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It's never too early to prepare for the 2007 fantasy baseball season! So many things can change between now and next opening day, but in order to give you a head start on your research, here are my early shortstop rankings, each of the top 25 at the position:

(Catchers, first basemen and second basemen have already appeared, and I'll cover a new position each week of the offseason.)

1. Jose Reyes, Mets: Normally I'm not one to build my fantasy team around stolen-base specialists, and Reyes, the first player to swipe 60-plus bases in back-to-back seasons since Marquis Grissom in 1991-92, is indeed one of the most talented. But Reyes is so much more than just a speedster; he's quite a talented hitter, too, falling only one home run and three triples short of joining Willie Mays (1957) as the only players in history with at least 20 doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases. Plus, there's reason to believe Reyes isn't done growing yet as a hitter. He's only 23, short of a player's typical power prime, and he nearly doubled his walk output in 2006, once considered a weak area. Reyes should easily challenge those totals again in 2007, and that makes him a bona fide first-round pick.

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