says:

    Kinsler started out hot, but couldn’t produce like that for an entire season. What was impressive is that in 483 AB he was a 20-20 guy. If Kinsler can see 570+ AB’s then we may see something like .277, 22 HR, 30 SB with 98 runs.

    However, I am still not holding my breath for that many at bats. Until he surpasses the 500 mark with juice left in him, I’m thinking Kinsler will look more like .277, 17 HR, 24 SB, 88 runs.

    So, there you go. The top projection (an early and rough projection, I might add) is for 575 AB’s and the bottom projection is for 500 AB’s.

  5. bb gun says:

    If you were in a good old fashioned 4×4 AL-only rotisserie league,
    would you rather freeze Arod at $40 or Pedroia at $4?

  6. Knox says:

    I just happened to be drafting in a mock draft with a bunch of other fantasy baseball writers (more on that later) and posed your question to all of them.

    The general consensus was that you couldn’t go wrong with either decision there, but most said they would choose ARod. I agree!

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