2012 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: The Big Board

Author:
Braden Gall
Mar 20, 2012 10:00 AM EDT

In this story:

Believe it or not, but the 2012 MLB season gets started in a little more than a week when Oakland and Seattle start a two-game series in Tokoyo.

Granted, the "official" Opening Day isn't until April 5, but regardless of your preference, there's no time better than the present for an updated Fantasy Baseball Big Board.

And this time around, it's an even bigger Big Board as Athlon Sports has combined nine fantasy baseball big boards from around the web and added 50 more spots to its consensus fantasy baseball Big Board, which now numbers 200, to help you get ready for this upcomnig season (with special thanks to FantasyRundown.com).

Not suprisingly, as spring training has gone on, different players' rankings across the board have gone up and down as teams' rosters are beginning to take shape on and off the fields in both Arizona and Florida.

As far as the updated Big Board, those changes start at the top. Reigning National League MVP Ryan Braun had his pending 50-game suspension for violation of the league's drug policy overturned on Feb. 24.

Now that it's clear Braun will be eligible to play, if healthy, a full 162-game schedule, it's no surprise that he has soared up the Big Board. Coming in at No. 71 on the consenus Big Board on Feb. 10, Braun is ranked No. 1 overall according to RotoSummit.com, making him one of four players, along with Miguel Cabrera, Matt Kemp and Albert Pujols, who received a first-place vote among the nine different sources used to compile Athlon's Big Board.

Taking all nine sources into account, Cabrera takes the No. 1 position on the updated Big Board, edging out Pujols for that distinction. Kemp, who finished second to Braun in the NL MVP voting last year, comes in third, followed by Braun.

Some of the other big risers among the consensus Top 200 include Joel Hanrahan (No. 125, up from No. 144), Andre Ethier (No. 130, up from No. 150), Martin Prado (No. 140, up from No. 157), Melky Cabrera (No. 143, up from No. 165), Rafael Betancourt (No. 153, up from No. 182), Gaby Sanchez (No. 158, up from No. 183), David Freese (No. 166, up from 198) and Carlos Lee (No. 172, up from No. 200),

On the other hand, several players' Big Board rankings dropped with some of the biggest fallers including the likes of Carl Crawford (No. 84, down from No. 67), Corey Hart (No. 104, down from No. 93), Nick Markakis (No. 117, down from 104), Ryan Howard (no. 160, down from No. 118), Ike Davis (No. 161, down from 137), Justin Morneau (No. 165, down from No. 153), Tim Hudson (No. 168, down from No. 133), and Ervin Santana (No. 184, down from No. 152).

And while not necessarily reflected in these Big Board rankings, two other injury situations that bear watching are David Wright, who has been limited by a torn abdominal muscle in his left side, and Chase Utley, who is dealing with issues in both of his knees. Wright has said he will be ready by Opening Day, while Utley's availability for the Phillies' opener on April 5 is questionable at best.

Several players also are making their debut on Athlon's consensus Big Board, including Coco Crisp, Angel Pagan, Delmon Young, Brandon Morrow, Brandon McCarthy and Huston Street, to name few.

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LR — Last Ranked, where player was ranked on Athlon Sports' consensus Big Board that was published on Feb. 20, 2012
NR — Not Ranked, means player did not appear on Athlon Sports' consensus Big Board that was published on Feb. 20, 2012

AS – Athlon Sports (updated 3/19/12)
CBS – CBSSportsline.com (as of 3/16/12)
ESPN – (updated 3/13/12)
FOX – FOXSports.com (updated 3/7/12)
MLB – MLB.com (as of 3/15/12)
RC – RotoChamp.com (updated 3/18/12)
RS – RotoSummit.com (updated 2/27/12)
USA — USAToday.com (updated 2/13/12)
Y! – Yahoo! Sports (updated 2/24/12)*

*Yahoo! ranked only 120 players on their list, while Athlon's Big Board contains 200. The aggregated scores of the other eight big boards were used to extrapolate Yahoo!’s rankings to 200 players.

