Undervalued – SP CC Sabathia: With the emphasis in most fantasy leagues focusing on securing premium hitters early, it comes as no surprise that Sabathia is falling into the early mid-rounds of fantasy drafts. However, his current overall ADP of 60 (15th amongst starting pitchers) still is alarming. The veteran has lost a couple of MPH off his fastball, but still managed to post a stellar 1.12 WHIP and win 15 games a year ago. Concerns over elbow issues that cost him time a year ago are justified as is the fact he’s had 12 seasons of 180+ innings. If he winds up being your #2 fantasy starter you’re in great shape. He’s still a top 10 option on our board.

Overvalued – RP Mariano Rivera: There’s no question that the Yankees’ longtime closer is sure-fire, first-ballot Hall of Famer.  A major knee injury cost him a good part of his 2012 season and many were surprised to see the 43-year old come back.  Like most of his teammates on the 2013 edition of the Yankees, Rivera is far past his prime. With great value always available in the later rounds and even off waivers with relief pitchers there’s no way we can endorse making him a top 100 pick and 7th overall player at  the position to go off the board, which is where his current ADP suggests he’ll be going.

Sleeper – OF Brett Gardner: After missing nearly his entire 2012 campaign with lingering elbow issues, Garnder has slipped the minds of many owners entering this year’s drafts/auctions. He was on the radar as a nice sleeper pick before Curtis Granderson went down and now his value rises even further. Don’t forget he averaged 45 steal per 150 games in the previous four seasons before last year’s misfortunes. His contact rate (90%) suggests a good chance he’ll improve his average (career .265 hitter) and produce a solid OBP which will lead to 80-90 runs atop the Yankees lineup.

Bust – 3B Alex Rodriguez: Limited to just 221 games over the past two years, the 37-year old’s status for a return this season is still up in the air. Add to it the fact his name continuously keeps popping up in the performance-enhancing drug scandals and it is becoming more evident we will never see the player we remember as A-Rod again. His .274 average and .444 slugging percentage over the past two years suggest even bigger disappointment ahead. Let some other owner in your league waste their time and roster resources with this fading star.

Fantasy Baseball, MLB, Olympics fantasy advice, new york yankees, cc sabathia, mariano rivera, brett gardner, alex rodriguez

Here are my predictions for the upcoming MLB season…

NL East – Phillies
NL Central – Reds
NL West – Giants
NL Wildcard – Braves

AL East – Red Sox
AL Central – Tigers
AL West – Rangers
AL Wildcard – Yankees

World Series – Red Sox over Phillies

NL MVP – Carlos Gonzalez (COL)
NL Cy Young – Cliff Lee (PHI)
NL Rookie of Year – Brandon Belt (SF)

AL MVP – Miguel Cabrera (DET)
AL Cy Young – C.C. Sabathia (NYY)
AL Rookie of Year – Jeremy Hellickson (TB)

COMPLETE TEAM PREVIEWS

MLB 2011 mlb predicitions, carlos gonzalez, cliff lee, brandon belt, miguel cabrera, c.c. sabathia, jeremy hellickson

Get your free football picks againt the spread and live football odds from our friends at Doc's Sports

***

A game after getting no-hit the Cincinnati Reds will turn to Bronson Arroyo in Game 2 Friday evening. He is the best man for the job if you ask me. The Reds' bats will need to get something going (scoreless in last 30 innings vs. Philadlephia) for it to matter.

Here's some good stuff that Lance McAlister had on his blog today from a listener:

Through the end of the 2010 regular season, 24 MLB pitchers won at least 15 regular-season games this season (2010).

There are five MLB pitchers with at least 15 regular-season wins in all three seasons (2008, 2009, and 2010):

--Roy Halladay -- 20 in 2008, 17 in 2009, and 21 in 2010
--CC Sabathia -- 17 in 2008, 19 in 2009, and 21 in 2010
--Jon Lester -- 16 in 2008, 15 in 2009, and 19 in 2010
--Tim Lincecum -- 18 in 2008, 15 in 2009, and 16 in 2010
--Bronson Arroyo -- 15 in 2008, 15 in 2009, and 17 in 2010

Only ten MLB pitchers won 45 or more regular-season games since the beginning of the 2008 season. In addition to those five pitchers listed above, the others are Adam Wainwright, Cliff Lee, Justin Verlander, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Derek Lowe.

MLB cincinnati reds, bronson arroyo, roy halladay, cc sabathia, jon lester, tim lincecum

Fantasy owners waiting patiently for C.C. Sabathia to deliver on his "elite starter" fantasy status, were at least given a glimpse of what is good about the $180 million man on Monday night in the Yankees' 4-0 loss to the Tigers.

