The key to a successful fantasy baseball draft is maximizing the return value on each of your picks. At the start of each draft, everybody will have an equal value's worth of picks; therefore, unless you target players who could potentially exceed the value of the pick they were drafted with, you will finish your draft in the middle of the pack. One of the best types of player to target when attempting to maximize value is the player who disappointed the previous year. Logically, his value will be its lowest following a poor season; hence the appeal to targeting these players.

Now I know this is ridiculous.  It is, but Jeff Francoeur has been on a consistent downward slope since he started his MLB career with a bang.

Maybe he would not even have a job if the Royals did not decide to throw money his way. 

As I followed Francoeur’s career when he first hit the bigs, I soon began to associate his name with success.  He played well defensively, and he was a middle of the order hitter. 

After weeks of speculation, the Detroit Tigers officially signed former Cardinals starter Brad Penny to a 1-year deal worth three Million.  Best known for his time with the LA Dodgers (or for the fact that he's engaged to a woman who used to date Slater from Saved by the Bell—honest!), Penny marks the third significant newcomer added to the Tigers roster and potentially fill

The major league closer is a position that is hard to fill for many teams. Pitchers are often given opportunities to be the guy in the late innings, but rarely do we find closers that can truly be considered "dominant."

Trevor Hoffman has to be considered in discussions of the best closer of all time. His 601 career saves rank first all time, and his 1,035 games pitched are an attribute to his longevity.

As we honor the spectacular career one of baseball's all time greats, let's take a look at the elite list of dominating closers that Hoffman finds himself in.

Last week, WEEI's Alex Speier reported that Mike Cameron had no wish to leave Boston. Despite an offseason that clearly puts Cameron as the fourth OF on a solid outfield—both offensively and defensively—the 38-year-old vet with 16 years of MLB service is content with his role as a backup.

The Red Sox have listened to offers for Cameron and probably will continue to do so for the rest of the offseason. After all, Cameron is due a hefty $7.25 million for the remainder of 2011.

With Boston's offseason spending spree and Tampa Bay's everything-must-go jumble sale, one can make a pretty good stab at how the AL East will play out in 2011.

The Yankees and Red Sox will fight it out for the top spot, the Blue Jays and Rays will compete for third and fourth and the Orioles will still languish at the bottom.

Obviously, any of the bottom three could make a run to the postseason as the Rays did in 2008, but it would be a staggering turnaround.

Not every offseason signing is going to be perfect. Even with all the scouting tools out there, it's still difficult to properly evaluate a player and predict his performance going forward. Sabermetricians like Bill James get paid good money to predict what the players are going to accomplish, but the reality is that it's pretty much a crapshoot.

With the Philadelphia Phillies picking up Cliff Lee in a deal that shocked all of baseball last month, there has been a lot of talk about the how good the Phillies current rotation is, which ranks probably within the best five rotations in baseball history. The 2011 Phillies rotation compares to the rotations of the Atlanta Braves from the mid-1990s, the 1971 Orioles with Jim Palmer, and the 1966 Dodgers with Sandy Koufax.

Bryce Harper seems like a dream player out of a video game.  His numbers are unbelievable and he doesn't look to be stopping anytime soon.  After being drafted number one by the Nationals in 2010, Harper has a lot of expectations to live up to as he begins his path to the big leagues.  Harper hopes to make the Nationals roster and make his major league debut as soon as he can, and here's ten reasons why he will in 2011. 

The numerous ways that the Philadelphia Phillies are affected by the signing of free agent left hander, Cliff Lee, are well documented.

In fact, so much has been made about Lee and the rest of the Phillies' rotation has basically overshadowed what the signing means for the rest of the league, and in comparison, the division, outside the fact that many experts believe the Phillies are the favorites to win it. We must also examine, however, the decisions that teams will have to face to react to this signing.