Pujols Ranked Top Player in Baseball


NEW YORK - St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols took over the top spot from Carlos Delgado in major league baseball's annual player rankings.



Pujols finished at 98.519 on a scale of 100, finishing just ahead of Texas first baseman Mark Teixeira (98.462), according to the compilation by the Elias Sports Bureau.

Pujols and San Diego second baseman Mark Loretta (88.961) repeated as the top infielders at their positions in the NL, while Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins (87.192) took over from Edgar Renteria at shortstop and the Chicago Cubs' Aramis Ramirez (88.67) replaced Scott Rolen at third. The Cubs' Michael Barrett (87.645) was the top catcher, a position A.J. Pierzynski held last year.

Houston's Lance Berkman (94.8) and Philadelphia's Bobby Abreu (91.9) repeated in the outfield, and Florida's Miguel Cabrera (93.8) replaced Barry Bonds.

Bonds and Rolen missed much of the season with injuries, while Renteria and Pierzynski switched to AL teams.

Houston's Roy Oswalt (95.072) repeated as the top starting pitcher, and Philadelphia's Billy Wagner (93.854) replaced injured Eric Gagne as the top NL reliever.

After leading AL shortstops for six straight seasons — even though he was almost exclusively a third baseman in 2004 — the New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez (92.857) was tops at third, replacing Oakland's Eric Chavez.

Teixeira replaced Delgado at first, Detroit's Placido Polanco (88.36) took over from Bret Boone at second, Derek Jeter (92.208) replaced A-Rod at shortstop and Cleveland's Victor Martinez (88.095) was the top catcher instead of Javy Lopez.

Boston's Manny Ramirez (96.056) was among the top three AL outfielders for the ninth time in 10 seasons — he was the top designated hitter in 2002. The Angels' Vladimir Guerrero (97.183) repeated in the outfield, and the Yankees' Hideki Matsui (94.507) replaced teammate Gary Sheffield.

Minnesota's Johan Santana (98.333) replaced Roy Halladay as the top AL starting pitcher, the Yankees' Mariano Rivera (95.421) took over from Keith Foulke at reliever and Cleveland's Travis Hafner (92.286) replaced Boston's David Ortiz as designated hitter because Ortiz was third in batting average and fourth in on-base percentage while Hafner was first or second in every category.

The rules for the rankings were established by players and owners in their settlement of the 1981 strike.

These rankings are used to decide whether players are Type A, B or C free agents, and which amateur draft picks their former teams get as compensation if they sign elsewhere.