Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over. Meet the...
Best offense in the league. The Rangers are going to score more runs than any other team, and they don't have an over-abundance of star-power. This means their position players are a veritable fantasy goldmine. On the flip-side, though, their pitching staff is atrocious, especially the starters. Needless to say, if you are picking a Texas Ranger on draft day, he'd probably better be on the offensive side of the board.
The Breakout
Everybody loves Chris Davis, and with good reason. I already covered him in Five Guys to Win Your League, however, so I'll won't take the lazy route and harp on him again. Plus, I'm getting worried he's gaining too much steam. I hate it when that happens. We need to come up with a name for a guy who gets way too popular early in the offseason and ends up getting drafted too high (Matt Wieters is another example for this year).
You know who isn't getting too much love, though? Nelson Cruz.
Cruz has some serious power. He had struggled before last season, but 2008 was special. In just 103 minor league games, Cruz hit 37 home runs and drove in 99. His .342 average and 24 stolen bases weren't bad either. The question then became if he could ever translate those numbers to the bigs. In September, he answered those questions. In only 115 at-bats, Cruz hit .330 with 7 homers and 26 RBI. You can't expect these numbers, but it's entirely possible for him to hit 40 bombs and drive him well over 100 runs. The key will be consistency.
The Bust
Michael Young is still available at shortstop, so his value isn't completely killed. The problem is that he used to have a good amount of power, but that has seriously dwindled. His overall offense performance has gradually diminished since his career year in 2005.
Don't get me wrong, he's still a worthy starter in shallow mixed leagues. The problem is that I just ventured over to an ADP chart and I'm seeing him being drafted above Stephen Drew, Derek Jeter, Troy Tulowitzki, and J.J. Hardy. He's going three whole rounds in front of Hardy, which is an egregious error. Let's compare the two in the five traditional categories (batting average/home runs/RBI/runs/stolen bases) from last season:
Young: .284/12/82/102/10
Hardy: .283/24/74/78/2
Now, consider Hardy's only 26 years old and still improving. Young's 32 and has been in decline for the last three years. Is there seriously a three-round difference there? I'll take Hardy, and you can have Young. Deal?
The Lineup
1. Ian Kinsler, 2B
2. Michael Young, 3B
3. Josh Hamilton, CF
4. Nelson Cruz, RF
5. Hank Blalock, DH
6. Chris Davis, 1B
7. David Murphy, LF
8. Jarrod Saltalamacchia / Taylor Teagarden, C
9. Elvis Andrus, SS
It's possible the team uses Marlon Byrd or Andruw Jones in center field. This would shift Hamilton to right in place of Cruz. Cruz could also bump Murphy out in left field, in this scenario, or DH. However the suffling goes, Hamilton and Cruz will not lose out on at-bats.
The Rotation
1. Kevin Millwood
2. Vicente Padilla
3. Scott Feldman
4. Matt Harrison
5. Brandon McCarthy
The Bullpen
CL - Frank Francisco
SU - Eddie Guardado
SU - C.J. Wilson
The Skinny
• As I said in the intro, lots of offense and very little pitching. Kinsler and Hamilton are elite picks. Young, Cruz, Davis, and Blalock should be owned in most leagues, and the other guys mentioned are worth a look in larger leagues. The only pitcher I would personally want to own in any league if Francisco. He has serious strikeout potential, having punched out 83 in 63 1/3 innings last year. He's a very cheap option at closer.
• Blalock is still only 28 years-old, and he's battled through a series of really tough injuries since 2005. We've seen the potential in him, as he hit 61 home runs and drove in 200 in his first two full seasons. In this lineup and ballpark, there's no reason to forget about him. He could morph right back into the 30-homer 100-RBI guy we saw when he was 23.
• Watch the catching battle, because if one of the two gains the overwhelming majority of the playing time, he automatically becomes a nice, cheap option. Both have very promising offensive futures.
• I won't be taking this leap, but I'd just like to point out that Andruw Jones is so maligned he may be a cheap steal in huge AL-only leagues. Remember, he's apologized for being a colossal bust last season, and he's still only going to be 32 years-old in 2009. Only take him in the absolute last round of a 27-round or bigger monoleague, though. You don't want him to cost you anything, because odds are he's done being productive.
• Finally, Andrus is up more for his glove than his bat. He has tons of stolen base potential -- he swiped 54 last year in double-A -- but we don't yet know if he'll be running so much with the powerful offense around him. He'll also probably kill your batting average while not providing any power. He's a cheap source of speed in AL-only leagues, but should be ignored in all others.
