The Hot Corner
Greg Sebastiao
Issue date: 4/8/09 Section: Sports
It's officially baseball season, spring training is over and the regular season has just begun. Of course, those of you who love baseball as much as I do also know that this time of year is not my favorite just because the MLB starts, but because fantasy baseball starts up on ESPN and Yahoo. Fantasy baseball. Being a true fantasy guru like myself, I did not want to let out my fantasy knowledge publicly before I had all my teams set in stone, but I guess I'll let you in on some tips for your teams just in case you've waited until the start of the season to draft.
In a head-to-head league, you should draft hitting early and draft pitching late in rounds, unless you have a later pick-anywhere between seven and ten. Most of the top players like Cardinals' Albert Pujols, Marlins' Hanley Ramirez, Mets' Jose Reyes and Indians' Grady Sizemore will be taken by then, leaving you with the option of taking a pitcher like Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum of the Giants or workhorse C.C. Sabathia of the Yankees for your first overall pick. As for a rotisserie league, where you are assigned a point total out of certain categories (homers, runs, wins, saves, etc.) you want to draft in a balanced way by trying to grab players who are able to fill multiple categories, unlike a head to head league where you only need to win six out of the ten categories a week to beat your opponent instead of seeing who wins after the entire season.
So how would I go about drafting players? Well, depending on if I have one of the first three picks or not, I tend to draft my outfielders first. I like Grady Sizemore, who fills all categories accept his .268 average, but his 33 homers and 38 steals make up for that. I would also take a run at Rangers' Josh Hamilton who fills everything but stolen bases, or players like the Orioles' Nick Markakis and the Dodgers' Matt Kemp, who are able to put up decent to solid numbers in each category. Some other outfielders that look to have great seasons this year from my perspective are Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay and the Nationals' Elijah Dukes. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the Rays' B.J. Upton continues his power from the ALCS last year, and guys like Brent Gardner of the Yankees and Cameron Maybin of the Marlins show that they are finally here to stay.
In a head-to-head league, you should draft hitting early and draft pitching late in rounds, unless you have a later pick-anywhere between seven and ten. Most of the top players like Cardinals' Albert Pujols, Marlins' Hanley Ramirez, Mets' Jose Reyes and Indians' Grady Sizemore will be taken by then, leaving you with the option of taking a pitcher like Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum of the Giants or workhorse C.C. Sabathia of the Yankees for your first overall pick. As for a rotisserie league, where you are assigned a point total out of certain categories (homers, runs, wins, saves, etc.) you want to draft in a balanced way by trying to grab players who are able to fill multiple categories, unlike a head to head league where you only need to win six out of the ten categories a week to beat your opponent instead of seeing who wins after the entire season.
So how would I go about drafting players? Well, depending on if I have one of the first three picks or not, I tend to draft my outfielders first. I like Grady Sizemore, who fills all categories accept his .268 average, but his 33 homers and 38 steals make up for that. I would also take a run at Rangers' Josh Hamilton who fills everything but stolen bases, or players like the Orioles' Nick Markakis and the Dodgers' Matt Kemp, who are able to put up decent to solid numbers in each category. Some other outfielders that look to have great seasons this year from my perspective are Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay and the Nationals' Elijah Dukes. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the Rays' B.J. Upton continues his power from the ALCS last year, and guys like Brent Gardner of the Yankees and Cameron Maybin of the Marlins show that they are finally here to stay.
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