1. Jose Reyes – Reyes
took a couple of months to get going from an average-hitting standpoint, but he
hit .373 in June and just kept on hitting the rest of the way to finish with a
.300 average for the first time since his rookie season. More importantly, he started showing off that
power many were expecting him to develop (19 homers) and continued to score
runs (122) and steal bases (64) at an alarming clip.
FIC Spin: Our
top-rated player at the end of last season, Reyes is an easy top five pick who
could go as high as second in some drafts.
He’s a threat to lead the majors in stolen bases with a .300 average and
twenty homers.
2007 Projection:
|
G
|
AB
|
Avg.
|
H
|
2B
|
HR
|
Runs
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
Slg.
|
OPS
|
|
153
|
669
|
0.298
|
199
|
30
|
16
|
132
|
71
|
76
|
0.345
|
0.461
|
0.805
|
2. Miguel Tejada – Though Tejada’s home
run total slipped for the second straight season, he made up for it a bit by
batting a career-best .330. He still
turned in his seventh straight 20+ homer season, while driving in 100 or more
runs for the sixth time in seven seasons.
Toss in 99 runs and his usual durability (1,080 consecutive games) and
you had a monster fantasy season out of Tejada
anyway.
FIC Spin: The
decline in power is a bit alarming (he had just seven in the second half) from
a player who doesn’t make much of an impact on the basepaths, Tejada remains a top option at a position where power is at
a premium.
2007 Projection:
|
G
|
AB
|
Avg.
|
H
|
2B
|
HR
|
Runs
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
Slg.
|
OPS
|
|
162
|
618
|
0.304
|
188
|
42
|
32
|
103
|
112
|
10
|
0.352
|
0.530
|
0.882
|
3. Jimmy Rollins – Rollins
overcame a slow start with the bat to hit .277 thanks to a .344 effort in
April. More importantly, however, he
amped up his power in a big way around the All-Star
Break, hitting 16 of his 25 home runs in the second half. His previous career best over a full season was 14. Rollins also did what he’s known for most,
stealing 30+ bases for the third season in a row and fifth time in six seasons
while scoring a career-best 127 runs.
FIC Spin: Smack
in the middle of his prime, Rollins should have little trouble approaching last
season’s breakout performance. He’s a
demon on the basepaths who contributes in all facets of the game and shouldn’t
make it out of the second round.
2007 Projection:
|
G
|
AB
|
Avg.
|
H
|
2B
|
HR
|
Runs
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
Slg.
|
OPS
|
|
159
|
682
|
0.293
|
200
|
42
|
20
|
121
|
70
|
39
|
0.344
|
0.470
|
0.814
|
4. Derek Jeter – Jeter
had perhaps his best all-around season since 1999, finishing second in the AL
batting race with a .344 average while driving in 97 runs and scoring 118. Though his fourteen homers were far from
overwhelming, Jeter made up for it with a career-best 34 steals in just 39
attempts.
FIC Spin: A
mortal lock to hit fifteen homers and steal 25 bases, Jeter contributes strong
numbers across the board. He won’t
dominate a single category on his own, but it’s nearly impossible to find a
category where his numbers aren’t above average.
2007 Projection:
|
G
|
AB
|
Avg.
|
H
|
2B
|
HR
|
Runs
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
Slg.
|
OPS
|
|
159
|
653
|
0.318
|
208
|
36
|
17
|
116
|
81
|
26
|
0.379
|
0.463
|
0.842
|
5. Hanley Ramirez –Though
detractors said his bat wasn’t ready for the big leagues heading into 2006,
Ramirez proved the doubters wrong, batting .292 with 17 homers atop the young
Marlins’ lineup. He also showed off the
speed that helped make him one of the better shortstop prospects in baseball,
swiping 51 bags in 66 attempts. He was
rewarded with the NL Rookie of the Year award.
FIC Spin: Last
year’s late-round/waiver wire steal is unlikely to be around past the third
round in 2007. He has game-breaking
speed, developing power, and even seems to have developed a pretty good batting
eye. While he’ll need to cut down on his
strikeouts in his second season, he’s a virtual lock for fifty steals and a
hundred runs.
2007 Projection:
|
G
|
AB
|
Avg.
|
H
|
2B
|
HR
|
Runs
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
Slg.
|
OPS
|
|
142
|
584
|
0.285
|
166
|
40
|
14
|
107
|
56
|
54
|
0.343
|
0.444
|
0.787
|
6. Rafael Furcal – While
many figured the move to the Dodgers might hurt Furcal, as he was moving to a
significantly better pitcher’s park, he posted a career year of sorts. Furcal hit .300 for the first time in his
career, matched his career-best with 15 homers, and drove in a career-best 63
runs. He did it all while still being a
monster on the basepaths, stealing 37 bases.
FIC Spin: He’s
never going to develop into a huge power-hitting option, but Furcal does enough
as an average-hitter and steals enough bases to be an upper tier option no
matter the format. Toss in the fact that
he’s scored 100+ runs in each of the past four seasons, and he’s just a cut
below the elite.
3007 Projection:
|
G
|
AB
|
Avg.
|
H
|
2B
|
HR
|
Runs
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
Slg.
|
OPS
|
|
156
|
640
|
0.296
|
190
|
32
|
15
|
112
|
62
|
40
|
0.357
|
0.444
|
0.801
|
7. Michael Young – Young
hit over .300 for the fourth straight season, though his home run total dropped
significantly from 24 to 14. In spite of
the loss of his home run power, Young hit a career-best 52 doubles and thrived
with runners in scoring position to set a new career best with 103 RBI. Though he did fail to hit
the century mark in runs scored for the first time since 2002, Young performed
as a top ten shortstop for the fourth year in a row.
FIC Spin: He
doesn’t steal enough for the position, and he doesn’t have the power of the
upper tier options. Young was miscast as
the top shortstop by many fantasy owners heading into last season, and should
slip an extra round or two in many drafts in 2007 because of it. If he’s sitting there in the fifth round,
though, it’s time to take the chance.
2007 Projection:
|
G
|
AB
|
Avg.
|
H
|
2B
|
HR
|
Runs
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
Slg.
|
OPS
|
|
161
|
677
|
0.322
|
218
|
46
|
18
|
101
|
96
|
10
|
0.367
|
0.482
|
0.849
|
8. Carlos Guillen – After
injuries cost Guillen the chance to build on his breakout 2004 campaign in
2005, he slipped in quite a few drafts in 2006.
However, he showed throughout the entire regular season that everyone
misjudged him. Guillen hit .320 for the
second consecutive season and fell just 1 homer shy of a 20/20 season. He also proved useful as both a run-scoring
option and a run-producer, driving in 85 runs while scoring 100 for the first
time in his career.
FIC Spin: Knee
problems hampered Guillen a bit down the stretch, leading to him spending some
time at first base in the playoffs.
While he’s an above-average defender at shortstop, a position change may
be coming in the near future. Take
advantage of the fact that Guillen is a shortstop for the next year or two, as
he’s an elite batting average option who helps out plenty in the counting
categories as well.
2007 Projection:
|
G
|
AB
|
Avg.
|
H
|
2B
|
HR
|
Runs
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
|
Fantasy Baseball 
