Spring Training

Spring Training officially begins today. I'll be in Winter Haven tomorrow to check out the Tribe and the Astros: Two teams that the Reds get to beat up on this year.

News today. Watch for the Scott Kazmir news. The big strikeout pitcher is having a MRI on his elbow today. That's big fantasy news.

OVERALL TOP 15 2008

I don't have Albert Pujols included because I'm big time worried about his elbow. I think you're taking a big chance if you take him too early. It's something to watch closely through Spring Training.

1-Alex Rodriguez 3B (Yankees)

2-Johan Santana P (Mets)

3-Matt Holiday OF (Rockies)

4-Jose Reyes SS (Mets)

5-Chase Utley 2B (Phillies)

6-David Ortiz DH (Red Sox)

7-David Wright 3B (Mets)

8-Jimmy Rollins SS (Phillies)

9-Jake Peavy P (Padres)

10-Hanley Rameriz SS (Marlins)

11-Vlad Guerrero OF (Angels)

12-Prince Fielder 1B (Brewers)

13-Magglio Ordonez (Tigers)

14-Carlos Beltran OF (Mets)

15-Miguel Cabrera 3b (Tigers)

OF 2008

OK. This is where it is. This is where you have to decide if you want to draft by position or go get the best hitters in the draft. There are a ton of big point getters in this group. There are also a ton of young guys to keep a close eye on. You've got to snag one of these guys in your draft and hope for big things like: Justin Upton, Jay Bruce, Matt Kemp, Jacobi Ellsbury, Lastings Millage, Rick Ankiel, Felix Pie, and Colby Rasmus. There are also some guys looking to bounce back from down years like Andruw Jones, Johnny Damon, and Jason Bay. Here are my favorites.

1-Matt Holiday 3.78 (Rockies) .340/36/137. Add in 50 doubles and 11 steals to those crazy numbers. He did strikeout 126 times and only drew 63 walks.

2-Vlad Guerrero 3.58 (Angels) .324/27/125. Vlad hits every pitch. The Angels lineup is awesome this year. Vlad looked like he was playing on one leg all year in 2007.

3-Carlos Beltran 3.47 (Mets) .276/33/112 and 23 steals

4-Magglio Ordonez 3.90 (Indians) .363/28/139 SO/BB ratio 79/76

5-Carlos Lee 3.38 (Astros) .303/32/119. SO/BB ratio 63/53

6-Alfonso Soriano 3.13 (Cubs) .299/33/70

7-Grady Sizemore 3.01 (Indians) .277/24/78 and 33 steals.

8-Carl Crawford 3.18 (D-Rays) .315/11/80 and 50 steals

9- Bobby Abreu 3.19 (Yankees) .283/16/101 and 25 steals

10-Ichiro Suzuki 2.70 (Ms) .351/6/68 and 37 steals

11-Nick Markakis 3.09 (Os) .300/23/112

12-Manny Rameriz

13-Eric Byrnes

14-Hunter Pence

15-B.J. Upton

16-Alex Rios

17-Jeff Francour

18-Hideki Matsui

19-Brad Hawpe

20-Tori Hunter

21-Curtis Granderson

22-Adam Dunn

23-Josh Hamilton

24-Corey Hart

25-Chris Young

MORE TO COME>>>>>>>>>>>>

SS 2008

There are three big time short stops and then it gets tricky. The big three can go in any order you like. It would be really nice to snag one of them. SS turns out to be a not-so-bad position in 2008 going 16 deep in my opinion. After that, you take a chance on Stephen Drew possibly late and THAT IS IT.

1- Jose Reyes 3.73 (Mets) .280/12/57 in 2007. Jose swiped 78 bases and scored 119 runs. Reyes also had 36 doubles and 12 triples. He got caught stealing 21 times. He does need to work on that. What I like most about Jose is his SO/BB ratio at 78/77. What I don't like about Jose is his sissy outfit and man-purse when I saw him at the all-star parade in Pittsburg two years ago. All-in-all, Jose had a down year. Look for him to bounce back.

2-Jimmy Rollins 4.03 (Phils) .296/30/94 in 2007. He also had 41 steals and 139 runs. Jimmy had 38 doubles and 20 3-baggers. He also doesn't strikeout much with 85 but he doesn't walk too much either with only 49 last year. This was two straight impressive years for Rollins. Can he keep up that pace? It all got him the NL MVP in 2007.

3-Hanley Rameriz 3.83 (Marlins) .332/29/81 in 2007. He added 51 steals and 125 runs. 2008 will only be his third big league season. He drastically reduced his strikeout totals in 2007 at 95 from 128 in 2006. On top of the 29 homers, Rameriz added 48 doubles and 17 triples. He loses Cabrera in the lineup which has to hurt his run production.