Sabathia dropped to 1-2 with the loss and was outpitched by Justiin Verlander, but he did go the distance and struck out a season-high seven batters. Through is first five starts, the former Cy Young winner has posted a 1-2 record with a 4.73 ERA, 1.39 WHIP and 19 K"s. Hardly the numbers you would expect out of a pitcher that carried his price tag, but it is early.

Consider his numbers early last season as a member of the Indians (was traded to Milwaukee in July). Sabathia started the 2008 season by posting a 1-5 record in his first seven starts while allowing 32 runs in 36 1/3 innings (7.93 ERA) with a 1.87 WHIP. That parlayed into him becoming one of the best buy low candidates in recent memory.

Last year, he was pitching for a contract though. This year he's pitching as the highest-paid arm in the history of the game in a city where if things go wrong it is not pretty.

While I am not expecting him to go a run as impressive as last year's after he got dealt to the Brewers, but Monday night's start was a good sign of things to come for Sabathia. His career numbers tell me all that I need to know and I still put him as a top five fantasy pitcher right now. It may be a good time to gage what it would take to land him in a trade.

Fantasy Baseball yankees, cc sabathia

David Whitley, Orlando Sentinel looks at the economy as compared to that in MLB:

A job's value to mankind has nothing to do with its market value. And the crazy money wouldn't be there if consumers weren't providing it.

That won't make you feel any better this morning if you're standing in an unemployment line. But it's not Grady Sizemore's fault that he has a skill you don't, or that society has a fascination with his specialty.

Oh, sports leagues are feeling the pinch. There have been front-office layoffs, and poor Manny Ramirez can't find a team willing to pay him $75 million for three years.

If things really tank, we might even see teams fold. But the passion of the sports fan is not going to die. And passion means dollars.

Even if baseball revenue dropped 50 percent this year, it would still make $3 billion. Who deserves that money more, George Steinbrenner or CC Sabathia?

COMPLETE ARTICLE

MLB salaries, economy of sports, manny ramirez, george steinbrenner, cc sabathia

Some interesting numbers I ran across while surfing the web...

The demands on starting pitchers continue to diminish. Last season, 45 pitchers worked a combined 73 starts that resulted in 120-plus-pitch efforts, a 60.8 percent drop from 2004. CC Sabathia led all pitchers with five, including four with Milwaukee. Ben Sheets of Milwaukee and Tim Lincecum of San Francisco made four apiece. The 120-pitch games during the past five seasons:

Year    Games
2008    73
2007    84
2006    120
2005    137
2004    186


NUMBERS GAME
--2 left fielders voted into the Hall of Fame this week - Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson. It's the first time a left fielder was elected in 20 years.

MLB stats, cc sabathia, ben sheets, tim lincecum, jim rice, rickey henderson

The Yankees just signed Mark Teixeira to an 8-year, $180 million contract adding to the great Yankee spending spree of 2008. Hank Steinbrenner has begun to blow his family's fortune and spending it like it's Monopoly money. Between AJ Burnett, CC Sabathia and Tex, the Yankees have spent a half BILLION dollars on THREE players. Two of which, only play once every five days.

Add that to Alex Rodriquez's salary as the highest paid player in the history of professional sports and the Yankees have made a mockery of America's past time. And Bud Selig sits by and does nothing.

The Yankees are proving it only takes deep pockets to win and nothing more. It's this kind of absurdity that has soured me and millions more on baseball. It is an absolute joke. Baseball needs an NBA-type salary cap instead of a league of haves and have nots. But that will never happen because Bud Selig does not have the cojones to go after the player's union.

It's December and football is wrapping up and I'm already done with baseball. Sigh. I thought we were in "the worst economic crisis of a generation" according to the media. But nobody told Hank Steinbrenner about this, I guess.

MLB yankees, mark teixeira, cc sabathia, aj burnett, alex rodgriguez, hank steinbrenner

The biggest free agent chip has landed in the Bronx as C.C. Sabathia has agreed to a 7-year, $160 million deal, accroding to ESPN.com.

While a deal is not yet done, a source told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark there are "zero major road blocks" that would prevent the Yankees from reaching agreement with Sabathia. Not all terms of the deal are agreed to yet, the source indicated. Sabathia also would need to take a physical.

The New York Post first reported Wednesday that Sabathia, the prize of this year's free-agent class, had decided to go with the Yankees after fielding offers from a number of teams. 

Sabathia is just 28, and last year between the Indians and Brewers he went 17-10 with a 2.70 ERA. The previous season he won the AL Cy Young. Now he is the first major new piece to be put into the new Yankee Stadium.

