Major League Baseball News

For the last decade, the Florida Marlins organization has been all but loyal to its young bright stars. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. On Wednesday, Hanley Ramirez and the Florida Marlins came to terms on a 6 year deal worth $70 million. Ramirez looks to be staying in Florida to help keep the Fish winning. Off to a great start, the Marlins must believe Hanley Ramirez is responsible for much of their early success. Moving from lead off batter to 3rd on command, Ramirez has amassed 9 Home Runs and 13 Stolen Bases while batting .330 through the first month and a half of the season.

Ramirez would have been eligible for arbitration at the end of the season, a reality that the Marlins were not ready to face. With Ryan Howard settling for a record $10 million, experts estimate Hanley could have been worth $12 after the hearings, which is right around the price the Marlins locked up arguably the best player in baseball for the next 6 years. Ramirez is the first player in MLB history to bat .300 and steal 50 bases in his first 2 seasons. He also showed signs of developing power, hitting 29 Home Runs last year as the lead off batter.

Hanley also won the NL Rookie of the Year in ‘06, and is on pace to become only the 4th player in MLB history to hit 40 Home Runs and swipe 40 stolen bases. The others are Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Jose Canseco. Look for the Marlins to only get better by the minute as Hanley Ramirez becomes one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game.

In the off season, the Detroit Tigers made a big move sending Maybin and Andrew Miller to the Marlins for 3B Miguel Cabrera and SP Dontrelle Willis. Today, Miguel Cabrera and his fellow teammates celebrate a very special easter Sunday.

The Tigers and Miguel Cabrera have agreed to terms on an 8 year, $152.3 million contract. The contract includes the initial $11.3 million 1-year deal for 2008, adding an additional $141 million over the following 7 years ending in 2015.

After tearing up spring training and even homering in his first at-bat, this Detroit Tigers baseball club felt the pressure to sign Miguel to show him that he is in their immediate plans as well as future. In 2007, Cabrera batted .320 with 34 HRs and 119 RBIs in the NL as a Florida Marlin. He will be moving back from OF to 3B, starting at the hot corner for the Tigers in ‘08.

round 1 round 2 round 3 round 4 round 5 round 6

ROUND 7

61. Joe Nathan -

62. Chone Figgins -

63. Brain Roberts -

64. Johnny Damon -

65. Jonathan Papelbon -

66. Javier Vazquez -

67. Joe Mauer -

68. B.J. Upton -

69. Brad Penny -

70. Brian McCann -

round 1 round 2 round 3 round 4 round 5 round 6

ROUND 6

51. J.J. Putz -

52. Russell Martin -

53. Takashi Saito -

54. Aaron Harang -

55. Chipper Jones-

56. Curtis Granderson -

57. Scott Kazmir -

58. Brett Myers -

59. Fransisco Rodriguez -

60. Nick Markakis -

On Thursday, closer Jonathan Papelbon and the Boston Red Sox agreed to terms for a new contract worth $775,000. Papelbon was the last Red Sox 40 man player not under contract yet. When asked about his new contract, Papelbon explained that he felt “a certain obligation not only to [himself] and [his] family to make the money that [he] deserves but for the game of baseball.”

Last year, Jonathan Pabelbon earned just over $425K, making his new contract nearly a double raise. He will soon see another raise, being eligible for arbitration trials next year. Experts expect Papelbon’s looming contract to include a hefty multi-million dollar salary. He finished the ‘07 season with a 1.85 ERA, converting 37 of 40 save opportunities to saves.

Apparently Juan Gone ain’t so ‘gone’ yet, or is he? Today with Johan Santana debuting in his first start since being acquired by the Mets, there were two runners on. Juan Gonzalez zoned in and crushed a Santana delivery for a 3-run Home Run. Albert Pujols also homered later in the game off Sanchez. May your health be with you both for the rest of the season.

Fantasy Spin: This is great news for Cardinals fans, Pujols fans, and Juan Gone fans. Be confident about Phat Albert and keep an eye on unranked Juan Gonzalez. Don’t forget he won two MVPs in the AL already. As for Santana, Juan Gone hitting a Home Run tells us nothing bad about Johan, yet.

