Fantasy Baseball

The Rangers have proven that they are willing to push their pitching prospects, as evidenced by their use of both Derek Holland and Neftali Feliz at the Major League level in 2009. The next pitcher who could follow suit is 18-year-old Martin Perez (he’ll turn 19 on April 4).

They pushed him to Double-A last season, where he struggled in five starts (5.57 ERA, 14 K in 21 IP), but he was extremely successful in his time at Single-A:

5 Wins
93.2 Innings
2.31 ERA
1.23 WHIP
105 Strikeouts (10.09 K/9)
33 Walks (3.17 BB/9)
.332 BABIP

I was very high on Jason Bay last year. I figured he would drive in a ton of runs with Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia at the top of Boston’s lineup.

He did not disappoint with 36 HRs and 119 RBI despite missing 11 games.

He’s moved on to the Mets this year, and he still figures to have plenty of opportunities hitting behind the likes of Jose Reyes and David Wright.

Bay has reached 100-plus RBI in four of his last five years, with nearly four of those years coming in Pittsburgh, so I don’t see him having a problem reaching that figure.

I've been getting ready for fantasy baseball and came up with this idea for a Battle of the Blogs league. I have set up the league on ESPN.com and would like to invite any bloggers interested in joining. This will be a great way to compete with other bloggers for bragging rights as well as promote everyone's blog.

I am hoping to get bloggers from all over the country. Below are the details of the league.

Battle of the Blogs Fantasy Baseball League is open to anyone with a blog. Your blog name will be used as your team name.

The hot corner was once the place of royalty in Major League Baseball.  Some of the greatest players to ever play the game manned third base, including the great Mike Schmidt, Eddie Matthews, George Brett, and Brooks Robinson.

Aside from sharing a name with one bad ass Canadian '80s pop singer (kidding), Corey Hart also saw a promising career dry up. Of course, the baseball version can be attributed to injury, and a successful comeback is more than likely.

Hart quietly was one of the better all-around fantasy outfielders in 2007 and 2008 with the following lines:

Now an early look at the NL East.

1.  Will Tommy Hanson lead the Braves in Wins?

Many fantasy owners feel it’s unnecessary to draft stable closers since you can always find someone either late in your draft or in free agency.  You don’t have to look further than Ryan Franklin or David Aardsma from 2009 as support. 

So, this week we’ll take a look at the National League bullpen situations and next week we’ll shift our focus to the American League, looking at each team’s closer and those who could step in if something were to happen.  Additionally, we’ll continue to update these columns as draft day moves closer.

1. Will Hideki Matsui continue to produce? 
He will turn 36 years old this summer so expectations should be tempered. He’s also leaving the home run haven that is Yankee Stadium. Plus, the Angels’ lineup is not as formidable as the Yankees was. Given his injury risk and new home, he’s a player I would avoid in 2010.

There are several interesting player comparisons we can look at in the first few rounds of 2010 fantasy drafts.  This season seems more muddled then normal, with very few clear-cut selections for fantasy owners to make due to injuries or epic struggles in 2009.  One of the interesting debates right now comes in the second, with David Wright (ADP 14.40) currently going a selection before Carl Crawford (ADP 15.17), on average.

ESPN released some 2010 predictions for both football and baseball today, and I’ve been reading them over for a little while. I thought this would be a good time to get the conversation going between the self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader In Sports,” Baseball Professor, and everyone else who wants to get involve. So what did ESPN’s crew of experts have to say?

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