Fantasy Baseball

Over the past year, Ian Kinsler has been steadily falling down people's wish lists and deservedly so. He has never been able to shake the injury bug as he has only played in more than 130 games once in his five-year career. Most recently, Kinsler is coming off an injury-riddled campaign where he only amassed nine home runs and 15 steals. Those number are not really meeting the expectations of the top 20 player that we all envisioned him to be.

Like an active squirrel storing away acorns for winter, I was scurrying around my secluded mountainside homestead preparing for a small snow storm headed in our direction. Somewhere between refurbishing our trusty snowblower and splitting logs for our woodstove, I found myself daydreaming of spring.

Warmer weather. Green grass. Baseball. Fantasy baseball.

Obviously, when you are drafting for a keeper league, things are a little bit different than if you are drafting simply for one year.  You need to think not just for 2011, but potentially 2012 and beyond (depending on your format).  Let’s take a look at how that changes things for our rankings:

Chris Johnson burst onto the fantasy baseball scene in 2010 for the Houston Astros.  Playing 3B, among the shallowest positions, he caught fire in the second half helping to carry many to fantasy glory.  Overall, he had the following line:

362 At Bats
.308 Batting Average (105 Hits)
11 Home Runs
52 RBI
40 Runs
3 Stolen Bases
.337 On Base Percentage
.481 Slugging Percentage
.387 Batting Average on Balls in Play

1. Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies

2. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners

3. Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals

4. Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies

5. Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado Rockies

6. Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

7. Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants

Over the past two years, Brandon Webb has thrown a grand total of four innings in the major leagues.  However, in 2011 he will attempt to fill the void in the Texas Rangers’ rotation created by Cliff Lee packing his bags and heading to Philadelphia.

Prior to his injury problems, Webb was one of the elite players in the game. 

MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan is reporting Adrian Beltre has agreed to a six-year, $96 million contract with the Texas Rangers. The deal is pending a physical, and is not expected to be made official until next week.

Last March, I conducted a study on pitchers who’ve posted a single-season ERA of 2.50 or less since 2000. (You can read that article here.)

In my research, I made several interesting discoveries. First, there were 11 different sub-2.50 ERA seasons between 2000 and 2005. Between 2006 and 2008, however, there were none.

Many owners prefer to wait until the tail end of their drafts to fill their catching position.  While I may not necessarily be in favor of it (something we will discuss at a later date), let’s take a look at a few options who may be available in your draft after Round 18 (an ADP of 216 or later according to Mock Draft Central) and are certainly worth targeting:

As we head towards our fantasy drafts for 2011, there’s a debate raging as to who should be the first pitcher off the board. 

Sure, you may get the occasional person who prefers Tim Lincecum, but for most the decision comes down to the 2010 Cy Young Award winners: Roy Halladay and Felix Hernandez.

Who should be the first pitcher off the board on draft day? Let’s break it down category-by-category and see:

Strikeouts