Fantasy Baseball

I have been playing fantasy baseball for a long time.  In fact, my first league was run before the internet provided any method of tracking stats, standings, and rosters.  Once a week my friend Nate would sit down with the Sunday paper and our league’s rosters and compile the league standings by hand.  The next day at school we’d pass them around to see where we stood.

Once the obvious first two rounds are drafted, the GM of your tiny team must begin to look deeper into your own knowledge of the sport.

Players begin to be less of stars and more of knowledge. The stats from previous years can often lie, you often try to stay away from losing records by pitchers and hitters that were injured or didn't hit more than 20 home runs or hit over .275.

Heres a hint for you. If the pitchers switch teams, the ERA will stay the same but the Win column will improve.

If the hitter is hurt, 75% of the time he will get better.

Here are some pitchers whose name we all know, but who you may not realize as on the cusp of a tremendous 2010 season.  Let’s take a look at five of my favorite pitching sleepers for the coming year:

Marc Rzepczynski —Toronto Blue Jays
The left-hander made his Major League debut in ‘09, posting a 3.67 ERA and 1.32 WHIP over 11 starts.  He was slightly lucky (.280 BABIP), but also struggled with his control (BB/9 of 4.40). 

Albert Pujols is the best player in baseball. He has been an absolute machine since he entered the league in 2001. Have you never realized how good he is? Let me blow your mind with a couple of stats...

I had my first draft of the season a week ago and it seems no matter how well you prepare for a draft you can never quite envision how it will play out.

Even after reviewing many different ADP reports for my 10-team H2H league it still shocked me how the first round went. I ended up with the 10th overall pick and while I was initially not pleased I certainly made the most of it.

John Lannan is a pitcher who has garnered some attention the past two seasons due to some impressive ERAs, but that is where the positives come to an abrupt end. 

Is this one "plus" a reason to consider taking the gamble on him?  I certainly don’t think so, and here’s why…

First off, his 2009 statistics:

9 Wins
206.1 Innings
3.88 ERA
1.35 WHIP
89 Strikeouts (3.88 K/9)
68 Walks (2.97 BB/9)
.276 BABIP

Things You Need To Know:

Let’s continue to look at late round options turning our attention to shortstop. 

Two of the options late in your draft we’ve already discussed in great detail, so I’m not going to rehash them here, but if you are curious, you can click the links to get the details on them Everth Cabrera   and Alcides Escobar.

Every once in a while, you fall in love.

And no, it’s not the type of love Jake felt towards Vienna on The Bachelor.

This type of love is much more…passionate.

I’d equate it to the type of love that Theo Epstein felt towards Marco Scutaro after he stalked and eventually signed the journeyman utility player to a two-year, $12.5 million dollar contract after he recorded a career year at age 35.

Last season, Joe Nathan saved 47 of Minnesota’s 87 victories.

The All-Star closer will be lucky to get one this year.

Nathan was removed from Saturday’s pre-season contest against the Red Sox after just one batter, citing elbow tightness and soreness. It was originally thought that the discomfort was due to breaking up scar tissue from an October surgery to remove bone chips from the reliever’s elbow, but an MRI showed the damage to be much more severe.