USA Today has provided a list ranking Major League players at their given position. All of the positions are listed except for Catcher; I will provide a link when that becomes available. The rankings are listed by position, not league, so this is a true ranking of players in the eyes of USA Today. Some of the rankings are very interesting with Derrek Lee ranked 1st among first basemen, above Albert Pujols. There are many current and former Cubs in the rankings.
Here are the links to all of USA Today’s position-by-position rankings….
First Base – Derrek Lee beat out NL MVP Albert Pujols for the number one ranking. The report has very good things to say about DLee.
Second Base – Todd Walker is ranked 24th and former Cub Mark Grudzielanek is ranked 15th.
Third Base – Aramis Ramirez finished 4th and former Cubs Bill Mueller is number 18 and Nomar Garciaparra is ranked 25th.
Shortstop – Neifi Perez is ranked 18th.
Left Field – There are three former Cubs on the list: Luis Gonzalez is 12th, Moises Alou is 13th and Rondell White is 20th. Matt Murton is listed under “Who’s Next”.
Centerfield – Juan Pierre is ranked 19th and two former Cubs made the list. Gary Matthews, Jr. is listed at number 16 and Kenny Lofton is ranked 20th.
Right Field – New Cub Jacque Jones is ranked 18th and former Cub Jeromy Burnitz is ranked 19th.
Relief Pitchers – The relief pitchers category was broken into Closers and Non-Closers. Ryan Dempster is listed 21st and former Cubs Kyle Farnsworth ranked 15th and David Weathers is ranked 22nd. On the Non-Closers list new Cubs Bobby Howry is ranked number 1 and Scott Eyre is ranked 10th. Will Ohman made the list at number 25. Former Cub Tom Gordon is ranked 5th.
Starting Pitchers – There are three current Cubs in the list: Carlos Zambrano is ranked 9th, Mark Prior is ranked 18th and Greg Maddux is ranked 49th. Kerry Wood is mentioned in ‘What Could Have Been’. Four former Cubs made the list: Dontrelle Willis is ranked 2nd, Jon Garland is ranked 20th, Jon Lieber is ranked 35th and Matt Clement is ranked 48th.
Fantasy Baseball players should take notes….