4-Derek Jeter (Yanks) .322/12/73 in 2007. The picture above tells you why he's ahead to Tulowitkzi. In the ladies getting position, he's by far #1. The Yankee captain swiped 15 and scored 102 times. Jeter will give you over 600 ab-bats, play everyday, and be consistent. His SO/BB ratio isn't great at 100/56 which is pretty consistent with previous years.

5-Troy Tulowitkzi (Rockies) .291/24/99 in 2007. He also scored 104 runs but only had 7 steals and was caught stealing 6 times. Strikeouts are a big concern at 130 to only 57 walks in his rookie season. If he makes contact more, watch out.

6-J.J. Hardy (Brewers) .277/26/80 in 2007. Hardy doesn't walk much, but doesn't strikeout a lot either (77). He started red hot and cooled off throughout the season. He's got plenty of pop hitting behind him. Hopefully Cameron or Weeks can get on base more in front of him.

7-Edgar Renteria (Tigers) .322/12/57 in 2007. Moving to the Tigers will put him over 100 runs for sure if he can stay healthy. I'd put him lower in this order if he was playing for a different team. Granderson should get on a lot ahead of him and he loves to shoot the ball to the opposite field.

8-Miguel Tejada (Astros) .296/18/81 in 2007. Tejada is only this low because of the legal issues he's faced with this season. It'll be interesting how it effects his play. He's another guy that doesn't SO with 41 walks and only 55 Ks in '07.

9-Michael Young (Rangers) .315/9/94 in 2007. He'll give you 40 doubles and be pretty consistent. Young is a safe pick. His power numbers are way down though.

10-Julio Lugo (Red Sox) .237/8/73 in 2007. This is a guy I look for the biggest bounce back in 2008. He did have 33 steals in a dreadful season on '07.

11-Orlando Cabrera (White Sox)

12-Khalil Greene (Padres)

13-Rafael Furcal (Dodgers)

14-Yunel Escobar (Braves)

15-Jhonny Peralta (Indians)

16-Ryan Theriot (Cubs)

DH 2008

There's only a couple DHs that we even need to talk about. The rest are not fantasy worthy. The Angels have an interesting situation. It'll be interesting to see who starts in left whether it'll be Gary Matthew's Jr., Garrett Anderson, or Wiltis. My thought is Garrett Anderson will DH and he is definitely still fantasy worthy. All those guys are likely to split time between the positions. Watch the Angels in the first few weeks of the season for those developments. The Yanks also have a similar situation. Johnny Damon and Matsui will split time in left and then you have Jason Giambi at 1B. I don't know if Giambi can give them the D they'll be looking for. That's another one to watch over the first part of the season. All of those players will get drafted in a 10 team fantasy draft. In our league, we use a utility player which can be any batter. The DH is a tough position to draft, especially for those guys like Thomas and Thome who typically don't play any fielding position when it comes to 2 weeks of interleague play in National League parks.

1. David Ortiz 3.93 (Red Sox) .332/35/117 with a .445 on-base. Papi did strike out 103 times but walked 111. Another big stat that pops out at you is 52 doubles in 2007 which was the most in his career. The doubles balanced out his down homer year. Keep an eye on the big guy's knee in the spring. He played with it all of last season and still put up those kind of numbers. He's still the real deal. He did play 7 games at first last season during interleague play. It's hard to keep this dude out of the lineup.

2. Travis Hafner (Indians) .266/24/100 in 2007 was way down from the three previous years. Look for a bounce back after Hafner dealt with some injury issues last year. The Indians lineup is pretty potent. His SO/BB ratio isn't too bad at 115/102 which is almost identical to 2006. Hafner played 11 games at 1B in 2007 so he's also a safe interleague play guy.

3. Gary Sheffield (Tigers) .265/25/75 in 2007. Sheffield is another guy who battled injuries in 2007. It will really go down as his worst production year since being a Brewer in 1991. Look for Sheffield to bounce back in a big way playing almost exclusively at DH in that brutle Tiger's lineup. They'll be plenty of chances to drive runners in even in that big ball park. Sheffield is a safe guy to get b/c he just doesn't strikeout.

4. Jack Cust (As) .256/26/82 in 2007 as basically a rookie. He did play 17 games in the OF so he'll qualify at both positions until the break. Cust struck out 164 times but did walk over 100 times too. He'll be a good late round guy to snag up.

5. Jim Thome (White Sox) .275/35/96 in 2007. Thome stunk it up a lot last year. Again, here's another player on my team who under-produced. Thome is becoming a big risk. He basically gave nothing in 2005 and came back in 2006 and showed some life. He'll hit 30+ homers and strike out a bunch.......just not for my team!

