Here is a look at the 2011 fantasy baseball tiers for relief pitchers.

Tier 1:

Joakim Soria, Brian Wilson, Heath Bell, Neftali Feliz

By the end of next week, we should have a better idea if the Texas Rangers are going to move Feliz into the starting rotation or leave him in the closer role.

Tier 2:

Carlos Marmol, Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Papelbon, Francisco Rodriguez

Rivera is likely a Tier 1 closer for some people, but his age and drop in strikeout rate pushes him into Tier 2 for me. Every year, we keep saying he is defying his age in terms of performance, but I would rather be out on him one year early than one year too late.

Tier 3:

Andrew Bailey, Huston Street, Jose Valverde, John Axford, Chris Perez, J.J. Putz, Joe Nathan

Quite a few of these guys have some injury concerns and Axford and Perez were closers really for the first time last season, so there is a lot more risk in this tier than in the previous two.

Tier 4:

Jonathan Broxton, Matt Thornton, Francisco Cordero, Drew Storen, Ryan Franklin, Brad Lidge

I think there is some good value for Thornton since the buzz about Chris Sale has pushed his value a couple of rounds lower than where it should be. If you end up with Broxton, you better try and grab Hong-Chih Kuo or Kenley Jansen as a handcuff.

Tier 5:

Craig Kimbrel, David Aardsma, Frank Francisco, Kevin Gregg, Jake McGee

Kimbrel is facing some strong competition from Jonny Venters in spring and could be on the outside looking in at the closer role if he does not start piling up a few more clean innings. McGee has not been officially named the closer in Tampa Bay yet, but he has the best arm in the Rays bullpen.

Tier 6:

Joel Hanrahan, Leo Nunez, Brandon Lyon, Fernando Rodney

Tier 7:

Jonny Venters, Ryan Madson, Hong-Chih Kuo, Chris Sale, Koji Uehara, Evan Meek, Aroldis Chapman

With a 25-30% failure rate for fantasy baseball closers each season, it is a good bet that several names in this tier will finish the season with 15-20 saves.

If you are looking for 2011 fantasy baseball projections, be sure to grab your copy of the 2011 FBT Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide.

There have been several changes in spring training already in the top fantasy baseball tiers for starting pitchers with Adam Wainwright out for the season and Zack Greinke starting the season on the disabled list with a rib injury. Taking three starts away from him cost him six spots in my player rankings, so a few guys will be moving up in my next release of the 2011 FBT fantasy baseball draft guide.

Here is a look at the 2011 fantasy baseball tiers for starting pitchers.

Tier 1:

Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, Felix Hernandez, CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Jon Lester

Halladay looks to be in season shape as he is close to throwing complete games in spring training. The only knock on King Felix is the lack of run support from the Seattle offense. Lester has won 50 games the last three seasons with 225 strikeouts the last two years. Lee has seen a big increase in control the last few seasons as he has become more reliant on his cutter.

Tier 2:

Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Ubaldo Jimenez, Dan Haren, Cole Hamels, Jered Weaver, David Price, Matt Cain, Chris Carpenter, Josh Johnson.

I am a little iffy on Carpenter and Josh Johnson in this group given their injury history. With as deep as pitching seems to be this year and plenty of decent pitchers to find in the middle rounds of a fantasy baseball draft, personally I would avoid them and let someone else take the risk.

Tier 3:

Zack Greinke, Tommy Hanson, Mat Latos, Francisco Liriano, Yovani Gallardo, Roy Oswalt

A little bit smaller group for Tier 3 as I think there are some unique things these pitchers have compared to the next group, either in terms of one dominant quality or more consistency. I really like Hanson from this group and think we are going to see more strikeouts from him either this season or next. Greinke as I mentioned above gets bumped down since he will miss several starts.

Tier 4:

Ryan Demspter, Wandy Rodriquez, Chad Billingsley, Colby Lewis, Matt Garza, Dan Hudson, Max Scherzer, John Danks, Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett, Jonathan Sanchez, Shaun Marcum

For some reason I seem to like Dempster more than most. I think people remember his stats back when he was a relief pitcher and are missing out on his work since he has moved into the starting rotation. He seems to be one players that tends to go a round or two later in drafts than what his ADP is. I think Beckett bounces back this season and best of all you can get him a couple of rounds later than this even.

Tier 5:

Tim Hudson, Hiroki Kuroda, Phil Hughes, Jeremy Hellickson, Ricky Nolasco, Ted Lilly, Brett Anderson, Ricky Romero, Trevor Cahill, John Lackey, Brandon Morrow, Madison Bumgarner, Gio Gonzalez, Javier Vazquez

Only player I will avoid in this group is Cahill. I think he had some luck last year and doesn’t strike out enough guys to keep his ratios that low again. I think he is a decent pitcher, just not worth as high as he is going in fantasy drafts. Vazquez is on the fence for me in the group. The move to the National League should help, but reports of fluctuating velocity in spring is not great news after his fastball seemed to have less life last season.

