The following players offer additional flexibility by qualifying at two or more positions. Guys like Pablo Sandoval, Jorge Cantu, Mark DeRosa, Chase Headley, Jhonny Peralta, Mark Teahen, Garrett Atkins and Jake Fox are worth considering if you have them ranked closely with another player on your draft board. If I have two players that are rated close together, I will usually give the nod to the player that qualifies at two positions to make it easier to manage my lineup during the season.

The one player who is the biggest question mark heading into the 2010 season is David Wright of the New York Mets. Some owners are still drafting him ahead of Evan Longoria in fantasy baseball mock drafts this year which I think is a mistake. He had a huge drop in power in 2009 falling from 33 home runs to a paltry 10. He was fortunate to bat over.300 with a huge 40% hit rate which was four percentage points higher than his career best. Was never able to find his swing, recording a seven percentage point increase in his strikeout rate. Perhaps it was due to the New York Mets new ballpark and he changed his batting approach to accommodate. It could also have been all of the injuries the Mets faced coupled with the disappointing season that affected him as well. In either case, I think it is wise not to assume an automatic return to his 2008 numbers.

Let’s take a look at the 2010 fantasy baseball rankings to see where the value is.

1) Alex Rodriguez
2) Evan Longoria
3) David Wright
4) Mark Reynolds
5) Ryan Zimmerman
6) Pablo Sandoval – qualifies at first base or third base.
7) Aramis Ramirez Chone Figgins
9) Michael Young
10) Gordon Beckham – will provide extra flexibility the second or fourth week in the season with his move to second base this year.
11) Ian Stewart
12) Adrian Beltre
13) Alex Gordon
14) Jorge Cantu – qualifies at first base or third base.
15) Chipper Jones
16) Kevin Kouzmanoff
17) Casey McGehee – qualifies at second base or third base.
18) Casey Blake
19) Jhonny Peralta – qualifies at shortstop or third base.
20) Chase Headley – qualifies at outfield or third base.

Next up in the series for the 2010 fantasy baseball rankings will be the top 20 outfielders.