2012 Fantasy Baseball Rankings - National League, Top 200

Part of a series.  Previous post is here.

I'm writing this Saturday morning, right after news of Madson's injury. I'm unlikely to make an additional edit. I have the first pick in my NL only draft, I am taking Braun, maybe a little begrudgingly over the next two.

1. Ryan Braun
2. Joey Votto
3. Matt Kemp
4. Hanley Ramirez
5. Carlos Gonzalez
6. Troy Tulowitzki
7. Roy Halladay
8. Matt Holliday
9. Jose Reyes
10. Justin Upton
11. Brandon Phillips
12. Cliff Lee
13. Michael Bourn
14. David Wright
15. Tim Lincecum
16. Andrew McCutcheon
17. Brian McCann
18. Jayson Werth
19. Starlin Castro
20. Ryan Zimmerman
21. Clayton Kershaw
22. Giancarlo Stanton
23. Hunter Pence
24. Jay Bruce
25. Cole Hamels
26. Michael Morse
27. Miguel Montero
28. Aramis Ramirez
29. Matt Cain
30. Pablo Sandoval
31. Buster Posey
32. Drew Stubbs
33. Carlos Beltran
34. Dan Uggla
35. Ian Kennedy
36. Shane Victorino
37.Stephen Strasburg
38. Geovany Soto
39. Ian Desmond
40. Angel Pagan
41. Chris Young
42. Dexter Fowler
43. Jason Heyward
44. Freddie Freeman
45. Rickie Weeks
46. Yadier Molina
47. Jimmy Rollins
48. Carlos Marmol
49. Andre Ethier
50. Daniel Hudson
51. Carlos Lee
52. Lance Berkman
53. Jonathan Papelbon
54. Neil Walker
55. Corey Hart
56. Cameron Maybin
57. Wilson Ramos
58. Jose Altuve
59. Michael Cuddyer
60. Daniel Murphy
61. Yovani Gallardo
62. Mat Latos
63. Craig Kimbrel
64. Huston Street
65. James Loney
66. Zach Greinke
67. Martin Prado
68. Danny Espinosa
69. Jose Tabata
70. Emilio Bonifacio
71. Heath Bell
72. Josh Johnson
73. Paul Goldschmidt
74. Ike Davis
75. John Buck
76. Gaby Sanchez
77. John Jay
78. Ramon Hernandez
79. Chase Headley
80. Adam Wainwright
81. Brian Wilson
82. Drew Storen
83. Nyjer Morgan
84. Jonathan Lecroy
85. Lucas Duda
86. Marlon Byrd
87. David Freese
88. Ted Lilly
89. Rafael Betancourt
90. Shaun Marcum
91. Tommy Hanson
92. Melky Cabrera
93. Andres Torres
94. Ricky Nolasco
95. Brandon Beachy
96. Madison Bumgarner
97. JD Martinez
98. JJ Putz
99. Chris Heisey
100. David Dejesus
101. Josh Thole
102. Joel Hanrahan
103. Matt Garza
104. Nick Hundley
105. Jason Bay
106. Rod Barajas
107. Will Venable
108. Mat Gamel
109. Aaron Hill
110. Frank Francisco
111. Logan Morrison
112. Allen Craig
113. Johnny Cueto
114. Carlos Ruiz
115. Ryan Roberts
116. John Axford
117. Edinson Volquez
118. Johan Santana
119. Jair Jurrjens
120. Jordan Zimmerman
121. Jason Motte
122. Adam LaRoche
123. Sean Marshall
124. Rafael Furcal
125. Jason Kubel
126. Yonder Alonso
127. Jaime Garcia
128. Omar Infante
129. Mark Buehrle
130. Zack Cowart
131. Gio Gonzalez
132. John Mayberry
133. Marco Scutaro
134. Todd Helton
135. Dee Gordon
136. Devin Mesoraco
137. Garrett Jones
138. Alex Presley
139. Ryan Dempster
140. Chad Billingsley
141. Cory Luebke
142. Kenley Jansen
143. Ian Stewart
144. Chipper Jones
145. Chase Utley
146. Ryan Howard
147. Mark Ellis
148. Tim Hudson
149. Erik Bedard
150. Anibal Sanchez
151. Trevor Cahill
152. Brett Myers
153. Jason Bartlett
154. Clint Barmes
155. Tim Stauffer
156. Scott Rolen
157. Gerardo Parra
158. Ryan Ludwick
159. Aubrey Huff
160. Nate Schierholtz
161. Carlos Quentin

