Keeping it Real - Vol. 1

Just before keepers were due, I posted an article on this blog predicting everyone's keepers and then ranking them to determine who would have the best and worst. Now, more than six weeks into the season, I thought it would be fun to actually look at the performance of these keepers and see who made the right decisions and who got burned by the promise of another year of fantastic (or in some cases, decent) fantasy keeper production.

The Best

1. Miguel Cabrera - Oh my God he is so good, obviously a no brainer keeper but wow Perka hit the jackpot. (.387 - 34 - 11 - 47 - 1)

2. Carlos Gonzalez - Player tee purchase has been justified! He's the best at his position, a legit 30/30 threat, and damn he loves that cool rocky mountain air. (.301 - 36 - 10 - 27 - 8)

3. Clayton Kershaw - Maybe he didn't draft him, but Bart made the obvious choice to keep him, and he has been simply astounding, allowing no more than 3 ER in any start this season. ((5-2) - 0 - 72 - 1.35 - 0.82)

4. Adam Jones - The first 3 were obvious keepers, but Adam Jones wasn't, kudos to Greg for sticking to him over some other very tempting options. (.319 - 31 - 6 - 30 - 8)

5. Justin Upton - John has been all over this guy for 5 years now, and this may finally be the season where Upton puts it all together. (.280 - 33 - 14 - 28 - 3)

Honorable Mention: David Wright (.309 - 25 - 6 - 28 - 10), Mike Trout (.278 - 29 - 8 - 29 - 8), Robinson Cano (.296 - 26 - 13 - 32 - 2), Dustin Pedroia (.341 - 32 - 2 - 21 - 8), Felix Hernandez ((5-3) - 0 - 72 - 2.07 - 1.00), Andrew McCutchen (.281 - 31 - 6 - 23 - 9), Evan Longoria (.331 - 32 - 9 - 29 - 0), Joey Votto (.353 - 34 - 6 - 20 - 1), Troy Tulowitzki (.333 - 23 - 8 - 37 - 0), and Edwin Encarnacion (.255 - 25 - 12 - 34 - 2).

The Worst

*I'm leaving off those players who have played in less than 5 games due to injury. Although I will still mention them in the "worst" category for failing to stay healthy. These players include Hanley Ramirez (4 games played), Curtis Granderson (5 games played), and Jered Weaver (2 starts made).

1. Jason Heyward - Yes, as a friend, I pushed hard for Andy to keep him, and he's only played in 21 games and his numbers are terrible, but the first 17 games were before the appendectomy so there's a chance he turns it around soon. (.139 - 11 - 2 - 6 - 1) 

2. Giancarlo Stanton - Another keeper who's only played 20 games, but the numbers still look bad, and he's still on the DL, Dan's keepers certainly aren't pulling their weight, stay tuned...(.227 - 8 - 3 - 9 - 1)

3. David Price - What has happened to Mark's Cy Young Ace? Price has been lit up time after time this season, and was just placed on the DL to top it all off. ((1-4) - 0 - 49 - 5.24 - 1.44)

4. Josh Hamilton - You knew he would make an appearance on here, and unfortunately it's Andy's second keeper on this list (and we're not done either...), who knows what's going on with him. (.216 - 19 - 5 - 12 - 1)

5. Matt Cain - Bryan gets one of his starters on the best keepers list, and one of them on the worst keepers list, Cain has been up and down this season, but the downs heavily outweigh the ups. ((3-2) - 0 - 49 - 5.43 - 1.21)

Dishonorable Mention: Cole Hamels (Andy's third - (1-7) - 0 - 57 - 4.45 - 1.28), Tim Lincecum (Dan's second - (3-3) - 0 - 56 - 4.70 - 1.42), Michael Bourn (20 games played - 305 - 14 - 2 - 3 - 5) and Albert Pujols (.241 - 22 - 7 - 25 - 0, I know the numbers aren't THAT bad but come on! It's Albert Pujols!)

Overall Ranks

So who's keeper unit as a whole has performed the best this season? I've ranked them below using the ESPN Player Rater as a reference. One interesting point to keep in mind: if a team is ranked low on the keeper performance list, yet high in the standings, we can probably credit that manager with having a great draft, and vice versa. Of course there's the level of opponents and free agency factors involved that could make this statement inaccurate, but still, something to keep in mind.

1. Russ (Pre-season rank: 1) - Nailed this one in the preseason, nice work.

2. Greg (9) - Did not nail this one at all, swing and a miss.

3. Eddie (2) - Still considered by some to have the best keepers in the league.

4. Keeves (7) - As we already knew, Hernandez and McCutchen is one of this league's best pitcher/batter keeper duos

5. John (3) - How ironic, his most coveted keeper is the only one bringing him down this season.

6. Brad (6) - Ooo, saw this one coming too, middle of the pack keepers, but I bet he's glad he went Edwin over Holliday.

7. Pflanz (11) - Cue cocky "nobody believed in us!" facebook comment in 5...4...3...2...

8. Bryan (5) - Should have kept Cliff Lee (like I said!) or Yu Darvish... yeah I guess either of those guys would have been decent...

9. Mark (4) - They said it was only a legend, but beware the curse of A-Rod!!!

10. Richie (12) - A product of Dan and Andy's keepers sucking so bad, his aren't doing anything spectacular.

11. Dan (10) - He knew his keepers weren't that special, he thought those he drafted would be.

12. Andy (8) - The low level of keeper production definitely goes a long way to explain why he's in last.