MLB's 5 Most Irreplaceable Players

[Ramp]

5. Prince Fielder

4. Hanley Ramirez
2010 was a down season for Ramirez, with a .300/.378/.475 campaign providing an OPS+ of just 124. Yet more fantasy owners chose him as the first shortstop than anyone else heading into 2011, because even a down year like that is superior to what other shortstops provide. In Ramirez's previous three seasons, he checked in with an OPS+ of 145, 143 and 148.

And if Ramirez is better than the league's starting shortstops, imagine how much better he is than his backup in Florida, Donnie Murphy. The wandering middle infielder has a career .202/.271/.370 hitting line in 442 major league plate appearances, good for a career OPS+ of 70. How irreplaceable is Ramirez? The Marlins fired their manager last year after Ramirez failed to hustle. Florida knew you can find another manager, but another Ramirez is far more difficult to come by.
(Estimated full-season dropoff: 6.5 wins)

3. Robinson Cano
2. Joe Mauer
1. Ryan Zimmerman

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insid...ory?id=6362368

writeups of all 4 players listed at the insider thread

[Omar]

Interesting fact the Phillies' radio guys mentioned today about Hanley - he's the MLB leader in HR from SS during his career.

P.S. The Phillie radio guys are top notch. Especially the 4-5th inning pbp guy

[Swifty]

It'd be nice if he'd start hitting those again.

[AdamRavs]

It'd be nice if he'd start hitting those again.

Maybe anyone on the team could start hitting them besides LoMo?

[dgriot]

P.S. The Phillie radio guys are top notch. Especially the 4-5th inning pbp guy

Yeah, I've dug Franzke/Andersen whenever I heard 'em.