NEW YORK -- Eleven months after becoming baseball's highest-paid player, Kevin Brown was certified as its best, finishing with the top score in the annual rankings released Tuesday by the Elias Sports Bureau.

	Brown

Brown, who finished second to Roger Clemens in last year's rankings, had a 98.232 score out of 100 based on statistics during the past two seasons.

Baltimore outfielder Albert Belle had the second-highest score (96.533), followed by Boston pitcher Pedro Martinez (96.512), New York Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams (96.267) and Arizona pitcher Randy Johnson (96.212).

The biggest aberration was at relief pitcher in the American League. Mariano Rivera of the Yankees, who didn't allow a run after July 21 and was voted Most Valuable Player of the World Series, finished third, trailing Keith Foulke of the Chicago White Sox and Mike Jackson of the Cleveland Indians.

While Rivera finished first in the categories of ERA and wins plus saves, he was 27th in appearances and 44th in innings.

Foulke was second in strikeouts per walk, eighth in innings, 10th in hits per nine innings and 10th in ERA.

The rankings, created by owners and the players' association in the 1981 strike settlement, are used to divide free agents into groups that determine draft-pick compensation for a player's former club if he signs with a new team. Among the statistics used for hitters are plate appearances, batting average, on-base percentage, home runs and RBI.

Brown created the biggest stir among free agents last season when he got baseball's first $100 million contract, a $105 million, seven-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

While Brown was 18-9 with a 3.00 ERA and 221 strikeouts, the Dodgers were just 77-85, 23 games behind first-place Arizona.

Texas' Rafael Palmeiro replaced Mo Vaughn as the AL's top first baseman, even though he played just 28 games at the position this season and 128 at DH. He played 159 games at first for Baltimore in 1998, and were included when determining his position for the rankings.

Cleveland's Roberto Alomar led second baseman for the second straight season and third time in four years, and Seattle's Alex Rodriguez led at shortstop for the second time in three years, taking over from the Yankees' Derek Jeter.

Todd Zeile of Texas replaced Travis Fryman as the AL's top third baseman, and Rangers teammate Ivan Rodriguez led AL catchers for the third straight time.

In the outfield, Cleveland's Manny Ramirez was among the top three for the fourth consecutive time, while Williams made it for the third straight year and Belle for the first time since 1996.

Martinez led AL starting pitchers after finishing second last year to Clemens, who dropped to second this season.

Seattle's Edgar Martinez finished first at designated hitter for the fourth time in five years.

Houston's Jeff Bagwell, who tied Mark McGwire as the top NL first baseman last year, finished alone at the top this year, with McGwire second.

Astros teammate Craig Biggio was the top second baseman for the sixth straight season, and Cincinnati's Barry Larkin led NL shortstops for the ninth time in 10 years.

Atlanta's Chipper Jones led third basemen after tying Colorado's Vinny Castilla for the top spot last year. and the Braves' Javy Lopez, who missed the final two months of the regular season and the postseason following surgery on his right knee, ended Mike Piazza's three-year streak at catcher.

Montreal's Vladimir Guerrero led NL outfielders, with Colorado's Larry Walker repeating among the top three and Chicago's Sammy Sosa joining them. Barry Bonds missed out after finishing among the top three eight consecutive times, and Moises Alou, injured all season, also dropped out.

Houston's Billy Wagner took over from Trevor Hoffman as the top NL reliever.