One key to winning a fantasy baseball league is finding value in the latter stages of the draft, especially starting pitchers who can provide help with wins and strikeouts without hurting a team’s overall ERA. Late-round value picks who pan out can also be excellent trade bait to help bolster other weak areas of a fantasy roster.  

A former Las Vegas showgirl inherited the Cleveland Indians from her deceased husband and wanted to move the team to the warm climate of Miami, sound familiar LeBron James?

Plenty of fantasy writers, magazines, websites, etc. offer rankings. Positional rankings. Top 10s. Top 20s. Rankings by statistical category.

Each set of rankings typically factor in a combination of past player performances, lineup protection, run support, stadium tendencies (hitters’ park vs. a pitchers’ park), injuries, opportunities for promotion, etc. However, the biggest part of any preseason fantasy ranking involves predictions, projections and overall guesswork.

American League

East

Boston Red Sox (96-66) - Good team that got better; great pitching depth should make them top team in the AL.

New York Yankees (93-69)* - Certainly good and experienced enough to win now; need another starter or two.

Tampa Bay Rays (86-76) -  Lost far too many key pieces to be a factor once again in such a tough division.

Yankees stud prospect Manny Banuelos may be just 19 years old, but his pitching arsenal already resembles that of a 10-year MLB veteran. Add to that a presence on the mound that screams “I belong here,” and the teenager has all the tools for superstardom.

Jody Gerut still insists I’m wrong. He’s told me time and again that he wasn’t reading historian David McCullough’s book John Adams when he and I met that midsummer in Buffalo a decade ago.

But I remember, Jody; I remember.

There you were in a corner stall, a book as thick as the Yellow Pages in your hands, reading it as your Triple A teammates on the Buffalo Bison had other things they preferred to do.

One guy already did it for the NL Central. Now it's time for the NL West!

There's many talented players in this division. And one of them happens to be the defending World Champions (Giants)

The division's been considered a joke for a little bit now, but let's see who the best and second best is.

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Jason Bay had a terrible season last year. He was injured and missed over 60 games. Even when playing, his slugging was way down and he finished with his lowest home run total since his rookie season—during which he played in only 30 games. Prior to 2010, Bay had been a borderline great player that you could count on for 30 HRs and 100 RBI:

Over the past three or four years, third base has been one of the shallowest positions in fantasy baseball—with only a few players worthy of an early-round pick.  

As the 2011 season quickly approaches and fantasy owners begin drafting their teams, many owners will be pleasantly surprised to see that the third base pool is no longer filled with just a small handful of players.

Despite a strong showing from New York Mets lefty Oliver Perez on Thursday against the St. Louis Cardinals in Port St. Lucie, Perez may be on the fast track to the bullpen come Opening Day.