Athlon Sports Fantasy Rankings**: Big Board | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP

**Positional rankings will be updated beginning later this week


	LR	Player	Team	Pos	AS	CBS	ESPN	FOX	MLB	RC	RS	USA	Y!
1	3	Miguel Cabera	DET	1B	2	1	1	4	4	1	4	3	1
2	1	Albert Pujols	LAA	1B	1	3	2	3	2	3	3	4	3
3	2	Matt Kemp	LAD	OF	6	4	3	1	1	4	2	1	2
4	71	Ryan Braun	MIL	OF	5	5	4	8	5	2	1	2	6
5	4	Jose Bautista	TOR	3B/OF	11	2	5	6	3	6	5	5	5
6	5	Troy Tulowitzki	COL	SS	4	9	6	5	6	15	8	6	4
7	8	Robinson Cano	NYY	2B	3	16	7	10	10	13	7	8	8
8	6	Jacoby Ellsbury	BOS	OF	19	8	8	2	8	9	6	12	12
9	7	Joey Votto	CIN	1B	16	12	10	12	9	5	9	10	7
10	9	Adrian Gonzalez	BOS	1B	7	13	14	7	11	11	13	9	9
11	10	Justin Upton	ARI	OF	14	18	9	14	7	21	10	11	10
12	14	Carlos Gonzalez	COL	OF	12	19	16	18	15	12	11	16	11
13	12	Roy Halladay	PHI	SP	10	6	12	19	23	10	12	22	18
14	11	Clayton Kershaw	LAD	SP	9	7	20	13	19	8	22	21	15
15	15	Dustin Pedroia	BOS	2B	13	14	15	11	21	16	14	19	17
16	13	Justin Verlander	DET	SP	8	10	17	17	22	17	21	17	16
17	16	Prince Fielder	DET	1B	17	26	18	15	12	7	18	18	14
18	17	Evan Longoria	TB	3B	33	20	11	16	17	19	16	7	13
19	20	Hanley Ramirez	MIA	SS	27	29	13	9	16	34	15	13	21
20	19	Cliff Lee	PHI	SP	20	11	22	21	27	14	24	26	24
21	18	Curtis Granderson	NYY	OF	38	15	23	22	13	23	17	20	22
22	22	Ian Kinsler	TEX	2B	28	30	19	26	14	35	20	15	20
23	21	Mark Teixeira	NYY	1B	22	33	24	23	24	18	27	31	23
24	24	Jose Reyes	MIA	SS	18	32	21	31	18	61	19	14	19
25	23	Felix Hernandez	SEA	SP	24	21	28	28	28	31	32	35	30
26	25	Andrew McCutchen	PIT	OF	40	38	26	20	26	29	28	30	27
27	26	Jered Weaver	LAA	SP	15	25	31	38	33	25	39	45	35
28	30	Adrian Beltre	TEX	3B	31	37	27	34	29	53	23	29	26
29	28	Tim Lincecum	SF	SP	25	27	32	32	30	51	42	32	28
30	32	Josh Hamilton	TEX	OF	26	46	40	35	36	49	25	27	34
31	31	CC Sabathia	NYY	SP	67	22	43	25	38	28	31	33	31
32	34	Giancarlo Stanton	MIA	OF	83	68	25	33	25	22	30	25	25
33	27	Cole Hamels	PHI	SP	23	24	39	40	31	46	36	66	32
34	29	David Wright	NYM	3B	73	23	29	24	20	91	26	23	29
35	36	Ryan Zimmerman	WAS	3B	29	42	34	42	32	60	47	24	33
36	33	Carlos Santana	CLE	C/1B	52	17	52	30	35	32	46	40	41
37	39	Matt Holliday	STL	OF	42	57	30	36	65	45	33	28	36
38	38	Mike Napoli	TOR	C/1B	57	43	47	27	39	30	41	36	53
39	48	Pablo Sandoval	SF	3B	34	54	33	44	68	27	38	69	39
40	40	Hunter Pence	HOU	OF	45	77	37	66	56	24	29	34	44
41	37	Dan Haren	LAA	SP	47	31	41	61	41	65	34	46	49
42	35	David Price	TB	SP	21	34	53	48	47	56	54	53	50
43	41	Zack Greinke	MIL	SP	66	28	48	57	46	55	50	44	40
44	44	Brian McCann	ATL	C	48	41	69	46	43	47	44	39	83
