AL West

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

When evaluating Ian Kinsler, it’s important to understand how good he is, and how disappointing he’s been.

Hot stove conversation is terrific, but the start of spring training is even better.

I’ll definitely be following the hoops as closely as possible as we head toward the conference tournaments and beyond.

But the fact that big league camps are about to open means we can start counting down the days until the start of the 2011 baseball season.

Make no mistake, baseball has always been my favorite game, and I’m looking forward to another great summer on the diamond.

Pitchers and catchers report next week, which in theory means the biggest offseason moves have already been completed.

Billy Beane and the A's have already made a flurry of moves, from bolstering the bullpen, adding candidates for the fifth starter spot and adding pop to the lineup.

Lets take a look at the top seven moves made by Billy Beane and the A's so far this offseason.

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The Seattle Mariners recently signed Moises Hernandez to a minor league contract. Not a huge deal, right? Well, he's the brother of reigning AL Cy Young Felix Hernandez.

I'll get into more specifics on that later in the next slide.

I started to think, though. How many other brother combinations have there been, and often did the shared genes translated to shared talent? The best duo was Lloyd and Paul Waner, who are both hall of famers.

There are still plenty of players left on the free agent market that could improve a major league club. What if it was decided there would be a new expansion team? The team would have to assemble itself by whoever is left, and this is what I believe this team would look like. A team filled with former all-stars, and overlooked players.

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No MLB player gets tugged and jerked around by his only team and is as respected as long time Texas Ranger Michael Young. He was a second baseman, then shortstop to accommodate Alfonso Soriano, moved to third to accommodate Elvis Andris, now is moved to 1B/DH when the Rangers signed Adrian Beltre. Now he said enough is enough and he wants out. Who can blame him? The Ranges can easily trade Young to the Rockies, Dodgers, Angels, Padres, Yankees, Twins, Astros and Cardinals. Anyone else would have to be done by his approval.

Michael Young wants out of Texas. 

The Texas Rangers acquired 3B Adrian Beltre this offseason, and Young no longer has spot in Texas' infield. The Rangers had planned on Young being their designated hitter and a utility player. It's apparent that he does not want to play that role.

In 2010 Elvis Andrus had an average year batting average-wise and still made the AL All-Star team. 

Now heading into his third season in the "Bigs," Andrus has the opportunity and ability to emerge as the AL's top short stop.

Andrus hit .265/.342/.301 in 2010 with 35 runs batted in, 32 stolen bases and no home runs. 

What will he have to do to be top gun come mid-July in 2011?

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It's like hitting the big red reset button.

Spring comes and players report to Arizona. Some have new looks with their hair or physical condition. Some spent the winter hibernating while others never stopped to enjoy the downtime.

You never know what you'll get from your team heading into a new season. Unfortunately, the 2010 Mariners saw that these surprises aren't always as sweet as the contents of a box of chocolates.

So we turn the page to 2011 and find out what surprises lie ahead. Here are 10 of those that we might (maybe, possibly, could) see.

What more can you say about Michael Young?

He has been through it all with the Texas Rangers. The good, the bad, the ugly, to term a popular “Spaghetti Western” movie.

So what is going on? Is it all that bad?

Is making $16 million going to make him “mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore?” – to phrase another movie (“Network”), Sure looks like it.

“What is the – "failure to communicate.” ("Cool Hand Luke") when talking about the Rangers and Young’s role for the 2011 season?