Fantasy Relevance ‘09 is a breakdown of each M.L.B. team that shows the players with fantasy value from each respective team. There are four categories the players will be broken down into and they are as follows: Studs, Role Players, Keepers and Sleepers. Hopefully this will help you in your quest for Fantasy Baseball dominance.

Studs:

Grady Sizemore- He will most likely be taken in the top 10 of your draft this year. Sizemore is entering the beginning stages of his prime and should be a great source of HR, RBI, Runs and SB. The BA could also be there even though he only hit .268 last year. In ‘06 he hit .290 so we know that he is capable of producing a good BA. Most people feel that he will improve on all of his numbers across the board and with good reason. He increased his RBI, HR, SB and OPS last year but went down in OBP and Runs. The decrease in Runs can be attributed to not having a healthy Travis Hafner or Victor Martinez in the lineup for most of the season. So, if those two guys comeback healthy, there’s no telling what could happen. Sizemore is one of those guys that just might make a serious run at AL MVP.

Cliff Lee- Last year’s Cy Young Award winner, Lee is poised to make a run at a repeat. Will he? Who knows? He really had a magical year last year but what are the chances of him repeating or even coming close to that again this year? This might sound strange but if you take a look at his numbers year by year, he has always had low walk totals which in comparison to IP, but if you take a look at the amount of hits given up every year the story changes. In years where Lee surrendered less hits than IP, he had a really good season with a good ERA. In seasons where he gave up more hits than IP he didn’t do so well. Obviously the less hits you give up the better chance you have as a pitcher. The Indians defense is solid and this should help Lee keep his hit totals down. Don’t expect an ERA in the mid-2s again but an ERA around 3 is possible and he should be around 18+ Wins again this year.

Role Players:

Victor Martinez- Due to injury, Martinez only played 73 games last year. In those 73 games (266 AB) he only hit two HR. That is why he is in the role player category. He could very well bounce back this year to hit .300 with 25+ HR and 100+ RBI/Runs, but until we see that he is healthy and he proves it we’ll just have to consider him a role player. He does claim to be healthy and will also be playing a lot of first base to help keep him that way. If he can stay healthy, he would be a huge asset to this lineup and it would boost most of the players around him also. i like that he will be playing first base also because it should take a lot of stress off of his legs and help keep him fresh throughout the entire season kind of the way the Dodgers are doing with Russell Martin at third base. However, I think Martinez will be playing first base a lot more.

Kerry Wood- As I type this I see on ESPN’s P.T.I. that Kerry Wood is suffering from a sore back. Here we go again. He showed last year that he is an effective closer but now he might be hurt again. Even if it is nothing at all it will still always be in the back of your head that he is injury prone. I wouldn’t draft him higher than his ranking in your league and I’d probably try and wait for him to drop an extra round or two before I would feel that the risk was worth it. If healthy, he can get you 30+ SV with some very nice K numbers. But, is he really worth the risk the way closers are moved around and changed so often in MLB? I say no unless you really need a closer.

Fausto Carmona- I have had Carmona on my fantasy teams for the last two years and I sure was disappointed last season. Walks and injury are what killed Fausto last year. He has the potential to be a fantasy stud as he showed in ‘07 when he went 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA and 61 BB in 215 IP. Last year he had 70 BB in 120.2 IP. That is a problem. Whenever a pitcher struggles with command like that after usually being very effective, it means something mechanical or mental is wrong. Look for Fausto to turn things around this year and return to his ‘07 form. He is only 25 years old so he should be able to bounce back and with the potentially potent Indians offense, he should be in a pretty good spot as the #2 starter to be in line for a nice wins total.

Anthony Reyes- This could be a case where a change of scenery was all Reyes needed to bring out his true potential. With the Cardinals, he was not a very good pitcher but after he was traded to the Indians he tirned things around to the tune of 1.83 ERA. He will be the #4 starter for the Indians and in all possibility the #3 because Carl Pavano is penciled in there. If he can keep the magic going into this season, he could have a very nice year. Of course, he could go back to his old ways and be terrible again. Odds are he’ll have an ERA in the high 3s and could win 10+ games.

Keepers:

Shin-Soo Choo- With Ryan Garko taking fly balls in LF during spring due to Victor Martinez getting more and more looks at first base, Choo may be in line for a semi-platoon this year. He proved that he belongs in the lineup against right handed pitchers but could lose some AB to Ben Francisco against lefties since Garko just mashes them. But, when in the lineup Choo is an excellent source of BA, RBI and Runs. His numbers over a full season of playing time could be a .300+ BA, 20+ HR, 100+ RBI/Runs with double digit SB. I like this guy a lot and with regular playing time he will not disappoint.

Sleepers:

Travis Hafner- Rumor has it that balls were rocketing off of Hafner’s bat in his first outdoor batting practice of the spring. Hafner had off-season shoulder surgery but the team feels that he is on track to returning to his old self. If he can stay healthy he could easily be one of the better fantasy players this year. Keep an eye on him because he will have slipped out of many fantasy owner’s minds come draft time and you could be in line to pick up one of the most underrated players of the year. When healthy, he is capable of putting up 40+ HR, .300 BA and 100+RBI/Runs. His only downfall is he most likely will only carry a Utility position. But, it might be worth it to take a chance on him.