45	43	Starlin Castro	CHC	SS	44	79	57	63	42	59	37	43	38
46	42	Paul Konerko	CHW	1B	70	97	36	37	40	38	35	65	47
47	47	Jay Bruce	CIN	OF	63	90	38	62	34	40	55	38	51
48	56	Brett Lawrie	TOR	3B	71	55	46	67	44	33	63	71	45
49	45	Craig Kimbrel	ATL	RP	30	39	62	75	52	57	65	63	56
50	52	Ben Zobrist	TB	2B/OF	93	72	51	41	45	64	43	51	52
51	46	Matt Cain	SF	SP	37	70	61	73	48	36	59	77	54
52	49	Eric Hosmer	KC	1B	41	106	45	39	74	43	40	60	68
53	59	Brandon Phillips	CIN	2B	39	101	54	49	49	71	52	47	55
54	54	Nelson Cruz	TEX	OF	94	76	44	56	37	95	48	37	37
55	57	Dan Uggla	ATL	2B	100	103	42	52	64	50	45	55	48
56	50	Jon Lester	BOS	SP	49	50	56	55	61	98	78	62	58
57	51	Elvis Andrus	TEX	SS	64	108	60	60	63	92	49	41	42
58	55	Stephen Strasburg	WAS	SP	35	58	75	84	81	20	68	108	57
59	53	Michael Young	TEX	1B/2B/3B	74	56	95	43	101	26	57	75	61
60	60	Yovani Gallardo	MIL	SP	54	40	65	85	58	90	92	48	59
61	65	Michael Bourn	HOU	OF	80	74	35	72	87	84	51	42	67
62	61	Alex Rodriguez	NYY	3B	98	66	67	50	53	83	72	58	46
63	68	Shin-Soo Choo	CLE	OF	51	75	77	80	85	58	64	49	63
64	58	Desmond Jennings	TB	OF	99	85	104	68	50	54	61	50	43
65	69	Alex Gordon	KC	OF	82	87	50	81	60	73	66	59	66
66	77	Shane Victorino	PHI	OF	102	69	55	65	79	78	58	56	65
67	73	Buster Posey	SF	C	62	52	127	51	75	44	87	61	75
68	62	James Sheilds	TB	SP	76	36	64	78	72	103	62	72	81
69	72	Kevin Youkilis	BOS	1B/3B	58	45	98	59	77	105	76	68	60
70	79	Michael Morse	WAS	1B/OF	103	83	71	53	82	42	70	83	62
71	66	Asdrubal Cabrera	CLE	SS	97	86	63	47	54	97	56	92	64
72	75	Madison Bumgarner	SF	SP	46	49	79	94	67	72	88	87	80
73	70	C.J. Wilson	LAA	SP	101	61	68	70	51	69	75	80	88
74	74	Aramis Ramirez	MIL	3B	89	107	58	64	86	62	73	57	74
75	64	Rickie Weeks	MIL	2B	95	95	83	45	55	96	67	54	84
76	80	Jonathan Papelbon	PHI	RP	32	112	87	74	71	82	79	73	77
77	76	Joe Mauer	MIN	C/1B	43	48	131	58	66	77	85	93	95
78	63	Ian Kennedy	ARI	SP	90	35	72	86	76	70	69	122	79
79	78	Mariano Rivera	NYY	RP	56	110	73	88	57	85	82	84	76
80	84	B.J. Upton	TB	OF	106	99	80	82	73	87	60	64	69
81	81	Jimmy Rollins	PHI	SS	104	102	49	54	69	146	53	76	73
82	86	Matt Wieters	BAL	C	60	65	84	69	88	106	93	74	90
83	87	Lance Berkman	STL	1B/OF	105	78	59	77	96	52	77	99	86
84	67	Carl Crawford	BOS	OF	79	67	70	29	59	-	71	52	103
85	88	John Axford	MIL	RP	36	92	93	108	70	127	96	82	78
86	94	David Ortiz	BOS	DH	72	91	66	100	122	41	114	70	121
87	92	Adam Jones	BAL	OF	86	117	78	102	110	63	83	88	89
88	91	Mat Latos	CIN	SP	111	47	94	103	62	104	84	119	100
89	83	Chase Utley	PHI	2B	68	100	76	71	98	-	74	67	71
