Ryan Lester

It’s that time of year again. Pitchers and catchers are busy reporting. Spring training games will be around the corner. Soon fantasy baseball drafts will be underway. While doing all your due diligence to draft that perfect team is a necessity, let’s not forget that it’s also about fun. What better way to kick things off this year than with a funny fantasy baseball team name. To help you with some ideas, we’re going to run a contest. What’s a contest without prizes... Read Full Story

Al Behrman, AP . Zack Cozart is slated to start the season at shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds. He got an 11-game taste of the bigs last July and he held his own. . Cozart had 37 at bats, in which he collected 12 hits for a .324 average. He scored six runs, hit two home runs, and had three RBI as he finished with a .811 OPS. It wasn’t perfect though as he struck out six times while failing to draw a single walk. Still, you can’t help but be impressed with his debut. . Unfortunately... Read Full Story

AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh . The Super Bowl match-up of the Giants and Patriots was the Jets worst nightmare. They have to live in the shadow of the Giants in NYC and in the Patriots’ in the AFC East. Either way they looked bad, especially after they finished with about as much bad press as the Boston Red Sox did. . There have been grumblings that the Jets’ players would like to sign Peyton Manning to replace Mark Sanchez when and if he’s released by the Colts. Would it make sense for the Jets... Read Full Story

. Ersan Ilyasova wasn’t exactly brilliant last night collecting seven points and six rebounds. In his past 12 games he has six games with double-figure rebounds, including a season-high 19 on January 25th. Over that 13 game stretch he has averaged 9.8 rebounds. He added 10.1 ppg and 0.8 as well. As an added bonus, he knocked down five three-pointers during the stretch. . With Andrew Bogut out he should continue to see heavy minutes, which in turn leads to solid rebound numbers and... Read Full Story

. We already looked at the  LestersLegends’ top 15 fantasy baseball shortstops for 2012 , but that doesn’t mean there aren’t additional options if you choose to wait on filling your shortstop slot to address other positions. Alternatively, many leagues offer middle infield slots, which put these options on your radar. . Washington’s Ian Desmond swiped 25 bases last year. The rest of his line (.253-65-8-49) does little to get anybody excited. He’s 26 this year though, and it would not be... Read Full Story

. Not unlike Derek Jeter and A-Rod (on a smaller scale) joining forces, the Miami Marlins have two of the elite shortstops. Here are the Lester’s Legends 2012 fantasy baseball Shortstop rankings. . 1. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies : My top-ranked shortstop last year holds onto the top spot thanks to a .302-81-30-105-9 line. I’d like to see 100 runs, but given his other numbers it’s hard to complain. . 2. Hanley Ramirez, Miami Marlins : It was a lost year of sorts for Han-Ram with... Read Full Story

. Brook Lopez is nearing his return from a foot injury that has cost him New Jersey’s first 29 games and counting. While the risk of re-injury, especially given his size (7’0, 265 lbs) is out there, Lopez has the ability to give you a major boost. Perhaps not the boost that Jeremy Lin has provided fantasy owners in the past five games, but a major lift nonetheless. . Lopez averaged 20.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 0.6 steals while shooting 49.2 percent from the... Read Full Story

. Cleveland Indian Third Baseman Lonnie Chisenhall had a modest .255-27-7-22-1 line in his 66-game debut. He didn’t blow you away, but remember that Chisenhall turned just 23 as the season came to a close. Obviously at that age there is plenty of room for improvement. . He is locked in along with second baseman Jason Kipnis and catcher Carlos Santana as Cleveland goes with a youth movement. . Chisenhall’s overall numbers weren’t great, but he did finish strong. After hitting .238 in... Read Full Story

. In a perfect world (at least if you are a Colts fan) it would have taking care of business in front of the home fans in Super Bowl XLVI. . Obviously Peyton’s body had different plans and the Colts fans suffered through a humiliating 2-14 season, which was even worse than the matching 3-13 record the Colts had in the year leading up to the selection of Peyton Manning and his 1998 rookie season. . 2012 marks the fourth time the Colts landed the first overall pick since they moved to... Read Full Story

Anthony Gruppuso, US Presswire . One of the players that is jumping off the shelves is New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin. In his past two games he’s 20 for 36 from the floor for an impressive 55.6 shooting percentage. He’s also made 12 of 16 (75.0 percent) of his free throws. He only knocked down one three-pointer, but it would hard to complain about that. . Not with an average of 26.5 points per game. It’s not like that’s the only area he has contributed either. Lin added 3.5 rebounds... Read Full Story