Before the 2011 season, there was a consensus set of top shortstops.
Top Tier –
Hanley Ramirez, FLA – production everywhere, but substandard shortstop defense
Troy Tulowitzki, COL – power, average, stolen bases, and great defense
Elvis Andrus, TEX – speed and defense, but not much power
Jose Reyes, NYM – speed and offensive performance, but an injury risk
Next Tier –
Stephen Drew, AZ – under the radar in Arizona, but better than brother J.D.
Jimmy Rollins, PHI – injuries and age are taking their toll
Derek Jeter, NYY – decline phase finally here?
Alexei Ramirez, CHA – tons of promise, but falls short of elite every year
Promising Young Guys –
Starlin Castro, CHC – hitting .300 as a 20-year old in the majors is something, but limited power
Ian Desmond, WAS – defense still a work in progress, but Nats seem committed
Some positive attributes –
Asdrubal Cabrera, CLE – hit for average and stole bases two seasons ago
Yunel Escobar, TOR – traded mid-season to Toronto last year, steady performer
Alcides Escobar, KC – traded from Milwaukee in Greinke deal, good speed
Erick Aybar, LAA – quietly turns in decent stats every year
Jhonny Peralta, DET – perhaps better suited to third base, but Tigers play him at short
J.J. Hardy, BAL – injury-marred couple of seasons, new start in Baltimore
Also-rans –
Cliff Pennington, OAK – switch-hitter has good speed, limited power
Marco Scutaro, BOS – one good season three years ago, but little competition in Boston
Reid Brignac, TB – projections for up to 14 home runs, and given the starting job
Tsuyoshi Nishioka, MIN – Japanese import should hit well and run often, but power?
Alexi Casilla, MIN – will play at second or short
Brendan Ryan, SEA – defense-first shortstop
Alex Gonzalez, ATL – resurgent 2010, but wrong side of 30 and never has good OBP
Yuniesky Betancourt, MIL – are the Brewers, hoping to contend, really going with him?
Clint Barmes, HOU – Rockies’ cast-off looks for new life
Ryan Theriot, STL – scrappy under-powered option
Paul Janish, CIN – great defense, but can he hit major league pitching?
Edgar Renteria, CIN – S.F. Giants’ World Series hero was possibly last hurrah
(Zack Cozart, CIN) – the future in Cincinnati…Barry Larkin Lite?
d’Arnaud, PIT – Chase or Travis, a young guy with the Pirates
Brandon Wood, PIT – AA masher takes his under-performing MLB stats to Pittsburgh
Ronny Cedeno, PIT – career utility guy
Miguel Tejada, SF – bad signing by the Giants
Brandon Crawford, SF – good defense, but vapid offense
Jason Bartlett, SD – tough ballpark for a declining offensive player
Rafael Furcal, LA – health is a skill, and Furcal’s been out frequently recently
Dee Gordon, LA – the future in la-la-land, but again, can he hit?
Tim Beckham, TB – former first overall pick keeps plugging in minors
So how are these shortstops performing so far in 2011? The following are ranked in order of descending OPS (on base plus slugging percentages):
RK PLAYER R 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
1 Jose Reyes 68 22 16 3 32 30 6 27 .349 .392 .522 .914
2 Jhonny Peralta 42 17 3 15 54 0 2 53 .317 .364 .533 .898
3 Troy Tulowitzki 48 23 2 18 64 6 2 41 .277 .346 .499 .844
4 Asdrubal Cabrera 60 23 3 17 60 12 1 72 .292 .344 .496 .840
5 Yunel Escobar 53 16 3 9 38 3 1 46 .301 .380 .442 .823
6 J.J. Hardy 38 15 0 14 37 0 0 50 .273 .330 .487 .817
7 Starlin Castro 53 25 8 3 42 11 2 54 .303 .333 .425 .758
8 Erick Aybar 40 20 5 7 41 20 2 46 .284 .320 .437 .757
9 Jimmy Rollins 60 16 1 11 42 19 2 39 .277 .344 .410 .753
10 Alexei Ramirez 54 21 1 9 41 3 3 51 .272 .331 .406 .737
Jose Reyes, on the strength of his sixteen triples, has the second highest slugging percentage among shortstops, behind Jhonny Peralta’s .533. Troy Tulowitzki leads shortstops in home runs with eighteen, and the resurgent Asdrubal Cabrera has hit a career-high seventeen (to go along with 12 steals), amassing about the same OPS as Tulo.
Peralta, Cabrera, Yunel Escobar, J.J. Hardy, Starlin Castro, and Erick Aybar have turned in surprisingly strong performances so far.
Alexei Ramirez is the sixth best shortstop in the American League on this dimension, and before the season I would have placed him behind only Elvis Andrus (though others liked Derek Jeter as well), and even that would have been questionable. Ramirez was the A.L. shortstop I was targeting in my two A.L. only fantasy leagues (I got him in one, he was another team’s keeper in the other).
