Fantasy Baseball: Positional Rankings - Closers

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Welcome to the final category of the Fan Fanatic Sports fantasy baseball breakdown. I will send you all a hearty good luck in your fantasy season as the 2010 season begins this Sunday night in Boston. If you know me, then you know that the closer is my least favorite fantasy position. I kind of liken it to a kicker in fantasy football. If you have one of the elite's than that's fantastic, but if not, you can always find one, or two during the season. Year in and year out, there are always closers who start the season in the position lose their jobs. The reverse can be said as well. Every season some unknown puts up 20+ saves.

The Top 20:

1. Mariano Rivera - Yankees

2. Jonathon Papelbon - Red Sox

3. Jonathon Broxton - Dodgers

4. Brian Wilson - Giants

5. David Aardsma - Mariners

6. Huston Street - Rockies

7. Heath Bell - Padres

8. Francisco Cordero - Reds

9. Carlos Marmol - Cubs

10. Francisco Rodriguez - Mets

11. Brian Fuentes - Angels

12. Joakim Soria - Royals

13. Jose Valverde - Tigers

14. Adam Bailey - A's

15. Ryan Franklin - Cardinals

16. Trevor Hoffman - Brewers

17. Billy Wagner - Braves

18. Rafael Soriano - Rays

19. Brad Lidge - Phillies

20. Bobby Jenks - White Sox

The Elite:

Until Mariano Rivera has a bad year, he'll be tops on my list. This guy is the best closer in the history of baseball, and should be a first ballot hall of famer. He still pitches for the best team in baseball, so you can bank on 35+ saves. I actually surprised myself by putting Papelbon at the #2 slot. He's got to prove he can bounce back from a poor 09' season. I also think the Sox offense will put them in a lot more close and late games. Speaking of close and late games, let's talk about Jonathon Broxton and the Dodgers. They have a very good lineup, but their pitching has a serious lack of depth in the rotation.

The 2nd Tier:
Despite the hatred I have for the SF Giants, you have to appreciate the job Brian Wilson has done for them. He has 79 saves the past two seasons and dropped his ERA by almost two full runs from 2008. He was rewarded a week ago with a nice extension. After him there are so many closers that are about the same. Some of those guys are Huston Street, David Aardsma, and Heath Bell. Just remember, you can always find a closer.

On the Rise:

Chris Perez - Now that Kerry Wood will miss the first 6 weeks of the season, Perez is the man for the Indians. If you can pick him up, he may not be just a fill in due to Wood's inconsistency.

Mattt Guerrier - Unless the Twins make a trade for a closer, he's my pick to take a strangle hold on the position. He's had an ERA under 3.50 for 4 out of the past 5 seasons. He isn't a strike out pitcher, but had a very nice WHIP of 0.97 in 2009.

LaTroy Hawkins - He'll start out as a set up man for the Brewers, but you never know when Trevor Hoffman will start showing his age. I'd keep an eye out for him as the season goes on.

On the Slide/Watch out:

Andrew Bailey - Bailey, the rookie of the year last year, starts out the season banged up. He may be ready for opening day, but I never trust a pitcher who a career high in innings the previous year and has a bad elbow.

Trevor Hoffman - I know I'll catch some flack for putting Hoffman here. I'm not saying he's going to have a bad year, but he does bear some watching. He is 42 years old! He had a great season last year, but how long can he keep putting numbers up.

Brandon Lyon - I am not sure what the Astros were thinking when they handed Lyon a three year deal during the off season. It looks like he lost the closers job to Matt Lindstrom with a very poor spring.

Well, everyone I hope you all enjoyed the rankings. Good luck in your fantasy draft!

NCAAs a microcosm of UNH's season.

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

(Note: This is the first of a three-part series analyzing the performances of all three Hockey East teams in their respective regionals in the NCAA tournament last weekend.)

In a lot of ways, New Hampshire's postseason experience summed up how the entire season had gone for the Wildcats.

In the Hockey East tournament quartefinals, the Wildcats came back from a 4-2 deficit to beat Vermont, 7-4, but then got shut out in back-to-back games and were bounced from the tournament, leaving their hopes of playing on the national stage squarely on the shoulders of others.

