Zack Greinke Player Projection No. 61 | Fantasy Baseball Hot Stove

It's great to see Zack Greinke getting the love he deserves. He was one of the most unlucky pitchers in 2011, and yet one of the most dominant. Among the league leaders in K/9 and BB/9. I am expecting more of 2009. I will be investing as a solid #1.

What They're Saying: CBS Sportsline - #10 Starting Pitcher; Tristan Cockcroft of ESPN.com - #12 Starting Pitcher & #39 Overall; RotoChamp - #54 Overall; Mock Draft Central - #12 Starting Pitcher & #48 Overall Projection: This could probably come back to bite me, and if any of the guys I play in leagues with read this I'm screwed, but I really like Greinke this year. I probably like him too much. His division has gotten easier this year compared to last. To me, his floor is last season, and ceiling is Cy Young Award. Personally, I'm leaning closer to Cy Young Award. 18 W, 2.98 ERA, 215 K, 1.12 WHIP in 220 IP.

To Draft Or Not To Draft: Why Brandon Belt Is Not A Lock To Produce In 2012 | Rotoprofessor

What Brian Sabian is doing in SF can infuriate. Playing time will be a question mark, but a healthy Bandon Belt will force his way into playing time. I expect Belt and Mesoraco to be strong ROY contenders. Invest!!!!

Belt still showed off his power in 2011 and there is a ton of potential, but it is hard to consider him a lock to produce in 2012. First, he may not get the opportunity. Second, he needs time to adjust to the upper levels of professional baseball. I would expect him to open the year at Triple-A, getting regular AB and trying to figure things out. If he does and the Giants need an offensive boost, then he should get an opportunity. Unfortunately, he is going to need something (Huff/Schierholtz struggles for example) to get that chance. Is it likely to happen? Yes, but don’t consider it a given.

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Cory Luebke Player Projection No. 73 | Fantasy Baseball Hot Stove

Cory Luebke has mercurial value thus far. I view him as $20 SP. Invest.

What They're Saying: CBS Sportsline - #39 Starting Pitcher; Tristan Cockcroft of ESPN.com - #44 Starting Pitcher & #157 in the Top 250 Players; RotoChamp - #68 in the Top 300 Players; Mock Draft Central - #40 Starting Pitcher and #137 Overall Projection: Wins will still be tough to come by, but there aren't any obvious reasons to think he is going to pitch worse than last season. 11 W, 3.18 ERA, 170 K, 1.10 WHIP in 155 IP

Bullpen Banter: What Are The Chances Chris Perez Loses His Job In Cleveland? | Rotoprofessor

Chis Perez will not be on any of my teams. The underlying stats were downright awful last year. Bullpenn Bantter does a great job outlining why Perez is a risky play.

Perez should be considered one of the riskiest closing options for fantasy owners in my mind. I know the overall numbers in 2011 were fine (3.32 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 36 SV), but the underlying numbers are eye opening. Granted, we don’t look at luck as much with relief pitchers due to the small sample sizes but are we really to believe his .234 BABIP? If everything else remains equal, a decrease in the luck department will cause his other numbers to implode.

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With less than 3 weeks until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training, we are starting to see some of the top 100 prospect lists come out. Be sure to stick with Fake Teams for fantasy coverage of the minor leagues throughout the year, and be sure to check out 2012 positional prospect rankings.

Fake Teams

In the first of his new series of prospect comparisons, Chris Buckley asks Minor League Ball's John Sickels about a pair of top pitching prospects, and it's an excellent read.

Fake Teams' own Craig Goldstein did a pair of prospect comparisons this week, with a pair of top 3B prospects as well as a pair of 3B prospects who are a few years away. Personally, I'd rather have Arenado and

I took a look a some of the top fantasy prospects in the Colorado Rockies system, including Nolan Arenado, Drew Pomeranz, and Trevor Story.

