Rankings/List

Ladies and gentlemen, the calendar has turned to March and that means that spring training is well underway and the start of the 2011 Major League Baseball season is just weeks away. It's the best time of the year, forget football and all those other sports, baseball is where it's at.

With a new year comes new and in some cases renewed optimism. Whether or not your favorite team is able to put together a great year is irrelevant right now because everyone believes that they have a chance, they just need one or two things to go right for that to happen.

This year's American League East is going to be a very hotly contested division. With all five teams easily capable of putting together .500 or above seasons, the order of finish could be dictated by just a few games.

For the Tampa Bay Rays, the new look of the franchise gives them a new set of advantages and disadvantages over their division rivals. While the other teams within the division spent big bucks this offseason, the Rays were able to cut their payroll from over $70 million to approximately $42 million without sacrificing a tremendous amount of production.

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.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve announced the top 60 players on our 2011 big board. Click on each player’s name for a more in-depth analysis, including 2011 projections!

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.

Hunter Pence has a rare skill set that goes unnoticed by most fantasy managers because he plays on a futile Houston team.

Prior to the Cinderella run the Cleveland Indians put together in 2007, they had not made the ALCS since 1998.

From 1998 through 2007?

The Tribe managed only two other playoff appearances in 1999, and then again in 2001.

Since 2007, however, Cleveland has seen a gradual decreases in wins in addition to simultaneously losing two Cy Young winners (C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee).

Well, Cleveland fans, the beauty of each new season is that everyone begins 0-0 and it's anyone's championship to win.

Let’s be clear: CC Sabathia didn’t say he's leaving the Yankees after 2011, when his opt-out clause comes into play.

While discussing his future recently, though, New York's ace didn't exactly deny he wouldn't bolt, either. The lefty said simply, and cryptically, "Anything's possible." 

Should he opt to act on the out clause, Sabathia would lose $92 million over four years. (That's guaranteed money, folks.) But he could net an even bigger score than the $120 million Cliff Lee landed from the Phillies in December.

Duke Snider, the great Brooklyn Dodgers center fielder, passed away on Sunday.

The Duke of Flatbush was a Hall of Famer and an eight-time All Star.

But, even though he is immortalized in Terry Cashman’s “Willie, Mickey and the Duke," it’s no surprise that he comes after Mays and Mantle: Right or wrong, Snider is never mentioned in the same breath as Mays and Mantle for the game’s all-time greatest players.

When it's used to describe pitchers, the term "crafty" is a pretty subjective one. 

Does it apply to all soft-tossers who get results?  Or maybe it should only apply to pitchers with impeccable control and consistently low walk totals? 

Based on common usage patterns, you might assume that the term describes all pitchers who play or have played for the Oakland A's. 

Spring training started last weekend.  In some cases, fans were glued to their televisions or radios to tune into games that meant absolutely nothing.

I, for one, enjoy spring training.  This season's sure to be a good one, as my beloved New York Yankees look to put together the puzzle that will send them back to the World Series and bring home title No. 28.

With both the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues underway, Spring Training has officially begun. As pitchers fine-tune their command and overall "stuff" and hitters try to refine their swing, the rest of us can only look on in awe, now waiting for the games that actually count in eager anticipation. However, there are a select few who are looking forward.