Fantasy Baseball

In The Fantasy Fix's newest series, 2011 Fantasy Baseball Great Debate, our writers discuss two positional players and try to convince you which player to pick first on draft day. In this article we compare the two big bats of Mark Teixeira & Adrian Gonzalez. 

If Mark Teixeira were coming off either his 2008 or 2009 season, he would be the popular choice in this little Teixeira-Gonzalez debate.  In those two seasons he averaged a .300 average with 36 HR, 102 R, and 121 RBI. 

One of the keys to winning your fantasy baseball league is maximizing your players' potentials by playing them only in their most ideal circumstances. What do I mean by that?

Many Major League Baseball hitters have strengths and weaknesses, most notably hitting versus right or left-handed pitchers. For a pitcher, an example might be that your pitcher only pitches well at home or on the road. So how can you use this on draft day to your advantage? 

As much as we try, hope and pray, we will never be able to fill our rosters from top to bottom with guys who are going to put up 2010 CarGo-esque numbers. There are only a handful of players in every given season with the ability carry a fantasy team. A good fantasy team succeeds at rostering above average players; not rostering statistical liabilities.   

If Tampa Bay wishes to contend in 2011, it’ll need major contributions from the young players on their roster who are being called upon to replace Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and essentially the entire bullpen.

Desmond Jennings is one of these players.

Jennings was drafted in the 10th round of the 2006 MLB Amateur Draft but climbed through the ranks to become MLB.com’s sixth-ranked minor league prospect at the start of 2010.

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.

First base is probably the deepest position in baseball.  It is stocked with talent, both for now and the future (as we have seen in our 2011 rankings, which you can check out by clicking here).  How should we value players in keeper leagues?  Let’s take a look:

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.

Kevin Youkilis’ current ADP on Mock Draft Central is 30.89, nearly 11 spots below where we believe he belongs.

Once upon a time in fantasy baseball, second base was shallower than Paris Hilton at a Larry the Cable Guy event. It was as epic as Mariah Carey’s movie, “Glitter.”

Now, the position has morphed into so much more. It has drama, glitz, and glamor. It’s a regular Oscar contender. I’ll call it “The Good, The Bad and The Uggla.”

The Boston Red Sox have been one of the most active teams in the Hot Stove Season of 2010-11, with the signing of free agent Carl Crawford and the trade for Adrian Gonzalez. Crawford will give the team a new legitimate base stealing threat and a bookend left fielder who can cover a lot of ground, while Gonzalez provides a much needed lefty power bat and is a gold glove fielder at first. 

The Toronto Blue Jays were finally able to find a taker for Vernon Wells’ hefty contract, dealing him to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last Friday in exchange for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera. (Click here for fantasy perspective on Vernon Wells in Anaheim.)