By Andrea LaMont

February 3, 2012

We   may as well start the fantasy baseball season with some gut feelings...

Free Agents Worth Watching:

After Pujols, Fielder and the worst-best pitcher have signed, MLBtraderumors.com becomes way less active, but do not forget, there are moves to be made and they WILL be fantasy relevant.

DH Types-

      Johnny Damon, Magglio, Matsui, Ibanez and Vladdy are still available so it cracks me up that..

            MLB hot stove would have us believe that “The Yankees have engaged in discussions with free agent Bill Hall about a possible utility role, the New York Daily News reported…Hall, 32, batted a combined .211 last season with the Astros and Giants. The Yankees currently have Eduardo Nunez and Ramiro Pena in line as bench candidates who can play multiple infield positions and some outfield.”

Or this one is good…

            Yahoo Sports “Fox Sports reports today, The teams that have the most interest in signing the 39-year-old Manny Ramirez, are the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics.” Go Yahoo Sports!! Just quote Fox Sports, who just quotes ESPN, who really just quotes CBS…See how this works? Media 101… (That junk about Manny probably came straight from Jon Heyman..)

When I hear some writer or fantasy baseball ‘expert’ quote one of the ridiculous tidbits above… I will giggle. It will happen today, trust me.

Potential Transactions in My world:

1. The Miami Marlins trade Hanley. Yep, I said it. Ozzy and Hanley are not a match made in heaven, Miami is looking to sign at least one more bat (most likely Cespedes) and need another pitcher.

2. The Red Sox aquire Hanley. Look, I have no idea which player they will trade to get him but I will assume that the Cubbies will help with this. There is NO WAY the Red Sox traded away their only SS in order to free up payroll. If you believe that, go back to Yahoo.. By the way, there are no more starting pitchers on the market to base this ridiculous theory on….

3. The Nationals will trade a pitcher for power, even though it is my opinion they need a lead-off batter worse than Homers…must get runners on base in order to hit them in. (An idea Detroit may have overlooked).

Fantasy Steals

1.        Emilio Bonifacio- Please do not tell your friends about this. He is multi-position eligible, he steals bases, he hits for average…fantasy gold. I AM NOT KIDDING around about this guy.

The guy is eligible at the two most shallow positions in fantasy, shortstop and third.

I laugh at the idea that he might not get full time at bats.

His manager is OZZIE, come on now people. This guy wins leagues, bottom line.

2.      Ike Davis or Yonder Alonso- While many of you are blowing your wad on Fielder and Cabrera..I will be investing in Ellsbury, Kemp, Tulowitzki, Kinsler, McCutchen, Cargo, and/or Granderson.

See the pattern here? Power and Steals people, power and steals.

3.      No Kershaw, Lincecum or Halladay on my team. Cheaper strikeouts are there, trust me.

Jamie Garcia, Jonathan Sanchez, David Price, Anibal Sanchez, and Jordan Zimmerman are just the ones off the top of my head…

4.     If I were in charge of a team, which I am obviously not, I would pretty much sell the farm for Jonny Venters. Atlanta may not want to trade him, but they would. 

Atlanta may be a bit concerned that they overworked him anyway last season, and could they justify keeping Venters in their bullpen with Kimbrell as their closer, if a team offered them a good enough bat? I would trade the farm to make Venters my closer if I were Arizona…or Cincinatti…Maybe Tampa..or Toronto..

Cubbies… etc…

5.      The best draft strategy advice I can offer comes from my buddy Steve Gardner, called ‘Core-Four Strategy’ , which he first publicized in 2010.

This works and the best part is that Steve lays it all out there so that ANYONE can understand and implement it. Trust Me..

Sept 2011- Interview with Tout Wars NL Champ Steve Gardner