Sunday, March 28, 2010

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume III, Issue XII

Welcome to our 77th edition of the FDH Fantasy Newsletter, as we continue to bring you weekly fantasy sports updates in addition to our usual content on FantasyDrafthelp.com. Our archive of past editions is available right here on The FantasyDrafthelp.com Blog and specific links to past editions are available on the front page of FantasyDrafthelp.com.

In this week's edition, we bring you the recap of our 2010 FDH Fantasy Baseball Industry Summit.

2010 FDH Fantasy Baseball Industry Summit

First and foremost, we now have online the most useful guide you could possibly want, FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2010. Here is the Table of Contents:

Page 1: Draft Philosophy Overview, Top 72 Overall
Page 2: Starting Pitcher Rankings, Draft Board Decoder, Lessons of “The Stat”
Page 3: Starting Pitcher Rankings Cont’, 2010 Don’t Be That Guy
Page 4: Starting Pitcher Rankings Cont’, Relief Pitcher Rankings, 2010 Sleepers
Page 5: Catcher Rankings, 2010 Overvalued, 2010 Undervalued, Offseason Movement Winners and Losers
Page 6: First Base Rankings, Injury Risk Management
Page 7: Second Base Rankings, Designated Hitter Rankings, 2010 Position Battle Overview
Page 8: Shortstop Rankings, 2009 Prospect Rankings, Long-Term Keeper League Prospect Rankings
Page 9: 2010 AL & NL Scarcity, 2010 Players With a Wide Range of Opinion
Page 10: Respect Mah Eligibilitah!
Page 11: Third Base Rankings, Suggested League Guidelines
Pages 12-13: Outfield Rankings
Pages 14-17: 2010 Mock Draft and Analysis
Page 18: Dollar Bin Players
Pages 19-20: Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium Memories, Hall of Famer Andre Dawson
Pages 21-22: 2010 Topps Cards Review
Page 23: FDH Standings/Awards Predictions for 2010 MLB, FDH Minor League System Rankings
Page 24: 2010 Fantasy Overview, 2009 Legitimate Breakthroughs/Reclamation Cases

Following in the path of our 2009 FDH Fantasy Football Industry Summit from last August, we convened some outside sources we really respect to be a part of a similar breakdown about the fantasy baseball landscape. Mike Harmon of FoxSports.com and Tim Heaney of KFFL joined FDH Managing Editor Rick Morris, who moderated the discussion. Answers from the participants are reproduced in summary form.


In a climate which has seen the ratio between home runs and stolen bases decrease from approximately 2:1 to 1.6:1 since baseball began taking its cursory steps towards comprehensive drug testing in 2006, is speed overvalued this season? Jacoby Ellsbury and Ichiro are pretty much consensus high picks and are indicative of a continuing infatuation with speed in the industry. Is it out of balance?

Mike: Players who can deliver dependable stolen base numbers are worthy of being valued very highly still. It’s only those who have the potential to fall off who should be regarded with caution.

Tim: The proper approach is to acquire power early, while piecing together stolen base production through the course of a draft.

Rick: Balance is the proper approach, with the ideal players being ones who can deliver some modicum of both power and speed, rather than loading up on ones who are unbalanced in one direction or another.


The middle infield and catcher positions are always the weakest ones. Name some specific notes of interest pertaining to these positions this year.

Mike: The shortstop position is shallow and is made even more so by the uncertainty surrounding Jose Reyes.

Tim: If you miss out on the elite few at each of these positions, it’s especially important not to chase the remainders this year, but rather to value shop in the mid and later rounds.

Rick: Shortstop, which appeared unusually deep a year ago, now is the most shallow position and as a result, the few guaranteed top-flight performers need to be valued proportionately higher.


Troy Tulowitzki is probably the most controversial player in the first round of the FDH draft board this season. Talk about the expectations for him.

Mike: His stolen base tally last year was unprecedented in his history and a regression to the mean is reasonable to expect – thereby depressing his value.

Tim: High value for him is completely contingent on Colorado manager Jim Tracy continuing to encourage him to be aggressive on the basepaths.

Rick: He had an amazing rookie year in ’07, had a nightmare ’08 and a brutal start to ’09 – before becoming arguably the best hitter in the game over the season’s last four months. His stolen base tally could well regress back to 12-15, but the home run total could climb near 40 inasmuch as he is still approaching his prime. In a shallow shortstop pool, he merits a late first-round selection or a $36 bid in an auction.