Tier 6:

Brett Myers, Gavin Floyd, Ian Kennedy, James Shields, Johnny Cueto, C.J. Wilson, Jaime Garcia, Jhoulys Chacin, Scott Baker,  Ervin Santana, Jorge De La Rosa, Edwin Jackson

Tier 7:

Travis Wood, Mike Minor, Jair Jurrjens, Jordan Zimmermann, Brian Matusz, Jonathan Niese

By this point of the draft, we are about 70 pitchers in, which is 5-6 starters per team in a 12 team league or 4-5 starters per team in a 15 team league. After this, it is a crapshoot for how you want to fill out the rest of the rotation, whether you need ratio guys, guys to get you strikeouts, or pitchers that have good /bad home and road splits that you want to rotate several pitchers in at the end of your rotation.

If you are looking for 2011 fantasy baseball projections, be sure to grab your copy of the 2011 FBT Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide.

There are several directions you can go when making fantasy baseball tiers for outfielders, some people will just lump all of the outfielders together. I try to come up with two groups, one for outfielders and one for outfielders just with speed. These would be guys with less than 10 home runs and more than 20 stolen bases. At some point in the draft you are going to be looking for stolen bases and it is easy if you have a separate list to track the speed guys by themselves rather than trying to pick them out of a large group where they might get missed.

Here is a look at the 2011 fantasy baseball tiers for outfielders.

Tier 1:

Ryan Braun, Carl Crawford, Carlos Gonzalez, Josh Hamilton, Matt Holliday

I was debating on putting Matt Kemp in this tier, but with the inconsistency he showed last year, I think it is hard to put a guy that is not 100% solid in a Tier 1. Hamilton is a little iffy for me in this group based on his health issues in the past, but when he is on the field, the consistency is there in his performance.

Tier 2:

Matt Kemp, Shin-Soo Choo, Nelson Cruz, Andrew McCutchen, Justin Upton, Jayson Werth, Jacoby Ellsbury, Andre Ethier, Alex Rios, Jason Heyward, Curtis Granderson, Hunter Pence, B.J. Upton, Ichiro Suzuki

There are several players with the ability to finish the season in Tier 1 in this group depending on how things fall this year. If Kemp has his head on straight, he has 30-30 potential with the ability to hit .290. If Nelson Cruz ever stays healthy enough to get 550 at bats in a season, he is going to put up some monster numbers. Some people are pegging McCutchen as this season’s Carlos Gonzalez, but I just don’t think he has that type of power.

Tier 3:

Jay Bruce, Shane Victorino, Vernon Wells, Corey Hart, Delmon Young, Torii Hunter, Colby Rasmus, Chris Young, Mike Stanton, Nick Markakis, Juan Pierre, Drew Stubbs

Quite a few of the people in this group are players that had bounce back seasons last year such as Vernon Wells, Corey Hart and Chris Young, so you know what their ceilings are. The guys with some upside in this group is Colby Rasmus and Delmon Young. Markakis is a borderline Tier 3 with declining stats the last few seasons.

Tier 4:

Bobby Abreu, Manny Ramirez, Grady Sizemore, Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Carlos Quentin, Adam Jones, Nick Swisher, Jason Bay, Rajai Davis, Carlos Lee, Angel Pagan, Brett Gardner, Jason Kubel, Michael Bourn.

This group is a combination of speed guys, R. Davis, Bourn, Gardner and Pagan and aging veterans trying to hold on for another year in Abreu, Manny and Bay coming back from injury. Davis is intriguing to see if he catches the power bug that infected many Blue Jay hitters in 2010 and if hitting coach Dwayne Murphy can get him to hit 10-12 home runs, he has a bit more value than when he hits three to five. Quentin has been plagued by injuries but has the ability to hit 35-40 home runs if he can remain healthy in 2011.

Tier 5:

Jose Tabata, Austin Jackson, Dexter Fowler, Andres Torres, Carlos Beltran, Alfonso Soriano, Ryan Ludwick, Marlon Byrd, Nate McLouth, Johnny Damon, Coco Crisp.

Tier 6:

Tyler Colvin, J.D. Drew, Franklin Gutierrez, Garrett Jones, Josh Willingham, Logan Morrison, Seth Smith, Travis Snider, Chris Coghlan, Will Venable, Jonny Gomes.

Tier 7:

Peter Bourjos, Nyjer Morgan, Carlos Gomez, Julio Borbon, Michael Brantley, Brad Hawpe, Ben Francisco, Alex Gordon, David DeJesus.

If you are looking for 2011 fantasy baseball projections, be sure to grab your copy of the 2011 FBT Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide.