The pieces that needed to fall into place for the 'Cats did so and they made it into the tournament as a third seed in the East regional, which featured two upstate New York teams in RIT and Cornell.

In the first round, UNH played beautifully, out-shooting, out-skating and outplaying Cornell in a 6-2 upset victory. Hobey Baker top-10 finalist Bobby Butler was the catalyst with two goals and an assist, while the ever-underrated Paul Thompson scored twice, including the game-winner.

UNH dominated a very good Cornell defense and fired 36 shots on Ben Scrivens, who Barry Melrose spent most of the first period calling the best goalie in college hockey. Five of those shots got past Scrivens.After the Big Red opened the scoring with 48.8 seconds remaining after getting outplayed all period, UNH potted two goals on just six shots. The goals were on consecutive shots, actually, in the final minutes of the period.

Bobby Butler took advantage of a turnover in the Cornell zone and tied the game with a goal that actually went through the net. It took a stoppage and a review to decide it was a goal, reversing the initial call of no goal. Mike Sislo added another goal 26 seconds later on a nice feed from Greg Burke after Blake Kessel forced a turnover in the neutral zone. Those two goals gave UNH the momentum going into the third, leading to three more goals, including Thompson's game-winner less than three minutes into the third, UNH's third goal on seven shots since the start of the second.

But the next round against upstart RIT was a totally different story. While RIT had topped Denver, there still was a sense that UNH was a clear favorite in the conference. Instead, a day after playing possibly the best game of their season, the Wildcats gave away their season with the worst two minutes.

With the game tied, 1-1, UNH gave up three goals in 94 seconds. In an eerily similar way to how they beat Cornell, the Wildcats gave up goals just 13 seconds apart at 13:23 and 13:36. Just 1:26 later, RIT put the game away. Just like that, it was over.

As was the case all season, UNH was the model of inconsistency. The offense did nothing against an RIT defense that is not outstanding after embarassing one of the best defenses in the nation and as a result, the Wildcats remain maybe the team with the highest number of futile and heartbreaking efforts in the national tournament ever.

Fantasy Baseball: Positional Rankings - Starting Pitchers

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Just like baseball in real life, you can never have too much starting pitching in the fantasy world. Now of course it's best to have top line pitching, but unless you overload at the beginning of the draft, you should find yourself in the position of delving into the deep pool of MLB starting pitchers.

The Top 20:

1. Tim Lincecum - Giants

2. Roy Halladay - Phillies

3. Zack Grienke - Royals

4. Felix Hernandez - Mariners

5. CC Sabathia - Yankees

6. Justin Verlander - Tigers

7. Adam Wainwright - Cardinals

8. Chris Carpenter - Cardinals

9. Josh Beckett - Red Sox

10. Dan Haren - Diamondbacks

11. Yovani Gallardo - Brewers

12. Johan Santana - Mets

13. Josh Johnson - Marlins

14. Jon Lester - Red Sox

15. Tommy Hanson - Braves

16. Cole Hamels - Philles

17. Matt Cain - Giants

18. John Lackey - Red Sox

19. Wandy Rodriguez - Astros

20. Clayton Kershaw - Dodgers

The Elite:

Tim Lincecum is hands down the best pitcher in baseball, and has been the past few years. What's scary is that he doesn't even turn 26 until this June. He's so good, he's a top 5 pick in the draft. Following Lincecum are another two right handers in Roy Halladay and Zack Grienke. Some people might be surprised I put Halladay at #2, but I really expect him to put up huge numbers as he finally plays for a World Series contender. While he may be the old, wily vet, Grienke is one of the young guns in the game. There should be no anxiety (yes, I went there) in taking him in the late first round.

The 2nd Tier:

Felix, the cat, Hernandez had his first full healthy season and put up 19 wins and a 2.49 ERA. He was rewarded by the Mariners in the off season, so the 24 year old can now just go out and pitch. CC Sabathia did exactly what he was supposed to do in his first year in the Bronx. Look for his ERA to drop a bit now he understands how to pitch in the new Yankee Stadium. In case you didn't realize, Justin Verlander was one of the four MLB pitchers to get 19 wins in 2009. While I'd like to see him reduce his 1.18 WHIP from a year ago, he still strikes out people at an amazing rate.