Last year, there were only a handful of dependable fantasy aces heading into Draft Day, but a large tier of #2 starters. How does the pool of upper-level pitchers appear this year?

Mike: There aren’t really any pitchers who are definitely worthy of a first-round selection. If pitchers are going that high in your draft, rather than chasing them there, you should seek value later.

Tim: Reclamation projects such as Cole Hamels deliver far more value than King Felix and Zack Greinke given where they will be selected in almost all drafts.

Rick: Top ace pitchers are acceptable for selection as high as the late first round given the enormous leg up that they furnish assuming that they stay healthy. Beyond that, this is more of a conventional season than last year given that the pool of #1 pitchers is of average size relative to most years and approximately the same as the supply of #2s.


Name some of the top sleepers of this season – not just deep sleepers, but any players likely to vastly outperform their average draft position.

Mike: Scott Kazmir, Jake Peavy, Gordon Beckham, Everth Cabrera and Chris Perez.

Tim: Jake Peavy, Ricky Nolasco, Scott Kazmir, Jay Bruce, Jose Lopez, Alex Rios, Jose Valverde, Homer Bailey and Luke Hochevar.

Rick: Stephen Drew, Garrett Atkins, Ricky Nolasco, Vladimir Guerrero, BJ Upton and Scott Kazmir.


In almost every draft this year, Albert Pujols and Hanley Ramirez are going 1-2 – albeit with Pujols seeming to go in the top spot a bit more often. Tell how you would have them ordered at the top of the draft and then state who is the third player on your board.

Mike: 1 Pujols 2 Ramirez 3 ARod

Tim: 1 Pujols 2 Ramirez 3 ARod

Rick: 1 Ramirez 2 Pujols 3 Chase Utley


This industry is the longest-established one in major sports and has just entered its second decade of the 21st century as well as being early in the second quarter-century of its development. Deliver some notes on the current state of the industry and where it is headed.

Mike: As people face ever-growing challenges on their time commitments, team co-managers are growing in popularity. Companies are expanding by leaps and bounds into various digital initiatives, with cell phone apps being the next frontier to be fully utilized. The presence on television continues to grow. In a modern world where the Internet has reduced all barriers to entry on at least a very small level, challenges of differentiation grow every day.

Tim: Information saturation is growing as the industry becomes more popular and the number of sources continues to expand as well. The increased presence for fantasy baseball on television presents new ways for consumers to receive their information. The sheer volume of online leagues is contributing to the overall sense of community on the Internet. Challenges of monetization remain.

Rick: Tim’s point about the challenges of monetization might well be the most important note about the present and future state of the industry, especially as it relates to smaller entities. Points of major innovation are at least equally likely to come from these factors and the prevalence of a free content culture on the Internet presents challenges for the industry as a whole in terms of staying vibrant and continuing to develop newer and better ways to help players win their leagues.


To amplify Tim’s point about fantasy baseball and Internet continuity, speak about how the former and the latter intersect.

Mike: Leagues contribute to what is becoming an evolving standard of community as defined by the Internet. People are meeting and in many instances becoming friends when they are separated by thousands of miles if not entire continents offline.

Tim: The fact that fantasy leagues are now largely defined by the online sector is a sign of the times, especially for the Millennial generation now coming up that may not have ever even experienced pre-Internet leagues.

Rick: In a very real old-school sense, the industry loses a bit of its soul if it moves even further away from interaction among friends and more towards finding substitutes for that dynamic online. The best and most fun leagues are the ones forged between friends, be they close or casual, and especially those that are re-convened every year. Having said that, online league management is invaluable because it allows both these leagues and the purely Internet ones to be run in an efficient and timely manner.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume III, Issue XI

By Rick Morris

For the most part, we keep our fantasy content on our fantasy website and fantasy blog and keep this site for content on all subjects. It allows our readers to find specific content more easily that way. However, it has come to our attention that because our new fantasy sports newsletter is published on the older Blogger platform that our readers may be limited in their ability to subscribe to it. There does not appear to be a way to have content on the FantasyDrafthelp.com blog forwarded to an aggregate news reader -- however, we know that we have that ability here. So we will link to that newsletter each week right here when it is published. Here is this week's newsletter.

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume III, Issue XI

Welcome to our 76th edition of the FDH Fantasy Newsletter, as we continue to bring you weekly fantasy sports updates in addition to our usual content on FantasyDrafthelp.com. Our archive of past editions is available right here on The FantasyDrafthelp.com Blog and specific links to past editions are available on the front page of FantasyDrafthelp.com.

