Fantasy Baseball Draft Advice

World Series MVP Hideki Matsui was an absolute monster (Godzilla?) in the 2009 Fall Classic. In 13 at-bats, he pounded eight hits -- including a double and three home runs -- eight RBI and three runs scored. His OPS for the series was an obscene 2.027.

As he was accepting the MVP trophy, there were many items swirling around in my head (there always are, it's a burden, I tell ya!). He's a free agent, the Yankees likely can't justify bringing back both him and Johnny Damon if they want to shore up their starting pitching, etc. There were several more ... and then I arrived at this one: man, he's really gonna be overrated in fantasy baseball drafts next season.

We just concluded our fantasy draft here at Fanhouse. I have to say that I like what I did here.

It's a 12-team, rotisserie mixed-league using standard 5X5 scoring categories and rosters that include two catchers, a first baseman, a second baseman, a shortstop, a third baseman, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, a utility hitter, nine pitchers and three bench players.

Here's the Extra Base Knox team:

Round 1(3) - Albert Pujols, Cardinals - Wright and Hanley Ramirez went with the first two picks. Pujols is the best remaining player so I went with him. I'll take his massive offense in four of the five categories and smile all the way.

Round 2(22) - Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners - I made a tough decision here between him and Justin Morneau. I love Ichiro's speed and great batting average. With such high batting averages from my first two picks, I should be able to grab a big home run hitter with a low average later in the draft if I choose.

Round 3(27) - Carl Crawford, Rays - I didn't go power, I went speed again. Crawford plus Ichiro will pretty much guarantee my team is near the top in stolen bases.

Gary Sheffield has been cut from the Detroit Tigers. You, as a fantasy baseball fanatic, have likely already heard the news. You also probably don't own Sheff, which is a good thing. At his age, lack of positional flexibility, and deteriorated skill set, Sheff wasn't worth owning in fantasy baseball this year. Now that point is hammered even further home. He'll probably catch on somewhere else as a DH, but I can't see him worth a roster spot this season.

The real spin here is what the Tigers will do with their lineup, now, and how that impacts others. Here is a partial list of who this will affect.

It would take some kind of player to supplant the leagues most valuable fantasy hitter, Hanley Ramirez, from his lead off role in Florida. A role in which he racked up 30/30 season and scored 125 runs.

Since camp opened, the Marlins have had that player, Cameron Maybin, penciled into the lead off role; moving Ramirez to the third spot in the lineup. Maybin is lightning fast and hitting at a .315 clip this spring with two doubles, a triple and a home run with two stolen bases.

But, with a week left in Spring Training, Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez thinks Emilio Bonifacio might lead off.

Emilio Bonifacio may end up winning the third base job. If that happens, manager Fredi Gonzalez said Bonifacio could lead off and Maybin could hit either second or in the lower third of the order. "I think if he's on the team, I think that's a pretty good spot for him,'' Gonzalez said after the Marlins' 5-4 loss to the Mets.

Bonifacio isn't hitting for as high of an average as Maybin is this spring (Bonifacio is hitting .278), but he has many more extra base hits as he's tallied four doubles and three triples to go along with his three stolen bases.

Yesterday on Fanhouse, Ed Price wrote about the Yankees flip-flopping Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter in the batting order. He mentioned a very compelling reason why this might not be the best move. And another reason why it might be needed.

Statistically speaking, there doesn't seem to be a good reason to drop Damon. He's faster than Jeter (who stole 11 bases in 2008, 18 fewer than Damon) and gets on base more often (.375 to .363).

But according to Baseball Prospectus, Jeter came up 188 times last year with a runner on first and drove in that runner five times -- the 11th worst percentage in the AL.

This switch seems to be a large price to pay for the Yankees to keep Derek Jeter from grounding into double plays.

By switching Jeter and Damon, Girardi can take advantage of what both guys do well and can actually bail Jeter out of hitting into so many double plays - a problem that plagued him (45 times in the last two years, fourth-most in the majors). Jeter has a good on-base percentage and the lefty-swinging Damon, who pulls the ball, could move him over by hitting one through the hole.

More import than making the Yankees a more potent lineup, which this move might do, what does this move do to your fantasy roster if you own Jeter or Johnny Damon?

Your fantasy baseball draft will most likely take place within the next three weeks. Are you properly prepared? If the answer is no, fret not. We'll just assume you've already been through the free fantasy baseball draft kit and get right into specific questions you might have.

Do you have the ninth pick and think it's too early to take your favorite player? Maybe you have been offered a keeper league trade and aren't sure you are getting the better end of the deal. With FanHouse, you get the personal touch. We'll get all of your questions -- as long as they are relevant and somewhat clean, of course, during our LIVE CHAT at 1 PM ET.

From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.

Atlanta Braves
Omar Infante and Matt Diaz are popular kids in camp as Spring Training winds down. They're popular not so much for their talent or spring numbers (although both have great spring stats) but for who they will be replacing in the starting lineup if mending time stretches into the regular season. Chipper Jones is nursing an oblique injury and Garrett Anderson a calf problem. Both are expected to return to action this week. If that doesn't happen or further set-backs occur, Infante and Diaz gain some NL-only value.

Dan Haren has been awful this spring. Adam Jones is raking, as is Chris Shelton. Michael Bourn has been a completely worthless hitter. Of the above players, two have stat-lines that matter, and two have ones that don't.

You see, judging spring training stat-lines in fantasy baseball can be helpful, but you don't want to get too caught up in it. After all, the games are meaningless. Most established veterans are just going through the motions in attempt to get their body ready for the real season. For them, the stat-lines are meaningless. Thus, I don't care that Haren has sucked thus far. I'd still draft him with confidence.

Let's take a deeper look at a when they matter, when they don't, and why.

From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.

Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox rotation is still in flux. The four givens are Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield. The race for the fifth spot has pretty much been narrowed down to two; Brad Penny and Justin Masterson. Most feel the job will be Penny's, but Masterson is still being kept on a starter's schedule until Penny comes out and proves that he can pitch well enough to hold the spot down. Penny pitches today, and Masterson goes in a minor league game on Thursday. Both starts are crucial to these two pitchers and whoever wins this job will see his fantasy value rise.

Jeff Francoeur burst onto the Atlanta baseball scene in 2005, a homegrown talent with huge upside potential. He showed some value in 70 games that season after being called up, but really exploded in 2006 with 29 home runs and 103 RBI. The next season was another growing year as he brought his batting average up to .293 and still hit 19 home runs and 105 RBI. His 2008 season should have been another growth -- almost breakout -- season. But, something different happened.