6. Frank Thomas (Blue Jays) .277/26/95 in 2007. His SO/BB ratio is pretty solid. He did add 30 doubles and put up his most at-bats since 2003. I have a feeling if you have to draft Frank Thomas, your draft day hasn't went so well!

Interesting Johnny Damon News

Intersting news today concerning Johnny Damon. Reports are circulating today that he nearly retired during spring training last year. Unbelievable. That might explain his awful fantasy year in 2007. He had a ton of minor injuries but didn't seem like himself all season. Thanks Johnny, my outfield suffered big times. Johnny D. is usually big time streaky. He can go on tears and carry your fantasy team for weeks and that didn't happen in 2007. Damon batted .270 for the season with only 12 homers and 27 doubles and steals. 2007 was lowest number of games that he'd appeared in since he was a rookie in 1995 and the first year with less that 100 runs since 1997. Damon is in an interesting situation this season. It looks like he'll share time with Matsui in left. Keep an eye on the Yankees and their outfield situation in the spring. He may even get a look at first as well as playing some DH. Damon was unhappy about his lack of playing time at the end of last year. He hit .347 over the last three weeks of the season and it sounds like he's in better physical shape this year. Hopefully mentally he is better too. Keep an eye on one of my favorite players.

Dual Position Eligible Players

Here are some players who will qualify at multiple positions to start the season. In our leagues, we've let a player qualify who'd played at least 15 games at another position last year until the all-star break.

Travis Hafner (Indians) Played 11 games at 1B and the rest at DH.

Carlos Guillen (Tigers) Played 36 games at 1B and 132 at SS. It looks like he'll be spending this season strickly at 1B.

BJ Upton (D-Rays) Played 48 games at 2B and 79 in the OF. It looks like he'll be a full time Outfielder this year.

Casey Blake (Indians) Played 12 games at 1B, 145 at 3B, and 7 in the outfield.

Nomar Garciapara (Dodgers) Played 68 games at 1B and 43 at 3rd. He might be spending his time coming off the bench this season.

Chone Figgins (Angels) Plaed 9 games at 2B, 99 at 3rd, and 11 in the outfield. This guy is too valuable not to snag on draft day.

Baseball sites are open for sign ups

FoxSports.com's Fantasy Baseball as well as MLB.COM's Fantasy Baseball games are up and open for sign ups.

I haven't used MLB's site but it looks a bit limited on what you can do. You must have 12 teams to play being one. With FoxSports, you can use their settings or you can customize play to about any point system you want. You can change lineups daily or weekly and play any player combo you'd like. I've used fantasysports.com for about six years. It's a good site that is commisioner controlled. The commish has to enter the starting lineups each week and control the posting to the website. It's become a bit costly, but is a good site. Again, you can set up the league the way you want it set up with different position and point options. They had a lot of server issues last year but apparently have the new ones installed and running well.

http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/fantasy/index.jsp

www.fantasysports.com

Congress, Steriods, and Clemens-My Take!

The Congressional hearings with Clemens and McNamee this morning are a train wreck. It's tough seeing one of your heroes possibly purger himself under oath. I've changed my mind about 10 different times watching the debacle this morning. Honestly, it's looking pretty bad for Clemens. At the same time, I don't see anything being accomplished by these hearings other than some Congressmen asking questions that are based on their previously established opinions on the issue and on the two men. It will drag on. There will be a criminal investigation and who knows....... One of these guys will probably be spending time in pinstripes.

My first question is...........why Congress. Why should Congress waste their time with performance enhancing drugs and the Patriots spygate controversy??? Our country is on the verge of a recession, there are American automotive companies losing billions of dollars, people are losing their homes, the oil companies are raping our citizens, Americans are out of work, and education funding continues to be cut. Yet, I'm spending a morning watching 20 Congessmen grill one of my heroes over HGH. Get real.

Where is the Player's Union and Bud Selig. Oh yeah, they turned a blind eye to what was happening instead of quietly taking care of it and saving this embarassment because, as we all know, HGH and steroids saved baseball.

My first take of steriods and HGH in baseball is that I flat didn't care. I could care less what Jose Canseco had to say. I skimmed through the Mitchell Report and wondered why so many names were missing and how some names could be there without hard evidence. At the time, I didn't care if Barry Bonds looked like Hee-Man and broke the home-run record.

Somebody reminded me a few weeks ago that baseball, the game we love, is totally based on numbers. For a while, it made me think that I had been wrong. Baseball's whole existence is based on statistics. Everbody knows how many hits the Hit King Pete Rose has. Everyone knows the hit streak, 61, 755, the importance of 300 wins, and .400. It made me re-think my stance for a while and then I came right back to my original thought............I don't care. Baseball was on the verge of disaster when NUMBERS and ESPN's Baseball Tonight brought people back to the seats and peaked interest in baseball. It looks like now that those numbers were brought about via performance enhancing drugs or in some peoples' minds---CHEATING. I keep coming back to the same conclusion. I just don't care. Put McGuire, Bonds, Clemens in the hall where they belong. While you're at it, bring Pete home too.

