AL East

What is the going rate for a cerebral college pitcher with a continually developing arsenal, increasing strikeout rate, and a perennial winner?  How about a fourth round draft pick in the 2009 amateur draft by the New York Yankees.

Adam P. Warren is a 6'1", 200lb right hand pitcher from New Bern, NC.  He played his high school ball at New Bern High, where he earned the New Bern Journal's "Baseball Player of the Year" award.  An honor roll student, he graduated fifth in his class.

This winter was a cold one for the Tampa Bay Rays, there's no doubt about that. Losing the face of the franchise, the MLB saves leader, and one of the top two starting pitchers will make it that way for a team.

There's questions galore with this club coming into 2011, from wondering who will be in what role in the bullpen, to how players will be switched around in several different positions.

These, in my mind, our the top five questions, or concerns, for the Rays entering this spring.

As the 2011 Major League Baseball season is just over two months away, it's appropriate to start thinking about the key pieces for every team this season.

While we saw the Giants win the World Series with a pitching-heavy formula, their championship counterparts, the Texas Rangers, road Josh Hamilton's bat the majority of the way there.

Every team has high expectations coming into the season, and here is a list of players who will have to produce in order for their teams to meet them.

Be prepared for some surprises, as several big-name players have changed teams.

Courtesy of Yankees 'n More

MLB Power Rankings: Which AL East Team Had the Best Offseason?

The American League East is arguably the most talented and competitive division in all of baseball. This offseason was no different.

We saw a number of big name players—Adrian Gonzalez, Derrek Lee, Mark Reynolds—head East, as well as a few others—Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, Dan Wheeler, Kevin Gregg—switch allegiances while remaining in the division.

Yesterday, the Baseball Professor released an analysis on category scarcity over at FanGraphs.com. He broke down each of the five primary offensive categories in fantasy baseball (average, homers, runs batted in, stolen bases and runs scored) by position and on the basis of the players who achieved MLB-average (or better) in each category.

While the starting pitching market has dried up considerably at this point, there are a couple of interesting names still out there that are worth a second glance:

Justin Duchscherer and John Maine.

In my opinion, those guys are the two best options left, though I'll admit, their injury history does scare me. But both have had some success in their careers, which is why it might be worth it for the Orioles to take a chance on one of them. Not to mention they'd probably come cheap.

We here at Baseball Professor think about our readers first and ourselves second—albeit a close second. That's why we decided to reach out to other bloggers (who follow their respective teams more closely than we do) to give you a deeper look into the important issues every fantasy owner has to come to grips with this season.

If Tampa Bay wishes to contend in 2011, it’ll need major contributions from the young players on their roster who are being called upon to replace Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and essentially the entire bullpen.

Desmond Jennings is one of these players.

Jennings was drafted in the 10th round of the 2006 MLB Amateur Draft but climbed through the ranks to become MLB.com’s sixth-ranked minor league prospect at the start of 2010.

Courtesy of Yankees 'n More

Texas Rangers' CEO Chuck Greenberg is trying his best to create some sort of rivalry with the New York Yankees, no doubt hoping to coattail his Rangers away from their insignificant perch upon the MLB landscape.