Fantasy

Previewing the starting five of the Colorado Rockies is like looking at five really good Indie bands that would be much better off if they could land a record deal—in the Rockies' case, in a different ballpark.  But many hardcore Indie fans will defend their little band to the death, so here I am to defend the staff of the Rockies.  Except Aaron Cook because he sucks.

Yesterday, the Baseball Professor released an analysis on category scarcity over at FanGraphs.com. He broke down each of the five primary offensive categories in fantasy baseball (average, homers, runs batted in, stolen bases and runs scored) by position and on the basis of the players who achieved MLB-average (or better) in each category.

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.

If Tampa Bay wishes to contend in 2011, it’ll need major contributions from the young players on their roster who are being called upon to replace Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and essentially the entire bullpen.

Desmond Jennings is one of these players.

Jennings was drafted in the 10th round of the 2006 MLB Amateur Draft but climbed through the ranks to become MLB.com’s sixth-ranked minor league prospect at the start of 2010.

There are some guys in baseball I must accept I will never own. This is because their prices are projected so far ahead of their realistic value in fantasy baseball, that their owners will stubbornly demand my left arm for them, regardless of the statistics that place their value more in the appendix vicinity.

Some of them are overvalued because they are mediocre producers at very shallow positions, and others are superb producers at a position loaded with stars.

One way or the other, they just aren’t worth inquiring about anymore. 

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.

It’s not that Justin Upton had a bad season last year.

After all, he hit .273 with 17 HRs and 18 SBs. Those are good numbers, but not exactly what fantasy owners were expecting when they selected him in the early rounds last year.

He saw a regression in average (-0.27), runs (-11), HRs (-9), RBIs (-17) and SBs (-2).

First base is probably the deepest position in baseball.  It is stocked with talent, both for now and the future (as we have seen in our 2011 rankings, which you can check out by clicking here).  How should we value players in keeper leagues?  Let’s take a look:

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.

Kevin Youkilis’ current ADP on Mock Draft Central is 30.89, nearly 11 spots below where we believe he belongs.

With the 26^th ranked ERA in the majors last year, the Brew Crew went to work this off-season to improve their rotation. Sought-after pitcher Zack Greinke is coming off a disappointing 2010, but was last year truly a fluke? Or will the Newer Brewer Shaun Marcum outpitch Greinke this season? It sure is getting exciting in Milwaukee this year.