Fantasy Baseball

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: FANTASY BASEBALL INSIDERS

One common myth about spring training is that it actually matters. Now don’t get me wrong, the live game action provides valuable experience for young prospects and is useful to players as they battle back from injury. Even the grizzled veterans need time each spring to get back into the groove.

Don’t pay for saves.

Now that I got that out of the way, we can turn our attention to the relievers.

Amazingly, there are a lot of relatively stable bullpen situations across the league. Houston and Pittsburgh are the only teams that don’t have a clear-cut closer, although there are other teams with guys on shorter leashes and a few teams with setup men waiting in the wings.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: FANTASY BASEBALL INSIDERS

As the season approaches, I will pinpoint a few different aspects of fantasy baseball which  are overlooked by most managers. This edtion’s “overlooked aspect” has to do with high innings-pitched totals, particularly in the postseason.

It's March, which means three things: 1) A friend or family member will do something (or someone) they regret on St. Patrick's Day 2) Your genius will betray you in the form of busted NCAA brackets and 3) You have a fantasy baseball draft on the horizon.

If you're a serious fantasy player—and not that hack from accounting who asks if A-Rod is available in Round 7—this means you've already begun preparation for the big day.

Welcome back to the third installment of my fantasy baseball preview.

This portion of my preview is a list of established veterans who had unexpectedly All-Star-caliber seasons, and draw speculation as to whether they can repeat their success from 2009.

Let's take a look at 14 profiled vets whose careers are now at a crossroad.

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When you look at potentially filling your fantasy rotation out in the late rounds on draft day, WHIP is one of the categories you have to keep in mind. While strikeout potential is great, if the pitcher is capable of walking the ballpark and posting a WHIP of 1.35 or worse, he potentially will do more harm then good.

With that in mind, let’s look at five pitchers with the potential to contribute in WHIP and who are generally available after Round 18:

Mark Buehrle—Chicago White Sox

As baseball fans and sabermetric gurus, we all believe that we can predict how a player will perform year in and year out. We spend hours of our precious time watching video and looking up stats. We know who is real and who isn't.

There are certain types of fantasy baseball players that are better left untouched. Guys you should avoid like the plague. Here are four types of fantasy players you won't find on my roster, and what you need to know to keep your fantasy team safe from them.

Vampires

Drafting pitchers in fantasy baseball is an art.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: FANTASYBASEBALLINSIDERS.COM

In the coming weeks, I will attempt to create the most accurate 2010 big board available. This draft guide will be released 10 players at a time until my top 50 have been revealed.