162. Ryan Hannigan
163. Mike Minor
164. Vance Morley
165. Wandy Rodriguez
166. Darwin Barney
167. Brandon Belt
168. Chris Johnson
169. Ryan Vogelsong
170. Mike Leake
171. Edwin Jackson
172. Sergio Romo
173. James McDonald
174. Aroldis Chapman
175. Chris Carpenter
176. Stephen Drew
177. Jeremy Guthrie
178. Aaron Harang
179. Alex Gonzalez
180. Joe Blanton
181. Kyle Lohse
182. RA Dickey
183. Jerry Hairston
184. Pedro Alvarez
185. Chris Capuano
186. Jhoulys Chacin
187. Carlos Gomez
188. Tyler Pastornicky
189. Carlos Zambrano
190. Randy Wolf
191. Jed Lowrie
192. Casey Mcgehee
193. Tyler Greene
194. AJ Ellis
195. Francisco Rodriguez
196. Jason Castro
197. Bronson Arroyo
198. Javy Guerra
199. Roger Bernadina
200. Matt Downs

2012 Fantasy Baseball Rankings - American League Top 200

I have the third pick in my AL draft; by the time this posts, it will have occurred.  I'm editing this for probably the final time Friday, so if there's been something significant since, it won't be reflected in the list.

Part of a series.  Previous post is here.

