I like what the Indians offer for fantasy value. All there hitters are worth grabbing in deep AL-only leagues and bear watching in mixed ones. The pitching is solid with an anticipation of seeing whether CC Sabathia can repeat last season's numbers and move to the elite level of starting pitchers. The bullpen is a mess, but several opportunites exist to grab saves.
The Royals are intersting as they have improved their offense to the point where every hitter merits consideration. There just isn't a lot of upper level players, and those in the $10-$16 range are biding the arrival of upgrades with the exception of CF David DeJesus, who has the counting stats of a no power/no speed utiliy infielder like Neifi Perez. Their pitching staff needs a lot of work. I listed $55MM Meche as a $1+ pitcher and Zach Greinke, but, honestly, if you skipped them and choose a middle reliever instead, you'd never know the difference.
| Cleveland | ||
| $30+ | Grady Sizemore | Travis Hafner |
| $17-$29 | Victor Martinez | Josh Barfield |
| $10-$16 | Andy Marte | Jhonny Peralta |
| Casey Blake | Dave Dellucci | |
| Ryan Garko | ||
| $1-10 | Jason Michaels | Shin Soo Choo |
| $20+ | ||
| $10-$19 | CC Sabathia | Jake Westbrook |
| Cliff Lee | Joe Borowski | |
| Jeremy Sowers | ||
| $1-10 | Paul Byrd | Tom Mastny |
| Fernando Cabrera | ||
| Kansas City | ||
| $30+ | ||
| $17-$29 | Ryan Shealy | Alex Gordon |
| Mark Teahen | ||
| $10-$16 | Mark Grudzalaniek | Emil Brown |
| Reggie Sanders | Dave DeJesus | |
| Mike Sweeney | ||
| $1-10 | Jason LaRue | Angel Berroa |
| Esteban German | John Buck | |
| Joey Gathwright | ||
| $20+ | ||
| $10-$19 | Octavio Dotel | |
| $1-$10 | Gil Meche | Zach Greinke |
| Joe Nelson | Ken Ray | |