OTHER HEADLINES:

• Nationals ready to make run at Teixeira - LA Times
• Indians close to signing Wood - MLB.com
  
• Yankees nearing deal for Lowe - SI.com
• Four teams still in mix for Furcal - FOXSports.com
• Obstacles remain for Cubs' acquiring Peavy - Chicago Sun-Times

MLB hot stove league, winter meetings, yankees, c.c. sabathia, nationals, mark teixeira, indians, kerry wood, derek lowe, rafael furcal, cubs, jake peavy

We start our off-season Hot Stove talk with a look at the week's latest headlines...

WHITE SOX DANGLIG DYE
Lance McAlister of 1530 Homer the Sports Animal discussed some trade rumors on his Tuesday involving the Reds and White Sox. McAlister's source says the White Sox initiated talks to send Jermaine Dye to the Reds for Homer Bailey and another player.  Ken Rosenthal says Dye's no-trade clause mostly covers teams in the northeast.  Perhaps the Sox can trade him to the Reds without his consent.  Ken Williams and Walt Jocketty matched up in July on the Ken Griffey Jr. trade.  It's known that Jocketty prefers trades to free agency.

ANGELS MAKING PITCH TO SABATHIA
The L.A. Times reports that the Angels have begun contract discussions with C.C. Sabathia. The authors believe the Halos could make an offer in the range of Johan Santana's six-year, $137.5MM deal. If the Angels do make such an offer, you have to imagine the Yankees will respond by upping their bid significantly. Despite the talks for Sabathia, Mark Teixeira remains the Angels' top priority.  They haven't made an offer yet, but Scott Boras seems to want ten years while the Angels are willing to do seven.

FURCAL DRAWING PLENTY OF INTEREST
Despite his durability concerns, free-agent shortstop Rafael Furcal is one of the hottest names on the market. His return to the Dodgers seems unlikely and the A's appear to be the front-runners after rumors of a 4-year, $48 million offer, however their his a third "surprise team" that is believed to me in the mix.  Furcal is not only a stellar defensive option at shortstop, but when healthy he is one of the best leadoff men and baserunners in the game.  The Giants apparently are out of the running for his services. WFAN in New York reports that they have agreed to terms with Edgar Renteria on a two-year, $18 million contract. Renteria became a free agent when the Tigers declined his $12 million option for 2009 and reportedly will now replace Omar Vizquel in San Francisco. 

GRIFFEY'S AGENT SAYS ALL TALK, NO ACTION
John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports on his blog that Brian Goldberg, Ken Griffey Jr.s' agent, said he's been in contact with nine teams -- six AL teams, three NL teams. Nothing is close. Goldberg's theory is things will pick after Dec. 1. That's when club must offer arbitration to their free agents. Players have until Dec. 7 to accept. If a player refuses, a club gets compensation for him if he's A or B. The former Reds' outfielder doesn't appear set to retire.

CUBS OUT OF THE MIX FOR PEAVY
After resigning Ryan Dempster last week Cubs' manager Lou Piniella believes that the Cubs' pitching is set. When asked if the Cubs still might be pursuing starting pitching, such as the Padres' Jake Peavy or free agent Randy Johnson, even after the Ryan Dempster signing Pinellas told the Chicago Sun Times, ''No. Starting we don't need. We're set. We've got six good starters [including Sean Marshall], and they're all experienced. Getting Dempster back was the key. We're in good shape with our starting pitching. Bullpen-wise, [we're looking for] possibly one more experienced pitcher. We've got a lot of young kids out there.''

METS LOOKING TO BOLSTER BULLPEN
Mets' GM Omar Minaya today began reaching out to the agents for free-agent closers Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Fuentes, according to SI.com. The Mets are intent on landing an elite closer after their bullpen was the main culprit in their second straight September disappointment. It is believed Rodriguez is favored slightly over Fuentes, but they consider either pitcher an excellent candidate to take injured closer Billy Wagner's spot.

MLB white sox, reds, jermaine dye, homer bailey, a's, giants, dodgers, rafael furcal, ken griffey jr, angels, c.c. sabathia, cubs, lou pinella, jake peavy, randy johnson, ryan dempster

The New York Yankees have decided they want C.C. Sabathia and made a ridiculous silly bid to try to get them. Even if Sabathia wanted to take less money to stay in Milwaukee, the Players' Union is going to put pressure on him to not leave the money on the table. The Yankees have offered the big lefty $140 million over 6 years. Let's take a look at how those dollars and cents breakdown:

$140 million over 6 years
--$23.3 million per year

Has averaged 32 games per over last three seasons that equals...
--$718,750 per start
--125 pitches per start (rough estimate)
--$5750 per pitch

I am huge C.C. fan, but this money is unbelievable.

MLB yankees, c.c. sabathia