In this week's edition, we bring you Draft Day/Auction Day Back to Basics.

Draft Day/Auction Day Back to Basics

First and foremost, we now have online the most useful guide you could possibly want, FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2010. Here is the Table of Contents:

Page 1: Draft Philosophy Overview, Top 72 Overall
Page 2: Starting Pitcher Rankings, Draft Board Decoder, Lessons of “The Stat”
Page 3: Starting Pitcher Rankings Cont’, 2010 Don’t Be That Guy
Page 4: Starting Pitcher Rankings Cont’, Relief Pitcher Rankings, 2010 Sleepers
Page 5: Catcher Rankings, 2010 Overvalued, 2010 Undervalued, Offseason Movement Winners and Losers
Page 6: First Base Rankings, Injury Risk Management
Page 7: Second Base Rankings, Designated Hitter Rankings, 2010 Position Battle Overview
Page 8: Shortstop Rankings, 2009 Prospect Rankings, Long-Term Keeper League Prospect Rankings
Page 9: 2010 AL & NL Scarcity, 2010 Players With a Wide Range of Opinion
Page 10: Respect Mah Eligibilitah!
Page 11: Third Base Rankings, Suggested League Guidelines
Pages 12-13: Outfield Rankings
Pages 14-17: 2010 Mock Draft and Analysis
Page 18: Dollar Bin Players
Pages 19-20: Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium Memories, Hall of Famer Andre Dawson
Pages 21-22: 2010 Topps Cards Review
Page 23: FDH Standings/Awards Predictions for 2010 MLB, FDH Minor League System Rankings
Page 24: 2010 Fantasy Overview, 2009 Legitimate Breakthroughs/Reclamation Cases

The following pieces of advice distill the high-level information that we have been preaching this winter and spring down to a few more basic notes to remember:

^ The note from Page 24 about speed being very much overvalued this year cannot be repeated nearly often enough. In 2006, we predicted that the baby steps that MLB was taking to removing steroid and HGH use from the game would result in a change in the way we viewed the relationship between home runs and stolen bases. Ever since the “steroid era” really took flight in the late ‘90s, it had been an article of faith that stolen bases were infinitely more valuable than home runs. However, over the past four seasons, our prediction has come to pass without much acknowledgement from the fantasy industry that this has been the case. The ratio of home runs to stolen bases has gone from approximately 2 to 1 to approximately 1.6 to 1. Think long and hard about that before you drink the Kool-Aid on slappys such as Jacoby Ellsbury (5th on the industry consensus draft board among outfielders in our draft guide), Ichiro (tied for 8th on the consensus draft board in the outfield) or Michael Bourn (tied for 34th on the consensus draft board in the outfield).

^ Power is especially the true differentiator at catcher and the middle infield. Joe Mauer never even came close to living up to his perennially exalted draft status until last season when he had his amazing power spike. As such, beware of players such as Erick Aybar who have demonstrated the ability to make contact but little else.

^ Another prediction that we made that has come true over the past four years regards the removal of amphetamines from the game. “Greenies” were a staple of the sport for decades and we indicated that because players could no longer use this tool to combat the “dog days of summer,” that they would find themselves struggling even more to catch up to the high heat of power pitchers. Indeed, the number of strikeouts per game has skyrocketed to well over 13 per game and hurlers who make hitters miss have never been worth more. With this in mind, pitchers such as Jair Jurjjens must be regarded in a manner more wary than their ERA and WHIP might otherwise indicate.

^ We have one player tagged with a first-round value on our board who might raise a few eyebrows with that designation: Troy Tulowitzki. He is more apt to be classified as a second or perhaps even third-round value elsewhere in the industry. It is true that he followed up his superlative 2007 rookie campaign with a banged-up disappointment in 2008 and a very rough first two months last year before breaking out big-time. Here were his numbers for the season: .297, 32 HR, 92 RBI, 101 R, 20 SB. Now examine the numbers from June 1 forward: .326, 26 HR, 73 RBI, 76 R, 15 SB. He was arguably the best hitter in baseball the last four months of the season. While it is true that his speed uptick was unprecedented for his career, his overall potential clearly paints him as a Top 10 player for the 2010 season.