Minnesota Twins starting lefty Fransisco Liriano has been given the green light to return to the United States and report to spring training, sources confirmed on Monday. Liriano was held up and had to pass an alcohol assessment before entering the country again.

“I obtained the visa, and I will go away tomorrow for training,” Liriano said in an interview with the AP. Liriano went 12-3 in 2006 for the Twins with a 2.16 ERA before a season-ending elbow injury that forced Liriano out of the ‘07 season.

Fantasy Spin: Before today, Liriano wasn’t even at spring. Now, you can count on Liriano being ready to test out his arm in the regular season. Put Fransisco Liriano high on your sleeper list and make sure to include him in the top 100.

The Boston Red Sox have broken the curse, twice. Perhaps the recent success of this ball club is largely in part due to manager Terry Francona. On Sunday, Red Sox management decided to reward him with a three year extension averaging $4 million per year through ‘11. There are also two club options for ‘12 and ‘13.

“Terry Francona has done an outstanding job in managing the Red Sox over the last four seasons,”GM Theo Epstein explains. Francona is the only manager in Bo’ Sox history to take the team to three postseasons. The Boston Red Sox pulled off a 4-game World Series sweep versus the St. Louis Cardinals in ‘04 and the Colorado Rockies in ‘07 with Terry Francona as manager.

Philadelphia Phillies closer Brad Lidge will most likely miss the season opener due to arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Lidge had the knee operated on in October to remove torn cartilage. Lidge injured the knee last year by catching a cleat from his spikes in the ground.

Fantasy Spin: The Phillies will go with RP Tom Gordon to close out ball games early in the season if Lidge isn’t good to go. Make sure you don’t get handcuffed should Lidge miss more time.

It’s almost March. Spring Training is around the corner. You already have an account with Yahoo Fantasy Baseball. Your draft is in weeks. I know your type, because I am your type. You want to win the league…

So what is the winning strategy? Well, you knew this was coming. It depends. In my fantasy baseball career, I have grown into two winning molds for the two most popular Fantasy Baseball leagues, points leagues and roto leagues.

For points leagues, I have three key points that I consider while I draft to win. The first is that power pitching is always undervalued!! It is the main reason why I dominate points leagues. 5 High K pitchers with lots of W’s (like Johan Santana) will win it for you, just watch and see. The second is to avoid batters with tendencies to strike out a lot, ala Adam Dunn and Ryan Howard. Yes, I said Ryan Howard. Face it, each strike out is worth -1 and in the end you might have been better off with a different pick. My final advice in a points league is to hop on position scarcity early. 3B, SS, and 2B are so incredibly shallow after the studs. I am looking to end up with either Wright, Arod, Braun, or Cabrera at 3B. After that, the point delta gets steep. For SS, snag Hanley Ramirez or Jose Reyes in the first round and you’ll be happy, or come away with Derek Jeter or Troy Tulowitzki in the 4th round. For 2B, I would go to leaps and bounds to somehow get Chase Utley, but don’t be too disappointed with B.J. Upton, Brian Roberts, or Chone Figgins.

For roto leagues, I really think it makes sense to take Hanley Ramirez or Jose Reyes with the first pick. This follows the general strategy that I have used to win roto leagues. The strategy? Hunt for 5-category contributors and settle for nothing less! Hanley and Jose will have a high batting average, many SBs, many HRs, lots of runs, and even a fair share of RBIs. My other strategy that I use is I try to dominate the Saves category. The way I see it, coming away with 9 or 10 points in the saves category gets you one step ahead of everyone else. Also, closers tend to have pretty low ERAs with high Ks. For this reason, it is even more enticing to pay high for a J.J. Putz or Takashi Saito who will guarantee a high conversion rate and many strikeouts for your team.

Whether you’re in fantasy points or roto leagues, these free fantasy baseball tips should help you in your quest to win the league!