Fantasy

In 2010, Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez had what—by his own lofty standards—could be considered a down year.  Hanley "only" batted .300 after hitting .330 or better two of the previous three years.  He "only" hit 21 HRs, the lowest total since his rookie campaign. 

In articles like this, websites typically give readers a list of the best overall prospects at any given position, but the intention here is to focus on just those prospects who are most likely to provide owners with the most significant fantasy impact in the 2011 season.

Thus, a guy like Chicago White Sox prospect Dayan Viciedo—who should be beat out by fellow prospect Brent Morel—is not on my list.

Ditto for Josh Bell in Baltimore, who has been blocked by the recent acquisition of Mark Reynolds.

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 easy to forget the immediate impact Carlos Santana had after being called up by the Cleveland Indians in mid-June. Before Santana’s season was cut short on August 2^nd by a knee injury, he managed to compile a .260 batting average with 23 R, 6 HR, 22 RBIs and 3 SB.

When the Boston Red Sox completed a trade with the San Diego Padres for 1B Adrian Gonzalez in early December, the move was met with much fanfare.

As sports fans gradually transition from football mode into baseball mode, the excitement surrounding the A-Gone acquisition is sure to skyrocket heading into spring training. 

While the Padres surprised the baseball world by competing for a playoff spot in 2010, they remain a small market team sitting far from the Northeast media machine.

Some people have a hard time letting go.

Brett Favre with retirement, Guns N' Roses fans with Chinese Democracy and now fantasy owners with Ichiro Suzuki.

Here’s an early look at the 2011 First Base rankings.


1.  Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals:  Turned in another fabulous season, hitting .312 with 115 runs, 183 hits, 42 HRs, 118 RBI, 14 SBs, 103 walks and a 1.011 OPS. He truly is a machine and should be the No. 1 player taken in fantasy drafts.

There were rumors all offseason long that the Red Sox could look to move Daisuke Matsuzaka, though at this point it does not appear likely.  Instead, Dice-K will again open the season as part of a deep Red Sox rotation with an awful lot to prove.

After a tremendous 2008 campaign (18 W, 2.90 ERA, 1.32 WHIP), he has struggled tremendously. 

This year's list of catcher's was especially difficult to rank, and I'm sure I'll switch some of these players over the course of the next few months. Regardless, this is have currently is as accurate as any.

There are some ranks that might surprise you; however, I can assure you that I have looked more than enough statistics to justify each rank.

The hot stove is starting to cool as we ready for spring training. I know we are still six weeks away, but I can dream. 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.