1. Jacoby Ellsbury
2. Albert Pujols
3. Miguel Cabrera
4. Ian Kinsler
5. Justin Verlander
6. Dan Haren
7. Adrian Gonzalez
8. Prince Fielder
9. Felix Hernandez
10. Jered Weaver
11. CC Sabathia
12. Curtis Granderson
13. Robinson Cano
14. Jose Bautista
15. Dustin Pedroia
16. David Price
17. Mike Napoli
18. Mark Teixeira
19. CJ Wilson
20. Joe Mauer
21. Mariano Rivera
22. BJ Upton
23. Alex Rodriguez
24. Josh Hamilton
25. James Shields
26. Carl Crawford
27. Elvis Andrus
28. Carlos Santana
29. Eric Hosmer
30. Nelson Cruz
31. Nick Markakis
32. Desmond Jennings
33. SS Choo
34. Mark Reynolds
35. Alex Gordon
36. Ichiro Suzuki
37. Adam Jones
38. Brett Gardner
39. Evan Longoria
40. Coco Crisp
41. Billy Butler
42. David Ortiz
43. Howard Kendrick
44. Adrian Beltre
45. Derek Jeter
46. Ryan Doumit
47. Paul Konerko
48. Asdrubal Cabrera
49. Alex Rios
50. Alex Avila
51. Yu Darvish
52. Michael Young
53. Austin Jackson
54. Andrew Bailey
55. Alexei Ramirez
56. Josh Beckett
57. Jon Lester
58. Jesus Montero
59. Torii Hunter
60. Alejandro DeAnza
61. Russell Martin
62. Jose Valverde
63. Ben Zobrist
64. Brett Lawrie
65. Kelly Johnson
66. Erick Aybar
67. Denard Span
68. Matt Joyce
69. Peter Bourjos
70. Chris Davis
71. Joe Nathan
72. Jemille Weeks
73. Kevin Youkilis
74. Josh Willingham
75. Yoenis Cespedes
76. JP Arencibia
77. Yunel Escobar
78. Adam Lind
79. Matt Wieters
80. Michael Brantley
81. Ubaldo Jimenez
82. Jeremy Hellickson
83. Gavin Floyd
84. Adam Dunn
85. Carlos Pena
86. Ervin Santana
87. Delmon Young
88. Brennan Boesch
89. Max Scherzer
90. Sergio Santos
91. Chris Sale
92. Ryan Raburn
93. Edwin Encarnacion
94. Brandon League
95. JJ Hardy
96. AJ Pierzynski
97. Colby Rasmus
98. Kurt Suzuki
99. Jason Kipnis
100. Neftali Feliz
101. Nick Swisher
102. Chris Perez
103. Cliff Pennington
104. Matt Thornton
105. Brandon McCarthy
106. Justin Morneau
107. Colby Lewis
108. Brandon Morrow
109. Kyle Farnsworth
110. Jarrod Saltalamacchia
111. Danny Valencia
112. John Danks
113. Mike Moustakas
114. Daniel Bard
115. Dustin Ackley
116. Matt Capps
117. Jhonny Peralta
118. Jake Peavy
119. Mitch Moreland
120. Michael Pineda
121. Dayan Viciedo
122. Brent Morel
123. Seth Smith
124. Lorenzo Cain
125. Jeff Francoeur
126. Alcides Escobar
127. Mike Carp
128. Justin Masterson
129. David Murphy
130. Phil Hughes
131. Josh Reddick
132. Chris Iannetta
133. Matt Moore
134. Josh Tomlin
135. Cody Ross
136. Ben Revere
137. Chone Figgins
138. Jim Johnson
139. Hiroki Kuroda
140. Gordon Beckham
141. Kendrys Morales
142. Clay Buchholtz
143. Travis Hafner
144. Jordan Walden
145. Grant Balfour
146. Scott Baker
147. Addison Reed
148. Greg Holland
149. Yorvit Torrealba
150. Alexei Castilla
151. Doug Fister
152. Alexi Ogando
153. Jason Vargas
154. Luke Scott
155. Wei-Yin Chen
156. Jamey Carroll
157. Justin Smoak
158. Ricky Romero
159. Sean Rodriguez
160. Miguel Olivo
161. Casey Kotchman
162. Francisco Liriano
163. Nolan Reimold
164. Derek Holland
165. Hisashi Iwakuma
166. Carl Pavano
167. Mike Adams
168. Mike Aviles
169. Vernon Wells
170. Eric Thames
171. Brian Roberts
172. Kevin Slowey
173. Jeff Niemann
174. Raul Ibanez
175. Salvador Perez
176. Brett Cecil
177. Rick Porcello
178. Brent Lillibridge
179. Jason Hammel
180. Endy Chavez
181. Vinnie Pestano
182. Eduardo Nunez
183. Jonathan Sanchez
184. Luke Hochevar
185. Jonathan Broxton
186. Bruce Chen
187. David Huff
188.Wade Davis
189.Rajai Davis
190. Andruw Jones
191. Franklin Guttierez
192. Dallas Braden
193. Grady Sizemore
194. Phil Humber
195. Dustin McGowan
196. Brendan Ryan
197. Fautino de Los Santos
198. Joey Devine
199. Jose Molina
200. Luke Hughes

2012 Fantasy Baseball Rankings - Mixed Leagues Top 200

I'm compiling this 17 days before I'm planning to post it, so if there's been some injury that I'm failing to account for (hello people of the future!  Have you killed Sarah Connor's son yet?  Get on that please) that would be the explanation. My 3 fantasy drafts are in a cluster ending on the 27th, so the 3 boards you'll see over the next few days represent something approximating the boards I used for the drafts.

My last update to this list was Friday the 23rd right after the Astros 3B switch.  Okay, one more on Saturday after Madson.

Here's the mixed board.  I play 5x5 roto.