^ Our “Respect Mah Eligibilitah” lists the eligibility of players in leagues with 10, 15 and 20-game eligibility rules at each position. Some players, such as Victor Martinez, have secondary eligibility at positions where the would rarely be used (first base) because they are infinitely more valuable at their main position (catcher). But there are other players who are actually worth relatively equivalent amounts at different positions, such as Gordon Beckham (second base and third base), Mark Reynolds (first base and third base) and Kevin Youkilis (first base and third base). Players with this kind of flexibility are especially valuable, because they allow you to draft one less backup in the late rounds and instead gravitate towards the best player still available. Also, because our rankings take this factor into consideration, adherence to the board will make you more likely to end up with one or more of them – such as Bill Hall’s 2006 breakout season when our board favored him because he entered the year eligible at three positions.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

College hoops bracket draft

It's that time of year again as FDH brings you our college hoops bracket draft.

First, here's the guidelines:
^ 2 points for an opening-round win
^ 4 points for a second-round win
^ 6 points for a third-round win
^ 8 points for a regional championship win
^ 10 points for winning a national semifinal game
^ 12 points for winning the national championship

Also, there are bonus points for having lower seeds win:
^ 2 points for each win by a team seeded 5th through 9th in a region
^ 5 points for each win by a team seeded 10th through 16th in a region

We recommend a six-team draft with a nine-round standard serpentine draft.

Now, here' s our draft board for the 2010 NCAA hoops tournament:

TOP TIER
1 Kentucky
2 Kansas
SECOND TIER
3 Syracuse
4 Baylor
5 Duke
6 West Virginia
7 Ohio State
8 Kansas State
THIRD TIER
9 Villanova
10 Georgetown
11 Texas A&M
12 New Mexico
13 Xavier
14 Butler
15 Pitt
FOURTH TIER
16 Temple
17 Maryland
18 Michigan State
19 Wisconsin
20 Texas
21 Richmond
22 BYU
23 Tennessee
24 Georgia Tech
25 Murray State
26 Oklahoma State
27 Notre Dame
28 Siena
29 Washington
30 Wake Forest
31 Clemson
32 UNLV
33 Marquette
34 Louisville
35 Old Dominion
36 California
37 Purdue
38 Vanderbilt
39 Gonzaga
40 Florida State
41 Minnesota
42 Missouri
43 Northern Iowa
44 St Mary's
FIFTH TIER
45 Florida
46 Cornell
47 San Diego State
48 New Mexico State
49 Utah State
50 UTEP
51 Houston
52 Wofford
53 Ohio
54 Oakland

Sunday, March 14, 2010

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume III, Issue X

Welcome to our 75th edition of the FDH Fantasy Newsletter, as we continue to bring you weekly fantasy sports updates in addition to our usual content on FantasyDrafthelp.com. Our archive of past editions is available right here on The FantasyDrafthelp.com Blog and specific links to past editions are available on the front page of FantasyDrafthelp.com.

In this week's edition, we bring you Spring Training Update Notes.

Spring Training Update Notes

First and foremost, we now have online the most useful guide you could possibly want, FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2010. Here is the Table of Contents:

Page 1: Draft Philosophy Overview, Top 72 Overall
Page 2: Starting Pitcher Rankings, Draft Board Decoder, Lessons of “The Stat”
Page 3: Starting Pitcher Rankings Cont’, 2010 Don’t Be That Guy
Page 4: Starting Pitcher Rankings Cont’, Relief Pitcher Rankings, 2010 Sleepers
Page 5: Catcher Rankings, 2010 Overvalued, 2010 Undervalued, Offseason Movement Winners and Losers
Page 6: First Base Rankings, Injury Risk Management
Page 7: Second Base Rankings, Designated Hitter Rankings, 2010 Position Battle Overview
Page 8: Shortstop Rankings, 2009 Prospect Rankings, Long-Term Keeper League Prospect Rankings
Page 9: 2010 AL & NL Scarcity, 2010 Players With a Wide Range of Opinion
Page 10: Respect Mah Eligibilitah!
Page 11: Third Base Rankings, Suggested League Guidelines
Pages 12-13: Outfield Rankings
Pages 14-17: 2010 Mock Draft and Analysis
Page 18: Dollar Bin Players
Pages 19-20: Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium Memories, Hall of Famer Andre Dawson
Pages 21-22: 2010 Topps Cards Review
Page 23: FDH Standings/Awards Predictions for 2010 MLB, FDH Minor League System Rankings
Page 24: 2010 Fantasy Overview, 2009 Legitimate Breakthroughs/Reclamation Cases

^ The major calamity of spring training involves Joe Nathan, who ended up with a torn ligament and will certainly miss the season even if he has yet to come around to that reality yet. Francisco Liriano is now under consideration for the job – possibly killing two birds with one stone, since the team now has cause to wonder if he’ll ever be the same as a starter – and he has to be considered as the co-favorite along with Jon Rauch. From there, Matt Guerrier would be next in line, followed by Pat Neshek.

