Are you all ranked out yet? This was rankings week at ESPN.com fantasy, and we hope you enjoyed it. In Thursday's column I wrote about my mindset in ranking 340 players the first week of May for the rest of the season, now it's time to discuss some of the names I believe in more than others. Without further ado...
Brandon Webb, SP, Diamondbacks: I had Webb ranked first. No, not just first among starting pitchers, but first overall. I know, I know, it's very strange. It's totally unlike me. But when I sat down to rank these players on Monday, my theory was, who are going to be the most valuable players in fantasy the rest of the way? That Hanley Ramirez guy is pretty good. Nothing's wrong with Chase Utley. I had them second and third. In the preseason, I wouldn't draft a pitcher in the top five, but that's mainly because we never know for sure which pitchers are going to be the best. Oh sure, that Johan Santana fella is pretty good, but he won a grand total of 15 games last year. How did Chris Carpenter turn out last year? He was the No. 2 pitcher in drafts. See my point? With Webb, we can plainly see he's onto something special. Three days after I ranked Webb first overall, he went into the ninth inning Thursday against the Phillies having not allowed an earned run. Twenty wins isn't his ceiling, it's his basement this season.
You might be wondering, aren't I the fella who doesn't draft pitching early. Yep, I am. This isn't really a departure on my strategy, though. Pitching is crazy, unpredictable, it can drive you insane. In March, Ramirez, Utley, Alex Rodriguez and 10 batsmen are safer. They're still safe. Webb is on his way to numbers that will make a greater impact, however. Just about every year this decade, a starting pitcher has finished first on our Player Rater, from Pedro Martinez to Jason Schmidt to Chris Carpenter and Santana. It's Webb's turn now. By the way, not only did I rank Webb better than everyone else on the staff, but I did so also with Santana! Webb ended up with a composite rank of 8, and Webb was 13, a few spots after Jake Peavy. If I was drafting today, yes, I would take Webb over those guys.
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Eric Karabell
