Fantasy Sports

So, you are struggling and cannot seem to get out of your own way. The fantasy offense you put together is slumping and your pitching staff continues to be lackluster at best.

What can you do?

The best players are gone off of waivers and the only players left are scraps. Nothing that can fix your team, right? Wrong. Take a look at these comparisons of players over the last 30 days. Even when there is nothing seemingly available, something can help you out if you know where and how to look.

All stats are over the last 30 days.

One of the easiest mistakes a fantasy baseball player can make is to overreact to a small sample size.

When an established star has a slow April or a no-name waiver pickup gets off to a fast start, it's tempting to sacrifice long-term talent to play the hot hand now.

In addition to the fact that even the best players go through cold spells, small sample sizes are extremely susceptible to the taint or boost of miserable or incredible luck.

Smart owners don't give in to the temptation; rather, they trade away their fortunate flukes and buy low on slow-starting superstars.

To help you enginee

Ah, fantasy baseball. Where real life combines with make belief in a beautiful fusion of mixed allegiances and sporting know-how with bragging rights on the line.

It's just 15 sleeps to Opening Day, and if you want to pit your baseball wits against some of the best in the business, here's your chance.

Over the next six months, I'll be running my own fantasy baseball league, providing weekly updates here on Bleacher Report with all the results, news, and notes you need to fully immerse yourself in one of the nation's favorite pastimes.

The offseason is always filled with numerous trades and free agent signings.

But with each deal that's made, players' fantasy stocks increase, some decrease, and others stay the same with their new team.

This offseason was no different.

In fact, more major moves happened this year than in recent years.

We all know about Seattle's signing of Chone Figgins. The three-team deal involving Curtis Granderson and of course the four-team megadeal that had Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee changing addresses.

A player with 30/30 potential is not always easy to come by for fantasy baseball owners.  They are the type of players that everyone is looking to stock their roster with, driving their cost up.  Besides that, how many players even have that type of ability to begin with? 

Last season there were two players (Grady Sizemore & Hanley Ramirez) who achieved the feat.  That says a lot.

Some reasonably available players to assist you in the Runs and/or RBI categories.

Runs

Yunel Escobar, SS, Atlanta Braves-  Yunel scored 8 Runs last week while going 9 for 30 (.300) with a HR and 4 RBI. On the year he’s hitting .306 with 19 Runs, 3 HRs, and 17 RBI.  He is owned in 66 percent of Yahoo!, 35 percent of ESPN, and 76 percent of CBS Sportsline leagues.

So you're slumping a little bit on your pitching, running behind in your league because Hamels hasn't been what you remember him being, or Chien-Ming Wang decimated your numbers from Opening Day on.

Or maybe it's your bullpen: your relievers aren't much help since Brad Lidge is pitching like that 2006 Pujols homer was yesterday, Ziegler's got the flu, and you tried to find Hoffman's Brew Crew subs while he was out, only to to discover it was more like the Blew-it Crew.

Prior to the season it was a foregone conclusion that David Price, unanimously considered one of the top two prospects in baseball, would be up and contributing to the Tampa Bay Rays by June.

The team was just going to send him down to the minor for a little more seasoning, despite already showcasing him on the grandest of stages. What they have, however, is a pitcher struggling at Triple-A making it nearly impossible for the team to recall him right now. 

His 2009 line is as follows:

Alex Rodriguez returned to the Yankees line-up with a bang.  Justin Verlander continued his amazing resurgence.  Cole Hamels finally got a notch in the win column.  Aramis Ramirez left with an injury. Let’s take a look at these stories and all the rest from yesterday’s games.

New York (AL) vs. Baltimore