For an explanation of this series, check out the the introduction courtesy of Dave Cameron.

I think it’s important to remember a couple of things here:

(A) The WAR estimates are kind of ballpark figures. As Cameron notes in his intro above, a 2.0 WAR projection should be considered nearly the same as a 2.5 WAR prediction.

(2) Each of these projected playing times have been researched as diligently possible, but there are bound to be mistakes. Things happen and things change, plus, I’m like a human, bro; chill out.

(D) The danger of ordinal rankings is that we intrinsically assume the distance between each point is the same or close to the same. That’s not always the case. The middle group is pretty similar with lots of gray area. The top 10 or 12 are pretty much on a much higher tier that the following 18 or so. ALSO: Keep in mind: These rankings: They are not about long-term quality, just 2012.

Without any more of this ado, here’s the 2012 Shortstop Positional Power Rankings:
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For an explanation of this series, go ahead and read the introduction. All the posts in the series can be found here.

We’re going to continue our positional power rankings series by focusing on the keystone. While playing time for some teams were relatively easy to figure, there were more than a few teams that have serious question marks at second. As Eric Seidman explained yesterday, the goal here is to determine how much value the position will produce. So while you will see Michael Young make an appearance on this list, his WAR only reflects his value at second base. Enough talking, let’s do this.

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For an explanation of this series, go ahead and read the introduction. All the posts in the series can be found here.

First base, unsurprisingly, has the best hitters out of all the positions in baseball, although what separates the very first basemen according to the ZiPS and Fan projections is fielding. Obviously, the “true talent” side of things is not my work, I just adjusted playing time and depth charts, prorated, and so on. Just a couple of notes before we get started. Obviously, this a more of a subjective exercise, as I am not a doctor who can tell you want is going to happen with player injuries with any expertise. More importantly, I am not a mind reader who can say how a certain manager will react if his young first basement has a nasty slump in June. I view this charts sort of like subjective versions of projectinos — I am simply trying to reduce the error. by listing potential players who might play at the positions and rough playing time amounts. I have no doubt that there will be some things in here that look pretty silly in retrospect, and perhaps even now. With that out of the way, let’s get to the rankings.

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For an explanation of this series, go ahead and read the introduction. All the posts in the series can be found here.

We’re going to kick off the series with a look at how teams fare behind the plate. The catcher position is one of the most important on a team, and it’s unfortunately one of the toughest to evaluate given our limitations in measuring defensive value. Ranking teams at the position proved interesting since some of the best overall players who happen to catch are not going to derive their entire value from behind the plate. Mike Napoli might tally 5 WAR this season, but how much of that comes from time spent DH’ing or at first base? Teams also get boosts from having solid backups, as the goal here isn’t to rank the 30 starters, but to determine how much overall value is expected out of the position itself.

30. Los Angeles Dodgers
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Now that it’s March, you’re going to see a lot of different Season Previews popping up around the web. Some of these will go team by team, others will go division by division, and a few others will just talk about the expected contenders while giving short shrift to those who might not be ready to win just quite yet. We wanted to do something a little different, however, so starting today, we’re going position by position around the league, and comparing the relative merits of each team’s options at each spot on the field for 2012. This is only looking at the upcoming season and doesn’t account for potential long term value – we’re just concerned with what each team may get from a given spot on the field this year.

We’re going to kick it off this afternoon with catchers and first baseman, and we’ll do a couple posts per day until we get through the starters and relievers on Friday. The goal is that, by the end of the week, we will have provided a look at where each team is strong or weak, and what kind of performance a team can expect to get from their current in-house options.

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