The Hot N Cold Fantasy Baseball All-Stars for @FP911

The Hot N Cold Fantasy Baseball All-Stars for Fantasy Pros 911: http://fp911.com/the-hot-n-cold-fantasy-baseball-all-stars-4/. This article focuses on recent trends in fantasy baseball and roto performance and focuses on: Chris Davis, Pedro Alvarez, Jose Altuve, tony Campana, Michael Saunders, Angel Pagan, Gerardo Para, Josh Reddick, Carlos Ruiz, Wilson Betemit, Eric Thams, Alex Liddi, Edwin Encarnacion, Gavin Floyd, Derek Lowe, James McDonald, Chris Capuano, R.A. Dickey, Bud Norris, Mike Minor, Clay Buchholz, Josh Johnson, Ervin Santana, Emilio Bonifacio, Mark Texieria, Albert Pujols, Peter Bourjos, Dee Gordon, Nelson Cruz, Brett Lawrie, Eric Hosmer and others.

Baseball Daily Digest Radio with @JoelHenard & Me (and two awesome guests) at 700 ET

Baseball Daily Digest Radio with Joel Henard and me at 7:00 ET: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thefantasyinsiders/2012/04/30/baseball-daily-digest-radio-with-joel-henard-and-albert-lang. We’ll be joined by Jeff Mans from Fantasy Alarm/Sirius XM Fantasy and David Laurila of Fangraphs.

We’ll will talk Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Jake Peavy, Kenley Jansen, Javy Guerra, Matt Thornton, Jon Lester, Paul Konerko, David Phelps, Drew Smyly, Chad Billingsley, Anthony Bass, Chris Davis, Tim Lincecum, Frank Francisco, Ian Kennedy, Delmon Young, Andy Dirks, Edwin Encarnacion, Nelson Cruz, Brandon Morrow, Johnny Cueto, Brandon Allen, Brian Matusz, roto, fantasy baseball and much more!

Baseball Daily Digest Radio with @JoelHenard & ME at 7:00 PM ET

Baseball Daily Digest Radio with Joel Henard and Albert Lang – and we will be joined by Mike Siano and Buck Davidson:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thefantasyinsiders/2012/02/14/baseball-daily-digest-radio-with-joel-henard-and-albert-lang.

We’ll talk A.J. Burnett, Mike Napoli, Stephen Drew, Bryce Harper, Nick Swisher, Jay Bruce, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, Jacoby Ellsbury, Justin Upton, jon Lester, Yovani Gallardo, Erick Aybar, Cory Luebke, Miguel Cabrera, Evan Longoria, Matt Wieters, Stephen Strasburg, Matt Moore, B.J. Upton, Desmond Jennings, Ben Zobrist, Prince Fielder, Brett Lawrie, Asdrubal Cabrera, Travis D’Arnaud, J.P. Arencibia, Nelson Cruz, Shane Victorino, Starlin Castro, Brian Matusz, Mike Stanton, Carlos Santana, Daniel Hudson and much more!

h2h Corner ~ Knowing ADP – How To Win Your League Before It Starts: Nelson Cruz

Nelson Cruz – Current ADP 33; 9th OF – My Rank: 22; 10th OF

Over the last two seasons, Cruz has averaged a .287/.351/.548 slash line with 28 HRs and 18 SBs in just 118 games/year. That’s silliness. Imagine if he could stay just a bit healthier.

And really – that’s the only question about Cruz – how many games he’ll play – and I’m not real sure anyone can predict that.

Still, even in a modest 130 games, he’s a 30-20 candidate with sublime ratios. I’m confident that he can deliver second round value playing in the amount of games a catcher would.

But, think of the upside. If he could stay healthy, he’d be a 40 HR/25 SB player. That nudges him up a round in my book – you can’t typically get first round upside that far from the top 15 picks. However Cruz (along with Justin Upton) provide that. If you can steal Cruz in the third round, you should be amply rewarded.

Feel free to share your insights below or at my Twitter (@h2h_corner).

_____

Maximizing every drop of value in every pick is hugely important. Taking a player in the fifth round that you could just as easily have taken in the sixth round is a major mistake. To avoid this, you need to know all about Average Draft Position (ADP).

While no two drafts are identical, knowing where a player typically goes gives you a general idea of where he will go in your draft. That said, be sure to do homework on your league mates subjective tendencies. For example, if there are Red Sox fans, be sure to snag guys like Lester and Youkilis a bit earlier than you normally would. In addition, you should talk up your sleepers before the draft (discretely of course) to see if anyone is on to them. If you don’t, an opponent with an itchy trigger finger who hasn’t done his ADP homework might snag one of your sleepers a round before anyone else is typically taking him.

Now that you know WHY ADP is important, I want to show you HOW to exploit it by highlighting those players who are going too low compared to players with similar ADPs. You can grab an ADP report at Mock Draft Central.

Feel free to share your insights below or at my Twitter (@h2h_corner).

h2h Corner ~ Keep, Trade or Drop: Denard Span, Nelson Cruz, Nyjer Morgan?

Much like Adam Lind, Nelson Cruz destroyed his AAAA label in 2009 (33 HRs and 20 SBs). Sure he smokes the ball, everyone knows that. What has held him back (and in the minors) until his age 28 season was his inability to make contact. He has 265 Ks in 1,019 major league at bats, so every four times up, he is sent back to the dugout without putting the ball in fair territory. Another red flag is that, down the stretch last year, he saw fewer and fewer fastballs, which saw his contact rate drop to about 68 percent. In addition, his batting average dropped in the second half and his K-rate rose to about 30 percent (it was about 21 percent in the first half). There is no doubt he has 40 HR potential, but will he do so without crippling your team’s batting average? Cruz is also no spring chicken (he turns 30 in 2010), so he is closer to ending his prime than being in the midst of it.