NL 1B $$$ Ranges

$30+ Carlos Delgado, Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, Derrek Lee, Adam Dunn, Lance Berkman, Todd Helton

$24+ Chad Tracy

$17+ Nick Johnson

$13+ Adam LaRoche, Mike Jacobs, Prince Fielder, Sean Casey, Nomar Garciaparra, Ryan Klesko

$7+ Conor Jackson, Lance Niekro, Craig Wilson

<$6 Ryan Shealy, Hee Seop Choi, Daryle Ward, Adrian Gonzalez, Mark Sweeney, Tony Clark, Jeff Bagwell, Scott Hatteberg, James Jurries

Wow! There are a lot of players is the $30+ range. I am sure a couple will fall to the lower range, and whoever does, will be a bargain.

If all the players listed do overtop, I mean breech, the $30 mark, there will be values later in the draft as a lot of draft money will have already been spent on these players. I can't pinpoint them, but I wanted you to be aware of it anyhow.

Notice the lack of serious platooning in the NL. This will have one league-changing effect this season.

The team that picks the right back-up firstbasemen from the <$6 range will finish in the money. (Conversely, the team who spent the big bucks on a player in the $30+ range will likely suffer.)

How this plays out is a team has drafted one of the better 1B and paid dearly for it, say, $33 on Ryan Howard. With other positions to fill, the team addresses those. At the end of the draft, this team can only spend a buck and takes Adrian Gonzalez because he flew under the radar (no starting job, from the AL, been around a long time = failed prospect.)

Before you know it, Ryan Klesko is out with an injury, and Gonzalez walks right into full-time ABS and hits 18 HR. Now the team with a $33 Howard (mashing away) no longer has a $1 pinch-hitter, but a $19 everyday firstbaseman to go with his anchor one. This is enough to push his team into the money.

I consider this scenario likely to occur with only the names being different. For this reason, I believe the most important preparation a team can do is examining that group of players and determining who is likley to get all the ABs in the likely occurence of a major, Jim Thome-esque injury to one of the elite 1B.