2013 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Catcher

San Francisco is hoping to discuss a "blockbuster long-term" deal with the 2012 NL MVP sometime this spring.

The 2013 Fantasy Baseball Rankings start with one of the most dynamic positions in sports, the catcher position. A baseball catcher needs to not only know offense and defense, but pitching as well. They are often one of the most important players on the roster and often overlooked come fantasy time.

This past season was the best year since 2008 for backstops when it came to fantasy output, thus the position has some depth to it; however, you do not want to wait too long to draft a catcher or you will be left looking at the waiver wire on a weekly basis.

There are a few roster moves that everyone should be aware of:
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Mike Napoli leaving Texas for Boston, adding some much needed power to the Red Sox lineup. The question is -- where will he play? The team has several catchers, including Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who joins Napoli as one of the nine (9) catchers to hit 20 or more homers in 2012.

Victor Martinez returns from a knee injury; however, Fantasy owners need to monitor their league settings to determine when he will gain eligibility at the catcher position again. For instance, ESPN owners can play him at catcher immediately, while Yahoo owners may have to wait and see.

A.J. Pierzynski left the Pale Hose of Chicago for another hitter-friendly park in Arlington, Texas. This move makes things tough for Geovany Soto's prospective Fantasy owners while opening the door for Tyler Flowers, who now takes over the starting backstop for the White Sox.

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Without further adieu, here are the Top 40 Catchers based upon their projected value for 2013:

Updated 3/1/2013

Rank	Player	Team	Score
1	Posey,Buster	SF	75.19
2	Napoli,Mike	BOS	73.06
3	Molina,Yadier	STL	72.29
4	Wieters,Matt	BAL	68.65
5	Santana,Carlos	CLE	67.77
6	Mauer,Joe	MIN	67.12
7	Rosario,Wilin	COL	61.96
8	Montero,Jesus	SEA	60.77
9	Lucroy,Jonathan	MIL	56.20
10	Montero,Miguel	ARI	55.86
11	Perez,Salvador	KC	55.53
12	Doumit,Ryan	MIN	55.02
13	Jaso,John	OAK	52.30
14	Ruiz,Carlos	PHI	50.51
15	Pierzynski,A.J.	TEX	50.12
16	McCann,Brian	ATL	43.49
17	Flowers,Tyler	CHW	41.84
18	Avila,Alex	DET	41.73
19	Iannetta,Chris	LAA	40.21
20	Saltalamacchia,Jarrod	BOS	39.60
21	Arencibia,J.P.	TOR	37.69
22	Martin,Russell	PIT	33.60
23	Grandal,Yasmani	SD	29.33
24	Brantly,Rob	MIA	28.85
25	Castro,Jason	HOU	28.73
26	Ellis,A.J.	LA	28.40
27	Suzuki,Kurt	WAS	25.51
28	Castillo,Welington	CHC	25.37
29	Ross,David	BOS	25.02
30	D Arnaud,Travis	NYM	22.47
31	Ramos,Wilson	WAS	18.75
32	Hanigan,Ryan	CIN	18.16
33	Mesoraco,Devin	CIN	16.08
34	Hayes,Brett	KC	16.07
35	Molina,Jose	TAM	14.14
36	Soto,Geovany	TEX	13.94
37	Pena,Brayan	DET	11.73
38	Lavarnway,Ryan	BOS	11.64
39	Baker,John	SD	10.50
40	Zunino,Mike	SEA	10.14