The Fantasy Impact






Were in the middle of winter, and I am knee deep in a fantasy basketball team in need of salvaging, and I can only think of one thing. Setting my pre ranks for my time to shine, Fantasy Baseball ‘08 Last year was a disappointing end to a year of troubles that saw me barely able to compete with a team anchored by players like Ryan Braun, B.J. Upton, Carlos Lee and Ichiro on the offensive side and Johan Santana, Justin Verlander and Roy Oswalt, and the disgusting part of it all was I had to trade for or pick up all those players except for Santana and Lee. Fantasy owners, especially those in private leagues, are getting smarter by the minute and while I may have not been graced with one of the better teams in this respective league, it has become increasingly more difficult to win leagues nowadays. Knowing this may be a tad bit repetitive to some hardcore owners, I have compiled a list of the Top Ten at each position ( fully knowing that I only really needed to do research on about 5 players at the C spot ). Enjoy. Don’t forget to send emails with comments and concerns at christopher.young61@gmail.com or just leave a comment on this post. Next write up I will respond to what I can.





Catchers
1. Victor Martinez CLE
any catcher that can give you 500+ Ab’s with a .301 25 and 114 clip is more than enough to make him no.1
2. Russell Martin LAD
and any catcher who gives you 20/20 is more than welcome to slide into the #2 position
3. Jorge Posada NYY
OBP, HR’s, RBI’s and Walks are more than serviceable in this position
4. Brian McCann ATL
still has not reached full potential but still more than worthy (92 RBI’s 2nd amongst C)
5. Joe Mauer MIN
excellent hitter but must stay on the field to really show his true value
6. Bengie Molina SF
things get a little dicey after the top five but the Molina of the Bengie variety gives you some pop, if nothing more
7. Ivan Rodriguez DET
in the DET lineup, there is nowhere to hide, the artist formerly known as Pudge should benefit
8. Kinji Johjima SEA
225+ TB and a .280+ clip is acceptable to go with 500+ AB’s, at least getting good playing time
9. Ramon Hernandez BAL
needs to stay off the DL the regain any sort of value
10. Ronnie Paulino PIT
young catcher with average offensive game, production should increase this year

Bubble: Miguel Olivo FLA, John Buck KC

1st Basemen
1. Albert Pujols STL
I smell monster year for last years consensus No. 1 pick
2. Prince Fielder MIL
while some state their case for Howard at this spot, Fielders numbers better all around
3. Ryan Howard PHI
right behind Prince IMO, needs to lessen K’s and increase AVG
4. Mark Teixeria ATL
nasty numbers in the ATL, I would expect nothing more from him in ‘08
5. David Ortiz BOS
always a consistent bat although injuries hampered a great year from papi (.332, 35, 117, 116)
6. Travis Hafner CLE
Finally has 1st base eligibilty to create flexibility in lineups
7. Justin Morneau MIN
expect morneau to be back to his ‘06 form, probably dropping in drafts that he shouldnt be
8. Carlos Pena TB
ranked low here because I don’t expect his numbers to duplicate ‘07 and will go super high in drafts this year
9. Lance Berkman HOU
always a second half hero, expect him to do more of the same this year, still great value
10. Todd Helton COL
a return to form in ‘07 leads me to believe he will be a huge contributor in the middle of atkins and holliday


Bubble: Kevin Youkilis BOS, James Loney LAD, Adam LaRoche PIT, Adrian Gonzalez SD

2nd Basemen

1. Chase Utley PHI
one word: BEAST, expect nothing less than ‘07 production
2. Brandon Phillips CIN
contributor in every facet of the game, will only get better this year
3. Robinson Cano NYY
a little inconsistent, but still able to post a .300+ AVG and close enough to 20/100 for me
4. Dan Uggla FLA
his AVG is the only downfall, everything else is there for a solid 2B
5. Brian Roberts BAL
Roberts will guarantee you a victory in SB every week, a little concerned where the Mitchell Report will leave him
6. Placido Polanco DET
his avg makes owning guys like Adam Dunn less of a concern (.341)
7. Freddy Sanchez PIT
good avg and RBI’s for the former ‘06 Batting Champ
8. Orlando Hudson ARI
great consolation prize later on in rounds, a budding offense around him as well
9. Jeff Kent LAD
always consistent and always ‘stached
10. Aaron Hill TOR
still young enough to show more improvement, and is off to a great start with ‘07 campaign (17/78/.291)

Bubble, Dustin Pedroia BOS, Kelly Johnson ATL, Ian Kinsler TEX, Kaz Matsui HOU

3rd Basemen

1. Alex Rodriguez NYY
if you have the number one pick in your draft, and you don’t pick him, you’re an idiot. End of story
2. Ryan Braun MIL
only player who out preformed in on a game to game basis was A-rod, OF eligibility coming soon
3. Miguel Cabrera DET
the most feared bat in a lineup of potential all stars in DET, crazy potential for an MVP type year
4. David Wright NYM
struggled between him and lowell, but age and his ceiling is much higher
5. Mike Lowell BOS
a throwback to his FLA days, an absolute steal of the waiver wires last year
6. Garret Atkins COL
still young and streaky, many owners dropped him after his garbage start to ‘07, don’t do that in ‘08
7. Aramis Ramirez CHC
missed 30 games but still was a very solid hitter, must stay healthy
8. Chone Figgins LAA
gives you speed from the corner position if your in need
9. Chipper Jones ATL
youll need a backup option with jones because he will go on the DL at some point
10. Hank Blalock TEX
still a great hitter, needs to rebound big from the sidelines of ‘07

