2011 MLB Spring Training

KANSAS CITY ROYALS

Last Year: 67-95, fifth in AL Central 

Manager: Ned Yost

PROJECTED LINEUP 

C: Jason Kendall (R) (will start season on DL)

DH/1B: Kila Ka'aihue (L)

1B/DH: Billy Butler (R)

2B: Chris Getz (L)

3B: Mike Aviles (R)

SS: Alcides Escobar (R)

LF: Alex Gordon (L)

CF: Melky Cabrera (S)

RF: Jeff Francoeur (R)

By signing Cliff Lee last fall, the Philadelphia Phillies became the National League's favorite to win a third pennant in four seasons.

With their awesome staff, a stacked lineup and a great closer, they looked almost unbeatable. But the spring hasn't been kind to the Phils. The injury bug has caused some concern heading into the 2011 season.

Brad Lidge is out for at least three-to-six weeks with a rotator cuff sprain, while Chase Utley, Placido Polanco and Domonic Brown have been hampered by injuries, as well.

Kyle Drabek Deserves a Close Look on Your 2011 Fantasy Baseball Sleeper List

One of the Jays top prospects is ready to burst out onto the scene and give your fantasy roster some much needed depth in the starting pitching department.

He made three career starts at the end of 2010 and gave up nine runs in 17 innings. Not exactly fantasy gold.

But his velocity has jumped up to the mid-90's and his devastating curveball is going to give hitters fits.

CLEVELAND INDIANS 

Last Year: 69-93, Fourth in AL Central 

Manager: Manny Acta

PROJECTED LINEUP 

C- Carlos Santana (S)

1B- Matt LaPorta (R)

2B- Orlando Cabrera (R)

3B- Jack Hannahan (L)

SS- Asdrubal Cabrera (S)

LF- Michael Brantley (S)

CF- Grady Sizemore (L) (Will start season on DL) 

RF- Shin-Soo Choo (L)

DH- Travis Hafner (L)

Before the start of the season, I wanted to see which pitchers statistically had the best fastballs, curveballs, sliders, cutters, changeups and splitters of the 2010 season.

Here are a look at the top curveballs of the 2010 season. A few notes:

The Pitch Value data was created by Fangraphs.com. I will be using the statistic, wCB, which denotes the runs above average for a particular pitch—in this case a curveball.  

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS 

Last Year: 90-72, 1st in NL West

Manager: Bruce Bochy 

PROJECTED LINEUP

C- Buster Posey (R)

1B- Aubrey Huff (L)

2B- Freddy Sanchez (R) 

3B- Pablo Sandobal (S) 

SS- Miguel Tejada (R)

LF- Pat Burrell (R)

CF- Andres Torres (S)

RF- Cody Ross (R) (Will start season on DL)

Wondering who the next great MLB star will be? Well navigating through such as question is not just par-for-the-course, but also a very debatable topic that pretty much leaves an open door for several mentions, for several reasons.

I have comprised a list of who I think will be the next set of MLB superstars, and I tried to mix in both players who have begun carving their name into the history books (players with no more than five years of service prior to this season), as well as, players just about to begin making their mark (rookies).

BOSTON RED SOX

Last Year: 89-73, 3rd in AL East

Manager: Terry Francona 

PROJECTED LINEUP: 

C- Jarrod Saltalamacchia (S)

1B- Adrian Gonzalez (L)

2B- Dustin Pedroia (R)

3B- Kevin Youkilis (R) 

SS- Marco Scutaro (R)

LF- Carl Crawford (L)

CF- Jacoby Ellsbury (L)

RF- JD Drew (L) 

DH- David Ortiz (L) 

If you are a New York Yankees fan and see that the team has a losing record this spring, are you worried? 

Does a winning spring mean that the Kansas City Royals are finally going to have a good season? 

Is there any correlation between spring training wins and losses and regular season wins and losses?

Many baseball experts have looked at spring training results to see if they are a good indicator of what will happen in the regular season. The bottom line is they are not.

SAN DIEGO PADRES

Last Year: 90-82, 2nd in NL West

Manager: Bud Black

PROJECTED LINEUP

C- Nick Hundley (R)

1B- Brad Hawpe (L)/ Jorge Cantu (R)

2B- Orlando Hudson (S) 

3B- Chase Headley (S) 

SS- Jason Bartlett (S)

LF- Ryan Ludwick (R)

CF- Cameron Maybin (R)

RF- Will Venable (L)