Fantasy Season 2010

You actually want some help and I’m desperately hoping you realize the above (which is totally awesome, BTW) is not the most sincere list you can come across (if you didn’t, I anticipate you will not do well this coming year). Your numerical requests are also hard to fill—I don’t know that we have four “best” hitters. I’ll also assume that, like most fantasy leagues, you all use a lot of traditional counting stats, and thus want players who look good with those stats:

Hitters:
1) Billy Butler, 1B: I think he’ll be the most underrated 1b in fanstasy leagues this year. He’s going to get you a really good average with good slugging %, a ton of doubles, and 20+ HR. Plus, if its a keeper league, he’s just turning 24 in April. Use your earlier picks for better pitching or premium position guys like Mauer and wait for Butler in later rounds.
2) Alberto Callaspo, 2B/3B/??: strong average, found some power last year, very few strikeouts. Warning: right now, he’s likely a man without a position, and may not start everyday. The manager says he’ll get in the lineup everyday at 2B (current position), 3B, OF, DH, but I don’t trust the organization enough.
3) David DeJesus, LF: there are OF with gaudier stats, but DDJ will give you a solid all around non-power performance: good average, not a lot of HR, a bunch of runs.
4) ummmm…..I’ll take Alex Gordon, 3B: last year was lost to injury, but his second half of 2008 showed definite progress. If he’s healthy and the Royals just let him be, he’s got the potential to pay off with good power stats.

Starting Pitchers
1) Zack Greinke: I’ll assume you need no info. Get him in the first round if you can.
2) Gil Meche: here by essentially default, if he’s healthy, he should couple an ERA under four with solid strikeout numbers.
3) Luke Hochevar: for the fantasy world, the chance for outstanding beats regular solid play. Brian Bannister is the third best SP on the staff, but he won’t get gaudy counting stats. Hochevar had three starts last year which were among the best pitched games in baseball last year (14 Ks in one of them). He also can blow up huge (6.00+ ERA last year). The infield defense will let him down, and he’s a sinkerballer, so he’ll give up some runs. But, if he lives up to even some of the potential he occasionally showed last year, he might be a sleeper worth taking a chance on, especially if you can bury him on the bench to see how he looks early on.

RP
1) Joakim Soria: good for at least 30 saves, as he’s done the last three years. Some arm trouble last year, but I’m optimistic there’s no real underlying problem.
2) Robinson Tejeda: if walks don’t count against you, Tejeda has plenty of strikeout potential. Also had some really good starts last year and might wind up being a starter.

Sleepers/Breakout: Hochevar and Tejeda might belong here instead. Until a few weeks ago, C Brayan Pena showed a good bat last year and might have had a chance to split time at C, but the Jason Kendall acquisition guarantees Pena won’t get even 2 starts a week. I don’t think anybody else on the roster qualifies, and I don’t anticipate any impact rookies.

Avoid: Anybody else with “KC” next to their name. Seriously, the rest of the roster is brutal.

if you can snag butler in a later round, it could be a huge pick