^ Jose Reyes was already on thin ice with many fantasy owners after an injury-affected ’09 season. Now he’s dealing with an overactive thyroid issue, one that has yet to be set up with a definitive corrective course of action. You must assume that he will miss the first month of the season right now, probably a bit more than that.

^ Another Met, Carlos Beltran, is progressing well with his knee rehab and should be back before the end of April. Bear in mind, though, that like Reyes, Beltran is coming off of a less-than-healthy season.

^ Two more frontline fantasy players, Brandon Webb (shoulder) and Brian Roberts (back) probably will take until mid-April to be ready. Likewise, while Lance Berkman is hopeful he will be back by Opening Day, odds are that the scope job on his knee will keep him out until the middle of April as well.

^ Every player’s worth is measured by reaching a happy medium between his potential high and low points of production. Players like Dontrelle Willis are the hardest to grade because of the vast canyon between those points. While his awful recent past would have not made him even worthy of a $1 pick/super late-round pick coming into this year, his incredible start to the spring does move him up to the late-round/single-digit bid level.

^ In terms of the super-prospects: Jason Heyward looks like he will start the season in the A-T-L, while the hurlers – Stephen Strasburg and Aroldis Chapman – are looking good enough to start the season, but will probably be held back until June.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2010 now online

It's here! Everything you need and more for the 2010 baseball season in the form of FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2010. Here's the Table of Contents:


Page 1: Draft Philosophy Overview, Top 72 Overall
Page 2: Starting Pitcher Rankings, Draft Board Decoder, Lessons of “The Stat”
Page 3: Starting Pitcher Rankings Cont’, 2010 Don’t Be That Guy
Page 4: Starting Pitcher Rankings Cont’, Relief Pitcher Rankings, 2010 Sleepers
Page 5: Catcher Rankings, 2010 Overvalued, 2010 Undervalued, Offseason Movement Winners and Losers
Page 6: First Base Rankings, Injury Risk Management
Page 7: Second Base Rankings, Designated Hitter Rankings, 2010 Position Battle Overview
Page 8: Shortstop Rankings, 2009 Prospect Rankings, Long-Term Keeper League Prospect Rankings
Page 9: 2010 AL & NL Scarcity, 2010 Players With a Wide Range of Opinion
Page 10: Respect Mah Eligibilitah!
Page 11: Third Base Rankings, Suggested League Guidelines
Pages 12-13: Outfield Rankings
Pages 14-17: 2010 Mock Draft and Analysis
Page 18: Dollar Bin Players
Pages 19-20: Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium Memories, Hall of Famer Andre Dawson
Pages 21-22: 2010 Topps Cards Review
Page 23: FDH Standings/Awards Predictions for 2010 MLB, FDH Minor League System Rankings
Page 24: 2010 Fantasy Overview, 2009 Legitimate Breakthroughs/Reclamation Cases

Sunday, March 07, 2010

FDH Fantasy Newsletter: Volume III, Issue IX

Welcome to our 74th edition of the FDH Fantasy Newsletter, as we continue to bring you weekly fantasy sports updates in addition to our usual content on FantasyDrafthelp.com. Our archive of past editions is available right here on The FantasyDrafthelp.com Blog and specific links to past editions are available on the front page of FantasyDrafthelp.com.

In this week's edition, completely devoted to fantasy baseball coverage that is a preview of our forthcoming FANTASY BASEBALL DRAFTOLOGY 2010:

^ 2010 fantasy season overview
^ 2009 legitimate breakthroughs/reclamation cases
^ 2010 “Don’t Be That Guy”
^ 2010 AL & NL scarcity

2010 Fantasy Season Overview

^ Two trends that we’ve been monitoring over recent seasons continued to materialize in 2009. The first is the narrowing ratio between home runs and stolen bases. Taters will always be more plentiful than steals, but the gap between the two is narrowing, meaning that power is SLIGHTLY more valuable relative to speed compared to the height of the steroid era. Speed still has value, elite speed much more value, but it’s harder to make tradeoffs than it used to be, especially for players at traditional power positions like Chone Figgins, Jacoby Ellsbury and Ichiro. Shockingly, the fantasy baseball industry has yet to catch up to this truism, such that the most important note about the present landscape that you need to know entering your draft is this: SPEED IS VASTLY OVERVALUED!