11 Hanley Ramirez 52 13 0 10 42 17 6 59 .249 .338 .394 .732
12 Jamey Carroll 36 12 4 0 8 5 0 35 .288 .361 .358 .719
13 Stephen Drew 44 21 5 5 45 4 4 74 .252 .317 .396 .713
14 Elvis Andrus 60 13 1 3 34 28 5 48 .285 .338 .352 .690
15 Derek Jeter 45 14 1 3 25 9 3 43 .264 .324 .343 .667
In this next five, we see Hanley Ramirez, Stephen Drew, Elvis Andrus, and Derek Jeter, all ranked more highly before the season. Ramirez isn’t hitting for average or slugging so far, and his .338 on base is below average, but he has stolen seventeen bases.
Drew is slugging better but getting on base less than Ramirez, Andrus is getting on base the same as Ramirez (but slugging less), while contributing 28 stolen bases, and Jeter is neither getting on base nor slugging, with his nine steals the only positive fantasy contributions.
And Jamey Carroll, with his on base higher than slugging ways, has been “money in the bank” for the bankrupt Dodgers. When I traded him two seasons ago in Strat, I didn’t expect he would turn in any more useable cards, but he has continued to have good utility value.
16 Ryan Theriot 35 17 0 1 32 4 4 30 .278 .325 .338 .663
17 Brendan Ryan 35 14 2 1 27 8 2 56 .263 .324 .331 .655
18 Yuniesky Betancourt 31 14 2 7 34 3 3 30 .248 .267 .368 .636
19 Jason Bartlett 40 11 3 1 23 21 6 58 .251 .317 .309 .626
20 Alcides Escobar 44 14 4 2 30 14 6 43 .251 .290 .332 .623
21 Cliff Pennington 29 11 1 3 24 6 8 55 .247 .296 .317 .613
22 Alex Gonzalez 38 16 1 8 32 1 0 87 .224 .258 .339 .597
23 Ian Desmond 34 14 3 3 25 20 4 85 .226 .268 .312 .580
With on base percentages at .325 or below, and slugging percentages under .375 in each case, these shortstops are barely adequate offensively.
As for defense, Strat-O-Matic rates them as follows in the 2010 card set:
Theriot, ss-4e18
Ryan, ss-1e22
Betancourt, ss-3e19
Bartlett, ss-2e14
A. Escobar, ss-2e25
Pennington, ss-2e27
Gonzalez, ss-2e20
Desmond, ss-3e40
Ryan has the best range (rating of 1), with Bartlett’s, Escobar’s, Pennington’s, and Gonzalez’s a tick behind. Betancourt and Desmond have limited range for shortstop.
As for the “e” rating, that is supposed to denote how many errors the player would make over the course of an entire season at that position. All of these guys are double-digit error types, which is not unusual at shortstop in Strat (the best error rating for a ss-1 is Troy Tulowitzki’s ss-1e14, with Elvis Andrus’s ss-1e18 and Alexei Ramirez’s ss-1e21 the only other 1’s in the set).
Finally, let’s take a look at how shortstops are doing in 2011 against right-handed pitching (the most prominent form in both MLB and Strat-O-Matic).
RK PLAYER R 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
1 Jose Reyes 53 16 14 3 23 21 5 20 .359 .399 .556 .954
2 Jhonny Peralta 32 12 2 10 40 0 2 31 .336 .376 .537 .913
3 Drew Sutton 9 6 0 0 6 0 0 7 .333 .389 .515 .904
4 Asdrubal Cabrera 48 15 3 14 44 8 0 58 .286 .347 .520 .867
5 J.J. Hardy 26 11 0 11 27 0 0 37 .277 .330 .495 .825
6 Erick Aybar 28 15 4 5 29 16 2 36 .311 .344 .478 .822
7 Zack Cozart 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 3 .333 .333 .476 .810
8 Troy Tulowitzki 33 14 2 12 43 5 2 32 .265 .332 .466 .799
9 Jimmy Rollins 43 13 1 9 33 16 2 32 .287 .363 .434 .797
10 Yunel Escobar 37 9 1 8 30 3 1 36 .290 .369 .419 .788
Reyes remains the cream-of-the-crop here as well, with Peralta and A. Cabrera also making really good showings.
J.J. Hardy’s .330 OBP is below average, but the righty has slugged nearly .500 against righties. Rollins and Y. Escobar are both getting on base well but being out-slugged by Aybar.
Tulowitzki has done most of his damage against lefties this season.
Drew Sutton, after absolutely mashing lefties in 2010, has turned it around in 2011, hitting much better against righties in his limited plate appearances.
Zack Cozart has started his major league career on a good note.
Of these, Tulowitzki and Sutton are on the Charlottesville Meadows, my Strat team.
