Josh Hamilton

With spring training just starting up, optimism about the upcoming season is at its highest. There is not a better time to make predictions about the upcoming season, which should be a great one.

The American League MVP award is awarded annually to the player who is considered most valuable to his team throughout the year. Recent recipients of the award include Josh Hamilton and Joe Mauer.

In anticipation for the 2011 season, I have decided to rank the five American League preseason MVP favorites.

With all the talk surrounding King Albert this spring training and Jose Bautista signing a five-year extension, Bleacher Report has decided to look at the next group of MLB stars that are looking at potential long-term contract extensions.

With the economy not bouncing back like "experts" have said, teams are being more careful at handing out lucrative, long-term deals with their players and opting instead to spend money on player development. However, there are those players who are essential to their team's success and they will be paid accordingly. 

Michael Young has told Texas he wants out. He told the press he wants out.

One would think he has earned the right to leave with dignity after Texas told him they wouldn't try to deal him, as they were trying to, and then told him they would deal him, after they had severed negotiations. 

That being said, this isn't the NBA. No player has ultimate power over ownership. Young will stay in Texas, and will play the season out like the consummate professional that he is. 

But why does Texas need him? 

Josh Hamilton, the 2010 American League Most Valuable Player, agreed to avoid arbitration and signed to a two-year contract worth $24 million with the Texas Rangers.

The deal allows Hamilton to become a free agent following the 2012 World Series. Had Hamilton and the Rangers gone to arbitration, a third party would have decided between the Rangers offer of $8.7 million per year or Hamilton's offer of $12 million.

This week, we take a look at the best hitter-pitcher combo in the American League.

I'm one who believes total value wins championships. Not pitching, not defense and not a power bat. If you have the overall balance and more total value, you're the best.

So, then, it would be important to have both a solid bat (who can play defense, but that's not factored in here) and an ace on the mound. A door slammer if you will.

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.

Spring training is almost here and as we get closer to the 2011 baseball season kicking off, let's take a look at who the best hitters are.

For the last decade, Albert Pujols has arguably been the league's best and most complete hitter. Although not old by any means and coming off a terrific 2010 season, he is now 31 years old and perhaps he might not be the absolute best anymore.

Is that even possible? Who else would even match up to him? You'd have to take into account producing in all three major categories, such as batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.

The list of candidates for the 2010 American League Most Valuable Player was a rather different bunch than in previous years.  Which, perhaps, made the voters default to the old thinking of “pick the best player on a playoff team”. But, taking another look, was 2010 a season where that didn’t apply?

With most of the top free agents now signed and teams starting to take shape as we approach spring training, I thought I would share my pre-pre-season perspective on the relative strengths (and weaknesses) of all 30 major league teams. I have broken the article down into three installments, and will publish one of the segments each day this weekend.

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: