RotoWire Roundtable: Latest 350 (Part 2)

These rankings were assembled for 12-team, 5x5 mixed leagues that start two catchers per team (thus there is a positional scarcity component added for catchers). We used five rankers: Jeff Erickson, Derek VanRiper, Michael Rusignola, Bernie Pleskoff and Kevin Payne. The rankings were provided completely blinded - none of the rankers saw any of the other rankings before the publication of this article. For more background on how to use these rankings, see the introduction to last month's update.

Upgrades since February

First, we'll go through a couple of players who have been upgraded since our February update.

- Ryan Braun (OF) - March Rank: 3; February Rank: 46.
- Jhoulys Chacin (SP) - March Rank: 196; February Rank: 314.
- Javy Guerra (CL) - March Rank: 274; February Rank: 348.
- Lucas Duda (OF) - March Rank: 197; February Rank: 261.
- Luke Hochevar (SP) - March Rank: 273; February Rank: 333.
- Justin Smoak (1B) - March Rank: 261; February Rank: 327.
- Jason Kubel (OF) - March Rank: 177; February Rank: 228.
- Jordan Zimmermann (SP) - March Rank: 133; February Rank: 168.
- Brandon Belt (1B) - March Rank: 215; February Rank: 265.
- Yu Darvish (SP) - March Rank: 83; February Rank: 109.

Those who drafted Ryan Braun in the fourth round a month ago are happy their optimism was rewarded. Ever since Braun won his appeal, he has been going in the top-5, peaking out in some cases as high as number one (we put him in the 3-6 range). Our rankers appear to have had a change of heart on Jhoulys Chacin since February:  Chacin's high strikeout and groundball rates should play well in Coors as he continues to mature. Javy Guerra will open the season as the Dodgers' closer (hence the uptick in his rankings) but he remains a risky play. Look for more growth from Lucas Duda. The starting right field job will be his come Opening Day, and he should find himself hitting near Ike Davis in the heart of the Mets' lineup. Former top pick Luke Hochevar had good second-half numbers in 2011, and is in a good park to take advantage of any possible breakout.

Justin Smoak was on a 30 HR, 100 RBI pace through 65 games last season before injuries and illness caught up to him. First base really thins out quickly and Smoak has the pedigree to impress if it all clicks. Jason Kubel will be playing in an outstanding hitter's park, and the increase in playing time he is expecting to see will only elevate his value. Jordan Zimmermann should see the strikeout rate inch up this year, and with the addition of Gio Gonzalez, he should have more favorable matchups pitching against most other teams' #3. Given how desperate the Giants were to score runs last year, Brandon Belt wasn't given a fair shake in 2011. He'll get more opportunities to play this season, and that should translate into bankable numbers. Yu Darvish brings the best arsenal of any pitcher we've seen come over from Asia and there's reason to think that he'll rack up a ton of strikeouts and wins, with the added advantage of hitters having little information about him in his first year. The Rangers know pitching and they know Japan (see: Lewis, Colby).

Downgrades since February

Here are the players who have seen their ranking fall since February.

- Chris Perez (CL) - March Rank: 264; February Rank: 217.
- Matt Capps (CL) - March Rank: 324; February Rank: 272.
- Tim Hudson (SP) - March Rank: 168; February Rank: 132.
- Stephen Drew (SS) - March Rank: 221; February Rank: 178.
- Roy Oswalt (SP) - March Rank: NR; February Rank: 224.
- Nick Markakis (OF) - March Rank: 135; February Rank: 107.
- Torii Hunter (OF) - March Rank: 188; February Rank: 156.

Chris Perez has not pitched yet this spring and his back issues could linger on into the season. Matt Capps's high ERA and low strikeout rate continue to hurt him in the rankings when compared to other, more steady closers. Tim Hudson has just started throwing off the mound, his first work since coming off back surgery. While he has an unofficial return date of May 1, there's a lot that needs to happen between now and then for that to become a reality. Speaking of injuries, the news over the past few weeks for Stephen Drew hasn't been very optimistic, and now there are reports that he won't be ready for Opening Day. It's hard to imagine that once Drew returns he'll play every game and with that concern comes a bigger drop in his value. Roy Oswalt still may sign at some point this season but he isn't going to sign now. His agent is comparing Oswalt's situation to Pedro Martinez's in 2009, where Pedro only pitched 45 innings. A lot of Nick Markakis's value lies in his reliability - both in terms of repeatable batting average and in durability. Both of those factors are in question this year. He might be back by Opening Day, but he's at risk to miss more time during the first month of the season. Torii Hunter is in the final year of a five-year contract, and with cheaper, younger and talented players waiting in the wings, he may be squeezed out of some playing time. He is not a reliable source of stolen bases any longer, having been caught more times than he's been successful on the basepaths in each of the last two seasons.

And on with...

The List (Pt. 2 - 176-350); (Part 1 - 1-176)

NR = Not Ranked
Abst = Abstained from Ranking

Players with the same median were ranked secondarily by their average ranking. Players who were not ranked were assigned a ranking of 391.5 (the midpoint between 351 and 432, the total number of ranked players) for the purpose of computing the median and average.