Minor League Ball

There was big news out of Minor League Ball that SBNation has merged Minor League Ball with MLB Bonus Baby, the draft-centric blog of SB Nation.

Matt Garrioch wrote up his top 100 college draft prospects, with Deven Marrero of Arizona State and Kevin Gausman of LSU at the top of the list.

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Paul Konerko Player Projection No. 78 | Fantasy Baseball Hot Stove

Konerko was supposed to regress in 2011, but that did not happen. At age 36 you have to start worrying about age, but most underlying skills still are strong. His current ADP on Mock Draft Central is 47. Are you investing?

What They're Saying: CBS Sportsline - #9 in the Top 40 First Basemen; Tristan Cockcroft of ESPN.com - #7 in the Top 25 First Basemen & #41 in the Top 250 Players; RotoChamp - #34 in the Top 300; Mock Draft Central - #7 First Baseman and #45 Overall Projection: With a lengthy career and little injury history you can use pen for Konerko's floor this season...I think he'll be firting with .300 again looking at his increasing line drive and declining fly ball rates, unless this is the year he goes A-Rod on us.

The Disappointments of Youth: Pedro Alvarez | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball

Until Alvarez can increase his contact rate, cut down the strike outs, and hit lefties, I will be avoiding...

The best thing Alvarez has going for him right now is his pedigree, but plenty of high draft picks flame out, so that doesn’t mean much. Keeper players will face a decision that will likely depend on exactly how contracts and keepers work. I wouldn’t cut him if you have him under contract, but if your league is a simple "keep X players off your roster, lose one draft pick per keeper" you can get better value out there. Redraft players should stay away until he shows he can hit something besides a fastball. There’s too much risk associated with him and too little upside when pitchers know that all they need to do is bury a slider in the dirt to get him out. If you’re still enticed by the power potential he clearly has, there are worse late-round gambles out there, but have a starter and safety in place in case he finds himself back down in Indianapolis with McGehee manning third base.

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Making The Leap: Is This The Year Yovani Gallardo Enters The Elite At Starting Pitcher? | Rotoprofessor

I am expecting Yovani to take a big step this year. Rotoprofessor agrees...

My Thoughts Gallardo didn’t make the leap last season, but there is no question that he took a step forward. And while the inconsistency scares me, he seems to be on the right track to addressing my other big concern about him. To be elite you have to have an elite skill and Gallardo is an elite strikeout pitcher, no one can question that. If Gallardo continues to do what he started last season and does it more consistently he’ll be in the discussion to be a top five pitcher next season. I think he has figured things out and I think he’s ready to make the leap. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Gallardo finishes the season around or under the 3.00 mark for ERA and sets another career high for strikeouts as he continues to see more innings per game. I think Gallardo will be a lock top ten pitcher next season and will be in the discussion for top five. I do believe Yovani Gallardo is about to make the leap from good to great.

Prospect Instinct 2012 | Taijuan Walker, RHP Seattle Mariners | Baseball Instinct - Do You Have It?

Three pitching prospects in Seattle could have an impact in 2012. Prospect Instinct gives you a break down of Taijuan Walker, who has the biggest upside of the the big three (Danny Hultzen, James Paxton, and Walker)

If there is one thing you need to know about the Seattle Mariners, it’s that they know how to spot a good pitcher. The list of home-grown major league pitchers and prospects includes Felix Hernandez, Danny Hultzen, James Paxton. Another name that is going to fit well in that impressive list is Taijuan Walker.

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2012 Fantasy Outlook: Josh Beckett

For me, Beckett is indeed very hard to evaluate. BaseballHQ has him as a $19 SP, Rotowire has his value at $17. What value to you place on Beckett this year?

