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Reports out of Minnesota on Tuesday morning are that Twins’ closer Joe Nathan might be done for the year. Nathan has a torn ulnar collateral ligament and will decide whether to have surgery within the next two weeks.

The Twins will now have to shuffle the deck in their bullpen, and are staring at the harsh reality that they do not have an experienced closer on their roster. Jon Rauch has the most recent experience closing games, but his career has been far from consistent.

Fantasy owners will now need to make a dramatic change in their drafting strategy. Nathan has been one of the very few closers that has consistently produced over the past five seasons; only Mariano Rivera has consistently closed for one team as long as Nathan has in Minneapolis. If a “sure thing” existed in fantasy baseball, it was that Nathan and Rivera would get you 35 saves with a low ERA.

With Nathan now out of the equation, just as draft season starts, owners need to re-think the value of closers on their rosters and the value of closers in the draft. Clearly, the scoring system in your fantasy league should determine the value of closers on your roster, but the volatility in the area makes it hard to buy a winner every year. Throwing in (pun intended) the annual random 25 save guy (see anyone closing for Washington, Pittsburgh, Florida or Houston), the value of an elite closer can be overstated.

But taking Nathan out of the equation changes things.

Rivera is now, clearly, the one elite closer on the board. If your league values ERA and saves, Rivera’s value is now elevated.

Click HERE to read the rest of this article at Fantasyknuckleheads.com

2010 Fantasy MLB Outfielders ~ Breakouts, Busts and Sleepers

We are back for our next round of Breakouts, Busts and Sleepers. We’ve done the infield; Catchers,  First Basemen, Second Basemen, Short Stops and Third Base.  This time we’re looking at the OF position. Unlike the previous positions we’ve covered, we use three or more outfielders in every game, and they are crucial to our fantasy numbers across the board. For that reason we are doubling up, with one pick from each league.

So here we go, our various picks for 2010 Fantasy MLB Outfielders

Click HERE to read the rest of this article at Fantasyknuckleheads.com

March.  Ah, what a wonderful time of year.

The sun is slowly creeping out of its winter slumber.  It’s no longer dark when your alarm goes off in the morning.  The world is becoming green again.  Most importantly, Spring Training signals that baseball is just around the corner!

While Spring Training always points to the start of the fantasy baseball season, it is rather useless from a fantasy perspective.

For the most part, what happens in Spring Training can be discarded from your fantasy memory.  If Albert Pujols hits .204 in March, I’m still going to confidently take him with the first overall pick.

And, if Jack Wilson hits .419 with six homeruns, I’m still leaving him on the waiver wire.  Or laughing at you when you take him in the 15^th round.

Click HERE to read the rest of this article at Fantasyknuckleheads.com

It takes true dedication to sniff out the sleepers ready to make an impact on your fantasy team.

Click HERE to read the rest of this article at Fantasyknuckleheads.com

If you haven’t heard the name Jason Heyward yet, you’re clearly not reading or watching any coverage of 2010 Spring Training.

Heyward has been the offensive story of Spring Training so far (with all due respect to Milton Bradley, he’s not the offensive we’re talking about here). Heyward is the unanimously named number one prospect in baseball, even ahead of Washington’s Stephen Strasburg. He doesn’t turn 21 until early August, but he might be an impact fantasy player you should seriously consider this year.

The only problem with considering Heyward is when to select a rookie phenom.

First, let’s talk about what Heyward brings to the table for the Atlanta Braves.

Click HERE to read the rest of this article at Fantasyknuckleheads.com

This spring, Goodyear, Arizona is the epicenter of hype. Curious fans, media types and fame hungry Annie Savoys have descended onto the suburban desert community hoping to catch a glimpse of a growing legend, Cuban pitching sensation Aroldis Chapman(notes).

Frankly, they should be following/interviewing/stalking outfielder Drew Stubbs(notes).

Overshadowed by the golden-armed import, the former ’06 first-round pick is a young Red who deserves to be drenched in exaggeration. Though his late-season promotion from Triple-A Louisville a year ago attracted marginal fanfare, the gritty centerfielder’s impact was indelible. His invaluable across-the-board contribution (180 at-bats, .267-8-17-27-10) was the championship-making push deeper mixed and NL-only owners desperately needed. According to Baseball Monster, only nine other outfielders, among them position behemoths Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp(notes) and Matt Holliday(notes), yielded a higher profit during the most critical time of the fantasy season.

Click HERE to read the rest of this article at Yahoo!

Let’s be clear from the start: every Yahoo! expert endorses Miguel Montero(notes), and we all endorse Matt Wieters(notes). None of us ranked either player lower than fifth at the position. Today, Mr. Pianowski and I are simply addressing a small difference of opinion, in the traditional 250 words or less. Let’s play the feud…

Click HERE to read the rest of this article at Yahoo!

Craig Monroe hit a lot of spring training home runs in 2009. Regular season home runs - not so many!

By: Mark Schruender

This tip is especially critical for leagues that draft right before Opening Day. Do not pay attention to spring training statistics. Spring training is the equivalent to the NFL preseason, but slightly longer. The main goal for all players is to come out healthy – not win a batting title. So often we want to see who the leader was in the Grapefruit League thinking that will be an indication of what will take place in the season. Last year the MLB leader in runs scored in the February to March race to nowhere was Andres Torres who ended up getting 152 at-bats in the regular season. Craig Monroe was tied for second in home runs with eight, and the guy he was tied with was none other than Mike Wilson (who?). The fact is that some of these home runs are being hit off of minor league arms that will never taste big league action and some of these home runs are being hit by players that won’t taste big league action. Pay attention to pitchers coming off injury or young pitchers, but even most of these stats provide little substance when it comes to knowing someone is the best option. Dave Bush made 9 starts last year in the spring, but recorded only 33.1 innings. In the regular season, players separate themselves from the field by how they handle a lineup the second and third times through the order. There is rarely a second time through the order and almost never a third time through in the spring. Rely on the sample sizes and importance of the stats that were accumulated during the 2009 season and the normal curve for possible breakout or developing players.

Fred Zinkie and Chris “Big Dawg” McDonnell have both spent plenty of time assessing each individual fantasy baseball player for the 2010 season.  But, how to Fred and Chris think that those players will come together and affect the overall league standings? Both writers sat down this week and gave their predictions for the final 2010 standings.
Some notes from the standings:

1. It looks like it will be a lot of fun to live on the West Coast this year!  Both writers have predicted tight divisions races for both West divisions.
2. Big Dawg is predicting that Seattle’s defensive-minded makeover with result in a division title while Fred prefers the power hitting and young starters on Texas.  Both men think that the Angels’ reign over the division will come to an end but that they will be in the race all season.
3. Both writers really like the Phillies in the NL.  Not surprising considering that the Phillies are the NL team that is most resembling the elite AL teams in their aggressive approach to winning.

Let’s take a look:

Chris “Big Dawg” McDonnell

Fred Zinkie

hich pitcher would you rather have as a No. 2 on your staff? The proven, experienced AL East powerhouse starter that is Josh Beckett or the young, exciting up-and-comer Tommy Hanson? Tristan H. Cockcroft and Jason Grey are at odds over the right choice as each weighs risk versus reward of owning either.

Click HERE to read the rest of this article at ESPN