90	90	Howard Kendrick	LAA	1B/2B/OF	85	119	118	79	84	88	91	101	72
91	89	Drew Storen	WAS	RP	50	93	89	96	78	141	107	110	82
92	82	Tommy Hanson	ATL	SP	77	62	116	131	80	68	86	142	97
93	95	Josh Johnson	MIA	SP	53	59	128	124	91	66	108	132	101
94	96	Daniel Hudson	ARI	SP	109	63	85	109	89	116	99	94	102
95	85	Michael Pineda	NYY	SP	91	60	96	116	105	74	101	116	116
96	97	Miguel Montero	ARI	C	69	53	117	125	113	86	103	89	122
97	103	Matt Garza	CHI	SP	114	71	101	119	93	107	109	86	104
98	98	Billy Butler	KC	1B	55	111	102	129	153	37	121	85	123
99	101	Brett Gardner	NYY	OF	110	109	90	105	104	124	89	78	107
100	110	Adam Wainwright	STL	SP	78	64	97	143	126	89	100	134	99
101	99	Ricky Romero	TOR	SP	65	82	81	90	118	134	113	127	124
102	106	Chris Young	ARI	OF	117	88	107	110	116	93	81	98	125
103	102	Drew Stubbs	CIN	OF	113	129	112	87	95	136	102	79	92
104	93	Corey Hart	MIL	OF	107	89	100	97	176	114	80	96	93
105	108	Ichiro Suzuki	SEA	OF	116	84	88	120	121	129	90	106	106
106	115	Jayson Werth	WAS	OF	121	140	82	98	94	113	104	100	114
107	100	Josh Beckett	BOS	SP	75	51	108	121	107	145	119	128	126
108	119	Alex Avila	DET	C	122	44	121	99	120	130	126	91	127
109	107	Freddie Freeman	ATL	1B	81	147	120	76	143	81	127	97	115
110	112	Matt Moore	TB	RP	115	104	74	221	140	79	95	130	91
111	105	Yu Darvish	TEX	SP	108	80	124	186	148	76	105	129	87
112	120	Michael Cuddyer	COL	1B/2B/OF	96	152	92	123	156	139	98	121	70
113	114	Jason Heyward	ATL	OF	119	153	109	92	106	182	111	102	85
114	109	Brian Wilson	SF	RP	84	133	106	122	92	189	106	118	112
115	113	Mark Reynolds	BAL	1B/3B	120	98	156	107	111	101	123	124	128
116	121	Derek Jeter	NYY	SS	125	118	113	101	97	-	94	105	118
117	104	Nick Markakis	BAL	OF	88	128	145	111	139	48	112	176	130
118	123	Alexei Ramirez	CHW	SS	127	138	86	89	123	131	116	145	129
119	117	Brandon Beachy	ATL	SP	123	81	123	137	132	80	137	165	110
120	116	Jose Valverde	DET	RP	61	154	125	117	90	171	124	120	131
121	111	Heath Bell	MIA	RP	92	94	148	151	83	165	117	139	108
122	127	Ryan Madson	CIN	RP	129	120	99	182	108	132	118	107	113
123	129	Dustin Ackley	SEA	2B	112	144	171	93	135	152	132	103	117
124	122	Chris Carpenter	STL	SP	132	136	103	114	100	-	97	159	133
125	144	Joel Hanrahan	PIT	RP	135	134	119	170	103	155	128	104	136
126	124	Gio Gonzalez	WAS	SP	118	73	132	115	160	-	125	161	109
127	139	Erick Aybar	LAA	SS	153	127	129	95	112	-	131	111	135
128	126	Jesus Montero	SEA	DH	126	124	188	206	142	39	110	135	132
129	130	Cameron Maybin	SD	OF	143	139	143	138	99	160	155	81	140
130	150	Andre Ethier	LAD	OF	137	130	140	127	174	100	166	109	120