Coming off an injury riddled and largely disappointing 2010 campaign, Josh Beckett responded with a great 2011 season. He provided an immense amount of value for owners, posting near top-10 numbers among starting pitchers despite going as late as the 17th or 18th round of drafts. Looking ahead to the 2012 season, Beckett is a tough player to project for fantasy purposes

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Fantasy Baseball Hot Stove: Ryan Kalish :: KFFL - Article

Kalish flashed a handy contact bat and a power-speed combo during two months of 2010 MLB work, filling in for a then-injured Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron, who was traded away at the non-waiver deadline. If you can get away with stashing the soon-to-be 24-year-old in ALs for a reasonable price, he could be a late-season boon. No bother considering him for mixed drafts, but he's worth a pre-emptive tuck-away - especially in deep leagues - if his rehab goes smoothly, say, around April.

BaseballHQ.com - Playing Time Today

However, there are reasons to temper enthusiasm about Quentin's return to the National League. First, he moves from a home venue that increased right-handed batter home runs by 38% to one that is neutral in that regard. Second, while he's avoided the DL, assorted aches and pains keep him out of the lineup frequently. In his four seasons as a full-timer, he still does not have a 500 AB season. And finally, his BA's of .236, .243, and .254 the past three seasons won't be helped by Petco Park's tendency to decrease RHB BA by 12%. The Boston Red Sox got their replacement for the departed Jonathan Papelbon, as they acquired Andrew Bailey (RHP, BOS) from the Oakland A's. Bailey has 75 saves over the past three seasons, and while his ERA rose from a lucky 1.47 in 2010 to 3.24 last season, he again displayed elite skills in 2011 (8.9 Dom, 3.4 Cmd, and 104 BPV). He is expected to begin the season as Boston's closer. The Oakland A's have indicated that the closer opening created by the Bailey trade will be filled through a three-player competition in spring training, involving Grant Balfour (RHP, OAK), Fautino De Los Santos (RHP, OAK), and Joey Devine (RHP, OAK). Let's see what each brought to the table in 2011. Dayan Viciedo (OF, CHW), who can now slide free of a corner backup role and into the everyday lineup. His callup to CHW in the 2nd half of last year yielded unremarkable numbers, but overall he showed nice growth in 2011. In particular, his once-problematic plate patience showed signs of reaching acceptable levels:

More links after the jump:

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Yankees agree to minor-league deal with former Boston Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima - NY Daily News
The Yankees have agreed to a minor-league contract with former Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima, GM Brian Cashman said Wednesday. Okajima could compete for a spot in the Yankee bullpen.

Will Josh Vitters finally break out in 2012?
Cubs prospect Josh Vitters has been an enigma, showing nice tools but next to plate discipline. Could 2012 be the year he figures it out?

Baseball Prospectus | Transaction Analysis: A Petco Precursor?
There are no questions about it. Quentin brings power and hit-by-pitches by the truckload. His 71 home runs over the last three seasons are the 31st-most in the game, and more than glamorous free-agent outfielder signings Josh Willingham and Michael Cuddyer. Meanwhile, no batter is more accustomed to being struck by pitches over that duration than Quentin. Only Chase Utley, with two fewer beanings in nearly 250 more plate appearances, is within 15 plunkings of Quentin.

Season's final day sees Rays' comeback, Cards' rise come to fruition | MLB.com: News
The last day of the 2011 season saw a pair of compelling stories come to fruition. The Cardinals finished their improbable rise to the playoffs, while the Rays' collapse felt its final innings.

MLB Rumors - A's interested in Soler
Jorge Soler joined Yoenis Cespedes on the free agent market, and the Philadelphia Phillies are interested, as are the Washington Nationals, reported Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post in November.

2011 Fantasy Baseball Awards | RotoRob
The votes have been tabulated and now it's time to unveil the winners of the coveted 2011 RotoRob Baseball Awards!

The Fantasy Sports Guy: 2012 Prospects (#51 to #75) Rich Wilson
2012 Prospects (#51 to #75)

Oakland A's: A New Stadium In San Jose - Baseball Nation
MLB will reportedly unwrap the A's gift in February, but A's fans can celebrate now; their long-rumored move to San Jose is about to become a reality.