When I started this series, I said, “With that in mind, I also don’t want this to become stale.” Ten days later, it has. Due to this, I plan on keeping things much shorter from now on.

Impact Shortstops to Be Traded

Michael Young would be here, but he has a no-trade clause in his contract. Can you believe that he’s scheduled to make $16M every year from 2009 to 2013?

Contenders Needing a Shortstop

As I mentioned in my last article about the second base market, the Cubs should go after Mark Ellis instead of Brian Roberts as has been rumored. Without making a move, their best options up the middle are Mark DeRosa and Ronny Cedeno. With Roberts, they could move DeRosa over to short, but I think a duo of Ellis at short and DeRosa at second would be a better solution. Whether or not Oakland will give up Ellis in a trade is a different story, but I think they should.

Next Year’s Free Agents

The Dodgers should try to extend Rafael Furcal. Sure, they’ve got a major-league shortstop in the minors with Chin-Lung Hu, but they’ve also got a second base spot opening up after the season with Jeff Kent’s free agency. One of them can move over to second, and Furcal is the type of guy worth an extension.

David Eckstein, Juan Uribe, and Orlando Cabrera are also free agents following the year, but none are worth worrying about before the season ends. Eckstein wasn’t worth a multi-year deal two months ago, and nothing’s changed since. The same can be said about Uribe three months ago. As for Cabrera, he’s a good player when he keeps his batting average up, but when it drops like it did in 2004 and 2005, he’s a below average shortstop. That’s not the type of guy that gets a new deal before his contract expires.

Pre-Free Agent Stars

Obviously, Hanley Ramirez deserves a contract similar, yet more lucrative, than the 4-year, $23.5M contract Jose Reyes got in August 2006, but something tells me that the Florida Marlins aren’t about to fork out anything more than they have to pay him in 2008.

J.J. Hardy will be a free agent following the 2010 season, and he has exchanged arbitration figures with the Brewers ($3.05M/$2.4M) for this year. Until he proves that he can stay healthy and productive for consecutive seasons, I wouldn’t worry about locking up his future. If he can put together anything resembling his 2007 in 2008, it will be time to open the check book for a three-year deal.

Recap

Michael Young has a surprising amount of guaranteed money coming his way. The Cubs need to improve their shortstop, and Mark Ellis is the guy for the job. Rafael Furcal and Hanley Ramirez deserve a contract extension, but J.J. Hardy needs to prove himself one more time. David Eckstein, Juan Uribe, and Orlando Cabrera should all become free agents before they sign their next contract.

Standard Information (Yahoo! Defaults)
12-Team, 5x5, Mixed League
Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OF, U, 2 SP, 2 RP, 3 P
Stats: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP
Limits: 1250 IP & 162 G

It took a while, but the series lives on. I want to get this finished quickly, so most of my comments will be held back to save time.

Replacement Level
85 R, 15 HR, 68 RBI, 16 SB, .284 AVG

First Tier
1. Jose Reyes, New York Mets
2. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees

Second Tier
3. Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
4. Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies
5. Miguel Tejada, Baltimore Orioles

Third Tier
6. Bill Hall, Milwaukee Brewers
7. Michael Young, Texas Rangers
8. Troy Glaus, Toronto Blue Jays
9. Carlos Guillen, Detroit Tigers

Hall and Glaus obviously only qualify as shortstops, but they do provide mega-power at the position. They are held back by lack of RBI opportunities (Hall will probably bat second) and AVG, respectively.

Fourth Tier
10. Felipe Lopez, Washington Nationals
11. Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles Dodgers
12. Stephen Drew, Arizona Diamondbacks

Lopez could be eligible at second in mid-April, but I'm in denial and listing him at SS. I just can't believe that the Nationals will actually choose to start Cristian Guzman over Ron Belliard. If Lopez qualifies at second, I would place him at the bottom of the second tier of second basemen.

Fifth Tier
13. Edgar Renteria, Atlanta Braves
14. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies
15. Jhonny Peralta, Cleveland Indians

If J-Honey returns to 2005 form, he will zoom up the charts. If he performs like last year, he's not worth having in fantasy leagues. Somewhere in between sounds right to me.