Fantasy Baseball

In preparation of the 2011 MLB Fantasy Baseball season, The Fantasy Fix team will preview a team's pitching rotation each day.

Tyler's second preview in the National League Central looks at Johnny Cueto, Edinson Volquez, Bronson Arroyo and a trio of young Cincinnati Reds fighting for two rotation spots!

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.

Prince Fielder is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.

This offseason, the Mets have seemingly been acquiring potential options to be their everyday second baseman, from selecting Brad Emaus in the Rule 5 Draft to trading Michael Antonini to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Chin-lung Hu. 

It’s a wide-open competition, so let’s take a look at all the options the Mets have and handicap who fantasy owners should want to see:

Luis Castillo

Fantasy owners continue to wait for Billy Butler to develop power.  After hitting 21 HR in 2009 (along with 51 doubles) there was hope that he had turned the corner.  There was hope that he was on the precipice of becoming one of the elite first baseman in the game.

Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.  In fact, it wasn’t even close.  The 2010 season, while solid in many ways, fell well short of expectations:

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.

Rise, bleacher bums. Rise, Ricketts family. Rise, all you North siders. This is your time. This is Cubs baseball time!

Sure, it’s been a little while since the Cubbies have won the NL Pennant, but I’m telling you, this is the year! The pieces are starting to come together, and it’s all happening with the pitching rotation. 

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.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are planning to start Jay Gibbons and Marcus Thames in left field to open the 2011 season. 

No, that’s not a typo. 

It is the same Jay Gibbons who was out of the league in 2008 and 2009 only to resurface in Los Angeles in 2010 and hit .280 with five HR in 75 AB.  It is the same Marcus Thames who has never had more than 348 AB in a season and is a career .248 hitter.

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.

Chase Utley has widely been considered the top fantasy second baseman for several years. Until now.

Coming to fans everywhere, the latest installment of Washington D.C. baseball...National Treasures: The Missing Strasburg. Starring the D-list celebrities of the fantasy baseball world: Livan “National League Harlot” Hernandez, Jordan “Not That Zimmerman” Zimmermann, and featuring Jason Marquis and John Lannan as trusty sidekicks.

Looking back at last year’s chapter of National Treasures, it seems like not many will buy into the 2011 version.