On the Rise/Rebound:

Tommy Hanson - The young Braves ace should have started the 09' season in Atlanta. He wasn't brought up until June 7th, but still managed to get 11 wins and rack up a 2.89 ERA. I don't expect a sophomore slump as he gets used to pitching in the bigs.

Clayton Kershaw - I am a huge fan of Clayton Kershaw and think he'll end up as one of the best left handed pitchers in the game in about 2-3 years. This year will not be his breakout year, but it will not be too far off. He still needs to get his pitch count down so he can work deeper into games. When he can do that, then his low win total will skyrocket. He already has a great fastball and one of the best left handed curve balls in the majors.

Wade Davis - Watch out for this great Rays prospect. He'll be slotted down in the starting rotation, so the pressure is not on him to be stellar off the bat. He did pitch pretty well in on 36.1 innings at the end of the year.

Rick Porcello - Most experts will admit that Porcello had a pretty good rookie season in 09'. When you go 14-9 for a mediocre team then that's decent. So far, he's been lights out in Spring Training with a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings. He's looked fantastic and ready for a 15+ win with a sub 3.25 ERA season.

Fausto Carmona - Remember when he won 19 games in 2007? Well, he's looked very similar to that so far in Spring Training. I know you can't tell too much from Spring Training stats, so you need to use your eyes.

On the Slide/Watch out:

Vincente Padilla - I love Joe Torre, but starting Padilla opening day is ridiculous. I don't care if they're trying to line Kershaw up for the home opener. Despite a great end to his season with the Dodgers, he will eventually return to his usual self.

Joel Piniero - This is more of a gut feeling for me. I have a philosophy that I steer clear of pitchers the first year after leaving the St. Louis Cardinals. Let's call it the Dave Duncan effect. On the flip side, don't be surprised if Brad Penny has a good year.

Kevin Millwood - Unfortunately for the Orioles, he's having a terrible Spring Training. I know he has a history of slow starts, but he's been downright awful so far. Hopefully, he'll at least be able to mentor the solid young stars on the horizon in the O's staff.

Watch out Friday for the final category - Closers.

Vermont clawed, but ultimately proved it didn't belong

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

(Note: This is the first of a three-part series analyzing the performances of all three Hockey East teams in their respective regionals in the NCAA tournament last weekend.)

Vermont was the prototypical team that was just happy to be there. Granted, the Catamounts would never admit that, but given the way their season went, they had to be.

Vermont rode a strong start against non-conference opponents and a Hockey East tournament quarterfinal series win over UNH to make up for a lackluster showing through the regular-season conference schedule, sneaking in with Alaska as one of the final at-large bids.

Vermont drew high-scoring Wisconsin in the first round and actually led, 2-1, heading into the second period, but then played right into the Badgers' hands and lost the game. The Badgers' dangerous power play, which had already scored one goal, was given two power plays in the second period and the Badgers converted both of them to give themselves the winning margin.

In total, Wisconsin had seven man-advantages in the game as Vermont picked up nine penalties for a total of 18 minutes in the box, which is uncharacteristic for the Catamounts, who only accrued an average of 11 PIM's over the course of the season. Vermont was only able to score once in five power play opportunities. It was not a good scenario for the team that ranked last in Hockey East in special teams net at minus-10.

One player Vermont couldn't have asked for anything more from is goalie Rob Madore. The sophomore made 39 saves on 42 shots and really didn't have a chance on the game-winner scored by Blake Geoffrion as he was left alone between the circles.

Over the course of the postseason (conference and national), Madore was pretty tough. He finished the postseason with a 2-3-0 record and took the loss in a 7-4 loss in the first game of the Hockey East quarterfinals, but bounced back to record back-to-back shutouts against a high-powered Wildcats offense. He faced 147 shots between the conference and NCAA tournament and stopped 137 of them, good for an impressive .932 save percentage. In his last two games, both losses to teams in the Frozen Four, he stopped 69 of 75 shots, a .920 SVPCT.

