Shuffle Up: Miggy Cabrera and everybody else
Here's the price-only part of the corner shuffle, what your weekend depends on. Please use responsibly.
All the corner-eligible Yahooligan bats are here, save for the catchers (who we wouldn't use at catcher anyway). See anyone who's missing? Let me know.
What's happened to this point is an audition. What you see on this post is what I think they'll be worth, more or less, the rest of the year. Don't worry about the prices in a vacuum - what matters is how the players relate to one another.
You should know the rest of the preamble. Assume a 5x5 scoring system, of course. Make the jump, have a look around.
$33 Miguel Cabrera
$29 Paul Goldschmidt
$29 Chris Davis
$28 Prince Fielder
$28 Joey Votto
$27 David Wright
$26 Adrian Beltre
$25 Edwin Encarnacion
$23 Allen Craig
$23 Evan Longoria
$21 Albert Pujols
$20 Ryan Zimmerman
$20 Mark Trumbo
$20 Freddie Freeman
Cabrera has almost a full-win edge over the field in Fangraphs War, a silly lead given that he's a heavy-minus defender (you don't care about that last fact, but the Detroit pitchers might). It's crazy to think that Cabrera is on a pace to obliterate the numbers he posted during his Triple-Crown season. With all due respect to Albert Pujols, this is the best right-handed bat we've seen in this generation . . . Freeman's power hasn't exploded yet, but his walk and strikeout rates are improving slightly and his run production has been excellent. And heck, he's still just 23. This is the player the Royals wish they had . . . Wright's doing a better job of picking his spots on the bases this year (14-of-15) after a 15-for-25 run last year. But imagine how good he could be if not tied to Citi Field; his career OPS is .838 in Citi Field, compared to .958 at Shea Stadium and .875 on the road.
$19 Manny Machado
$19 Hanley Ramirez
$19 Matt Carpenter
$19 Michael Cuddyer
$18 Adrian Gonzalez
$18 David Ortiz
$17 Anthony Rizzo
$16 Pablo Sandoval
$16 Billy Butler
$16 Pedro Alvarez
$14 Chase Headley
$14 Martin Prado
$14 Adam Lind
$13 Aramis Ramirez
$13 Josh Donaldson
$12 Ryan Howard
$12 Kyle Seager
$12 Eric Hosmer
Hosmer's bat perked up in June, coincidentally (or not) at the same time George Brett arrived as the new batting coach. Hosmer's still rapping too many ground balls for our taste (56.5 percent in June), but with five homers at the same time, maybe we shouldn't quibble. You want to see Hosmer stick in the No. 3 slot, an ideal spot for run production. Lefties haven't been a problem at all: he's slashing .329/.375/.427 against them . . . Hanley Ramirez has been ridiculous this month, but can he stay healthy for the balance of the year? He's no longer an elite stolen base guy, but he'll still pace out around 20-25 in a full season. Expansive Dodger Stadium has never bothered him much (.324/.397/.532 over 65 games); when Ramirez is right, the park probably doesn't matter . . . Eventually some of those delicious Machado doubles are going to turn into homers, be it in 2013 or the future. In a keeper or dynasty league, I'd rank him ahead of Bryce Harper.
$11 Adam Dunn
$11 Adam LaRoche
$11 Kendrys Morales
$10 Mark Reynolds
$10 Nick Swisher
$9 Daniel Murphy
$9 Michael Young
$9 Todd Frazier
$9 Justin Morneau
$8 Mitch Moreland
$8 David Freese
$7 Marco Scutaro
$7 Brandon Moss
$7 Anthony Rendon
$6 Brandon Belt
$6 Kyle Blanks
$6 Garrett Jones
$6 Chris Carter
$5 DJ LeMahieu
$5 Kelly Johnson
$5 Trevor Plouffe
There wasn't a fantasy parade when LeMahieu stepped into Colorado's second base gig, but he's been useful for our purposes (.285, 10 steals). Shockingly, he's only scored 11 runs over 40 games, in part because a third of his time has come in the No. 8 hole. But bags are scarcer than usual in 2013, so we'll still make room for DJ . . . Scutaro's back is acting up again and he's 38 to begin with; maybe the Giants need to poke around for a possible infielder at the trading deadline.
$4 James Loney
$4 Paul Konerko
$4 Lance Berkman
$4 Chris Johnson
$4 Nolan Arenado
$3 Mike Aviles
$3 Justin Smoak
$2 Jayson Nix
$2 Logan Morrison
$2 Juan Francisco
$2 Matt Adams
$2 Mike Moustakas
$2 Jose Iglesias
$2 John Mayberry
$2 Dustin Ackley
$2 Matt Dominguez
$2 Luis Valbuena
$1 Daniel Descalso
$1 Maicer Izturis
$1 Pedro Ciriaco
$1 Alberto Callaspo
$1 Nick Punto
$1 Lyle Overbay
$1 Mike Carp
$1 Luke Scott
Courtesy Injury Ranks - Not For Debate
$8 Jedd Gyorko
$6 Kevin Youkilis
$6 Brett Lawrie
$5 Michael Morse
$4 Yonder Alonso
$4 Alex Rodriguez
$2 Lucas Duda
