Just a quick note that I will continue to add updates to the previous articles for the 2010 AL LABR and 2010 NL LABR results.

I currently have results for four teams each in both leagues as well a bunch of individual player prices. You can click the links below to get quick access to those articles.

2010 AL LABR

2010 NL LABR

Here is a look at the Spring Training News & Notes from Tuesday. The news & notes are focused on changes that affect players value as well as players coming back off of injuries or rookies that might make an impact.

Hitters:

Sean Rodriguez has been seeing time all over the diamond in spring training and could turn into a super utility player for the Tampa Bay Rays like Ben Zobrist was last season.

Garrett Jones went two-for-three with three RBI and his first home run of the spring. I like him more as a first basemen where you can get more value from his stolen bases.

Ian Desmond got a start in right field and stole his second base of spring for the Washington Nationals as he too could be looking at a super utility role backing up shortstop, second base and the outfield corner spots.

He struggled with injuries and a drop in power in 2009, but Rick Ankiel is a sneaky choice for late draft power if he can stay healthy for 450 at bats in 2010. He hit his first home run of the spring on Tuesday and should be able to hit 20+ home runs this season.

After hitting lead off 79% of the time in 2009, it looks like Ian Kinsler is set to enter the season hitting fifth in the order with Julio Borbon installed atop the lineup. It should mean an upgrade in RBI for Kinsler and push him into the 90+ range in 2010.

Pitchers:

I said last week I expect Stephen Strasburg to open the season in the major leagues and he took his first step toward doing that on Tuesday with two shutout innings and two strikeouts. Other people seem to be thinking that as well as I saw him go in the 12th round of a 15 team mock draft yesterday.

Chris Young of the San Diego Padres had an encouraging start after missing a good portion of 2009 due to surgery, tossing three shutout innings with two strikeouts.

If you are new to fantasy baseball auction leagues or have been playing in an auction league for a few years but have not had much success winning, this article will take you on a step-by-step guide of how to rebuild in an auction league format.

The majority of keeper auction leagues have contract limits which means you are likely going to be able to be competitive for a certain amount of years before you have to rebuild. Some owners think they can draft every year and have a shot at winning, but that is not the case. In an auction league with keepers, there is too much inflation to prices to be able to draft a team and make a run at the title unless you get extremely lucky, it is a shallow league and the rest of the owners are not very good.

Your best chance at rebuilding is by doing it from day one of the season. That way you can focus on which rookies you want to target in the draft as well get first dibs on the best keepers in trade from other owners. If you wait until June before deciding to throw in the towel and rebuild for next year, you are already behind the other rebuilding teams. At that point, you are rebuilding for two years away instead of being competitive the following season.

Heading into the auction there are two types of players you are trying to draft. Players that will help your team next year and form your core and the second group are players that you can trade to bring back in return younger players and draft picks.

Here is a look at my team from a NL only auction league from last season. This is a 14 team league with a $275 salary cap plus a six round reserve draft where the draft picks can be traded.  I went into the draft knowing I wanted to rebuild from day one.

My keepers:

• Ryan Doumit – 11
• John Baker – 10
• Rickie Weeks – 25
• Cameron Maybin – 16
• Tim Lincecum – 22
• Chad Qualls – 6

Out of this group, the only players I wanted to keep for this year were Lincecum, Qualls and Doumit; the other players were traded.

Drafted:

• Edgar Renteria – 13
• Matt Kemp – 36
• Jake Peavy – 31
• Aaron Cook – 13
• Ricky Nolasco – 26

This entire group were players I wanted to trade. While Kemp was at a good price, there are always outfielders in the $30 range I knew I could grab in 2010.

Core: these were the main players I targeted to form the cornerstone of my team for the next few years:

• Alcides Escobar – 2
• Carlos Gonzalez – 3
• Jonny Gomes – 3 (did not plan on him being a core guy but at $3 for 15-20 home runs makes him a core guy)
• Jason Heyward – 1
• Pedro Alvarez – 7
• J.A. Happ – 2 — I was able to get him as a relief pitcher due to our rules based on a certain number of appearances as a starter / reliever.
• Tim Hudson – 3 — injured players are a great place to look for keepers when you are rebuilding. If you are in an NL only league this season and are rebuilding, you should be targeting guys like Edison Volquez and Jordan Zimmermann.
• Stephen Strasburg – 5

Farm System:

Before the auction I had several other players I did not want to keep going into the draft so I flipped those for draft picks, so instead of the usual six picks per team, I went into the draft with close to 20 picks to search for players that would be able to have an impact for me in 2010. As from my previous articles, I am always looking for players that have the best chance of helping me the following year so I am targeting guys that are in Triple-A or in Double-A with a shot to get to the major leagues based on the guys ahead of them at their position. Here is who I got:

• Drew Stubbs – 5
• Chris Coghlan – 5
• Everth Cabrera – 10 – his salary was higher because he started the year in the major leagues
• Gerardo Parra – 5
• Bud Norris – 5
• Aroldis Chapman – 10 – picked up September 1 when rosters expanded. Again, it pays to know and understand the rules of your league. In my league in September we can add three slots so I look for guys that may be coming over from Japan or were drafted in the June draft and could make a direct leap to the major leagues.

Picked up in trade:

• Bronson Arroyo – 8
• Omar Infante – 3
• Eric Young Jr. – 5

In addition I have 23 out of the 84 draft picks in the reserve round. Six of my own picks plus 17 I picked up in trade, including three additional first round and second round picks.

So overall my team looks something like this heading into 2010:

• C – Doumit – 11
• C – open
• 1b – open
• 2b – Infante 3 / E. Young 5
• ss – A. Escobar 2, E. Cabrera 10
• 3b – open
• of – C. Gonzalez 3, Gomes 3, Stubbs 5, Coghlan 5, Parra 5,
• utility – Heyward 1, P. Alvarez 7
• sp – Lincecum 22, Arroyo 8, Norris 5, Strasburg 5, Happ 2, Hudson 3, Chapman 10
• rp – Qualls 6

You can see from the roster layout that there are several trade opportunities I will have to improve the team by moving a shortstop, outfielder and starting pitcher.

With the additional draft picks I will also be able to use those to trade for guys from other teams that will be rebuilding this season.

Every year in early March fantasy baseball “experts” from around the world gather in Arizona for the NL LABR (League of Alternative Baseball Reality) auction. Categories are 5 x 5 with 23 man rosters, including two catchers and 13 teams.

Here is a look at some of the results that have been posted in regards to National League teams.

Greg Ambrosius / Shawn Childs – NFBC

It looks like they have a similar problem to their AL team where there are going to be short four hitters to open the season, after drafting two catchers from the Houston Astros, Pedro Alvarez, Jermaine Dye (hard to see him signing in the NL) and Mike Jacobs (unless he wins the New York Mets first base job). In a NL only league, it is so crucial to get the most at bats in order to accumulate counting stats. If you check the at bat totals for the top three winners each year in an only format, the majority of the time those three teams will have led the league in at bats.

Pitching staff looks okay but just like their AL team, it looks like they will be chasing saves all season long.

Bob Radomski – Sandlot Shrink

He did a good job of getting players that should be getting at bats throughout the season outside of David Ross at catcher, but his team is short on steals. Has three solid starters and was able to roster two closers relatively cheaply although both might only hold onto the job for half the season.

Derek Carty – The Hardball Times

Mr. Carty is going to have a hard time defending his NL title based on his auction results. It looks like he is short on steals and has a tremendous amount of downside in batting average with Ian Stewart, the LaRoche’s, Nick Hundley and Elijah Dukes. Also was able to grab only two solid starting pitchers and went with a spaghetti approach to his reserve squad. Spaghetti as in throw a bunch of starting pitchers against the wall and hope a few are able to stick.

Perry Van Hook – Fantasy Baseball.com

I really like the squad that Perry was able to assemble getting a great deal on Pujols at $41 and getting steals from Castillo, Milledge, Jones and Heyward. He also got two great catchers which is always a plus in an only type format.

Here are a few other prices that were posted for certain players.

Hanley Ramirez $42
Ryan Braun $39
Matt Kemp $38
Prince Fielder $37
David Wright $36
Chase Utley $35
Justin Upton $34
Troy Tulowitzki $31
Jimmy Rollins $30
Ryan Zimmerman $30
Pablo Sandoval $30
Joey Votto $30
Roy Halladay $29
Hunter Pence $27
Adrian Gonzalez $27
Jonathan Broxton $26
Aramis Ramirez $25
Andrew McCutchen $24
Stephen Drew $23
Yunel Escobar $19
Alcides Escobar $19
Kelly Johnson $18
Martin Prado $16
Ryan Theriot $16
Placido Polanco $16
Carlos Beltran $16
Cameron Maybin $15
Akinori Iwamura $13
Russell Martin $10
Stephen Strasburg $9
Madison Bumgarner $5

See also the 2010 AL LABR results.

