Fantasy

It’s time to look at those players who contribute to your wins, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP. Pitching is half the game, so remember to know your pitchers just as well as you know your batters. To help with that preparation, here is our 2011 starting pitching rankings broken up into tiers. 

After years of having Dan Uggla hit home runs against its pitching staff, the Atlanta Braves decided to add the muscle-bound second baseman to their roster. In exchange for Uggla, the Braves sent utility infielder Omar Infante and relief pitcher Mike Dunn to the Marlins.

Since the A’s last made the playoffs they’ve had successive win totals of 76, 75, 75 and 81, and thus been stuck in mediocrity.  But there is reason for optimism this year, thanks mostly to a young pitching staff that took a huge step forward last year.  

The MLB Hot Stove is starting to cool as we get ready for Spring Training. Pitchers and catchers report in less than three weeks. So let’s stoke that fire a bit with more prospect talk. This series on prospects will cover a wide range of players as well as positions. We’ll cover sleepers as well as some of the more obvious stars of the future.

You hear it every year: Don't pay for saves.

Yet, you still take a big name closer before the seventh round each season.

The overused cliche rings with truth and I can attest to it. You simply should not be wasting high draft picks on closers.

Before I go any further, I should make it clear that I'm talking about rotisserie leagues with standard 5x5 categories. Obviously certain custom leagues could place more value on relief pitchers, but this is not the case here.

We here at Baseball Professor think about our readers first and ourselves second—albeit a close second. That’s why we decided to reach out to other bloggers (who follow their respective teams more closely than we do) to give you a deeper look into the important issues every fantasy owner has to come to grips with this season.

After going 11-4 as a rookie, there were high hopes for Tommy Hanson going into last season. Despite 75 more innings pitched, he finished with one fewer win en route to a 10-11 season.

It would be easy to be disappointed by the sub-.500 record, but there was more to the story. Despite a difference of 0.257 in winning percentage, his ERA went up just 0.44 to a rock solid 3.33. His WHIP actually dipped a bit from 1.18 to 1.17.

Fantasy owners have long waited for Ian Stewart to develop into one of the elite third basemen in the league.  We have heard all about his power potential ever since the 2003 first round pick hit 30 HR at Single-A  back in 2004.  However, in parts of four seasons with the Rockies, Stewart has yet to fully live up to the expectations.  His 2010 campaign was no different:

On Jan.

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.