Projected 2010 Starting Third Basemen and Their Benchwarmer Salaries

A bit of a motley crew. The first top dog who looks like a bargain, a lot of older guys on the way down, enigmas wrapped in riddles, and a zombie new guy in Oakland.

Updated 3/20/10 - Cantu sticking at 3B? Chone moves J Lopez, for now

*Note: Polanco, Tejeda and J Lopez are penciled in as their team's starting 3B, but will not qualify in BWB until they play 5 consecutive or 10 total games at 3B in 2010.

Team	Starter	2010 Salary	Career OPS	2009 OPS	Bang	Other Pos
NYY	Alex Rodriguez	4096	965	933	.235596
Atl	Chipper Jones	2354	947	818	.402294
SF	Pablo Sandoval	3286	924	943	.312659	1B
NYM	David Wright	4866	907	837	.186395
TB	Evan Longoria	4102	883	889	.215261
Cin	Scott Rolen	1731	868	766	.501444
ChC	Aramis Ramirez	2262	847	902	.374447
Ari	Mark Reynolds	3875	839	892	.216516	1B
StL	David Freese	100	837	837	8.370000	C, 1B
Mil	Casey McGehee	917	829	859	.904035	2B
Was	Ryan Zimmerman	4529	825	888	.182159
Bal	Miguel Tejada*	3938	810	798	.205688	SS
Tex	Michael Young	3281	798	892	.243219
Tor	Edwin Encarnacion	1071	790	729	.737628
LAD	Casey Blake	2202	788	832	.357856
Col	Ian Stewart	1194	783	785	.655779	2B, OF
Fla	Jorge Cantu	3341	780	788	.233463	1B
Bos	Adrian Beltre	2014	779	683	.386792
Phi	Placido Polanco*	3422	761	727	.222385	2B
Cle	Jhonny Peralta	3044	756	690	.248357	SS
ChW	Mark Teahen	1888	749	734	.396716	OF, 1B
KC	Alex Gordon	697	746	703	1.070301
Oak	Kevin Kouzmanoff	2076	743	722	.357900
SD	Chase Headley	1793	740	734	.412716	OF
Min	Brendan Harris	1104	720	672	.652174	SS, 2B
Hou	Pedro Feliz	2386	715	694	.299665
Sea	Jose C. Lopez*	3488	715	766	.204989	2B, 1B
Det	Brandon Inge	2301	699	720	.303781
Pit	Andy LaRoche	1250	666	731	.532800
LAA	Brandon Wood	120	535	559	4.458333	1B, SS

Randy Johnson @ Wrigley Field

Cheers to an incredible career.

Projected 2010 Starting Shortstops and Their Benchwarmer Salaries

Once again, one man stands alone at the top. Undoubtedly Desmond isn't as good as that number, but the salary means he is risk free. Noticing a few of the bigger gaps between career OPS and 2009 OPS leads to some questions: Was Jason Bartlett just lucky last year, or is he on the way up? J.J. Hardy: overmatched, or ready to rebound?

Updated 2/6/10 - Guzzie back at SS in Was, O-Cab takes over in Cin

Team	Starter	2010 Salary	Career OPS	2009 OPS	Bang	Other Pos
Fla	Hanley Ramirez	6604	917	954	.138855
NYY	Derek Jeter	5686	847	871	.148962
Col	Troy Tulowitzki	4000	831	930	.207750
Atl	Yunel Escobar	2025	801	812	.395556
NYM	Jose Reyes	1827	772	750	.422551
Ari	Stephen Drew	2330	771	748	.330901
Phi	Jimmy Rollins	4600	768	719	.166957
Cle	Asdrubal Cabrera	1661	766	799	.461168	2B
LAD	Rafael Furcal	2263	758	711	.334954
ChW	Alexei Ramirez	1726	755	723	.437428
Min	J.J. Hardy	1735	751	659	.432853
SF	Edgar Renteria	1452	746	635	.513774
TB	Jason Bartlett	1928	744	879	.385892
ChC	Ryan Theriot	2537	726	712	.286165
Hou	Jeff Keppinger	753	723	707	.960159	2B, 3B
Bos	Marco Scutaro	2609	721	789	.276351
Cin	Orlando Cabrera	3655	719	705	.196717
Oak	Clifton Pennington	271	719	760	2.653137
Mil	Alcides Escobar	147	710	701	4.829932
LAA	Erick Aybar	1465	707	776	.482594
StL	Brendan Ryan	806	706	740	.875931	2B
SD	Everth Cabrera	672	703	703	1.046131
Tex	Elvis Andrus	995	702	702	.705528
Was	Cristian Guzman	1882	693	696	.368225
KC	Yuniesky Betancourt	1373	689	639	.501821
Tor	Alex L. Gonzalez	779	689	769	.884467
Sea	Jack Wilson	907	684	654	.754135
Det	Adam A. Everett	654	648	613	.990826
Bal	Cesar Izturis	820	629	622	.767073
Pit	Ronny Cedeno	596	626	701	1.050336	2B, OF

Projected 2010 Starting Second Basemen and Their Benchwarmer Salaries

'Tis interesting that for each position list I've posted so far, there is exactly one player well above the rest, with a salary to match. Unique to the keystoners though is just how bad a hitter Nick Punto is compared to his peers, his PT and his "real" contract (Sorry, bitter Twins thoughts sneaking through). Didn't there used to be something at firenickpunto.com? Edit: O-Dog, YES!!!!

* Note: Beckham and Figgins are penciled in as their team's starting 2B, but will not qualify in BWB until they play 5 consecutive or 10 total games at 2B in 2010.

** Note: Sizemore has no MLB stats, but has a .824 lifetime minor league OPS, including .889 in 2009, split between AA and AAA.

Updated 3/20/10 - Chone appears ready for second, although they're still double-checking.

Team	Starter	2010 Salary	Career OPS	2009 OPS	Bang	Other Pos
Phi	Chase Utley	5693	902	905	.158440
Tex	Ian Kinsler	3333	827	814	.248125
Fla	Dan Uggla	3599	826	813	.229508
Bos	Dustin Pedroia	4712	825	819	.175085
NYY	Robinson Cano	4576	818	871	.178759
Atl	Martin Prado	1143	810	822	.708661	1B, 3B
ChW	Gordon Beckham*	903	808	808	.894795	3B
TB	Ben Zobrist	2110	805	948	.381517	OF, SS
ChC	Jeff Baker	483	782	810	1.619048	3B
Min	Orlando Hudson	2476	778	774	.314216
Ari	Kelly Johnson	1136	777	692	.683979
Bal	Brian Roberts	4293	776	807	.180759
Tor	Aaron Hill	4599	771	829	.167645
LAA	Howie Kendrick	1144	767	778	.670455
Mil	Rickie Weeks	654	767	857	1.172783
StL	Skip Schumaker	1604	755	757	.470698	OF
Sea	Chone Figgins*	3319	751	789	.226273	3B
SF	Freddy Sanchez	1689	751	742	.444642
Pit	Akinori Iwamura	1046	747	745	.714149
KC	Alberto Callapso	2308	746	813	.323224	3B
Cin	Brandon Phillips	3375	742	776	.219852
Oak	Mark Ellis	1330	740	708	.556391
NYM	Luis Castillo	1420	723	732	.509155
Was	Adam Kennedy	1509	721	758	.477800
LAD	Blake DeWitt	306	717	633	2.343137	3B, SS
Col	Clint Barmes	1650	714	734	.432727	SS
Hou	Kazuo Matsui	1221	712	659	.583129
Cle	Luis Valbuena	649	708	714	1.090909	SS
SD	David Eckstein	1279	706	657	.551994
Det	Scott Sizemore**	100	0	0	.000000

Benchwarmer Bob

Bob Lurtsema says Save the Vikes.

Joe Nathan Warms Up, 9/2/09

Familiar Metrodome sights: Nathan readying for the ninth, modern hairstyles and seats facing the wrong way for baseball. After Brian Duensing pitched the game of his life, striking out seven in seven shutout innings, and Jon Rauch tiptoed through the eighth, we saw an unfamiliar sight: Nathan shockingly and crushingly gave up four runs, including back-to-back HRs by Gordon Beckham and Paul Konerko.

Projected 2010 Starting First Basemen and Their Benchwarmer Salaries

If there's one thing I've learned after painstakingly reviewing teams' depth charts at catcher and first base, it's that the Mets stink. I'm adding a column to these tables each time.

updated 3/20/10 - Branyan in CLE? Sanchez in FLA?

*Note: Clement is penciled in as his team's starting 1B, but will not qualify in BWB until he plays 5 consecutive or 10 total games at 1B in 2010.

** 29 lifetime AB

Team	Starter	2010 Salary	Career OPS	Bang	Other Pos
StL	Albert Pujols	9874	1055	.106846
Col	Todd Helton	3350	994	.296716
Hou	Lance Berkman	3472	967	.278514
Phi	Ryan Howard	7973	961	.120532
Mil	Prince Fielder	7054	931	.131982
Det	Miguel Cabrera	6426	925	.143946
Cin	Joey Votto	2200	924	.420000
NYY	Mark Teixeira	7108	923	.129854
Was	Adam Dunn	4031	903	.224014
Bos	Kevin Youkilis	3621	878	.242474	3B
Fla	Gaby Sanchez**	100	874	8.740000
ChC	Derrek Lee	4966	873	.175795
SD	Adrian Gonzalez	5381	869	.161494
TB	Carlos Pena	2581	858	.332429
Atl	Troy Glaus	1053	856	.812915	3B
Min	Justin Morneau	3849	851	.221096
ChW	Paul Konerko	2953	843	.285472
LAA	Kendry Morales	3574	839	.234751
Ari	Adam LaRoche	2997	834	.278278
Cle	Russ Branyan	1213	822	.677659
Tor	Lyle Overbay	1821	812	.445909
SF	Aubrey Huff	2690	812	.301859
Bal	Garrett Atkins	1962	811	.413354	3B
LAD	James Loney	2997	806	.268936
KC	Billy Butler	3058	798	.260955
Tex	Chris Davis	1002	793	.791417
NYM	Daniel Murphy	1198	768	.641068	OF
Oak	Jake Fox	301	761	2.528239	3B, OF
Sea	Casey Kotchman	1217	742	.609696
Pit	Jeff Clement*	144	701	4.868056	C