Bubble: Ryan Zimmerman WAS, Akinori Iwamura TB, Adrian Beltre SEA

SS
1. Hanley Ramirez FLA
the epiphany of the 5x5 roto player (29/81/.332/51/95)
2. Jimmy Rollins PHI
all around contributor and mvp candidate
3. Jose Reyes NYM
71 steals and look for more in ‘08
4. Troy Tulowitzki COL
amazing second half of a storybook rookie year projects to a special player
5. Michael Young TEX
power down slightly but should not deter fantasy owners
6. Derek Jeter NYY
consistency is the name of the game for the cap’n of NYY
7. Carlos Guillen DET
hard to put this low, but I expect numbers to drop following cabrera deal
8. Edgar Renteria DET
detroit cant possibly have two guys at SS can they? Edgars always on point
9. Miguel Tejada BAL
like Roberts, hard to tell where Mitchell Report lands him
10. J.J. Hardy
tailed off huge in second half, but still worthy of starting role

Bubble: Orlando Cabrera CHW, Jhonny Peralta CLE, Ryan Theriot CHC

Outfield
1. Matt Holliday COL
all around game makes his guy a coors field superhero
2. Magglio Ordonez DET
I expect to see him tail off as well, unless DET has a beast of an offensive year
3. Vlad Guerrero LAA
he doesnt have a strikezone, which is scary considering he only struck out 62 times in ‘07
4. Alfonso Soriano CHC
great tools and a 30/30 guy
5. Carlos Beltran NYM
will be lighting it up in Shea all summer
6. Carl Crawford TB
a perennial 30/50/.300 speed OF, and looking to increase his HR’s
7. Grady Sizemore CLE
five tooler with a little bit of a downer in ‘07, will fall and when he does, snatch him up like the 5 o’clock free crack giveaway
8. Ichiro SEA
in terms of speed categories, always consistent, and always on the field producing
9. Curtis Granderson DET
Mr. 20 can do it all
10. Carlos Lee HOU
write it down, 35 and 110, with atleast 10 HR’s hitting the train in Hou

Bubble: Adam Dunn CIN, B.J. Upton TB, Eric Byrnes ARI, Manny Ramirez BOS, Alex Rios TOR, Vernon Wells TOR, Torii Hunter LAA, Nick Markakis BAL, Jeff Francouer ATL, Hunter Pence, HOU, Jason Bay PIT

Starting Pitchers
1. Johan Santana NYM
now that hes got an offense... pencil in 21 wins
2. C.C. Sabathia CLE
big nasty will no doubt benefit from another full year with Fausto
3. Josh Beckett BOS
best pitcher in the game for a majority of ‘07
4. Jake Peavy SD
k king will no doubt be at it again in the 619
5. Dan Haren ARI
the all star starter for the AL should have a little more help on the offensive side and not have to worry about carrying the load because of
6. Brandon Webb ARI
nasty sinker and had three straight CG last year
7. Justin Verlander DET
18-6 last year and will have the run support to put up another campaign like so
8. John Lackey LAA
never flashy but always gets the job done on the west coast late nights
9. Carlos Zambrano CHC
came back in the second half last year like an angry monster, hopefully keeps the trend going in ‘08
10. Roy Halladay TOR
top flight starter that should be heavily discounted in drafts

Bubble: Fausto Carmona CLE, Aaron Harang CIN, John Maine NYM, Diasuke Matsuzaka BOS, Cole Hamels PHI, John Smoltz ATL, Roy Oswalt HOU, Eric Bedard BAL, Francisco Liriano MIN

Relief Pitchers
1. J.J Putz SEA
dazzled his way to a 1.68 era with 40 saves in 42 opportunities
2. Jose Valverde HOU
tendency to have on again off again years will be put to the test with the train tracks in the foreground in HOU
3. Francisco Cordero MIL
its always good when your closer has a 2:1 K to SV ratio and the saves are 45
4. Francisco Rodriguez LAA
see Cordero above (less saves, more k’s)
5. Joe Nathan MIN
may not have the opp’s that he did last year with santana out of the picture
6. Jonathan Papelbon BOS
always solid, and another year of having great save opp’s
7. Mariano Rivera NYY
down ‘07 and age taking a hold of the games greatest closer
8. Bobby Jenks CHW
only 2 HR’s given up is a great sign
9. Takashi Saito LAD
def a late round steal if hes there
10. Billy Wagner NYM
still able to get hitters out, but one dimensional fastball catches up with him from time to time

Bubble: Jason Isringhausen STL, Trevor Hoffman SD, Manny Corpas COL, Brian Fuentes COL, Chad Cordero WAS, Brad Lidge PHI

Hopefully in the next few posts ill be able to post the results from the expert league that I am currently taking part in. Post replies and any questions comments and disagreements as they are welcome. Good Luck to all in your upcoming drafts and I hope that I was of some help.

-The Chris Young