11 Josh Wilson 6 4 0 0 1 1 0 4 .321 .321 .464 .786
12 Starlin Castro 43 19 6 2 34 8 1 41 .298 .328 .417 .746
13 Trevor Plouffe 12 2 0 4 10 1 0 15 .179 .313 .429 .742
14 Alexei Ramirez 39 17 1 7 36 0 2 39 .270 .323 .411 .733
15 Stephen Drew 38 15 3 4 28 3 3 45 .263 .326 .403 .728
16 Diory Hernandez 3 1 0 1 4 0 0 3 .273 .273 .455 .727
17 Jamey Carroll 22 10 2 0 7 3 0 26 .295 .365 .362 .727
18 Clint Barmes 24 14 0 5 16 1 0 37 .254 .312 .411 .723
19 Marco Scutaro 23 5 0 4 14 1 1 17 .254 .327 .377 .704
20 Jesus Guzman 2 3 0 1 8 0 0 5 .231 .231 .462 .692
21 Elvis Andrus 45 11 1 2 24 18 3 38 .280 .331 .351 .682
Andrus’s overall OBP is .338, so he’s doing marginally worse against righties at .331.
Castro continues to hit, but doesn’t draw walks or show much power.
Former prospect Trevor Plouffe has shown some good pop in limited plate appearances, as has Jesus Guzman, whom I’m really surprised qualifies at shortstop. I think of him as a hulking former Giants’ prospect.
22 Yuniesky Betancourt 27 12 2 7 30 2 2 27 .251 .268 .398 .666
23 Hanley Ramirez 37 6 0 7 31 15 5 49 .230 .312 .345 .656
24 Brendan Ryan 25 10 1 0 20 7 1 37 .274 .320 .327 .647
When you were a consensus top shortstop pick entering the season and your OPS against righties falls between Y. Betancourt and B. Ryan, you’re not having a good season. Meet Hanley Ramirez.
25 Alcides Escobar 32 11 4 2 25 11 4 31 .252 .289 .350 .639
26 Ronny Cedeno 20 11 1 2 20 1 3 39 .243 .289 .346 .635
27 Luis Rodriguez 4 4 0 1 10 1 1 10 .189 .313 .321 .633
28 Jason Bartlett 28 9 3 1 20 15 4 37 .247 .313 .316 .629
29 Ryan Theriot 26 11 0 1 27 3 3 27 .257 .303 .314 .617
30 Mike Fontenot 9 7 1 1 6 3 1 18 .202 .286 .330 .616
31 Eduardo Nunez 11 6 0 0 8 9 3 11 .253 .297 .316 .613
32 Blake Davis 3 0 1 0 3 1 1 10 .212 .333 .273 .606
33 Tsuyoshi Nishioka 5 1 0 0 7 2 3 13 .243 .346 .257 .603
34 Cliff Pennington 20 8 1 2 16 4 3 47 .235 .293 .305 .598
35 Angel Sanchez 21 8 0 1 21 3 0 28 .248 .281 .317 .597
36 Derek Jeter 28 9 1 1 21 6 3 37 .244 .290 .303 .592
The end of Jeter’s career seems near, and his troubles against righties are huge this year.
37 Brandon Crawford 12 2 0 2 14 1 3 13 .212 .306 .280 .586
Crawford clearly provides better defense for the Giants than Miguel Tejada or other internal options like Mike Fontenot, Emmanuel Burriss, or (now) Jeff Keppinger, but little to no offense.
38 Juan Castro 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 .286 .286 .286 .571
39 Ian Desmond 20 11 2 1 20 15 2 65 .231 .262 .303 .565
40 Jed Lowrie 15 5 2 0 7 0 0 32 .206 .280 .278 .557
As mentioned above, in Strat the Meadows are anchored by Troy Tulowitzki, arguably the best shortstop card in the set (Lamanna has his as the second best card overall in 2010, behind only Josh Hamilton’s…Hanley Ramirez’s is #14 and Elvis Andrus’s #29).
Drew Sutton is joined by Jed Lowrie and Reid Brignac on the roster.
Though Lowrie is #40 in OPS vs. righties, check out his numbers so far vs. lefties:
1 Mike Fontenot 2 3 1 1 5 1 0 8 .345 .459 .621 1.080
2 Jesus Guzman 4 3 1 1 6 1 0 3 .394 .429 .636 1.065
3 Jed Lowrie 10 6 1 3 18 0 1 6 .386 .397 .629 1.026
4 Hanley Ramirez 15 7 0 3 11 2 1 10 .323 .432 .581 1.013
5 Craig Counsell 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 .333 .333 .667 1.000
Josh Rodriguez 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 1.000 .000 1.000
Everth Cabrera 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000
8 Troy Tulowitzki 15 9 0 6 21 1 0 9 .309 .382 .588 .969
Since both Lowrie and Sutton have played third, second, and first this year in addition to shortstop (with Sutton also playing left field, a potential trouble spot for the Meadows), they probably will both make the 2011 Meadows 25-man roster, with Lowrie taking over at third for Pablo Sandoval against lefties, and, if he gets enough plate appearances, Sutton possibly starting over Pedroia or Tulowitzki against particularly tough righties.
In Pine Tar and Cold Beer, I have Alexei Ramirez, whom I thought was a clear keeper. As an A.L.-only league with eight teams and a middle infield slot to fill as well as 2b and shortstop, the options for a quality shortstop seem to disappear quickly.
In L.A. Slackers, I started the year with Reid Brignac and Mike Aviles, and have moved to J.J. Hardy, a brief fling with Erick Aybar, and back to Hardy. Not a keeper.
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