A week ago, The Sporting News put out its list of baseball’s 50 best players, based on what the release said was “a panel of 100 Hall of Famers, major award winners and other baseball personalities.” I figured it was time for me to join the list.

I’m not doing the top 50 here since I have to be back at Citi Field in a few hours. So the top 10 will do. And mine is a little different than theirs:

Also, no pitchers are on mine. I’d rather do two separate lists – one of the best position players and one of the best pitchers. So Johan Santana, Roy Halladay and Jonathan Papelbon will have to wait.

10 (tie) – Miguel Cabrera and Chipper Jones. Ok, I lied. I went with 11. I was tempted to leave Chipper off just because of his myriad injuries. But he’s too good.

9 – Manny Ramirez. PEDs or not, one of the best hitters there is.

8 – Chase Utley. When I was on the Mets beat a few years ago, not many players impressed me more.

7 – Evan Longoria. His numbers this season are obscene — .330, 11 homers, 49 RBIs in 45 games.

6 – Kevin Youkilis. At the 2004 World Series, I remember Curt Schilling being asked about Scott Rolen and he called him the game’s top all-around player. Youkilis reminds me of that.

5 – Carlos Beltran. The sport’s best all-around outfielder.

4 – Joe Mauer. See Youkilis.

3 – Alex Rodriguez. It’s close between him and my next pick.

2 – Hanley Ramirez. Hits the ball so hard. A fearsome player.

1 – Albert Pujols. The Sporting News and I agree on this.

By the way, here’s their top 20:

1 – Pujols

2 – Rodriguez

3 – Johan Santana

4 – Manny

5 – Hanley Ramirez

6 – Utley

7 – Roy Halladay

8 – Derek Jeter

9 – Mariano Rivera

10 – Chipper

11 – Ryan Howard

12 – Grady Sizemore

13 – David Wright

14 – Justin Morneau

15 – Jimmy Rollins

16 – Josh Beckett

17 – Mark Teixeira

18 – Dustin Pedroia

19 – Tim Lincecum

20 – Evan Longoria