Loney has proven himself as what? He's not a top 20 1B. Who would you rather have Bryce Harper or Andre Ethier, it's to that same accord.
Nonetheless, he has proven what he is capable of. I don't think Loney is any good nor do I think your question fits. You cannot put an unproven minor leaguer over a proven major leaguer in any capacity. You just can't. Yeah Loney is probably the worst 1B in the NL West but he has proved that fact! That's my only point.
for the record Either, he has proven he is an all star talent. Harper has raked against guys that will never make the show. I LOVE prospects and I root for everyone to succeed, and I'm sure he will succeed at the ML level, but I wouldn't rate him higher than anyone who has actually done anything and has numbers to prove it good or bad.
Then the same argument can be made for SS. Jason Bartlett had one good year with Tampa, but other than that has been pretty mediocre. Dee Gordon ranks ahead of him because of his upside, even though it was a small sample size last season. I agree with Loney being so low on the list because I have had to painfully watch him the last 4 or 5 years. I was just surprised that he didn't rank last, which may have only been because of the last two months of the season.