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2016 AL East Rankings by Position: Left Field

By Nate Wardle

Sep 25, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Corey Dickerson (6) RBI singles in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 25, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Corey Dickerson (6) RBI singles in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /
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Corey Dickerson
Sep 25, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies left fielder Corey Dickerson (6) RBI singles in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

The left field position in our AL East Rankings is a more convoluted situation than was seen in the divisional infielders.

Left field, and for some teams right field, is going to be a bit of a different beast. When we talked about the infield, there was very little discussion of platoons. Sure the Rays may platoon their catchers, but other than that, not so much.

Well, in the outfield, there are several different potential platoons.

First, last year’s pre-Spring Training rankings: 1 – Boston, 2 – New York, 3 – Baltimore, 4 – Tampa Bay, 5 – Toronto.

Oh boy. That included ranking Hanley Ramirez first, the Orioles’ mess in left field third, and having the wrong starters on a few teams.

By the end of the season, those rankings looked different: 1 – Toronto, 2 – New York, 3 – Tampa Bay, 4 – Boston, 5 – Baltimore. I’m not going to try to explain all the ways things went wrong. Here is the link.

2016 RANKINGS

  1. Tampa Bay Rays – Corey Dickerson, Desmond Jennings, Brandon Guyer

Corey Dickerson heads to Tampa Bay along with a minor leaguer for Jake McGee and a minor leaguer. Dickerson only played in 65 games in 2015, hitting .304/.333/.536 with 10 HRs, 18 2Bs, 31 RBIs, 30 runs. In 2014, where he played 131 games, Dickerson went .312/.364/.567 with 24 HRs, 27 2Bs, 76 RBIs, 74 runs.

Clearly, the Rays upgraded at left field, especially considering that Dickerson is only 26 and still on his rookie contract. The only flaw in his game is his defense. Dickerson has rated as a negative defender via dWAR each of his three years, and also was near the top in errors by a left fielder in 2014.

The consistently disappointing Desmond Jennings will be the main backup to Dickerson, although I expect Dickerson to play as often as he is healthy enough to for the Rays. The newcomer grabs first place in the AL East left field rankings, which is big for the Rays, as they do not have many top players in the division.

Next: He is what he is ...

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