^ The second trend that continues is the rising number of strikeouts per game almost each season recently. We predicted starting back in 2006 that with MLB’s implementation of amphetamine testing that elite heat would take on more value because players no longer able to “bean up” to play would not be catching up to it, especially in the dog days of summer. Strikeout numbers are more important than ever for big-time pitchers and your team needs to reflect this trend. Pitchers who are largely dependent on the defense behind them are losing a lot of value in this climate. As FDH Managing Partner Rick Morris said awhile back on THE FANTASYDRAFTHELP.COM INSIDER (Wednesdays, 7-10 PM EST on SportsTalkNetwork.com): “You cannot be an ace if your best pitch is the ‘I hope he hits it right at someone’ pitch.’”

^ The middle infield and catcher positions tend to be lumped together in terms of relative scarcity from year to year, but of course no two seasons are completely alike and the availability of desirable starters at each position will vary from year to year. In 2009, we labeled the pool of starting-caliber shortstops “as deep as any of these positions have seen in recent memory.” Unfortunately, the position suffered many regressions last year, such that it is now the shallowest of the three lineup spots in terms of legitimate starters with five. Try to get one of those — they are collectively listed higher in our Top 72 than the catchers and second basemen to underline the necessity of this — and you will have an edge at a key position.

^ Balance continues to be a key watchword for fantasy success in 2010, especially in roto-based leagues. With few obvious exceptions such as the speed-challenged Albert Pujols, hitters who deliver no value in any of the standard fantasy categories should take a back seat to other, more well-rounded contributors. If it becomes necessary to “sell out” to pick up a player in the middle-to-later rounds with good value but who is lacking in a few categories, try to find pick up their “offset twin” – a player with mirror-image strengths and weaknesses. A few possibilities would include Adam Dunn/Ichiro and James Loney/Mark Reynolds (an actual combination of players owned for $1 apiece in a 20-team, long-term keeper league by FDH Managing Partner Rick Morris).

2009 Legitimate Breakthroughs/Reclamation Cases

NOTE: These players all reached another level last year, whatever level that may be, and should be considered “for real.”
C: Miguel Montero
1B: Billy Butler, Pablo Sandoval, Joey Votto
2B: Aaron Hill, Ben Zobrist
SS: Troy Tulowitzki
3B: Pablo Sandoval
OF: Nelson Cruz, Carlos Gonzalez, Justin Upton, Ben Zobrist
SP: Matt Cain, Zack Greinke, Tommy Hanson, Felix Hernandez
RP: Andrew Bailey

2010 “Don’t Be That Guy”

^ Don’t Be That Guy who forgets that power is the true separator at catcher, not batting average..

^ Don’t Be That Guy who overvalues unlikely 2009 success stories like Garrett Jones. It’s a new year – pay for what you get this year.

^ Don’t Be That Guy who sleeps on (or holds unhealthy grudges against) last year’s falloffs. Bargain shopping in the middle and late rounds can bring you a championship. So don’t hate on David Wright!

^ Don’t Be That Guy who enters the draft or auction with ironclad gimmicks. Rotisserie category “punting”! Only $1 apiece for all pitchers on the roster! All younger or all “proven” talent! The fact is that inflexible doctrines lead to failure, while nimble, think-on-your-feet reactive ability brings great success. Choose the latter approach and thank us when you’re hoisting your trophy at the end of the year.

^ Don’t Be That Guy who doesn’t fully understand the nuances of your league’s scoring system. Be fully prepared!

2010 AL & NL Scarcity

[NOTE: The following players are starting-caliber fantasy performers worth more in single-league formats because of a relative scarcity of talent at that position.]
C: Brian McCann
1B: Miguel Cabrera, Justin Morneau, Kendry Morales, Mark Reynolds (worth more only because of the 1B situation), Pablo Sandoval (see Mark Reynolds), Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis
2B: Chase Utley, Ben Zobrist (worth more only because of the OF situation)
SS: Derek Jeter
3B: Garrett Atkins (worth more only because of the 1B situation), Mark DeRosa, Mark Reynolds, Pablo Sandoval, David Wright, Kevin Youkilis (see Garrett Atkins), Ryan Zimmerman
OF: Carl Crawford, Adam Lind, Ben Zobrist
SP: none
RP: none