Fantasy Baseball

Heading into 2010 fantasy owners wanted to believe that the Chicago White Sox’ Gordon Beckham would mature into a must-use second base option.  He was coming off an impressive rookie season as a third baseman (.270, 14 HR, 63 RBI, 58 R in 378 AB) with a line that certainly would play well at second base especially when projected over a full season.

Unfortunately a repeat performance was not in the cards as Beckham struggled:

The second overall selection in the 2009 draft, Dustin Ackley, made his professional debut in 2010, making quick work of the minor leagues.  He split time between Double- and Triple-A, posting the following line:

This is the newest feature I am going to be doing as we head towards fantasy drafts.  In an effort to target which closers could be in jeopardy of losing their jobs, who to target for vulture saves, etc., we will be breaking down each team’s bullpen.  Let’s kick things off with a look at the Red Sox:

The Closer: Jonathan Papelbon

Phil Hughes was the toast of baseball through May as he appeared nearly unhittable.  He was 6-1 over the first two months to go along with a 2.72 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 57 strikeouts over 56.2 innings of work. 

Over the next four months, however, he was not nearly as effective.

For the entire season, he posted the following line:

18 Wins
176.1 Innings
4.19 ERA
1.25 WHIP
146 Strikeouts (7.45 K/9)
58 Walks (2.96 BB/9)
.281 BABIP

To wrap up my initial positional rankings, let’s take a look at my Top 30 outfielders for the upcoming season. 

Outfield is not quite as deep at the top of the rankings, but the positioned is littered with young players on the precipice breaking out. Players like Jason Heyward, Jay Bruce, Colby Rasmus and Mike Stanton could easily take the next step in 2011 and become some of the best options at the position. 

Where do they stand entering the year? Let’s take a look:

When heading into your fantasy baseball draft, you are probably asking yourself whether you should draft Pujols or Han Ram, Holliday or Braun, Lincecum or King Felix.

Though these choices are essential to your team’s success, late-round draft picks are equally as important and can make or break your season. 

Late-round picks are perfect for finding hidden gems. For example, drafting Jose Bautista and his 54 home runs with one of your final picks paid huge dividends for your team last year.

Brad Hawpe has found a new home in San Diego, though it isn’t to man the outfield. 

Hawpe has been tabbed by the Padres to help fill the gaping hole left by the trade that sent Adrian Gonzalez to Boston. At the major league level, he’s appeared in just nine games at the position, though he did log 215 games there while in the minors.

His glove will be a question, at least early on, but the bigger issue for fantasy owners will be his bat. 

Some people prefer to wait until late in their draft to acquire their fantasy closers, figuring that you can take some risks while also finding saves on the waiver wire throughout the season. 

Others like to use early- to mid-round picks in order to get an elite closer or two, hopefully stabilizing their standing in saves.  Which strategy is right is a debate for another day, but let’s look at how I currently rank the Top 15 closers heading into 2011:

Some would say that Wilson Ramos, who the Nationals acquired in 2010 from the Minnesota Twins as part of the Matt Capps trade, is simply holding the catcher’s spot warm until Derek Norris is ready to take the reins.  Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not, but you had better believe that Ramos is going to do everything possible in 2010 to prove that he is a viable everyday catcher in the major leagues.

Since I first did this list, several catchers have changed teams (while the biggest name was Victor Martinez, players like John Buck, Miguel Olivo and others also packed their bags).  Let’s take a look at the impact of these moves on our rankings for the upcoming year: