Opinion

Every season, a handful of players punch in the right coordinates and make the light speed-esque jump from promising up-and-comer to genuine star.

Arguably the most important challenge for fantasy owners is to identify those players early and snatch them up before their stock soars into the firmament.

As the exhibition slate rolls forward and we edge closer to the start of games that count, here's a look at 10 bust-out fantasy candidates.

A couple of notes before we proceed:

Spring training offers fans and teams alike a chance to get a glimpse into the future, with some of baseball's top prospects putting their skills on display for all to see. We've heard the hype; now we finally get to see what it's all about.

Not all top prospects are created equal, of course. Some look like they're ready for prime time, while others leave little doubt that, while talented, there's still lots of development left before they can be considered major league-ready.

They signed within days of each other last December for more money per year than any pitcher had ever received. They left first-place teams but didn't leave their division, both joining sub-.500 clubs itching to win.

Yo definitely knows baseball. Through that and his larger-than-life personality, Yo has also come to know what it's like to be a superstar athlete in New York.

But there's a dark side to that, you know. It's how quickly New York fame can turn into New York infamy, and the New York Mets must hope Yoenis Cespedes doesn't come to know that too.

It's important to balance risk and upside when it comes to assembling a fantasy baseball roster, and one way to do that is by looking for signs of regression.

Production relative to players' previous track records, second-half declines and telling advanced statistics like batting average on balls in play (BABIP) can all help forecast player regression.

So who are the guys to avoid this year?

For a manager, navigating a bullpen through a baseball season is like driving your car down an unkempt road. You try to avoid the damage, but you eventually resign yourself to the understanding that you’ll hit a pothole.

Over the course of a 162-game season, no team’s bullpen looks the same from month to month. There are injuries that force call-ups, doubleheaders that require fresh arms and, inevitably, at least one guy whose struggles force a change.

VIERA, Fla. — Stephen Strasburg already knew this year was going to be different. New manager. New expectations. Free agent at year's end.

But a clue as to how strange things could get arrived the other day during a conversation with the new skipper, Dusty Baker.

In this golden age of parity, most Major League Baseball teams look like contenders going into 2016. As for the rest, well, they're trying. They're really trying.

The question that their fans want answered is this one: When is it all going to be worth it?

On Thursday, New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez launched a home run over the left field wall at Steinbrenner Field in the first inning of an exhibition showdown against the Philadelphia Phillies. 

And with that one swing, A-Rod exemplified spring training in all its meaningful meaninglessness.

For the last seven years, Mark Teixeira has been paid large sums of money to play ball for the New York Yankees. It's good work if you can get it, and the stars are aligned in such a way that 2016 might not be the end of the road.