Every year in early March fantasy baseball “experts” from around the world gather in Arizona for the AL LABR (League of Alternative Baseball Reality) auction. Categories are 5 x 5 with 23 man rosters, including two catchers and 12 teams.

Here is a look at some of the results that have been posted in regards to American League teams.

Chris Liss – Rotowire

Notice if you add the salaries up that he left $7 on the draft table. It is very hard to target players in a one league year league and save money for them because inevitably you are going to miss the mark. It is something you can do in a keeper league if you are rebuilding to ensure you get rookies for the future of your team, but not in a one year league. Lucky for him these leagues allowing trading so he will have some chances to fix his team.

Greg Ambrosius / Shawn Childs – NFBC

The key to winning an AL or NL only league is by accumulating the most at bats to get the highest number of counting stats. It becomes a lot harder to do when you take rookies and injured players with 25% of your offensive picks. Playing in an only type format really limits the free agent pool unless someone is traded over from the other league. It looks like they have some work to on their offense after picking Justin Smoak, Michael Taylor, Adam Moore and Mike Aviles.

It also looks like they got into a bidding war for B.J. Upton who went for $31. That is part of the problem when trying to find speed in an only format, the cost tends to be slightly higher than you would expect. Especially if a player is thrown out in the mid to late part of the draft and two or three teams are short on steals, you end up over paying to get the steals you need, as it looks like was the case with Upton.

Larry Schechter – Sandlot Shrink

Looks like he was able to pick up a lot of speed on his team with four outfielders than can steal bases plus the addition of Willie Bloomquist in the infield. The recent injury to Joe Nathan means he will luck into some saves after grabbing Jon Rauch.

Lawr Michaels – Mastersball

Lawr got a steal with Ian Kinsler at $27 and was able to roster some speed between Kinsler, Figgins, Pennington and Aybar. had a tough break losing Nathan for the season with injury but still has a closer in Fuentes plus his handcuff in Rodney.

Here are a few other prices that were posted for certain players.

Alex Rodriguez $42
Miguel Cabrera $37
Mark Teixeira $36
Evan Longoria $34
Jacoby Ellsbury $34
Carl Crawford $33
Felix Hernandez $31
B.J. Upton $31
Kevin Youkilis $30
Joe Mauer $30
Zack Greinke $30
Grady Sizemore $29
Justin Morneau $29
Dustin Pedroia $29
Robinson Cano $28
Nelson Cruz $28
CC Sabathia $28
Justin Verlander $28
Ian Kinsler $27
Josh Beckett $27
Mariano Rivera $27
Adam Lind $27
Gordon Beckham $24
Julio Borbon $22
Jonathan Papelbon $21
Elvis Andrus $20
Howie Kendrick $19
Josh Hamilton $17
Alex Gordon $16
Brandon Wood $15
Francisco Liriano $14
Ben Sheets $11
Wade Davis $9

See also the 2010 NL LABR results.

With a lot of the actual fantasy baseball draft preparation now completed, let’s take a look at some of the happenings around the baseball diamond over the weekend. These news & notes will be more focused on changes that affect players value as well as players coming back off of injuries or rookies that might make an impact.

For example, I don’t care that Fernando Martinez hit two home runs this weekend because it really means nothing in 2010 with Jeff Francoeur, Carlos Beltran (when healthy) and Jason Bay in the New York Mets outfield.

Injuries:

Catcher Russell Martin of the Los Angeles Dodger has an injured groin and is expected to miss four-to-six weeks which means he will likely miss opening day. I would knock 50 at bats from his projections just to be safe.

Third basemen Alex Gordon will be out for three-to-four weeks with a broken thumb. With Gordon usually being drafted two to three rounds earlier than he should every year, the injury just puts him back to where he should have been all along.

Hitters:

For those people concerned about Justin Morneau and his back problems from last year affecting his power in 2010, it was nice to see him get his first home run of the spring today.

The recent signing of Orlando Hudson by the Minnesota Twins bumped J.J. Hardy from the second spot in the batting order. On Sunday, Hudson was hitting second with Hardy in the sixth spot.