131	132	Carlos Beltran	STL	OF	128	196	115	135	-	111	120	95	105
132	128	J.J. Putz	ARI	RP	149	113	142	145	102	120	130	168	138
133	141	J.J. Hardy	BAL	SS	140	168	111	91	129	191	170	90	134
134	135	Cory Luebke	SD	SP/RP	144	135	130	174	134	67	136	177	137
135	125	Emilio Bonifacio	MIA	SS/3B/OF	124	114	213	83	-	109	142	172	119
136	131	Jordan Zimmerman	WAS	SP	131	115	110	184	138	-	122	125	139
137	134	Anibal Sanchez	MIA	SP	134	96	137	173	137	125	133	191	141
138	147	Dee Gordon	LAD	SS	138	145	133	157	169	138	139	162	96
139	140	Andrew Bailey	BOS	RP	130	143	158	-	109	119	179	112	143
140	157	Martin Prado	ATL	3B/OF	152	122	168	128	150	115	162	157	150
141	149	Nick Swisher	NYY	1B/OF	163	170	150	146	115	137	158	114	153
142	143	Paul Goldschmidt	ARI	1B	136	-	182	150	117	126	192	113	98
143	165	Melky Cabrera	SF	OF	164	141	149	149	151	102	138	173	157
144	138	Johnny Cueto	CIN	SP	87	162	151	134	180	163	152	149	152
145	136	Adam Lind	TOR	1B	158	-	135	142	133	110	115	195	142
146	148	Neil Walker	PIT	2B	141	157	167	104	-	117	154	144	147
147	158	Ubaldo Jimanez	CLE	SP	151	121	105	141	158	-	140	174	144
148	142	Logan Morrison	MIA	OF	146	-	153	118	-	75	171	133	145
149	156	Jeff Francoeur	KC	OF	189	151	180	136	124	133	144	146	164
150	145	Shaun Marcum	MIL	SP	147	186	122	-	114	142	129	179	148
151	163	Jhonny Peralta	DET	SS	142	169	126	106	193	200	159	138	149
152	146	Jason Kipnis	CLE	2B	139	-	174	148	167	135	134	141	156
153	182	Rafael Betancourt	COL	RP	150	159	114	-	172	118	141	-	146
154	154	Torii Hunter	LAA	OF	172	-	146	159	198	94	149	131	154
155	160	Sergio Santos	TOR	RP	176	155	-	178	131	123	151	137	159
156	172	Jeremy Hellickson	TB	SP	160	164	91	165	164	-	161	156	158
157	151	Joakim Soria	KC	RP	196	142	152	169	119	187	135	160	162
158	183	Gaby Sanchez	MIA	1B	156	182	162	133	200	154	175	115	161
159	164	Ryan Roberts	ARI	2B/3B	162	123	165	112	192	162	189	180	155
160	118	Ryan Howard	PHI	1B	159	126	196	171	187	-	160	150	94
161	137	Ike Davis	NYM	1B	157	149	208	172	152	-	168	140	111
162	168	Danny Espinosa	WAS	2B	182	185	189	113	166	140	165	155	160
163	NR	Coco Crisp	OAK	OF	-	146	138	167	199	112	153	169	170
164	166	Doug Fister	DET	SP	174	175	144	196	163	108	148	-	163
165	153	Justin Morneau	MIN	1B	59	191	-	176	181	-	-	126	151
166	198	David Freese	STL	3B	145	192	194	160	145	169	-	117	167
167	186	Jemile Weeks	OAK	2B	165	131	-	180	-	156	145	147	177
168	133	Tim Hudson	ATL	SP	133	189	139	132	-	179	174	-	166
169	181	Jaime Garcia	STL	SP	199	163	154	139	179	144	180	183	180
170	188	Jason Motte	STL	RP	178	172	136	197	136	175	156	194	178