Fantasy Baseball: Positional Rankings - Outfield

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

If you know me, then you know that I have a soft spot for the outfield position. Actually, it's really a soft spot for center fielders, but that really doesn't matter. What matters here are stats, stats and more stats. With that being said, the position is stocked with productive fantasy players of all kinds.

The Top 20:

1. Ryan Braun - Brewers

2. Matt Kemp - Dodgers

3. Carl Crawford - Rays

4. Justin Upton - Diamondbacks

5. Matt Holliday - Cardinals

6. Jacoby Ellsbury - Red Sox

7. Ichiro Suzuki - Mariners

8. Curtis Granderson - Yankees

9. Nick Markakis - Orioles

10. Adam Lind - Blue Jays

11. Adam Jones - Orioles

12. Grady Sizemore - Indians

13. Jason Werth - Phillies

14. Carlos Lee - Astros

15. Josh Hamilton - Rangers

16. B.J. Upton - Rays

17. Manny Ramirez - Dodgers

18. Andre Eithier - Dodgers

19. Carlos Gonzalez - Rockies

20. Alfonso Soriano - Cubs

The Elite:

It's amazing how much different most of the top fantasy outfielders are in the "post" steroid days. Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford, who are now bona fide superstars in my mind have pretty much everything to offer you. Kemp is a 5 tool player who is still so raw it gets me so excited to see how he improves from year to year. Crawford, most likely headed to New York after the season, got his health back last year and really took off. He hit for average (.305), a decent amount of power and RBI (15, 68) and stole a ton of bases (60). The true elite fantasy outfielder has to be Ryan Braun. He's a proven power hitter (32 HR, 112 RBI) who also hits for average (.320), scores (113 runs) and has a career .937 OPS.

The 2nd Tier:

This category brings you a couple of youngster, Jacoby Ellsbury and Justin Upton who have very different styles of play. Upton bring the thunder while Ellsbury steals a ton of bases. Ellsbury really needs to increase his on base percentage a bit more to become an elite fantasy player. I also like Matt Holliday, hitting behind Pujols only, and the very consistent Ichiro to fill out the 2nd tier.

On the Rise:

Adam Jones - will have a season much like Matt Kemp in 09' as long as he stays healthy. Can do pretty much anything.

Carlos Gonzalez - Was lights out in the 2nd half last season. He gets a chance to do it from the start and build off his .284 average and 13 homers in only 289 at bats.

Andrew McCutchen - Much like Gonzalez, McCutchen starting to show his potential during the 2nd half of last season. He will not be hitting in the lead off spot this season, so you should see his RBI total be a bit higher than expected. Look for him to hit about .290 with 20 homers, 80+ RBI and 30+ steals. That is great for a 4th outfielder in fantasy.

Jason Heyward - The biggest buzz in baseball is created by this young phenom. I, for one, bank on him winning the NL Rookie of the year as he bursts on to the scene. He might struggle a bit off the block, but look for him to hit 25 home runs his rookie season.

Travis Snyder - He will have a year very similar to Adam Lind's 2009, when Lind had a breakout season. He may not his 35 homers and 135 RBI, but look for 25+ and 85+ RBI.

On the Slide:

Jason Bay - Don't get me wrong. I like Jason Bay and think he's a fine player, but I just look at what happened to David Wright last year in the first season Citi Field. After hitting 63 home runs combined the previous two seasons, Wright had a measly 10 in 2009. Bay has good power, but not nearly enough to top 20 this season.

Josh Hamilton - The man just can't stay healthy. Unless you can get him late, stay away and take someone potentially less productive who you can count on playing everyday.

Alfonso Soriano - Pretty much the same thing as Hamilton. His average dropped 50 points last season and he only stole 9 bags. Even being dropped in the order will not increase his RBI, so I say watch out.

Vernon Wells - Wells is an absolute waste of a fantasy pick. This is by far the worst contract in baseball now that Barry Zito had a decent year last year.

Sorry about taking so long on this, but sometimes reality sticks itself into Fantasy and Fan Fanatic Sports. Stay tuned on Wednesday for the Starting Pitchers and Friday for the Relievers.