Value going up for Jason Bartlett as it looks like he might open the year as the lead off hitter for the Tampa Bay Rays. Value going down for B.J. Upton who was hitting seventh in the order on Saturday.

Mmmm, Matt Kemp as the new number two hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers? Not sure I like that. In 55 at bats in the number two hole last year, he hit two home runs with only five RBI. It definitely means he is going to have a hard time breaking 100 RBI if he stays in that slot the entire season.

Pitchers:

Kyle McClellan threw three shutout innings with four strikeouts in his bid to secure one of the St. Louis Cardinals starting rotation spots. The magic of Dave Duncan continues.

Ian Kennedy threw two scoreless innings for Arizona and is a good late game play in National League only formats after missing the majority of the 2009 season.

While spring training numbers are usually not that important for the majority of pitchers as they work on new pitches, get used to being stretched out, etc., for some coming back from injury it does has some impact to their draft status. Jeremy Bonderman of the Detroit Tigers was pounded on Sunday, allowing six runs in only 2/3 of an inning.

Shaun Marcum tossed two scoreless innings on Saturday with two strikeouts. He is a great end game option in mixed league formats in 2010.

Francisco Liriano hurled two scoreless innings with three strikeouts as he looks to carry over his strong performance from the winter league. Another outing or two like this and he is going to start rocketing up draft boards.

At some point this season Jaime Garcia is going to have some value for the St. Louis Cardinals. He might have to start the season in Triple-A to build up arm strength after missing part of 2008-09 with Tommy John surgery, but he is worth holding onto in NL only leagues. He tossed three hitless innings on Saturday with three strikeouts.

Here is a look at the 2010 National League auction dollar values for pitchers for the 2010 fantasy baseball season. These values are based on a 12 team league with 9 pitchers using the standard 5 x 5 categories and a $260 budget per team. I used a 70%-30% split for hitting and pitching so the total pitcher pool is 108 players for a total of $936.

The dollar values are a blended mix of what I think the player will earn mixed with what I think the player will go for at an actual auction. So you will notice that some of the player rankings are different then my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings, but the dollar values will give you a good idea of pricing so you are not surprised when the real auction rolls around. Especially if this is the first season you are participating in a fantasy baseball auction league.

Here is a look at the National League auction dollar values for hitters for the 2010 fantasy baseball season. These values are based on a 12 team league with 14 hitters (includes two catchers) using the standard 5 x 5 categories and a $260 budget per team. I used a 70%-30% split for hitting and pitching so the total hitter pool is 168 players for a total of $2,184.

The dollar values are a blended mix of what I think the player will earn mixed with what I think the player will go for at an actual auction. So you will notice that some of the player rankings are different then my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings, but the dollar values will give you a good idea of pricing so you are not surprised when the real auction rolls around. Especially if this is the first season you are participating in a fantasy baseball auction league.

Coming next will be the National League auction dollar values for pitchers.

Here is a look at the 2010 American League auction dollar values for pitchers for the 2010 fantasy baseball season. These values are based on a 12 team league with 9 pitchers using the standard 5 x 5 categories and a $260 budget per team. I used a 70%-30% split for hitting and pitching so the total pitcher pool is 108 players for a total of $936.

The dollar values are a blended mix of what I think the player will earn mixed with what I think the player will go for at an actual auction. So you will notice that some of the player rankings are different then my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings, but the dollar values will give you a good idea of pricing so you are not surprised when the real auction rolls around. Especially if this is the first season you are participating in a fantasy baseball auction league.

Up next will be the 2010 National League auction dollar values for hitters.

Here is a look at the American League auction dollar values for hitters for the 2010 fantasy baseball season. These values are based on a 12 team league with 14 hitters (includes two catchers) using the standard 5 x 5 categories and a $260 budget per team. I used a 70%-30% split for hitting and pitching so the total hitter pool is 168 players for a total of $2,184.

The dollar values are a blended mix of what I think the player will earn mixed with what I think the player will go for at an actual auction. So you will notice that some of the player rankings are different then my 2010 fantasy baseball rankings, but the dollar values will give you a good idea of pricing so you are not surprised when the real auction rolls around. Especially if this is the first season you are participating in a fantasy baseball auction league.

Coming next will be the American League auction dollar values for pitchers.