MLB Showdown Cards

MLB Showdown 2014: Second Base

                The big news of the off-season was the Yankees being unable to retain Robinson Cano, being outbid by the Seattle Mariners. He did live up to it by hitting .314 with 14 homers and 37 doubles. The best year has to go to Jose Altuve. He hit .341 with 57 extra-base hits. Brian Dozer came out of nowhere to hit 23 homers and 33 doubles as one of few bright spots for the Twins. Neil Walker also hit 23 homers for the Pirates. Chase Utley was beginning to show signs of age only hitting 11 homers but still a hustle player with 6 triples and 36 doubles and 10 steals. Dee Gordon learned how to get on base a bit more and stole 64 bases.

                Second base is rarely where people go to find power. This year is not a very good year for power players. Cano is not a fantastic pick at the points. Neil Walker looks like the best option for a lower in the order guy with his 8 OB speed B(13) 18-20 HR, 17 3B, 14-16 2B with 2B+4 for 350 points. Brian Dozer is an interesting option with 8 OB speed A(19) 18-20 HR, 15-17 2B with 2B+0 for 340 points. Everyone else will be turned off by 2B+0. True power hitters won’t be.

                Pingers have no perfect pick this year. Maybe they spend more to get Altuve or Cano as a lead-off or 3-4 hitter respectively. If you have to go with a pure second basemen the best bet is Rickie Weeks as an 8 OB speed B(13) 20 HR, 16-19 2B with 2B+3 for 250 points. The points fit but not in the distribution most pingers like. The extra doubles may be nice. My guess is most people will prefer to go with a utility guy or punt. Moneyballers  won’t love Cano but he will get the job done if you have extra points. His 10 OB speed B(13), 20 HR, 17-19 2B, 2B+3 for 440 points.

                Speed players tend to like second base and this year is no different. Robinson Cano fits decently as a 4 hitter if you don’t mind not stealing with a clean-up guy. Altuve is the prized pick as a 10 OB speed A(20), 20 3B, 16-19 2B, 13-15 1B+, 6-12 1B, 2B+3 for 420 points. He is too many points to purely lead-off. For that many points he needs to get RBIs and runs scored. Chase Utley as an 8 speed A(19), 20 HR, 18-19 3B, 15-17 2B, 14 1B+ 2B+2 for 310 is a nice player in the later rounds.

                Jedd Gyorko isn’t exactly how I want my bench player to be made up as a 6 OB speed B(15), 19-20 HR for 18 points. Jason Kipnis is a 6 OB speed A(20), 2B+4 for 16 points. Omar Infante is only 4 points which is always something to keep in mind.

Player Colby would add 2 of 10: Craig Biggio 2001. The 2014 set doesn’t have a single second basemen (non-utilty) player with an OB of 9. The 9 OB make up such a huge part of most leagues that it is odd to see a position completely void. Especially when strategies like Pingers and Moneyballers lean so hard on those guys. Biggio 2001 offers almost the perfect Pinger card with his 9 OB, 20 HR, 19 3B, 18 1B+ with speed B(15) and 2B+2 for 260 points. I think smaller player pools make for more fun drafts. I think draft environments that force players to come up with solutions to their problems in new way is exciting. I do also think that having not a single player for such a popular play style may lead to an un-fun amount of punting at second base. If I could add 10 cards to the 2014 set to make a more fun draft environment I would add Craig Biggio.