Everyone makes mistakes, but this seemed like a curious one. Baseball America's annual fantasy baseball guide featuring position-by-position player rankings evaluated 33 shortstops among the 30 major league teams — but no Pedro Florimon.
An e-mail was dispatched to Baseball America managing editor J.J. Cooper to point out the error. And his response illustrated just how problematic the Twins offense was in 2013, and projects to be in 2014:
The Florimon oversight was no oversight at all.
"His offense makes him a negative fantasy player," Cooper said. "If he gets 500 [at-bats], as we see it, his .210-.220 batting average will erase almost anything positive he gives a fantasy team in home runs or steals."
Ouch. The Twins play Florimon largely for his defense, of course, and they believe the stability he brought to the infield last year outweighs any shortcomings he might have at the plate, a calculation that is meaningless in the defense-doesn't-matter world of fantasy baseball.
But Florimon's was hardly the only spot in the Twins lineup that projects poorly for 2014. Coming off the franchise's worst run-producing season in 45 years, the anemic Twins offense remains largely undisturbed, only one month before spring training commences.
Past-their-prime hitters Kurt Suzuki, Jason Kubel and Jason Bartlett have been acquired on the fringes of the lineup, but the mainstays of the batting order return for 2014, and a glance at Baseball America's offensive rankings provides a sobering perspective on how the Twins offense measures up. (Again, the rankings are for fantasy games, which value batting average, home runs, RBI and stolen bases specifically, and do not penalize for strikeouts nor reward patience at the plate.)
Joe Mauer, in the magazine's estimation, rates seventh among catchers, the position he has abandoned in the wake of a concussion last August but for which he remains eligible in most leagues this year. That's a reflection of his relative lack of power over the past three years, an issue that might loom larger at his new position. Brian Dozier rates only 13th at second base, though the magazine describes him as a breakthrough candidate after hitting 18 home runs last year.
