2011 NL 1B Rankings

2011 NL Firstbase Rankings

Rank   Player             Team               AB      AVG      R      HR      RBI      SB     Value

1         Albert Pujols             STL      564      .322      119     41     119       12     1st Rd.
2         Joey Votto                CIN      533      .304      103     33     109       11     1st Rd.

3         Prince Fielder            MIL      581      .272      114     36     110        2      1st Rd

4         Ryan Howard            PHI      568       .273      96       36     110        3      1st Rd

5         Carlos Pena               CHC    471       .236      84       32      71         4      3rd Rd

6         Aubrey Huff               SF        555      .287       93       23      93         4      4th Rd

7         Adam LaRoche         WAS     562      .258      81       25      87         1       5th Rd
8         Gaby Sanchez           FLA       545     .278       81       18      81         3       7th Rd

9         Ike Davis                  NYM      559    .255       72        20      82        2       8th Rd

10       Brad Hawpe             SD          487    .262       78        19      75        2       9th Rd

11       James Looney           LA          577    .287       83        11      77        8       10th Rd

12       Lyle Overbay            PIT         407     .250      61        14      55        1       16th Rd

13       Freddie Freeman       ATL       444     .262      41        18      43         0       16th Rd

14       Juan Miranda             ARZ      349     .264      44        11      48         1       20+ Rd

15       Todd Helton              COL      337     .283      60          8      40         0       20+ Rd

16       Kyle Blanks (injured) SD         235     .227      32          9      38         2       20+ Rd

17       Brett Wallace             HOU     521    .241       52          7      48         0       20+ Rd

18       Daniel Murphy           NYM     253     288       33         8      36          1       20+ Rd

19       Xavier Nady              ARZ       295    .271       36         8      36          0       20+ Rd

20       Hinske                      ATL        187    .247       25         8       27         1       DND

21       Lucas Duda              NYM      188    .277       21         8       25         1       DND

2011 NL Catcher Projections

RK	Player	Pos	Team	AB	AVG	R	HR	RBI	SB	round
1	Buster Posey	C,1B	SF	522	0.309	75	23	80	0	6th
2	Brian McCann	C	ATL	496	0.278	70	21	86	5	6th
3	Geovanny Soto	C	CHC	444	0.275	61	21	64	0	10th
4	Miguel Montero	C	ARZ	421	0.263	61	14	67	0	13th
5	John Buck	C	FLA	377	0.256	44	17	59	0	13th
6	Chris Ianetta	C	COL	305	0.249	49	16	48	0	14th
7	Chris Snyder	C	PIT	333	0.233	47	16	48	0	16th
8	Ryan Doumit	C,OF	PIT	405	0.262	49	14	41	1	16th
9	Carlos Ruiz	C	PHI	366	0.287	52	9	52	2	17th
10	Yadier Molina	C	STL	441	0.283	43	7	55	6	17th
11	Nick Hundley	C	SD	344	0.255	41	10	42	3	18th
12	Rod Barajas	C	LA	298	0.242	38	13	39	0	18th
13	Ramon Hernandez	C	CIN	341	0.271	41	8	44	0	21st
14	Jonathan LuCroy	C	MIL	391	0.258	39	6	43	3	21st
15	Josh Thole	C	NYM	445	0.27	40	4	40	3	22nd
16	Jesus Flores	C	WAS	244	0.254	29	8	32	0	22nd
17	Ronnie Paulino	C	NYM	298	0.268	28	6	32	2	23rd
18	Ivan Rodriguez	C	WAS	262	0.266	31	4	35	2	23rd
19	George Kottaras	C	MIL	217	0.245	27	6	22	1	23rd
20	Jason Castro	C	HOU	271	0.245	40	3	22	0	23rd
21	Wilson Ramos	C	WAS	277	0.248	25	3	31	0	23rd
22	Humberto Quintero	C	HOU	222	0.243	16	4	20	0	DND
23	Jeff Baker	C	FLA	32	0.264	4	0	4	0	DND

Last Friday Show

The Podcast is moving to Sunday Night.
The weekly show will start at 9pm  every Sunday night beginning May 16th.
Matt, Big C, Blake and Dennis are building the greatest non-professional show on Blog-talk radio. The information will continue to be strong and the drunken call-ins can only increase as we move to a weekend night time slot. Call in next week to talk to the guys. The call-in number is (347) 637-2609

Chipper hurt again

Chipper Jones felt a "pop" in his hip during Saturday's game. The 38 year old third baseman has been injury prone but the Braves were counting on him to lead this team's offense in a wild card bid this season. He is again day to day.

Unfortunately there has not been a lot of "pop" from the Braves this season. The Braves need more production from the offense. Glaus, and McLouth has been a disaster so far. Hinske is the team's back-up plan for the old injury prone veterans. In short, the Braves are in trouble. The loss today drops them to 8-9 and last place in the NL East.

What can be done? We know that there is some money left from that awful Vasquez deal made with the Yankees. Wren explained that that deal made it possible to add a big bat to the team (he signed Hinske). I read that Adrian Gonzales may be a possibility if Glaus and the offense continues to struggle. Interesting, but let's face it... not likely, after all we got Hinske to fall back on.

Ike Davis gets called up

The left handed First baseman, Ike Davis, has been called up to help the struggling Mets. The Mets have designated Jacobs for assignment and have sent Stoner back to AAA to pave the way for the top prospect to start his career. He has played in just ten Triple-A games but is 12-for-33 with 2 HR's, 4 2B's, 4 RBI's, and 9 BB's.

Stealing Money: Top paid guys that are not on any Fantasy Teams

Fantasy Baseball and Real Baseball can differ in many ways. I have had spirited debates in the past about how valuable defense is or the crucial role of mid relievers. We know that there are real differences in fantasy value and real value.

Fantasy baseball can over value players beyond their actual "real value", but leave it to "Real Baseball" to over value players as well. Like many Braves fans, I cringed when Frank Wren (GM) signed Derek Lowe to 2-year deal for $30 Million. We knew it was a mistake, but why didn't they?

This year, there are several guys that will cash big checks in 2010 and will not even be rostered in deep NL only leagues. Here's the top15:

1. Barry Zito                    $18,000,000
2. Jeff Suppan                 $12,750,000
3. Carlos Silva                 $12,750,000
4. Oliver Perez                $12,000,000
5. Gary Matthews, Jr.      $11,400,000
6. Edgar Renteria            $10,000,000
7. Nate Robertson           $10,000,000
8. Aaron Cook                  $9,625,000
9. Kyle Lyoshe                 $9,187,000
10. Jamie Moyer                 $8,000,000
11. Christian Guzman         $8,000,000
12. Brad Penny                  $7,500,000
13. Jason Marquis              $7,500,000
14. Chris Synder                $5,250,000
15. Vincent Padillia            $5,025,000

Berkman has knee drained for the 5th time, takes cortisone shot

This does not sound good. Berkman said that the knee swelled less with the cortisone shot. He is eligible to come off the DL on Saturday but it looks like that will not happen.

That will prolong the infield shuffle in Houston. Blum, Feliz, Johnson, and Keppinger have been moving around a lot with Berkman out. Mills plays Johnson (3B) against left-handers and moves Feliz to first and Blum to the bench. Johnson could replace Feliz at third if he continues his hitting from spring training. He may be worth a look until Berkman comes back.