Whatever your opinion is, all of us will be glad when this is over. Baseball's issues now will stem from rising ticket prices where a family can't afford to go, crazy player salaries, and television revenues. Happy days are around the corner. Spring training is just a few days away.

Good luck Roger. It looks like you're going to need it.

Contract year players for 2009

Oh yeah. Contract year. Time to put up big numbers. Here are some of the important "fantasy worthy" guys that are going to be free agents or possible free agents in 2009.

Jake Peavy, Brad Penny, Ben Sheets, Kenji Johjima, IRod, Jason Varietek, Mark Texeria, Jeff Kent, Orlando Cabrera, Casey Blake, Chipper Jones (Option), Carl Crawford (Club Option), Adam Dunn, Moises Alou, Manny Rameriz (Club Option), Jim Edmonds, Bobby Abreu, AJ Burnett, Randy Johnson, Griffey (Club Option), Vlad (Club Option), Tom Glavine, John Lackey (Club Option), C.C. Sabathia, Nomar, John Smoltz (Club Option)

Catcher 2008

Goodness, catching looks dim in 2008. You better get one of the top 5 while you can. If not, you'll be left with no point production from the catcher's spot.

1-Victor Martinez 3.14 (Indians) Martinez tops Russell Martin because he can play DH and 1b when he's not catching getting a few extra at-bats. .301/25/114 in 2007 in 562 at bats. That's solid for any position.

2-Russell Martin 2.90 (Dodgers) .293/19/87 in 540 at-bats in his 2nd season in the bigs. Martin stole 21 bases which is a big positive.

3-Joe Mauer (Twins) Injury limited him last year batting only .293 after winning the batting title in 2006. Only 7 homers is scary but he doesn't strikeout. I expect him to comeback big in 08. He's in front of McCann b/c of place in the batting order and runs.

4-Brian McCann (Braves) A big dip in batting average in 2007. .270/18/92 isn't too bad.

5-Jorge Posada (Yanks) After landing a big contract and a huge production year....who knows.

.338/20/90 and 91 runs.

6-Kenji Johjima (Ms) .287/14/61. He doesn't strikeout.

7-Jason Varitek (Red Sox) The Captain. He's still getting it done.

8-Geovany Soto (Cubs) PCL MVP and came up with the Cubbies and tore it up at .389. Take a chance on this young guy.

9-Carlos Ruiz (Phils) Another young guy to take a chance on. .259/6/54 with 42 runs isn't too bad in 374 at bats.

10-Ivan Rodriguez (Tigers) Well, you can quickly tell the roids are out of his system. .281/11/63 in over 500 ab bats. His .294 OBP just sucks. Who else is there at catcher though?

The rest............Bengie Molina (Giants), JR Towles (Astros), Ramon Hernandez (Os), Mike Napoli (Angels) Most everybody else is horrible. Good luck.

Power numbers won't be great in 08

Roger, Roger, Roger.......I sure hope you are telling the truth, but put yourself in the shoes of an average fan. I have followed your career for over twenty years and "awesome" just doesn't do your career justice. You have been "The Man" for so long and now, well what now. It seems everything you do should have a dance named after it. You are a Major League pitcher, you are not on Dancing with the Stars my man. I hope so much that I have to come back here and reply to this because you and your name somehow got cleared. As much as I'd like to see that happen, it would shock me if it did.

And I said all that to say this..........HGH or Steriods be damned!!!!!!!!!!!

Power numbers will be down this season for sure. I think it would take a complete idoit to shoot the juice in his ass this season. I just got thru reading the Mitchell Report, all 400 pages, and there seems to be plenty of evidence on plenty of players. Does anyone else wonder or care, with a war going on and our economy in the toliet and the lack of health care in this nation for so many people, why Congress spends all the money and time on this issue. Don't get me wrong we need steriods and HGH out of the game, but come on. So just remember this if you draft the "juciers" you might be the one getting stuck in the ass!!!!!!!!

Starting Pitching 2008

It seems there's more quality pitching than ever before. In my view, there are 45 good fantasy starters this season.There's three guys coming back from injury this year in Chris Carpenter, Francisco Liriano, and the chicken fighter Pedro Martinez. Liriano has 177 strikeouts in 144 career innings. Watch him in spring training. You could get a top 10 guy in the late rounds. Carpenter pitched a big 6 total innings last year. Thanks Chris, you were my 2nd overall pick. Another guy to watch in spring training. Pedro is back and if he can keep the San Diego Chicken and those terrorists from PETA off his back, he could be a nice late round pick up.