Eagles make Frozen Four, but it's RIT I'll be watching

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

The stage is set for the Frozen Four and once again Boston College will be there.

The Eagles earned their seventh trip in the last 11 seasons (2000-2010) with a 9-7 win over Yale Sunday evening. That's right. There were 16 goals between the two sides, which was an NCAA record for a regional game, eclipsing the previous mark of 13.

BC will face Miami (OH), who survived a double-overtime battle with Michigan, 3-2.

But with all the exciting action going on in the tournament, there is no better story than RIT, which has become this year's Bemidji State. RIT made heavily favored Denver (the No. 2 overall team in the tournament) look just plain bad in the opening round, then made New Hampshire look even worse with a 6-2 win to propell itself to Detriot.

Maybe it was the home-ice feel in Albany. Maybe the stars aligned just right. Maybe they caught Denver in the midst of a badly-timed slump (remember, they lost two games in the conference tournament, too). Maybe they dodged a bullet in having UNH upset Cornell. Or maybe the Tigers are really just that good.

I knew RIT was a balanced team, but the Tigers surprised me in how well they skated, making Denver look slow and how good their transition game is, as was displayed in the UNH game.

Do they have enough to get past Wisconsin and get to the title game? I'm still not sure and I don't know if anyone else can be, either. After all, most of the nation has only seen this team play for 120 minutes so far this year.

But in a tournament that now has three No. 1 seeds and a No. 4 remaining, I'm becoming a Tigers fan.

Here's how my bracket is shaping up (Click on the bracket for a larger view). Check back for analysis on how each Hockey East team has performed in the tournament thus far.

Florida coach is a bully

By Chad Garner

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Florida football coach Urban Meyer needs to be cut down to size. Or cut-blocked, in football terms.

The hot-headed Mr.-Know-It-All coach verbally assaulted a member of the media and actually threatened him while at spring practice.

Apparently, Orlando Sentinel's Jeremy Fowler wrote an article, quoting Florida WR Deonte Thompson who called QB John Brantley a "real quarterback."

I guess it was a shot at former Florida QB Tim Tebow (who I still think is going to be a bust at quarterback in the NFL -- keep reading Fan Fanatic Sports for more opinion on Tebow as the NFL Draft approaches in late April). Remember, Tebow and Meyer had a father-son relationship during Tebow's career with the Gators.

I guess Thompson really didn't take a shot at Tebow, but instead meant that Brantley is more of a prototypical QB that Tebow.

But the written word can be interpreted in so many different ways.

Whatever.

The journalist was doing his job, however. He quoted an athlete. It's not his fault that people that read his article thought Thompson was attacking Tebow.

So for Meyer to confront the reporter on the sideline and try to intimidate him and make his look like a fool in front of everyone, sort of gives you a sneak peek into Meyer's character.

Meyer obviously used his power as the king gator to try to minimize and bully the reporter.

Obviously, Fowler did nothing wrong. He wrote what was said. Yes, he did his job. It's not his fault that people read things different ways.

What really bothers me is that Meyer lashed out and told Fowler, "If that was my son, we'd be going at it right now."

Now that's a threat and totally uncalled for.

But wait. Everything's OK now, Meyer later requested a meeting with Fowler and I guess Fowler said everything is fine between the two now.

Reporter's view: Say everything is fine, considering you have to cover Meyer's team all season and need access to the coach and players throughout the season in order to do your job.

Yes, Meyer flew off the handle. I get it, he was sticking up for his player.

But he went about it the wrong way. He tried to bully a reporter, threaten him mind you.

It's totally uncalled for.

I've never been a fan of Meyer before -- he's always rubbed me the wrong way -- and you can bet he's lost more fans -- maybe not in brainwashed Gatorland -- in the country.

It would be real nice to see Meyer got on ESPN and say sorry to Fowler on national television. But I'm willing to bet that won't happen.

Like most coaches, they like positive press but scurry or try to sweep things under the rug when it's negative.

No hiding from this Urban, what you did was classless, uncalled for and it makes me sick.