Top 300 head-to-head rankings: 101-150

It’s Monday, March 14, 2011. The trees in my back yard have full bloomed. The smell of pollen is filling my nostrils as we speak. It’s 70 degrees outside, and there’s a crisp wind pushing my receeding hairline to the forefront of my head. My wife is whispering sweet nothings in my ear, and the little ones are frolicking like little ones do.

What, you may ask, am I thinking about? Well, I’m thinking whether I should use Jeremy Hellickson as my relief pitcher in a points-based league where saves don’t seem to have enough importance to trump the value of a starting pitcher. Pretty pathetic, huh?

This is that time of year. Every tree, every perfect day outside, and every time I see my kids playing, I think about fantasy baseball. The drafting season is the best time of the year for me, and I hope it finds you all happy and ready to draft. Let’s get to the projections for numbers 101-150 in the top 300 head-to-head rankings.

101. Neftali Feliz						4	87	38	2.68	1.24
102. Brian Wilson						5	92	45	2.84	1.24
103. Elvis Andrus	81	3	40	29	0.258					
104. Heath Bell							6	80	36	2.31	1.18
105. Adam Lind		65	27	82	0	0.265					
106. Drew Stubbs	76	25	71	31	0.249					
107. Jonathan Papelbon						5	74	36	3.12	1.23
108. Gordon Beckham	75	17	80	7	0.281					
109. Brett Anderson						13	178	0	3.69	1.19
110. Jose Tabata	83	9	57	33	0.285					
111. Jeremy Hellickson						15	189	0	3.75	1.21
112. Brett Gardner	90	2	40	49	0.279					
113. Andrew Bailey						3	61	31	1.97	1.09
114. Brian Roberts*	80	9	51	24	0.276					
115. Roy Oswalt							12	171	0	3.84	1.2
116. Jason Bay		84	26	84	10	0.275					
117. Aaron Hill		75	25	82	3	0.263					
118. Mariano Rivera						3	45	33	2.71	1.04
119. Nick Swisher	85	27	93	0	0.278					
120. Madison Bumgarner						13	176	0	3.29	1.16
121. Vernon Wells	79	27	83	10	0.270					
122. Chad Billingsley						16	178	0	3.45	1.27
123. Starlin Castro	88	10	66	17	0.300					
124. Ike Davis		80	22	80	6	0.280					
125. Colby Lewis						15	199	0	3.61	1.2
126. Martin Prado	91	12	60	3	0.298					
127. Matt Wieters	61	14	67	0	0.280					
128. Joe Nathan							4	81	40	1.98	1.08
129. Chone Figgins	82	1	39	40	0.273					
130. Ryan Dempster						15	201	0	3.89	1.27
131. Ricky Nolasco						13	189	0	3.98	1.27
132. Ian Desmond	86	14	70	21	0.281					
133. Kelly Johnson	83	20	78	9	0.276					
134. Michael Bourn	85	2	38	53	0.268					
135. Geovany Soto	59	18	75	0	0.276					
136. Carlos Beltran	79	25	79	10	0.278					
137. David Ortiz	85	27	93	1	0.261					
138. Derrek Lee		80	19	69	2	0.282					
139. Carlos Quentin	78	29	88	5	0.273					
140. Ian Stewart	78	28	70	7	0.264					
141. Juan Pierre	81	0	41	48	0.275					
142. Chris Perez						6	69	33	2.83	1.17
143. Jonathan Broxton						5	89	31	3.19	1.26
144. Huston Street						4	74	36	3.51	1.25
145. Ryan Franklin						7	69	29	3.77	1.28
146. Neil Walker	86	14	72	10	0.294					
147. Tim Hudson							16	121	0	3.02	1.19
148. Travis Snider	64	28	66	7	0.262					
149. Casey McGehee	74	24	77	2	0.279					
150. Angel Pagan	88	18	71	26	0.289

Due to popular demand—or rather a few eager souls’ requests—I am releasing the entire Top 300 Head-to-Head rankings excel spreadsheet:

The_300_awesomeness.xls

In it you will find that the Top 150 players will have projections. The remaining 150 should have projections up in the next two weeks. Sorry for the delay, but as you all know this time of year is extremely busy. Hopefully, the list will suffice the early drafters as we commence drafting season. I would also point your attention to Jeffrey Gross’ postional rankings.

Points of Interest (Discord):

Neftali Feliz: Notice the lack of starting pitching stats. Much to my own disappointment, the Rangers announced this past Friday that Feliz would remain in his role as a closer, and apparently, he was in favor of the decision. So dreams of his fastball stretched over seven consecutive innings of work have been dashed for the moment.

Maybe next year we’ll get to see Aroldis Chapman’s fastball as a starter. Feliz adapted well to closing in 2010, so another year of service should only bolster one’s confidence in him as a top-tier fantasy closer. His delivery is as effortless as it gets, and he has shown the ability to thrive in high-pressure situations in Arlington.

Brett Gardner: He can run extremely well, and the Yankees finally gave him a chance to show that to the world. He had some trouble in the second half, seeing his overall line plummet.

I like to have one big-time steals guy on my roster, especially if I did a poor job balancing my stat categories. I don’t think Gardner translates as well to a points-based or roto league quite as well as the standard H2H league. His ability to swipe multiple bases in a week without hurting your batting average as bad as say a Chone Figgins or Michael Bourn gives him a decent value. He can also rack up the runs in a potent offense.

I’m not sure if I would draft him unless I needed his specific talents. Personally, I’d rather have a guy like Angel Pagan, who is much further down this list.

Joe Nathan: I know my projections are lofty for a guy fresh off as serious an injury as Nathan had in 2010, but I don’t see his risks as great as some. Before Sunday’s collapse, he hadn’t surrendered a run all spring. He hasn’t ever had issues like this before. All reports that I’ve read on his velocity and movement are saying that he’s coming along fine.

This is the year you can take advantage of Nathan’s injury and get a top-tier closer at a middle-tier price. Some will be scared off, but you would look like a fool if you didn’t at least give him a glance come draft day. I will.

Angel Pagan: I made this list before I really started to develop my man-crush on Pagan. Prior to 2010, he was always seen as a gap-filling fourth outfielder. I have had trouble breaking that same feeling from my own psyche.

Recently, I got the chance to sit down and watch a Washington Nationals/New York Mets spring training game, and I walked away thoroughly impressed with Mike Morse and Pagan. Pagan was fluid around the outfield and even smacked an opposite-field home run. I was so impressed with his demeanor that I’ve seen his stock rise meteorically on my own lists. If I were to redo my 300 rankings today, you may have seen Pagan closer to the 100 range rather than the 150s where I have him currently.

Matt Wieters: I still believe in Weiters, just like I still believe in Alex Gordon. He’s had enough time to figure things out on the pro level. If he stumbles out of the gate in 2011, you will find my opinion of him grow tired, and you may hear a different tone in my writing. As of now, I still think he has all the talent and tools to really flourish in 2011. Feel free to return to these pages and let me know how I fell victim to the lure of the top prospect that alway tantalizes but never delivers.

Good luck drafting, everyone. If anyone has questions, please feel free to comment or send me an email. I want the people that visit my pages, and The Hardball Times in general, to be the most knowledgable, successful group of fantasy players in the game. We’ll all win our leagues and brag that it was this discussion that fostered the championships. Here is the Top 300 excel spreadsheet in case you missed it earlier in the article:

The_300_awesomeness.xls