1. Albert Pujols
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Ryan Braun
4. Adrian Gonzalez
5. Joey Votto
6. Jacoby Ellsbury
7. Ian Kinsler
8. Prince Fielder
9. Roy Halladay
10. Matt Kemp
11. Troy Tulowitzki
12. Robinson Cano
13. Cliff Lee
14. Mark Teixeira
15. Matt Holliday
16. Carlos Gonzalez
17. Curtis Granderson
18. Justin Upton
19. Mike Napoli
20. Tim Lincecum
21. Hanley Ramirez
22. Dustin Pedroia
23. Dan Haren
24. Brandon Phillips
25. Justin Verlander
26. Cole Hamels
27. Jose Bautista
28. Clayton Kershaw
29. Jose Reyes
30. Joe Mauer
31Carlos Santana
32. Felix Hernandez
33. Jered Weaver
34. Brian McCann
35. Matt Cain
36. CC Sabathia
37.Stephen Strasburg
38. David Wright
39. Alex Rodriguez
40. Eric Hosmer
41. Ryan Zimmerman
42. Andrew McCutcheon
43.Giancarlo Stanton
44. Jayson Werth
45. Josh Hamilton
46. Nick Markakis
47. Jay Bruce
48. Billy Butler
49. Mark Reynolds
50. Michael Morse
51. David Ortiz
52. Miguel Montero
53. Dan Uggla
54. David Price
55. Aramis Ramirez
56. Starlin Castro
57. Evan Longoria
58. Paul Konerko
59. Hunter Pence
60. Ryan Doumit
61. Alex Avila
62. Ian Kennedy
63. CJ Wilson
64. Adam Jones
65. Adrian Beltre
66. Mariano Rivera
67. Josh Johnson
68. Daniel Hudson
69. Michael Bourn
70. Jonathan Papelbon
71. Jesus Montero
72. Huston Street
73. SS Choo
74. Michael Young
75. James Shields
76. Carlos Marmol
77. Zack Grienke
78. Asdrubal Cabrera
79. Pablo Sandoval
80. Craig Kimbrel
81. Buster Posey
82. Adam Wainwright
83. Mat Latos
84. Derek Jeter
85. Howard Kendrick
86. Ted Lilly
87. Carlos Beltran
88. Dexter Fowler
89. BJ Upton
90. Freddie Freeman
91. Geovany Soto
92. Elvis Andrus
93. Tommy Hanson
94. Yovani Gallardo
95. Yu Darvish
96. Rickie Weeks
97. Alexei Ramirez
98. Heath Bell
99. Rafael Betancourt
100. Jason Heyward
101. Yoenis Cespedes
102. Josh Beckett
103. Drew Storen
104. Chris Young
105. Desmond Jennings
106. Torii Hunter
107. Madison Bumgarner
108. Brian Wilson
109. Chris Sale
110. Shawn Marcum
111. Russell Martin
112. JP Arencibia
113. Andre Ethier
114. Austin Jackson
115. Brandon Beachy
116. Carl Crawford
117. Lance Berkman
118. Johan Santana
119. Chris Davis
120. Kelly Johnson
121. Ricky Nolasco
122. Ichiro Suzuki
123. Neil Walker
124. JJ Putz
125. Matt Weiters
126. John Buck
127. Jon Lester
128. Alex Rios
129. Ben Zobrist
130. Matt Joyce
131. Kevin Youkilis
132. Carlos Lee
133. Kenley Jansen
134. Jeremy Hellickson
135. Yadier Molina
136. Adam Dunn
137. Ian Desmond
138. Yunel Escobar
139. Jose Valverde
140. Josh Willingham
141. Carlos Pena
142. Paul Goldschmidt
143. Danny Espinosa
144. Joe Nathan
145. Wilson Ramos
146. Matt Garza
147. James Loney
148. Andrew Bailey
149. Adam Lind
150. Drew Stubbs
151. Ubaldo Jimenez
152. Cameron Maybin
153. Shane Victorino
154. Brett Lawrie
155. Alejandro DeAnza
156. Frank Francisco
157. Michael Cuddyer
158. Jason Motte
159. Lucas Duda
160. Eric Bedard
161. Daniel Murphy
162. Ike Davis
163. Edinson Volquez
164. Matt Thornton
165. Sean Marshall
166. Sergio Romo
167. Tim Hudson
168. Jordan Zimmerman
169. Neftali Feliz
170. Angel Pagan
171. Martin Prado
172. Joel Hanrahan
173. Corey Hart
174. Coco Crisp
175. Erick Aybar
176. Jair Jurrjens
177. Jimmy Rollins
178. Gaby Sanchez
179. Brett Gardner
180. Jemile Weeks
181. Chase Utley
182. Chase Headley
183. Johnny Cueto
184. Sergio Santos
185. Jake Peavy
186. AJ Pierzynski
187. Jaime Garcia
188. JJ Hardy
189. Brandon League
190. Max Scherzer
191. Cory Luebke
192. Mark Buehrle
193. Denard Span
194. Kurt Suzuki
195. Chris Perez
196. Ervin Santana
197. Daniel Bard
198. Chad Billingsley
199. Colby Lewis
200. David Freese

The Weekly Tendown March 18-24 2012(Happy Mad Men Day)

Dear Internet:

Geraldo Rivera  said it was the hooded sweatshirt that got Trayvon Martin killed.  In Florida, apparently, wearing a hooded sweatshirt is asking for it.