This is to me, the most debatable postion. 3-30 could be in pretty much any order. Here's the ones I like best. I doubt very seriously they'll match any other site you'll look at. When I look at pitching I look at strikeouts first and WHIP (walks+hits per innings pitched). If you don't let people get on base, they certainly can't score. I also look at ERA and almost as importantly, their team's ability to win the games after they come out in the 6th or 7th since managers are too wussy to let most pitchers go.

1-Johan Santana (Mets) Enough said. He's a top 5 overall in any league this year. 235 Ks in 219 innings/1.07 WHIP/3.33 ERA

2-Jake Peavy (Padres) Cy Young winner led the majors in strikeouts, WHIP, and ERA. Let's hope he doesn't have a setback like in 2006 after posting similar numbers in 2005. 240 Ks in 223 innings/1.06 WHIP/2.54 ERA

3-Erik Bedard (Ms) Trade to the M's will make him even better. Batters hit at a big .212 against him last year. WOW! 221 Ks in 182 innings/1.09 WHIP/3.16 ERA

4-Brandon Webb (D-Backs) Ex-Kentucky Wildcat. Must be a champion. He won't have to be the only streak stopper this year with Haren on board. It should take pressure off the entire team and propel them to the NL West crown. 194 Ks in 236 innings/1.19 WHIP/3.01 ERA

5-Josh Beckett (Red Sox) Could have been the World Series MVP. Next to Peavy, he may have the nastiest stuff in baseball. He needs to shave that crap under his lip. 194 Ks in 200 innings/1.14 WHIP/3.27 ERA

6-Aaron Harang (Reds) Keeping an ERA under 4.00 in Great American is a good thing. He eats up innings and will throw you a good complete game every now and again. 218 Ks in 231 innings/1.14 WHIP/3.73 ERA

7-Dan Haren (D-Backs) Moving to the National league and to a better defensive team will improve all of Haren's numbers in 2008. 192 Ks in 222 innings/1.21 WHIP/3.07 ERA

8-Scott Kazmir (D-Rays) This is a strikeout machine if he can stay healthy for an entire year. Finally posted 200 innings in 2007. 239 Ks in 206 innings/1.38 WHIP/3.48 ERA

9-C.C. Sabathia (Indians) 209 Ks in 241 innings/1.14 WHIP/3.21 ERA

10-Cole Hamels (Phillies) Another dominant lefty. He's still only 24 years old but missed a month last year with shoulder issues. 177 Ks in 183 innings/1.12 WHIP/3.39 ERA.

11-Rich Hill (Cubs) Hill was only 11-8 in his first full season. The Cubs are better adn he'll get 200 Ks in 2008. 183 Ks in 195 innings/1.19 WHIP/3.92 ERA

12-John Smoltz (Braves) Adding a gold glover like Texeria for the entire season will help the Brave's D. He only had 47 walks all year. He's old but still bringing it. 197 Ks in 205 innings/1.18 WHIP/3.11 ERA.

13-Chris Young (Padres) Only 9 wins in 2007 was surprising. 1.69 ERA at home was awesome. He held righties to a cool .155 batting average. That was .155 if you missed it. He's a Princeton grad so he'll figure out how to improve his road ERA. 167 Ks in 173 innings/1.10 WHIP/3.12 ERA

14-Javier Vasquez (White Sox) Vasquez reverted back to the Vasquez of old in 2007. 213 Ks in 216 innings/1.14 WHIP/3.74 ERA.

15-John Lackey (Angels) He should be around the 20 win mark again playing with that Angels D and lineup. Their outfield D is awesome with Hunter, Vlad, and Matthews or Wiltis. How can a ball fall out there? 179 Ks in 224 innings/1.21 WHIP/3.01 ERA.

16-Roy Oswalt (Astros) Roy's ERA has risen ever so slightly over the past three years. It was his first over 3.00 in the past three years. His strikeouts are down over that time too. He's still a warrior and loves to win. His numbers don't jump out but he's still a solid fantasy guy. 154 Ks in 212 innings/1.33 WHIP/3.18 ERA

17-James Shields (D-Rays) Sheilds just doesn't walk people. His only downfall is that he plays for the D-Rays which only netted him 12 Wins in 2007. 184 Ks in 215 innings/1.11 WHIP/3.85 ERA.

18-Justin Verlander (Tigers) Pitching with the Tiger's lineup scoring runs for you will get Verlander over the 20 win mark. He was 18-6 last year. 183 Ks in 201 innings/1.23 WHIP/3.66 ERA.

