ESPN Player Rankings

[ThisIsMyCrew]

I’m unsure who does these but some seem a bit odd. Vlad Jr is at 68?

Brewers listed:

Grandal 80

Cain 56

Hader 33

Yelich 7

 

The brewers I don’t think were listed too off besides Cain. He continues to be undervalued year after year. But it’s ESPN.

 

EDIT: Added "Player" to the title for clarity -- BSCR

[OldSchoolSnapper]

#56 would be the top 8% of 25-man rosters. That sounds about right to me. Honestly, Yelich strikes me more. Reigning 27 y/o MVP who probably hasn't plateaued. I doubt he'd be #7 in BOS/NY/LA.

[bill hAll Star]

I don't have any complaints with these, honestly. Cain could be higher but to rank Yelich higher than 7 you have to:

A. Somewhat neglect defense where Yelich is fine but guys like Betts are elite.

B. Assume the 2nd half Bonds-ian OBP/ISO + BABIP are all going to continue into 2019.

 

Obviously it's impossible to rank someone like Vlad Jr correctly.

 

Maybe he struggles and ESPN is laughed off the stage. But you might want to rank on potential and it's possible that Vlad Jr is a top 20 player by the end of 2019.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Yeah, I think that is pretty fair.

[Fear The Chorizo]

It's largely Mid-March clickbait leading up to opening day...Yankees with nearly half their roster (9), Bos/Hou 7, LAD/CLE/Nats/Mets! 6, Cubs/Phils/Rox 5...that's 62 out of the 100 best MLB players from just a third of the league. Regardless of organizations, there are quite a few veteran players scattered across this list where their name might still be top 100 but their performance (recent and projected) are no longer close to being held in that regard. These lists would be much easier to generate if they split pitchers and position players up and ran two top 50s.

 

Sure it's possible Vlad Jr is a top 20 player after this year - it's also possible that he turns in a nice ROY season but is nowhere near a top 100 player...and it's possible he flops or deals with a myriad of injuries that 250 lb baseball players incur. My biggest beef with it is that they picked just him from the entire prospect list, when players like Tatis, Jimenez, and others could just as easily wind up being top 50 MLB talents once they are in The Show - and they are on the same verge of opening 2019 as MLB players.

[TURBO]

For fantasy purposes, drafting Vlad high is a must if you are in a keeper league.

 

Non keeper leagues he is going lower...

[DuWayne Steurer]

Ranking yelich 7th is fine. He's been elite for half of one season in his career. Is that who he is? I think we will all still be pretty happy going forward if all we actually have is the 7th best player in mlb.

[stalton]

If I have time I'd like to see a side by side with this and SI.

[KeithStone53151]

Ranking yelich 7th is fine. He's been elite for half of one season in his career. Is that who he is? I think we will all still be pretty happy going forward if all we actually have is the 7th best player in mlb.

 

Yelich might have been mildly snubbed, but only by maybe 1 or 2 spots. Trout and Betts were obvious, Degrom and Scherzer are pitchers so tough to compare and both guys are absolute animals, I could see Yelich being 5 or 6 but you're seriously splitting hairs with Arenado and Bregman. Both guys were better than Yelich in 2017, and Yelich was only marginally better than both in 2018.

[brewcrewdue80]

I looked at the bottom 50 the night before wondering if they'd have Hiura when clearly were going to have Vlad Jr. He wasn't there of course. Cain according to the site had actually risen like 20+ spots after last season. Jesus had to be close. Shaw as well. No biggie

[jerichoholicninja]

Since this is ESPN I assume Derek Jeter, LeBron James, and Tom Brady are in top 100 as well?

[valpocrewsader]

Since this is ESPN I assume Derek Jeter, LeBron James, and Tom Brady are in top 100 as well?

 

With Tiger Woods #1.

[OnTheBlack]

I looked at the bottom 50 the night before wondering if they'd have Hiura when clearly were going to have Vlad Jr. He wasn't there of course. Cain according to the site had actually risen like 20+ spots after last season. Jesus had to be close. Shaw as well. No biggie

 

 

Shaw is the next closest in my opinion. A really good year defensively last year, a little bit under the radar offensively, but he basically matched his production from '17 with worse luck.

 

Given how the list was created, I was a little surprised to not see Jeffress on there or even Knebel...not that I believe either are top 100 players, but they ranked a few elite relievers up there and those two were as good as just about anyone last year.

 

Moving forward I'm hoping Jesus does solidify his place among the arbitrary top 100 as well as Shaw and Hirura puts himself in a position to be in consideration coming into next year, but I think the Brewers are more than the sum of their parts, so these rankings don't mean a whole lot to me.

[JohnBriggs12]

MLB.com top 100:

 

8 Yelich

28 Cain

51 Hader

62 Aguilar

94 Shaw

96 Grandal

 

That's a better list but I don't understand how Knebel isn't in the top 100 somewhere with back to back seasons of 14+ strikeouts per 9 innings and Whips of 1.158 in 17 and 1.084 in 18.

 

I think Chacin has a case too based on his last two seasons and stellar work in the postseason.

[BuckyBrewer61]

MLB.com top 100:

 

8 Yelich

28 Cain

51 Hader

62 Aguilar

94 Shaw

96 Grandal

 

That's a better list but I don't understand how Knebel isn't in the top 100 somewhere with back to back seasons of 14+ strikeouts per 9 innings and Whips of 1.158 in 17 and 1.084 in 18.

 

I think Chacin has a case too based on his last two seasons and stellar work in the postseason.

 

I'm a Knebel fan, and he absolutely dominant last September/October.