Hopefully, I'll avoid George Zimmerman this week.  As apparently, this picture is a reasonable threat to his life.

119 is here. This is Tendown 120.

1. Reason Rally
The largest political gathering of atheists in US history was yesterday in Washington.

You can see some clips here.

As a political act, it's important for members of marginalized groups to come out of the closet.  If every American had known that FDR was disabled, what impact does that have in fast forwarding a full inclusion of the disabled into positions of leadership?  If every gay athlete and action movie star were to come out tomorrow how much good would that do in emboldening bullied gay kids across the country?

The equation of religion to morality, specifically conservative Protestantism to morality is so ubiquitous that someone like Tim Tebow is spoken about by sports media in the most glowing personal terms you can imagine.  In sports character analysis "he reads the Bible" is shorthand for "he's a good person"; locker room worship and on field displays of religiosity start at the earliest of ages and don't seem to run up against any real opposition but were a quarterback to say "God is just a fairy tale" with the level of fervor that Tebow is allowed, he'd never make it past Pop Warner.

Here's a question from the University of Minnesota study from 2011:


I would disapprove if my child wanted to marry a member of this group....

Atheist: 47.6%

Conservative Christians: 6.9%

I would suggest its self evident as to which of those two groups does the most damage in the United States; the politics of conservative Christianity drive anti-science legislation on climate change, drive anti-women legislation on abortion and contraception, and provide a vehicle for opposition to social programs from health care reform to the minimum wage.  There is, let me suggest, no force more destructive to the collective good of Americans than conservative Christianity.

Atheists don't have the individual power to change that, but to the extent they can model elements of character like honesty and intelligence as atheists in the public sphere, to the extent that people perceived as "good" people "come out" as atheists, it permits a greater number of Americans to associate atheism with those good qualities and perhaps - perhaps to increase the degree to which they challenge the assumed morality of conservative Christians.

2. A Less Confrontational Picture

Zooey Deschanel and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.  Best celebrity couple ever.

3. The Problem is I Don't Know How to Work

There are a group wrestlers to whom I formed an attachment during the previous decade from watching them on the independent circuit for several years.  Through the miracle of tape trading, I saw Bryan Danielson's first match, a blond CM Punk wrestle at an ice rink, Homicide working in someone's basement in New Jersey.

They've built an equity with me; I watched them nearly kill themselves in front of a hundred people when they didn't have health insurance; when a guy like Punk breaks through I root for him in the way one might cheer particularly hard for a baseball player who he saw slowly work his way through the system.  If anything, I root harder for the wrestler, as the number of available jobs are so preciously small and you trust that baseball, for example, is a meritocracy in a way that wrestling is not.  When Brandon Belt (perhaps not the best example) kills AAA, you know he's headed for the Show.  But Vince McMahon doesn't care about Low Ki's match ratings.  To make it in big time American pro graps, you have to catch a series of breaks.

There are 4 major matches on this year's Wrestlemania, Punk and Danielson are in two of them (and Jericho, from a previous generation of young lions, is wrestling Punk) and I'm eager for it.

I'm in play for a tenure track position at a university; I've referenced this opportunity for the past month and a half, and I am as close to it as a person could be.  Since I moved away from law and began teaching almost 15 years ago, this kind of position has been the eventual goal.  I've spent those years on my version of the independent circuit, I've probably taught 75 different courses altogether, at the high school and for profit college levels; I've taught online, I've done seminars, I've had classes with one student and fifty; I've taught at 7 in the morning and 10 at night, I've taught for 12 straight hours with barely a break or an ability to sit down; I've taught in schools without clocks, taught with the lights out, taught without air conditioning, taught outside, taught at schools where the computers had to be locked to keep them from being stolen. I've taught chefs and mechanics and hairdressers and 12 year olds and 70 year olds and students without high school diplomas, without the ability to speak English, and who were taken away by the police during class. 

