2011 Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Leagues and Games. Free Cheatsheets, Projections, Rankings, Mock Drafts and Draft Advice. » Articles – External

Verlander Wins Cy Young Award

Craig Davis — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:19:34 +0000

There has been do doubt among baseball followers for some time that Justin Verlander would win this year’s AL Cy Young Award. The question remains whether his magnificent season will earn him MVP honors as well.

That won’t be answered until Monday, but for now Verlander will happily settle for claiming the first Cy Young of his career – and in unanimous fashion to boot.

The Detroit Tigers ace blew away the competition by winning pitching’s Triple Crown, leading the league in victories with a 24-5 record, ERA at 2.40 and strikeouts with 250. Verlander also pitched the most innings (251) and finished with the best WHIP – walks plus hits per innings pitched – at 0.92.

He received all 28 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America, for a perfect score of 196 points. The Los Angeles Angels’ Jered Weaver came in second with 96 points and the Tampa Bay Rays’ James Shields was third with 66.

On top of becoming baseball’s 12th Triple Crown winner in the last 50 years, Verlander threw his second career no-hitter on May 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays – only a walk kept him from a perfect game – and took two other no-hit bids into the eighth inning.

Verlander, 28, has been a dominant pitcher since his Rookie of the Year season in 2006, winning at least 17 games every season except 2008 and leading the league in wins, innings and strikeouts in 2009.

SOURCE: USA TODAY

Fantasy Forecaster

Jeremy Tiermini — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:17:56 +0000

On tap: Baseball’s traditional “second half” begins with an extended “week,” this one an 11-day scoring period in ESPN leagues that runs from Thursday, July 14, through Sunday, July 24. Oddly enough, it is not one of the most packed weeks on the 2011 schedule; there are only seven games scheduled on Thursday, July 14, 12 games scheduled on Monday, July 18, and eight games scheduled on Thursday, July 21. There are, however, two doubleheaders: Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics on Saturday, July 16, the first scheduled doubleheader in 10 years; and Cleveland Indians at Minnesota Twins on Monday, July 18, which is a day-night doubleheader making up an April 22 rainout. Between the extended period, those days off and the doubleheaders, there are varied numbers of games by team, meaning considerable quantitative advantage in this particular week. One team, the Twins, plays 12 games; five teams play 11 games; 13 teams play 10 games; and 11 teams play nine games.

Jayson Werth, Dan Uggla And 5 Buy-Low Candidates For The Second Half

Jeremy Tiermini — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:14:52 +0000

Jayson Werth, OF, Washington Nationals – There’s simply no way Werth will have a second half as bad as his first half. He should find himself settling into his new home in Washington and should start becoming the fantasy threat owners have been accustomed to. There’s also no way he’ll hit .215 for the whole season. As his average rises into the .260-.270 range, his power numbers will improve as well.

Fantasy Baseball Player Prospecting

Jeremy Tiermini — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:11:36 +0000

Today we profile some outfielders that took part in Sunday’s All-Star Futures Game in Phoenix.

Bryce Harper, OF, Washington Nationals

Harper went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the showcase, but there’s no reason to be alarmed by the performance. He was the second youngest player in the game. It’s so rare to see an 18-year-old in Double-A, and Harper has shown no signs of being overwhelmed there while hitting .357 through his first four games at Harrisburg.

Baseball Daily Dose

Jeremy Tiermini — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:07:49 +0000

Here we are. The day after the slowest day in sports. No basketball, no football, no hockey, and despite being in the middle of baseball season, no actual baseball was played yesterday. Hopefully you made it through the night. Maybe you took a walk, or checked out a summer blockbuster. No matter – now it’s time to get going again.

Baseball Daily Dose

Jeremy Tiermini — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:14:49 +0000

As it turns out, the biggest fantasy headline of All-Star Tuesday had nothing to do with anyone who was actually playing in the game, as news broke first thing Wednesday morning that Francisco Rodriguez had been dealt to the Brewers in exchange for two players to be named. Here’s the fallout for the relievers affected by the deal:

These Prospects Are Worth Watching

Jeremy Tiermini — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:50:42 +0000

For Mike Trout, the future seemed mapped out already.

After a year of tearing up the lower levels of the minors, he was putting in his time at Double-A and putting up the numbers you’d expect for a prospect of his caliber. If he wasn’t already so far advanced for his age, you’d expect him to move up to Triple-A any day now, but the Angels hadn’t hinted of such a promotion. They might not have even considered it. Trout was 19, and they weren’t going to rush him. Fantasy owners knew that and were perfectly content stashing him for whenever his time came, be it next year or the year after.

They just didn’t expect it to be Friday afternoon.

Fantasy Baseball Chat Transcript

Jeremy Tiermini — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:46:12 +0000

The players may all be on vacation, but nobody’s breaking here at CBSSports.com. We have a lineup deadline coming up Thursday and plenty to preview for the second half. Let’s get right to the questions.

Fantasy Baseball 2011 Second Half Rankings

Jeremy Tiermini — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:43:03 +0000

Ah, the All-Star break. Fantasy’s forced three-day vacation from box scores, live scoring and highlights. Yeah, we can’t wait for Thursday evening, either. But there is something to be said about taking the opportunity to re-evaluate your player rankings for the rest of the season, and that’s exactly what we did. Nine rankers were tasked with coming up with their top 250 for the rest of the season. That means stats accumulated to this point don’t count; only what players do post-All-Star break. A total of 318 players received at least one vote and they are all included below.

All 2015 Fantasy Baseball Team

Jeremy Tiermini — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:39:39 +0000

Everyone loves a prediction.

Consider: A few short years back, you couldn’t flip through the cable TV listings and not find some sort of TV show, movie or biography on Nostradamus. A quick search on IMDb, in fact, reveals nearly three dozen titles about, or related to, Nostradamus. These days, we’ve got predictions of earthquakes and raptures — how’d that one work out for you? — and then, of course, there’s that 2012 Mayan end times prophecy. (Boy, that one might sure put a wrinkle in all those fantasy football league championship matchups.)

Fantasy baseball is no different; we might lean on past statistics and trends, but all we’re ever really doing is making educated guesses about the baseball that has yet to be played. The majority of advice is more short-term based; most predictions center on the events of today, tomorrow or mid-August.