There are about 13 guys that I would be happy to have at third base. After that, the options all kind of seem to run together with no real standouts in terms or power or upside. Keep in mind that there are several players that will earn third base eligibility in the first month of the season such as Chone Figgins and Kevin Youkilis so if you find you miss out on one of the top options, that is another possibility.

Here is a look at the 2011 fantasy baseball tiers for third base.

Tier 1: (round 1-3)

1. Evan Longoria
2. David Wright
3. Alex Rodriguez
4. Ryan Zimmerman
5. Jose Bautista

It is hard to imagine that a year ago Bautista was a reserve or free agent pick up depending on the size of the league and now he is in the top tier at third base. For his ranking at 3B, I have him just percentage points behind Zimmerman.

Tier 2: (rounds 4-6)

6. Michael Young
7. Adrian Beltre
8. Mark Reynolds

I don’t have Beltre quite as high as others since I have seen this story from him before following a breakout season in a contract year. Reynolds I probably have higher than most, but his raw power and ability to get double digit steals I think warrant this tier.

Tier 3: (rounds 7-9)

9. Aramis Ramirez
10. Pedro Alvarez
11. Casey McGehee
12. Pablo Sandoval

Sandoval looks to have lost a good deal of weight, is in decent shape and has been hitting so far in spring. McGehee seems to get overlooked with Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun on his team.

Tier 4: (rounds 10-16)

13. Ian Stewart
14. Edwin Encarnacion
15. Scott Rolen
16. Chris Johnson
17. Chase Headley

Stewart is somewhere in between Tier 3 and 4 but I don’t usually give a tier to just one player. I think with the many options that Colorado has in the infield, he could lose some at bats, plus he has batting average risk.

If you are looking for 2011 fantasy baseball projections, be sure to grab your copy of the 2011 FBT Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide.

To me this is a top heavy group where I would be happy with any of the top 11 guys on the list. Even though there are tiers at this position, I think for the players ranked 12 – whatever, there is not a whole lot of difference between them or players with upside so if you don’t end up with one of the to p11 guys, you are better off waiting until the end of the draft to make your selection.

Here is a look at the 2011 fantasy baseball tiers for shortstops.

Tier 1: (round 1)

1. Hanley Ramirez
2. Troy Tulowitzki

I have seen some drafts where Tulowitzki has gone ahead of Hanley.

Tier 2: (round 2-3)

3. Jose Reyes
4. Derek Jeter
5. Jimmy Rollins

Reyes is borderline Tier 1 but injury concerns over the last couple of years push him to Tier 2, though the difference between him and the next two guys in the list are more than the difference between him and the two guys ahead of him.

Tier 3: (rounds 5-8)

6. Alexei Ramirez
7. Elvis Andrus
8. Rafael Furcal
9. Stephen Drew

Tier 4: (rounds 10-14)

10. Starlin Castro
11. Ian Desmond
12. Miguel Tejada
13. Jhonny Peralta
14. Asdrubal Cabrera

I  like Desmond the best out of this group, especially if he stays hitting in the number two hole all season.

Tier 5: (rounds 15-20)

15. Marco Scutaro
16. Yunel Escobar
17. Jason Bartlett
18. J.J. Hardy
19. Reid Brignac
20. Erick Aybar
21. Cliff Pennington

If you are looking for stolen bases late in the draft, you have a few options in this group with Bartlett, Aybar and Pennington.

Here is a look at the 2011 fantasy baseball tiers for first base.

Tier 1: (rounds 1-2)

1. Albert Pujols
2. Miguel Cabrera
3. Joey Votto
4. Adrian Gonzalez
5. Mark Teixeira
6. Ryan Howard
7. Prince Fielder

Based on average draft position, these guys are likely to be gone within the first 20 picks of the draft.

Tier 2: (rounds 2-4)

8. Kevin Youkilis
9. Adam Dunn
10. Justin Morneau
11. Kendry Morales

Injury concerns with Morneau and Morales push them to the end of the second tier. Teams that like power at the corner infield spots could have the option of going Votto – Youkilis with their first two picks and flipping Youkilis over to third base at the end of April.

Tier 3: (rounds 5-7)

12. Paul Konerko
13. Billy Butler

A thin tier here as the remaining players on the board I think are too similar in nature. Konerko is the last guy left to get you 30+ home runs outside of Carlos Pena at this point of the draft.

Tier 4: (rounds 12-15)

14. Aubrey Huff
15. Carlos Pena
16. Gaby Sanchez
17. Adam LaRoche
18. Derrek Lee
19. Ike Davis

Out of this group, I probably like Sanchez and Davis the best. Pena’s average is too low to carry, Huff is likely in for a decline and Lee has some health risk to him.