I've been teaching since my late 20s; I'm 41, for the last few years I've taught 7 days a week for virtually an entire 365 day calendar.  I'm not bad.  I'm not Bryan Danielson but you wouldn't fast forward through too many of my matches either.  I'm like the Claudio Castagnoli of for profit instructors.

I am at the very last breath of this hiring process.  This close to going to my version of WWE.

In the meantime, I still have bills to pay, so I interviewed at a school in a strip mall next to a Wings Plus this week.  Perhaps I'll team teach a course with Colt Cabana.

4. This is Probably Gonna Stick
 


5. My Movie Recommendation
I saw Moneyball finally; it's my new favorite film from last year, although not as good as Social Network from 2010.  The movie I'd suggest you consider (although it isn't as tough on the guys who made the original audio recordings as it could be, and doesn't flesh out its characters as much as you'd like) is a documentary Shut Up Little Man that would be worth your 90 minutes.

6. Booooooooooo.
 


The second greatest Golden St. Warrior of all time had his jersey retired this week.

The greatest Golden St Warrior of all time chewed out the fans during the ceremony for booing the team's owner.

I'm in favor of all of this.  Mullen should have his jersey retired, the fans displeasure is disproportionate to the current offense (trading Monte Ellis for Andrew Bogut) but long overdue given 35 years of sports crimes perpetrated against the GSW fanbase.  And Rick Barry's a pain in the ass.  He was a young pain in the ass, now he's an old pain in the ass - I want him standing at center court saying "you kids today with your Beatle haircuts, get off of my lawn."  It was perfect.

I'm okay with Alex Smith coming back to San Francisco; I would have been okay with his leaving.  He's just another guy; and if his interception rate ticks back up this year he'll face competition from Josh Johnson.

Denver won the Manning derby; that doesn't mean they go to the Super Bowl, they rode an easy schedule to a hot streak last season; if both the Niners and Broncos go 9-7 next year that wouldn't surprise.  I'd rather be the Colts than either of them (not next year, but prospectively).

And I assume Tebow winds up with that Jets job at some point.  I don't know that he works as a backup.

None of that analysis was as good as Pat Robertson's.

"And you just ask yourself, okay, so Peyton Manning was a tremendous MVP quarterback, but he’s been injured. If that injury comes back, Denver will find itself without a quarterback. And in my opinion, it would serve them right.”


Christian conservative - Pat Robertson.  Good marriage material, apparently.

7. And If You Don't Like it...Get Out
Rick Santorum, Presidential Candidate, made an appearance in Louisiana last week.

He was introduced by a minister, who said America is a Christian nation, we worship Jesus, and if you don't like it, "get out."

Candidate Santorum clapped and clapped and clapped.  It's here.

Were a candidate for President to have appeared at the Reason Rally, and were a speaker to have said, "We are not a Christian nation - we are a nation under the principles of the Enlightenment, depending upon human reason and not magic to uncover truth.... and if you don't like it - Get Out!" and that candidate were to have clapped and clapped and clapped at that sentiment - what would have been the reaction?

8. Stand Your Ground = The Bush Doctrine of Self Defense Law
Here's a walk though of the Trayvon Martin case.

9. Looking for a Job...
Be prepared to turn over your Facebook password.

10. Happy Mad Men Day
 


Consider this piece as pregame.

That's all for this time.  I'll be back next time....if there is a next time.....

Your pal,

Jim

Top 10 Right Now - Starting Pitchers 2012

Part of a series. Previous post is here.


MLB Network List:
10. Zach Greinke

9. CC Sabathia

8. Dan Haren

7. Tim Lincecum

6. Jared Weaver
5. Clayton Kershaw
4. Felix Hernandez
3. Cliff Lee
2. Justin Verlander
1. Roy Halladay

My List:
1. Roy Halladay
2. Felix Hernandez
3. Cliff Lee
4. Justin Verlander
5. Tim Lincecum
6. Clayton Kershaw
67. CC Sabathia
8. Zach Greinke
9. Dan Haren
10. Jared Weaver