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This is going to be a good news/bad news kind of post.

In 2008, Jose Lopez batted .299/.322/.443 with 17 home runs and six stolen bases. Those numbers were good enough for seventh place on our final second base rankings from 2008. That is the good news.

The bad news is the fact that Don Wakamatsu wants to make sure that the Mariners infield defense is better in 2009. That could mean that Lopez, who played the final three weeks of 2008 at first base, will permanently make the transition to play first base.

As a first baseman, Lopez would not crack the top 20. He’s be ranked somewhere in the vicinity of Lyle Overbay and Casey Kotchman. That translates into a barely rosterable option in 12-team mixed leagues.

This isn’t a done deal. I’m sure these issues won’t be ironed out until Spring Training. But, you need to watch this very closely. It will effect your draft day strategy. Right now in mock drafts at Mock Draft Central, Lopez is being taken in the 19th round with an ADP of 228.63. If this move to first base becomes a sure thing, I can see him falling out of the draft completely. That is unless he retains his second base eligibility for one more season, which will be the case in some leagues.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 19th, 2008 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Fantasy Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.