Baseball

This week on "Remember When…." We are going all the way back to the early Nineties when a 25 year-old kid came up for half a season to turn the Yankee faithful into believers. Kevin Maas was going to be the next Babe Ruth.

Chase Utley has become a household name over the past few years. Not just for those in Philadelphia, but for baseball fans everywhere.

Some say he is the best second baseman currently playing the game. Others take their assessment to a new level by predicting that he will be the best second baseman to ever set foot in Major League Baseball.

“Brennan Boesch is an equal opportunity slugger. Right field, left field, centerfield; right handed pitcher, left handed pitcher—it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t just box himself into hitting home runs! Singles, doubles, triples and even a grand slam are all on the stat line of this young rookie’s major league career. The kid is swinging a golden bat right now and for one, I don’t see him stopping any time soon.”

-Andrew Kulha, Summer 2010

Yadier Molina was a tale of two players last year. In the first half of the season, he hit .223/.301/.294. In the second half, he hit .315/.368/.405. His end of the season splits ended up at .262/.329/.342. The big question arises. Which Molina will show up this year?

In the first half of last season, he was practically unusable. In the second half, he was a pretty solid option at catcher.

We are all well aware that virtually no team goes through an entire season without injury, and very few can make it through 162 games without a major one.

With that in mind, my question is as follows: Do this year's Phils have enough in reserve to weather the inevitable injury bug?

Now, I'm not going to predict anywhere near the bad luck of last season.  Just about every regular position player suffered at least one physical setback last year, with every major contributor being out for at least a few weeks. 

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.

After Adam Wainwright went down for the season, Kyle McClellan looked like the leading candidate to take the open spot in the starting rotation. After his first outing of the spring, that spot is now McClellan's to lose.

One key to winning a fantasy baseball league is finding value in the latter stages of the draft, especially starting pitchers who can provide help with wins and strikeouts without hurting a team’s overall ERA. Late-round value picks who pan out can also be excellent trade bait to help bolster other weak areas of a fantasy roster.  

Previously The Fantasy Fix reviewed and gave projections for the 2011 Yankees rotation. Now its time to dive in and analyze the Pinstripes positional players.

Mixed League Rotisserie Auction Values in Parentheses

CATCHER: Russell Martin ($7)

When you are a pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system, there is hope that you could make an impact in the Major Leagues sooner, rather than later.  Enter 2006 28th round draft pick Rudy Owens, who looked great at Double-A in ’10 and could make his Pirates debut before long.