Major League Baseball News

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 -

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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 -

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.

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!

Top 50 Ranked Fantasy Baseball Players

1. Johan Santana
2. Alex Rodriguez
3. Jose Reyes
4. Hanley Ramirez
5. Jake Peavy
6. David Wright
7. Albert Pujols
8. Josh Beckett
9. Brandon Webb
10. Miguel Cabrera
11. Roy Halladay
12. Ichiro Suzuki
13. C.C. Sabathia
14. David Ortiz
15. Jimmy Rollins
16. Prince Fielder
17. Matt Holliday
18. Vladimir Guerrero
19. Magglio Ordonez
20. Chase Utley
21. Ryan Howard
22. Justin Verlander
23. Carlos Beltran
24. Erik Bedard
25. Manny Ramirez
26. Alfonso Soriano
27. Grady Sizemore
28. Bobby Abreu
29. Ryan Braun
30. Cole Hamels
31. Carlos Zambrano
32. Mark Teixeira
33. Carlos Lee
34. Chris Young
35. Lance Berkman
36. Felix Hernandez
37. Fausto Carmona
38. Derek Jeter
39. Roy Oswalt
40. Todd Helton
41. Danny Haren
42. Victor Martinez
43. Justin Mourneau
44. Tim Hudson
45. John Lackey
46. Troy Tulowitzski
47. John Smoltz
48. Travis Hafner
49. Hideki Matsui
50. Alex Rios

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ROUND 5

41. Danny Haren - He’s so young and so ridiculously talented.

42. Victor Martinez - The best catcher by far will prove worthy via point delta.

43. Justin Mourneau - The Canadian Crusher has a sweet swing that we all love…

44. Tim Hudson - He’s so consistent for 15 wins and a decent ERA.

45. John Lackey - I’ll be honest he doesn’t excite me, but his numbers sure are exciting…

46. Troy Tulowitzski - Hard to imagine a second year SS a lock for 30 HR, 100 RBI, and 100 Runs…

47. John Smoltz - The old bearded bear still has some fire left in that arm ala Schilling.

48. Travis Hafner - Last year has to be a fluke, doesn’t it?

49. Hideki Matsui - A great line-up, consistency, and patience make Matsui a lock for many OF points

50. Alex Rios - Each year he gets better, and last year he was grrrreat!

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ROUND 4

31. Carlos Zambrano - Carlos is always going to give you high K’s and high BB’s, but usually a W.

32. Mark Teixeira - This guy is way better than his numbers suggest from last year…

33. Carlos Lee - One of the few solid OF left on the board…

34. Chris Young - This kid is a sicko, and the Padres are a lively new ball club.

35. Lance Berkman - Again, OF is getting slim, so snag Lance before it’s too late.

36. Felix Hernandez - King Felix is a sleeper, because we all know what he could do…

37. Fausto Carmona - Fausto is a lock for 15 wins and a sub 4 ERA, but not many K’s…

38. Derek Jeter - Shortstop is scarce, and the new class lets the Captain slip later than usual.

39. Roy Oswalt - Roy’s my boy. He’s always been my boy. He should be your boy, too.

40. Todd Helton - The point delta between this guy and his 1B competition remains steep.

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ROUND 3

21. Ryan Howard - Another Ryan just doin’ what us Ryans do best…. Romp retardedly ridiculous HRs!

22. Justin Verlander - Justin is the new popular guy in that soap opera called Detroit!

23. Carlos Beltran - Hits+Runs+StolenBases+RBIs+Walks=BINGOBELTRAN

24. Erik Bedard - Bedard + Better Batters + Better Ballparks = Bed-ard Ass

25. Manny Ramirez - Man Ram will soon be the newest member of the 500 Home Run Club…

26. Alfonso Soriano - Alfonsooooooo, So - ri - a - no, no, no! =)

27. Grady Sizemore - I think he’ll drop the Ks and up the Home Runs and SBs this year…

28. Bobby Abreu - Bobby, bobby, bobby…Digi, digi, digi…

29. Ryan Braun - Another ballin’ baseball player named Ryan born in Cali and raised in Florida? Holla back, hit fifty.

30. Cole Hamels - He is an absolute sicko and he’ll make you look filthy while you tuck your tail to the dugout… the whiffffff