19-Felix Hernandez (Ms) He's still only 22 years old. His hits were up and Ks down in 2007. I'm still not completely sold. 165 Ks in 190 innings/1.38 WHIP/3.92 ERA

20-Tim Linceum (Giants) Fantastic rookie season for Timmy. His big negative is that he plays for the Giants and they'll be scraping the bottom of the NL West all year long. Another question is can he pitch 200 innings to make him a big time starter? 150 Ks in 146 innings/1.28 WHIP/4.00 ERA.

21-Roy Halladay (Blue Jays) Roy needs to find 2006 in 2008. All of his numbers were down. 139 Ks in 225 innings/1.24 WHIP/3.71 ERA.

22-Daisuke Matsusaka (Red Sox) 15-12 record wasn't so wonderful. His Ks are wonderful. He might be a big sleeper in his 2nd major league season. 201 Ks in 204 innings/1.32 WHIP/4.40 ERA

23-Yuvani Gallardo (Brewers) As a rookie, Gallardo went 9-5. His numbers are really good. 101 Ks in 110 innings/1.27 WHIP/3.67 ERA

24-Carlos Zambrano (Cubs) Carlos is still a head case. If he could get some good medication, he'd be a top 5 pitcher. He has games where his head blows up and he gets you negative points. I'd love to slap him in the head like Michael Barrett did. Still, he's got the goods and the Cubs are also good. He should see 20 wins. 177 Ks in 216 innings/1.33 WHIP/3.95 ERA.

25-A.J. Burnett (Blue Jays) Batters hit .214 against him. More strikeouts than walks is always a good fantasy thing. The negative is only 165 innings after 135 in 2006. He's always an injury risk. 176 Ks in 165 innings/1.19 WHIP/3.75 ERA

26-Chris Carpenter (Cards) Who knows after a major surjury and missing all but 6 innings of 2007. I really believe the Cardinals are close to crap as a team. I'm landing him low b/c he burned me last year. I'd still love to pick him up as my 5th or 6th pitcher somehow. Watch spring training carefully to make sure he's healthy.

27-Ted Lilly (Cubs) Two straight 15 win seasons. 174 Ks in 207 innings/1.14 WHIP/3.83 ERA

28-Fausto Carmona (Indians) After going 1-10 as a rookie, Fausto turned it around big going 19-8 in 2007. He had a 2.36 ERA after the all-star break. His only downside is a low number of strikeouts. 137 Ks in 206 innings/1.21 WHIP/3.06 ERA

29-John Maine (Mets) Opponents only batted .235 against him. He's equally tough on righties and lefties. He's got to limit his walks to match the batting average against him. 180 Ks in 191 innings/1.27 WHIP/3.91 ERA

30-Kelvim Escobar (Angels) The Angels D is awesome. He may start the year on the DL though. 160 Ks in 195 innings/1.27 WHIP/3.40 ERA.

***Injury/comeback players............Rich Harden (pitched only 27 innings in 2007), Randy Johnson (injury plagued 2007), Dontrelle Willis (Can he revive his career in Detroit Rock City?), Jason Schmitt (might start 2008 healthy), Pedro Martinez, Franciso Liriano
***Young stars.............Clay Buchholz, Homer Bailey, Jered Weaver, Phil Hughes, Chad Billingsley, Joba Chamberlain, Dustin McGowan, Matt Cain

MORE TO COME LATER.................................

1b 2008

First base is much deeper than it's been in the past few years. It looks like Carlos Guillen will move to first for the Tigers this year. He'll qualify at SS or Middle Infield for the first half of the season. Victor Martinez also qualifies for 1b as well as his normal catching position. I'll have a post of duel position players soon.

1-Albert Pujols 3.58 (Cards) He's still #1 at 1b. He had a down year compared to previous years last year. It's said that you can call .327/32/103 a down year but it was for him. His on-base was still a crazy .429 but his strikeouts were up a bit. I don't know why anybody will pitch to him this year b/c the Cardinals lineup sucks. I'm picking them to fight the Pirates for the bottom of the NL Central.

2-Prince Fielder 3.49 (Brewers) Prince had a monster year in 2007 with 50 homers and 119 RBIs and over 100 runs. He can move around the bases for a fat boy. He and Ryan Howard both had on-base percentages near .400. His so/bb was 102/90 so that's not so bad either.

3-Ryan Howard 3.11 (Phillies) .268/47/136 in 2007 with a .395 on-base but he did strike out nearly 200 times. He had 8 less doubles than Fielder also. Utley will suck up some of his RBI possibilities. He finished last year on fire again like in 2006. If he returns to 2006 form, he'll be the MVP.

4-Mark Texeria 3.25 (Braves) .306/30/105 in only 494 at bats last year while have an on-base of .400 and a pretty fair so/bb ratio and 33 doubles. All year and happy in HotLanta will bring big things in the 2008 season.

