By Tony in Hitchin
League 4
League 7
The aim of “The Keeper List” is to monitor potential keepers over the course of the 2008 season … and to save you from building your 2009 team around the wrong names.
In my first article, I set out the keeper lists that Mafia members brought over from the 2007 season into this one. With two months of play under our belts, it’s time to see who’s movin’ and who’s shakin’ … and who’s leaving their owners merely shaking their heads.
A further reason for this series is to help many of you put together the right trades. Putting together a stellar line-up during the season is all well and good, but if you have 10 definite-to-probable keepers come the end of the season, you should probably be looking to trade some of them, maybe most of them, before next year’s draft.
At this stage of the season, we’re going to stick to grouping players rather than ranking them more precisely. At season’s end, a strict ranking may become more relevant and the panel for compiling those rankings has been proposed.
Okay, let’s get back to our list.
Definites
Hitters - Bobby Abreu, Garrett Atkins, Carlos Beltran, Lance Berkman, Ryan Braun, Miguel Cabrera, Carl Crawford, Adam Dunn, Prince Fielder, Curtis Granderson, Vlad Guerrero, Travis Hafner, Matt Holliday, Ryan Howard, Derek Jeter, Carlos Lee, Derrek Lee, Nick Markakis, Russell Martin, Victor Martinez, Justin Morneau, Magglio Ordonez, David Ortiz, Brandon Phillips, Albert Pujols, Aramis Ramirez, Hanley Ramirez, Manny Ramirez, Jose Reyes, Alex Rios, Brian Roberts, Alex Rodriguez, Jimmy Rollins, Grady Sizemore, Alfonso Soriano, Ichiro Suzuki, Mark Teixeira, Troy Tulowitzki, BJ Upton, Chase Utley, David Wright
Starters - Josh Beckett, Erik Bedard, Jake Peavy, CC Sabathia, Johan Santana, Brandon Webb
Closers - Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, JJ Putz, Francisco Rodriguez
It’s still too early to demote any player from this group. Maybe I need to issue “demotion warnings” to one or two others, though: since I raised the spectre of Adam Dunn being dropped to a “Probable” he’s been hitting home with frightening regularity.
Warnings are still out there for Travis Hafner, Derek Jeter, Victor Martinez and Troy Tulowitzki - due to injury, Tulo will almost certainly have to be dropped one category next month. Hafner is a near certainty to fall, and the other two are treading a fine line right now.
Probables
Hitters - Eric Byrnes, Robinson Cano, Chone Figgins, Carlos Guillen, Corey Hart, Torii Hunter, Ian Kinsler, Joe Mauer, Brian McCann, Carlos Pena, Chris B Young
Starters - Cole Hamels, John Lackey, Justin Verlander
Closers - None
Again, I’m reluctant to demote anyone from this group … yet. Seeing Eric Byrnes being traded for anyone who’s able to swing a bat or throw a pitch in the general area of home plate is significant, however, and unless he picks it up in the next month, you can expect him to become a “Possible” next time around.
On the up and in line for promotion next month are Brian McCann, Ian Kinsler and Chris B Young, while Carlos Pena hits the occasional home run and … er … well, that’s about all he’s been doing lately and so isn’t making a case for promotion. Joe Mauer? Nice batting average … and he’s got sideburns, too.
And then there’s Robinson Cano. For someone so young, it’s odd that he should already have a reputation as a second half hitter, but it seems that he’s being given a pass by many people as a result of this reputation. As of today, he’s not a keeper, but he’s a great example of why this list is a work in progress.
Possibles
Hitters - Rick Ankiel, Pat Burrell, Ryan Church, Jeff Francouer, Kusoke Fukudome, Rafael Furcal, Adrian Gonzalez, Alex Gordon, Josh Hamilton, Kenji Johjima, Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones, Matt Kemp, Howie Kendrick, Paul Konerko, Casey Kotchman, James Loney, Nate McLouth, Hunter Pence, Juan Pierre, Carlos Quentin, Geovany Soto, Miguel Tejada, Ryan Theriot, Dan Uggla, Shane Victorino, Rickie Weeks, Vernon Wells, Kevin Youkilis, Michael Young, Ryan Zimmerman
Starters - Clay Buchholz, Roy Halladay, Aaron Harang, Dan Haren, Felix Hernandez, Scott Kazmir, Tim Lincecum, Francisco Liriano, Roy Oswalt, Carlos Zambrano
Closers - Joba Chamberlain, Francisco Cordero, Manuel Corpas, Mariano Rivera, Takashi Saito, Huston Street, Jose Valverde, Billy Wagner
The only change to this group so far is the addition of those players listed as “New Faces” last time around. If I were a betting man, I’d say that the likes of Josh Hamilton and Geovany Soto will be “Definites” by season’s end, along with Carlos Quentin, possibly, but let’s be sensible and make sure that they don’t make us - well, me in this case - look foolish by forgetting how to hit in the second half.
Andruw Jones, Paul Konerko, Clay Buchholz, Manny Corpas, Francisco Liriano and Roy Oswalt are in real danger of moving off our keeper radars.
New Faces
All players new to our keeper radar will first appear in this section.
Hitters - Jason Bay, Jay Bruce, Jacoby Ellsbury, Conor Jackson, Mark Reynolds
Starters - Edinson Volquez, Clayton Kershaw
Closers - None
Dropped Out
In future installments, players who we can stop thinking of as keepers will appear here. Since it’s still relatively early, I’m not adding anyone to this section just yet.