I'm back. Sorry for the extended break. An unexpected vacation and busy start to the season has slightly derailed the blog, but no worries. I'm ready to get back into it. I thought I'd start by taking a look at a few of the early season story lines after the first two weeks. Injured Starting Pitchers - It started with John Lackey and Ervin Santana, but more recently Dice-K, Webb and Carpenter have joined them on the injured list. Webb is the biggest name and while his injury ... Read Full Story

With roughly one week to go before the season starts I thought it'd be a good opportunity to review some spring stand outs to see who might be for real this year. We do have to be careful looking at spring stats, but it's important to look at a few things when considering these stand outs: Are they returning from an injury? Are they fighting for a new starting job? Were these guys a highly touted prospect that might have been forgotten after a slow start to their career? Did they fi... Read Full Story

As we get closer and closer to the start of the season, you should be ready for your draft. By this time, you shouldn't need to move guys to far one way or another (except in the case of serious injury or demotion). Today I wanted to discuss a few guys that seem to be moving in recent drafts. Some are gaining value while others are sliding for various reason. Let's start with the guys moving up.LA's offense - With Manny now in the fold once again, the entire Dodgers lineup seem... Read Full Story

Let's start with the biggest news of the last week, the bizarre saga of Alex Rodriguez. After the buzz of the steroid controversy cooled off, we were left with a seemingly normal spring training from Arod. He was playing and practicing without any issues. Then the news comes in that he's dealing with a cyst on his hip. Then a trip to see a specialist. Then he's having hip surgery and he's out at least 10 weeks. Then he's going to try rehab, no surgery, and might not ... Read Full Story

Ok, so now that you're waiting to draft a starting pitcher, who do you target in those mid to late rounds? I thought I'd run down a few options that could provide good value and a solid core to build your staff around.Javier Vazquez SP ATL - Vazquez delivered a disappointing 2008 season despite putting up quality stats in some of the categories, especially strike outs with 200. The problem was that those good strike out numbers didn't turn into fantasy success. With only 12 wi... Read Full Story

Over the past few years I've tried many different strategies when it comes to starting pitching. Today I want to talk about a few reasons why waiting to draft your starting pitching can be a good way to approach your draft. I'm going to focus on a standard 12 team roto league with 10 categories. Obviously this might be tweaked depending on your league's size and rules.I usually approach the draft with some basic objectives. I like to normally wait until at least round 7 to draft... Read Full Story

The season is upon us as spring training has officially started. I'm sure by now you've started to schedule some drafts and maybe take your first look at some cheat sheets. Well, I'm here to help and this time I'll be discussing those guys that might not show up as high as you would think. There could be various reasons for that, but I think there's a chance these guys could give you great value in your drafts when they rebound this year. Their flying under the radar a... Read Full Story

To follow up last week's article on sleepers, I wanted to give you a few names to look at for potential busts this fantasy season. These guys will still probably have fine years, but the cause for concern comes from where you'll need to draft them in order to get them on your team. The draft is all about value and these guys won't come close to giving you as much value as others this year. Most of these guys had career years last year and history shows us to expect some kind of... Read Full Story

Toward the end of the last season I highlighted some 2nd half studs to keep an eye on for 2009 so you can make your own sleeper list. We'll here we are on the eve of the 2009 season and it's time to review the list and see who's still worthy of sleeper status. I'll go position by position and highlight one or two guys to move up your draft board.C - Dioner Navarro TBY, Pablo Sandavol SF - Both are still sleepers in my book and I love gambling on sleepers at the catcher posit... Read Full Story

Here are a few more tips as we get closer to the start of the season.Keep up with the latest news - Nothing is worse than drafting a guy only to realize that he's going to start the season on the DL thanks to a off the field injury in the off season. It only takes a few minutes each week to get up to speed on the latest happenings around major league baseball. I like to check out rotoworld.com for any hot stories or breaking news. Pay some attention to spring training action - We've... Read Full Story