171	170	Jordan Walden	LAA	RP	-	171	163	163	125	183	143	-	173
172	200	Carlos Lee	HOU	1B/OF	161	-	-	147	-	150	183	123	175
173	173	Max Scherzer	DET	SP	190	188	134	185	130	-	178	171	169
174	180	Mike Moustakas	KC	3B	186	181	190	130	-	149	-	148	172
175	174	Carlos Marmol	CHC	RP	198	-	183	-	127	148	146	182	174
176	189	Austin Jackson	DET	OF	177	148	-	179	144	-	-	136	182
177	179	Joe Nathan	TEX	RP	-	156	-	195	128	181	164	170	184
178	193	Kelly Johnson	TOR	2B	-	161	175	164	141	199	157	-	188
179	169	Yadier Molina	STL	C	-	132	186	140	-	193	191	164	179
180	159	Neftali Feliz	TEX	RP	-	187	141	-	-	121	181	-	168
181	NR	Ted Lilly	LAD	SP	191	-	164	-	159	151	147	-	192
182	190	Kendrys Morales	LAA	1B	154	-	-	-	168	122	-	-	176
183	191	Hiroki Kuroda	NYY	SP	193	174	147	-	-	170	150	196	193
184	152	Ervin Santana	LAA	SP	148	-	161	156	-	-	176	187	197
185	NR	Angel Pagan	SF	OF	187	167	178	187	154	-	163	193	-
186	NR	Delmon Young	DET	OF	155	195	-	162	177	177	169	-	200
187	NR	Brandon Morrow	TOR	SP	-	176	170	154	161	-	198	175	-
188	162	Daniel Bard	BOS	RP	185	-	185	-	-	99	-	-	165
189	184	Wandy Rodriguez	HOU	SP	-	137	166	199	194	185	184	189	186
190	NR	Stephen Drew	ARI	SS	-	-	160	152	-	-	197	151	-
191	187	Matt Joyce	TB	OF	-	150	-	192	-	164	194	163	199
192	175	Carlos Quentin	SD	OF	194	-	-	126	-	-	-	166	183
193	197	Justin Masterson	CLE	SP	-	158	159	153	-	-	200	-	-
194	NR	Brandon McCarthy	OAK	SP	170	200	179	188	-	147	-	-	189
195	NR	Josh Willingham	MIN	OF	-	-	184	-	183	167	190	158	-
196	171	J.P. Arencibia	TOR	C	-	125	-	-	178	-	-	199	181
197	NR	Huston Street	COL	RP	-	-	176	-	157	186	167	-	-
198	204	Chris Sale	CHW	SP	183	-	177	-	-	143	199	-	187
199	211	Yunel Escobar	TOR	SS	192	183	200	161	-	-	-	153	-
200	161	Russell Martin	NYY	C	-	116	-	-	-	-	-	-	171

Next 25: Kyle Farnsworth (TB, RP), Brandon League (SEA, RP), Edwin Encarnacion (TOR, 3B), Peter Bourjos (LAA, OF), Jhoulys Chacin (COL, SP), Colby Lewis (TEX, SP), Lucas Duda (NYM, 1B/OF), Scott Baker (MIN, SP), Mark Trumbo (LAA, 1B/OF), Brandon Belt (SF, 1B/OF), Vance Worley (PHI, SP), Clay Buchholz (BOS, SP), Wilson Ramos (WAS, C), Marco Scutaro (COL, SS), Seth Smith (OAK, OF), Colby Rasmus (TOR, OF), Alex Rios (CHW, OF), Carlos Pena (TB, 1B), Matt Thornton (CHW, RP), Chase Headley (SD, 3B), Kenley Jansen (LAD, RP), Yoenis Cespedes (OAK, OF), Yonder Alonso (SD, OF), Derek Holland (TEX, SP), Geovany Soto (CHC, C)

— by Mark Ross, Updated on March 20, 2012

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