Best of the Rest:

There are a few interesting candidates left at the position of first base, such as James Loney, Freddie Freeman, Matt LaPorta and Mitch Moreland. I am intrigued most by Moreland though I think he loses some at bats because of the log jam the Texas Rangers have when all players are healthy.

Here is a look at the 2011 fantasy baseball tiers for catchers.

Tier 1: (rounds 1-3)

1. Joe Mauer
2. Victor Martinez
3. Brian McCann
4. Buster Posey

I would not touch Joe Mauer, injuries and he just goes too high in drafts for me with too little power in return. I would be happy to get Posey at the end of the 3rd round in a 15 team mixed league.

Tier 2: (rounds 7-11)

5. Carlos Santana
6. Kurt Suzuki
7. Geovany Soto
8. Mike Napoli
9. Miguel Montero

Really could rank this group in any order and it would be hard to argue with the results. I would be willing to go a round or two higher for Santana if I knew he was 100% healthy.

Tier 3: (rounds 11-15)

10. Matt Wieters
11. Jorge Posada
12. Miguel Olivo

Tier 4: (rounds 15-20)

13. John Jaso
14. A.J. Pierzynski
15. J.P. Arencibia
16. Yadier Molina
17. Chris Ianetta
18. Chris Snyder
19. Carlos Ruiz
20. John Buck

Jaso should score a ton of runs with the announcement that Tampa Bay will be hitting him at the top of the batting order. Ianetta is the most intriguing out of this group as he could hit 20+ home runs if he gets 400 at bats.

Best of the Rest:

If you are playing in a league where two catchers are required, at this point there are only a couple of guys I might have interest in still, such as Nick Hundley and Jonathan Lucroy. The rest of the players offer very little upside outside of Ryan Doumit if he gets traded and has a chance to start again.

Here is a look at the 2010 fantasy baseball tiers for third base.

Tier 1:  rounds 1-2

1.  Alex Rodriguez
2.  Evan Longoria
3.  David Wright
4.  Mark Reynolds

Tier 2:  rounds 3-4

5.  Ryan Zimmerman
6.  Pablo Sandoval
7.  Aramis Ramirez

Tier 3:  rounds 5-7

8.  Chone Figgins
9.  Michael Young
10.  Gordon Beckham

Tier 4:  rounds 9-11

11.  Ian Stewart
12.  Jorge Cantu
13.  Chipper Jones
14.  Adrian Beltre

Tier 5:  rounds 15-20

15.  Kevin Kouzmanoff
16.  Mark DeRosa
17.  Casey McGehee
18.  Alex Gordon
19.  Casey Blake
20.  Jhonny Peralta
21.  Chase Headley
22. Edwin Encarnacion
23.  Troy Glaus

Tier 6:  bottom of the barrel

24.  Brandon Wood
25.  David Freese
26.  Scott Rolen
27.  Jose Bautista
28.  Garrett Atkins

Here is a look at the 2010 fantasy baseball tiers for shortstop.

Tier 1:  rounds 1-3

1.  Hanley Ramirez
2.  Jimmy Rollins
3.  Troy Tulowitzki
4.  Jose Reyes
5.  Derek Jeter

Tier 2:  rounds 7-8

6.  Jason Bartlett
7.  Alexei Ramirez
8.   Elvis Andrus

Tier 3:  rounds 10-15

9.  Miguel Tejada
10. Yunel Escobar
11.  Asdrubal Cabrera
12.  Erick Aybar
13.  Stephen Drew
14.  Alcides Escobar
15.  Everth Cabrera
16.  Rafael Furcal

Tier 4:  rounds 16-20

17.  J.J. Hardy
18.  Marco Scutaro
19.  Orlando Cabrera
20.  Ryan Theriot

Tier 5:  bottom of the barrel

21.  Cliff Pennington
22.  Ian Desmond
23.  Julio Lugo
24.  Edgar Renteria

Here is a look at the 2010 fantasy baseball tiers for second base.

Tier 1:  rounds 1-2

1.  Chase Utley
2.  Ian Kinsler
3.  Brandon Phillips
4.  Dustin Pedroia

Tier 2: rounds 3-4

5.  Brian Roberts
6.  Robinson Cano
7.   Ben Zobrist
8.   Aaron Hill

Tier 3:  rounds 7-8

9. Dan Uggla
10. Jose Lopez
11. Howie Kendrick

Tier 4:  rounds 12-15

12.  Rickie Weeks
13.  Kelly Johnson
14.  Placido Polanco
15.  Martin Prado

Tier 5:  rounds 17-23

16.  Clint Barmes
17.  Scott Sizemore
18.  Orlando Hudson
19.  Mark Ellis
20.  Luis Valbuena
21.  Kasuo Matsui
22.  Luis Castillo
23. Akinori Iwamura
24. Alberto Callaspo
25. Adam Kennedy