Positional Rankings - 1B

This is a new outlook on the rankings that usually go on before a season starts. I want to look at who's the best of the best right now, who has the greatest potential to be part of that group, and who may have been part of that group at one point but is now falling off the table. I will call these groups "The Best," "The Next," and "The Fading."

The Best 5
1. Albert Pujols
2. Adrian Gonzalez
3. Prince Fielder
4. Joey Votto
5. Mark Teixiera

The top spot still belongs to Pujols, and will for a long time to come. Despite his advancing age, he remains the epitome of hard work and preparation. Also, if you don't know of his story, please check this out. You might have a good chuckle at your own team for missing him back in the day. Adrian Gonzalez is not going to relinquish his spot on this list just because one shaky year. He is still has the best glove at 1B, and even if his homerun numbers drop a little, he will always be an on-base machine. Fielder gets the third spot because he will put up massive numbers batting after the reining AL MVP. From his own mouth, Mark Teixeira's best years are almost behind him. Joey Votto, on the other hand, is only going up.

The Next 5
1. Chris Davis
2. Freddie Freeman
3. Mark Trumbo
4. Paul Goldschmidt
5. Anthony Rizzo

Last year was Chris Davis's coming out party, along with most of the Baltimore Orioles team. The reason I put him on the "next" list is because I still think he can do better. Freddie Freeman has teetered on the edge of greatness, but because of the other star power at 1B and with the Braves, hasn't totally broken out. Mark Trumbo is the same way for me. He's hit 61 homeruns in his first two seasons, but has been greatly overshadowed by the other stars on the Angels. Also, his position is with much uncertainty, so even though he will be the DH this year, I still put him here (because where else do I put him??). Goldschmidt gets looked over, I feel, because of where he plays, and maybe a little because of his name. A solid producer last year for the D-Backs, he has the potential to be a gold mine with 25-35 homeruns for the next 10 years. Ever since he was a farm hand with the Red Sox, he has been touted as the next greatest first baseman in the majors. And maybe the talk has been louder than the production to this point, but in only a half-season last year, he put up 15 HR with a .805 OPS. Look out for him to explode soon.

The Fading 5
1. Ryan Howard
2. Lyle Overbay
3. Lance Berkman
4. Paul Konerko
5. Adam Lind

It is really too bad about Ryan Howard. He won the Rookie of the Year and MVP in back to back years, and he was seemingly on the top of the world. Ever since then, though, he has been fading little by little from the upper echelons of baseball stardom. Though you can attribute last year's struggles to injury, that has to be a concern going forward. Now maybe it was just me, but it seems that Lyle Overbay just fell off the face of the earth all of a sudden until surfacing this offseason with the Red Sox. It was just in 2010 that he had his last 20 homerun season. Berkman's 2011 revival looks to be a fluke now. It was a nice story while it lasted, but this is probably his last season in baseball. The revival happened a year earlier for Paul Konerko, in 2010, but now it looks like he's on the steady fall down. Will still produce this year, but I would give him a max of 20 homeruns. Adam Lind's career appears to have been super accelerated. At the age of 26, he had a career year, finishing 15th in the MVP voting. For the three years following, though, he had an OPS+ in the 90's and hit a new low last year with only 11 homeruns. Oh yeah, he's still only 29. Hopefully he can fix something, but he may get overshadowed this year with all the new talent in Toronto.

Spring Fling: Preview

I will be spending much of my Spring Break following the Red Sox around, keeping you all up to date on the happenings and whatnot. While I am down there, I will have many questions and situations that I will be exploring in anticipation of the upcoming baseball season. If YOU have any questions you would like to be answered or looked into first-hand, please write them in the comments or shoot me a quick email.