MLB

The Counselor is IN:

Here are my fantasy rankings for Catcher in the American League.

There's arguably no race in the Major League that is more difficult to predict than the American League Central Division.

Last year was a prime example.

Most preseason baseball forecasters picked either the Detroit Tigers or the Cleveland Indians to capture the division. Chicago was picked third, with Minnesota in fourth followed by Kansas City at the bottom.

Well, we all know what happened.

Mike Pelfrey, like Jose Reyes and David Wright, is a product of the Mets farm team system, which sets him apart from the other starting pitchers in the rotation. Johan Santana is from the Minnesota Twins, Oliver Perez is from the San Diego Padres, and John Maine is from the Baltimore Orioles. 

Who the No 5 pitcher will be is yet to be determined, but at this point most likely will either be Livian Hernandez or Freddy Garcia, as Tim Redding has been shut down and will not be on the active 25 man roster going into Opening Day. 

As a fan of FOX's smash hit, House, M.D., I'm used to seeing the medical maverick, Dr. Gregory House, played by Hugh Laurie, solve seemingly unsolvable medical mysteries. Well, I've got a new medical case for you, Dr. House—the Oakland Athletics.

Last week, I talked about the top 10 pitchers in the National League and, from a fantasy aspect, there are some pretty good arms worth taking early. Now, in part two, we will take a look at the choices the American League has to offer before diving into part three.

Part two could have been comprised of a myriad of names, but I feel these are the best overall choices in regard to performance, reliability, and health—key aspects to a pitcher's success.

The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins by a score of 5-1. The Yankee pitchers had another strong performance.

A+—Andy Pettitte

I think that Andy Pettitte is going to be washed up in 2009, especially since he stopped taking steroids. I thought that steroids were making him the pitcher he was, but I could be wrong this year. Andy pitched a great game, giving up no runs on two hits in three innings of work.

A+—Jorge Posada

Four years ago a phenomenal young Atlantan worked his way onto the Atlanta Braves' roster.

The wedding and honeymoon went wonderfully for Jeff Francouer and his hometown ballclub. But unfortunately for both parties, things went sour fast in 2008.

Last season, Francoeur was booed loudly. This was after being a fan favorite since his MLB debut, in which he hit a three-run home run and quickly vaulted himself into the starting lineup.

Francoeur was sent down to Double-A Mississippi for a stint after being completely ineffective for much of the season's first half.

The Yankees had a good day on both sides of the ball and beat the Minnesota Twins 5-1 at The Boss.

New York Yankees

Baseball America Top 10 Prospects

Lineup

1. Johnny Damon, LF
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Xavier Nady, RF
8. Robinson Cano, 2B
9. Brett Gardner/Nick Swisher/Melky Cabrera, CF

Rotation

This list was made after extensive research into the stats I believed to be the most important when it came to pitchers. I took a list of close to 200 candidates and looked at their career totals in Wins, ERA, WHIP, Saves, and Strikeouts. I then ranked each player in each of those categories. After that I looked at what they averaged in those stats per year. This ensures that we are looking at quality along with quantity. Next I weighted each stat accordingly, because lets face it, a save isn't as important as a win.