5-Lance Berkman (Astros) I'm throwing Berkman ahead of Mr. Morneau this year just because of what they are both working with as far as teammates. Other than Mauer, I don't see anybody getting on base for Morneau to drive in. Their numbers last year are almost identical except Morneau made contact a few more times.

6-Justin Morneau (Twins) AL MVP in 2006 still had a good year in 2007 going .271/31/111. Morneau stunk it up after the break last year with a smokin .243 average.

7-Derrick Lee (Cubs) Lee only had 22 homers and 82 RBIs last year but still batted .317 with a .400 OBP. He's batting in a big time line up and did have 42 doubles to make up for some of those fewer homers.

8-Adrian Gonzalez (Padres) .282/30/100 and 101 runs + 46 doubles in just his 2nd full year and playing in a monsterous park of PETCO. 2/3 of his homers came away from home. Don't look for these numbers to improve too much. The Padres lineup isn't exactly muderer's row.

9-Carlos Pena (D-Rays) Can he do it again this year. It's a big risk but he's a steal if you can snag him in the mid rounds somewhere. He's had the talent to do it since he came up with the Tigers. I'm not sure why it's taken him this long to blow up. He batted .282/41/121 last year with a .411 on base. Numbers wise, he's a top 4 first base guy.

10-James Loney (Dodgers) watch out for this dude. He's my sleeper of the year. It's breakout time for this guy. I'm going to go ahead and stick in in the top 10. In the 3 hole, he'll bat .330+ again and add to his homers, doubles, and RBI totals. He batted .419 with runners in scoring position. .382/9/32 just in September. Get ready.

MORE TO COME LATER....................

2b 2008

This isn't a very exciting position. I thought 3b was thin until I started looking at 2nd. It just flat sucks.

1-Chase Utley 3.73 (Phils) No doubter #1 at this position. He had a rough injury year in 2007 but should be ready to roll up some big numbers in 2008. Being sandwhiched in between Rollins and Howard in the lineup isn't too bad of a place to be. This guy hit .332/22/103 last year and had a .410 on-base. He's an all around top 10ner. On top of the 22 homers, he had 48 doubles and 9 triples. THE REAL DEAL.

2-Brandon Phillips (Reds) Mr. 30/30 in 2007. Almost 100 RBIs and over 100 runs. 3:1 SO to walk ratio isn't wonderful.

3-Brian Roberts (Os) NO HGH Brian! How will he react to the Mitchell Report?? After his obvious steriod/HGH year in 2005, his homers have bottomed out but he still hit 42 doubles and swiped 50 last year. I'll still take my chances with him.

4-Ian Kinlser (Rangers) Kinsler may go 30/30 in 2008. You've got to think with their lineup, he'll bat anywhere 1 to 5. His K:BB ratio is really good. His 3rd year in the league will be a big one.

5-Robinson Cano (Yanks) Cano just signed huge $ for the Yanks so take that for what it is. With more steals, Cano would be #2 on this list. He had a fantastic year in 2007 going .306/19/97 but only had 4 steals. He's not a huge strikeout guy but doesn't walk much either. After a contract extension.........who knows.

6-Aaron Hill (Blue Jays) 47 doubles is what's sticks out to me. .291/17/78 isn't bad either. He's an SEC guy so he's got that going for him too. As his power #s rose last year, so did his strikeouts. He's got to limit that a bit.

7-Kelly Johnson (Braves) Kelly Johnson is a solid player. He bats too low in the Braves lineup to be a big time producer but he mangaged .276/16/68 with a .375 on base percentage last year whle scoring almost 100 runs. He only had 9 steals but did have a surprising 10 3-baggers on top of 26 doubles.

8-Dan Uggla (Marlins) This Loserville Native strikes out way too much (167K/68BB) but he'll be thrown into more of a run producer role this year with the Marlins loss of Cabrera. In 2007, Uggla batted only .245 but had 31 homers, 88 rbi, and 113 runs. Look for the runs to decrease slightly and the rbi to be around the 100 mark.

9-Jeff Kent (Dodgers) Jeff Kent put up a lot better numbers last year than I had previously thought. In less than 500 at bats, Kent went a respectable .302/20/79 while slugging .500. The thing that sticks out with Kent is less Ks than walks. You like a guy that doesn't get you negative points.

10-Rickie Weeks (Brewers) Good gracious. It's time for this guy to step up and at least hit over .250. He did have 87 runs and 25 stolen bases.

As Ricky Bobby would say....The rest of the guys aren't worth a velvet painting of a whale and dolphin getting it on. Good luck having to pick through those fantasy bums.

NOTES: BJ Upton will qualify until the all-star break. He's #2 or #3 at 2nd until the break.


More to come later......................

Stay away from me in 2008

Here are some guys I will stay away from this year...........in no particular order.

Ryan Braun (Brewers) I'm scared of him. There's a possible move to the outfield which may make him the next Casey Blake.

Miguel Tejada (Astros) Mr. Tejada may be battling it out in court with Congress and maybe even spending some time in pinstripes............just not the ones in the NYC. I would to like to see him jack 30+ over the train tracks in Houston. Not even laying off the juice will prevent that. Keep an eye on his legal troubles.

Aaron Rowand (Giants) Moving from a hitters park in Philly to a "Giant" park won't help. He's coming off a contract year. Stay away!

Paul LoDuca (Nats) A knee injury and roid issues= Beware. I really did like this dude. He doesn't strike out at all.

Gary Matthews Jr. (Angels) No HGH led to injury and less power in 2007.

MORE TO COME.........................

3b 2008

Third base is hula-hoop through a Cheerio thin. You better get these top guys while you can unless you want to take a risk on a 2nd year guy that could explode in 2008. Here's my take:

1. A-Rod 4.39 (Yankees) What a suprise. There's no way he can top 2007 can he? 54 homers and 156? UN-Freakin-believable. Still #1 overall at a somewhat thin position. You can't go wrong with A-Rod.

2. David Wright 3.70 (Mets) Wright batted .325 and went 30/30. Can he improve on that? He batted .364 after the break.

3. Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) After being traded from the Marlins, this fatboy will bat somewhere from the 3-5 holes in the baddest lineup in baseball next to my Reds. If he can stay off the cheeseburgers and Budweiser, expect a moster RBI year again. He's going from a big park to a big park so.....so what. He's in my top 10 overall along w/ A-Rod and Wright.

4. Aramis Rameriz (Cubs) I don't know why I like this dude so much but he just doesn't strikeout much for a big bopper. He only had 101 RBI last year due to some injury issues but I like what's in front of him alot better this year with the speed of Pie and Soriano. In Wrigly, you know he's going to put plenty out on the Avenue.

5. Garret Atkins (Rockies) After sucking terribly in May, he proceeded to hit .335 the rest of the season and tear it up in the second half. He killed me in the weeks I had to play against him. He can't start off as bad as last year can he?

6. Chone Figgins (Angels) He only played 115 games last year. He batted .330 and scored 81 runs in those 115 games with an on-base of almost .400. He also had 41 steals and 58 RBI.

7. Ryan Braun (Brewers) Awesome rookie season. I'm not sure he can repeat that in '08. He might move to the outfield which scares me some more. I'm not sold on this guy even though he batted .324 with 34 homers as a rookie. Maybe I'm crazy.

8. Edwin Encarnarcion (Redlegs) Get ready for breakout time in 2008. Edwin hit .337 and 35 RBIs in August and September. Hopefully, he'll play everyday for Dusty Baker unlike previous years with different managers. The only negative with Edwin is that he'll probably hit 6th in that vicious lineup that will carry my Reds to the series against the Yanks in 2008.

9. Chipper Jones (Braves) You can't leave Chipper out of the top 10. He dominated last year staying mostly healthy batting .337/29/102. He doesn't have Andruw behind him this year to bat .220 and strikeout a million times. If he stays healthy, he might even improve on last year's totals.

10. Mike Lowell (Red Sox) The World Series MVP carried my team last year in consistency. He doesn't strikeout. He batted .321/21/120 while batting way too far down in the lineup. He'll be close to the same this year until being crushed by the Bronx Bombers in the ALCS.

Next 10

Ryan Zimmerman (Nats)

Kevin Kouzmanoff (Padres)

Alex Gordon (Royals)

Beltre (Ms)

Longoria (D-Rays)

Glaus (Cards)

Rolen (Blue Jays)

Blalock (Rangers)

Mora (Os)

Chavez (As)

Santana still the #1 pitcher.......NOW #1 OVERALL????

Johan Santana was 15-13 in 2007 with 235 Strikeouts in 219 innings compiling a 3.33 ERA with Minnesota which made him the #1 fantasy pitcher in our league. The win/loss record wasn't thrilling but 235 strikeouts in 219 innings is awesome for your fantasy winning checkbook. It was his first year in the past three with an ERA above the 3 mark. Now, he heads to the NYC and most likely gets to face two to three at-bats per game from pitchers and gets to pitch around the 8 hole to get to the pitcher. The Mets D is really good w/ Reyes and Castillo up the Middle and David Wright and Delgado on the corners which is a big step up from Minnesota's infielders, the fast turf, and the homer-dome in the Twin Cities. To top it off, he now gets to pitch 81 games in a tough hitters park like Shea and is making a butt-load of MONEY! Goodness. All of this together will still make Johan the #1 pitcher by a long shot but now we'll have to start thinking if it may be worth drafting him in the overall #1 slot. If he's still there for me at my pick......it probably will happen.