 

BUT...he was also demoted to AAA with a 5+ ERA at the end of August. I don't think it's crazy to leave him out of the top 100.

[KeithStone53151]

MLB.com top 100:

 

8 Yelich

28 Cain

51 Hader

62 Aguilar

94 Shaw

96 Grandal

 

That's a better list but I don't understand how Knebel isn't in the top 100 somewhere with back to back seasons of 14+ strikeouts per 9 innings and Whips of 1.158 in 17 and 1.084 in 18.

 

I think Chacin has a case too based on his last two seasons and stellar work in the postseason.

 

I'm a bit surprised that Shaw and Aguilar are on this list, especially Aguilar. Nice to see our guys get some recognition though.

[MrTPlush]

Aguilar at #62? Wow. Without checking out the entire list I would probably take almost the rest of the Top 100 behind him easily instead of him. He was woefully average in the 2nd half...actually for a average defense 1st baseman he was probably pretty bad for a contending team. His OPS was like .760 in the second half...

[coolhandluke121]

I like ESPN's list. I usually do. Their basketball list is usually really good too. I think Hader deserves to be the top reliever, and I'm glad they're picky about relievers. I'd leave Knebel off too, at least for one more year. Cain is awfully low based on last year, but I can see why they would be skeptical of a player with his skill set being able to put up another career year at his age. He legged out a lot of infield singles that could have gone either way. Yelich is fair. Do we really expect him to be better than Lindor, Altuve, Goldschmidt, and Harper on a regular basis? Putting him ahead of those guys is adequate recognition for the year he had.

 

I would consider Shaw but I don't think he has much of a complaint. Aguilar has none IMO, and I can't see how MLB.com would put him at 62. Just too easy to find a solid slugger at 1B. Grandal is a little low on both lists IMO. He has a chance to mash in his new home park, and he's a catcher.

[HiAndTight]

#56 would be the top 8% of 25-man rosters. That sounds about right to me. Honestly, Yelich strikes me more. Reigning 27 y/o MVP who probably hasn't plateaued. I doubt he'd be #7 in BOS/NY/LA.

 

 

I actually think they ranked him pretty fairly.

 

Trout and Betts are obviously ahead of him.

 

Bregman I think being ahead of him is ridiculous. Hell, I'd put Atuve ahead of him personally, but not Bregman. He's a guy who had a bit of a down year last year and was injured and put up a 5.2 WAR.

 

So maybe he could be 6th, but since you have to have pitchers in there, Scherzer and Degrom are hardly insults to rank ahead of him and Arenado is one of the most under the radar superstars I've ever seen in sports. I get he plays in Coors, but his defense is just absurd, and maybe my memory is bad, but I thought from his splits that he performed almost as well away as he did at home.

 

 

The one controversial one I MIGHT throw in there is Machado. I don't like the guy, but being back at 3rd with his bat and at his age, he could very well be ahead of Yelich next year through no fault of Yelich. Just the result of not being an elite defensive OF'er and some other really-really great players.

 

Now if Aaron Judge was rated ahead of him....I'd have some issues!

[ThisIsMyCrew]

ESPN has Brewers at #5 in their Opening Day Power Rankinga

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

ESPN has Brewers at #5 in their Opening Day Power Rankinga

 

One spot ahead of the Cubs, but the Cubs are projected to win 4 more games. Hmm ... new math is complicated.

[HiAndTight]

ESPN has Brewers at #5 in their Opening Day Power Rankinga

 

One spot ahead of the Cubs, but the Cubs are projected to win 4 more games. Hmm ... new math is complicated.

 

 

Well, power rankings are now and always have been subjective. But just the loss of Knebel and Jeffress the past week+ would make up for those 4 wins.

 

 

And frankly, just based on projetions, I would think the Cubs would be projected to have an even wider margin. The Brewers seem to be more than the sum of their parts. If I'm a Cubs fan, I'm really upset my team isn't going after Kimbrel. You gave up what looks like at least 2 future superstars to add Chapman and Quintana, so you're willing to give up a massive amount of value in terms of personell, but you're not in on the best pitcher at the area you have the biggest need?

 

If the Brewers can afford 150 million, the Cubs should easily be able to afford far more than 250 million in payroll with the luxury tax hit that brings.

 

 

Speaking of those trades, I remember at the time being almost happy that the Cubs gave up what they did to get Quintana, but man, that loosk so much better from a Brewers fans perspective today. A Vlad Jr. caliber prospect who is going to be hitting .300, jacking 30 with a nice OBP and a low K rate for 6 years after the Cubs part ways with Quintana Then throw in a potential future ace in Dylan Cease? And then there's the Yankees trade...which won them a WS, but the two together may have cost them a dynasty. Imagine what they'd look like right now with Torres, Jimenez, Cease and all the rest of those guys? They'd be like the Padres with their young talent on top of a team that won 95 games.

 

 

Sorry, kinda got off on my own happy tangent there.

[MrTPlush]

All I care about is the November Power Ranking with a big picture plastered of Braun hoisting the trophy on the thumbnail.

[wildcat83]

Power rankings usually don't line up with the teams record, although pre-season with win projections you would think would...

 

CBS sports has the Brewers at #9 with the Cubs and Cards both ahead of them. Going to be a brutal division this year. Hopefully we can get healthy and survive the opening stretch of tough games.

[wildcat83]

ESPN has the Phillies ranked behind the Nationals, which is odd to me. I wasn't a fan of the Harper signing for Philly, but I actually thought acquiring Realmuto was one of the key moves of the off season. I know Washington still has a chance to be pretty good, but that Philly roster is deeper IMO. These rankings pre-season are pretty much off paper, and on paper Philly seems better.