Mixed Leagues – 12/15 teams:

OF - Rick Ankiel (WAS) – With all of the Washington Nationals injuries, Ankiel has been forced into regular playing time and has thrived. In 12 games hitting leadoff, Ankiel has posted a .300 average, with two doubles, four homers, eight runs and 11 RBI.

SS - Marco Scutaro (BOS) – Scutaro has been on fire over his last three games for the Boston Red Sox going 8 for his last 11. With Jed Lowrie coming off the disabled list, Scutaro is going to need to keep up this pace to get regular playing time.

SP - Brett Cecil (TOR) – After struggling and being demoted to Triple-A, Cecil has responded since being recalled by the Toronto Blue Jays, posting a 2.70 ERA over his last seven outings to lower his ERA to 4.31 to go along with a 1.31 WHIP.

American League:

OF – Alejandro De Aza (CHW) – With Alex Rios struggling, De Aza was called up from the minors last week. De Aza is currently hitting .296 and is a good source for stolen bases while he is playing regularly.

SP – Kevin Slowey (MIN) – With Scott Baker going on the disabled list, the Twins are planning to call up Slowey from Triple-A to start Sunday. Slowey was 13 – 6 last year and has allowed three earned runs in his three starts at Triple-A this season.

National League:

3B – James Darnell (SD) – Darnell was hitting .272 with six homers and 13 RBI in 26 games since being promoted to Triple-A. He is a top prospect within the San Diego organization and can hit for power and average (he hit .333 in 76 games at Double-A). He will play third base for the Padres while Chase Headley is on the disabled list.

OF – JD Martinez (HOU) – Martinez was called up after the Astros traded Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn. In 10 games since being recalled, Martinez is hitting .306 with four home rums and 12 RBI. Martinez will likely man right field for the Astros for the remainder of the season.

2B/OF – Eric Young (COL) – Young has played in the outfield in 12 of the last 13 games for the Rockies. During this stretch, Young is hitting over .290. Though he is only hitting .232 on the season, he is a good source for stolen bases and runs.

2 start pitchers week 10: the list below is focused on mixed leagues since in AL or NL only leagues in most cases you do not have the option to rotate starting pitchers with the smaller player pool. The pitchers below are listed in alphabetical order by team name per category.

American League:

Start them:

Jon Lester (BOS) ~ CWS (Peavy), OAK (Cahil)
Jake Peavy (CHC) ~ @BOS (Lester), DET (Penny)
Trevor Cahill (OAK) ~ NYY (Colon), @BOS (Lester)
C.J. Wilson (TEX) ~ @TB (Sonnanstine), @CLE (Talbot)

Roll the Dice:

Jake Arrieta (BAL) ~ @SEA (Fister), TOR (Reyes)
Brad Penny (DET) ~ MIN (Blackburn), @CWS (Danks)
Ervin Santana (LAA) ~ @KC (Hochevar), NYY (Colon)
Nick Blackburn (MIN) ~ @DET (Penny), @KC (Hochevar)
Bartolo Colon (NYY) ~ @OAK (Cahill), @LAA (Santana)
Doug Fister (SEA) ~ BAL (Arrieta), TB (Davis)
Erik Bedard (SEA) ~ BAL (Guthrie), TB (Sonnanstine)
Derek Holland (TEX) ~ @TB (Davis), @CLE (Carmona)

Colon has been trending the wrong direction of late, going winless in his last five starts though he will be facing two lighter hitting offenses in his two starts next week. Holland has two road starts next week where he has performed better this season with a 2.51 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. Two home starts for Fister make him a play where he has a 2.81 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Bedard has been coming on strong with five straight outings of two runs allowed or less including back-to-back scoreless starts. Blackburn is 3-0 in his last five starts, allowing two runs or less in each of them with 21 strikeouts. Penny is 3-1 in his last four starts and tossed seven shutout innings against the White Sox earlier this season. Arrieta has allowed three runs or less in eight of his past nine starts and has improved his strikeout rate in his last five outings with 31 whiffs in 28 2/3 innings.

Sit Them:

Fausto Carmona (CLE) ~ @TOR (Reyes), TEX (Holland)
Mitch Talbot (CLE) ~ @TOR (Morrow), TEX (Wilson)
Luke Hochevar (KC) ~ LAA (Santana), MIN (Blackburn)
Jeff Francis (KC) ~ LAA (Pineiro), MIN (Duensing)
Brian Duensing (MIN) ~ @DET (Scherzer), @KC (Francis)
Andy Sonnanstine (TB) ~ TEX (Wilson), @SEA (Bedard)
Wade Davis (TB) ~ TEX (Holland), @SEA (Fister)
Jo-Jo Reyes (TOR) ~ CLE (Carmona), @BAL (Arrieta)

You are not going to get much in the way of strikeouts from Sonnastine with only eight in 25 2/3 innings this season. He also faces Texas in his first start which could lead to a pounding. Davis has saw his ERA skyrocket a full run over his last four starts thanks to seven home runs allowed and the Rangers are likely going to add to that total in his first start next week. Duensing was a totally different pitcher in May going 0-4 with a 8.10 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP. Francis has allowed five runs in four of his last seven starts and the league is hitting .300 against him. Carmona has struggled in his last three outings, allowing 16 runs in 20 2/3 innings with four long balls surrendered.

National League:

Start them:

Ian Kennedy (ARI) ~ FLA (Sanchez), WAS (Marquis)
Chad Billingsley (LAD) ~ COL (Hammel), @CIN (Wood)
Roy Halladay (PHI) ~ @WAS (Hernandez), @PIT (McDonald)
Ryan Vogelsong (PIT) ~ @STL (Carpenter), COL (Chacin)
Mat Latos (SD) ~ @ATL (Minor), HOU (Rodriguez)

Roll the Dice:

Tim Hudson (ATL) ~ SD (Harang), @NYM (Dickey)
Travis Wood (CIN) ~ MIL (Narveson), LAD (Billingsley)
Jason Hammel (COL) ~ @LAD (Billingsley), @SF (Vogelsong)
Dillon Gee (NYM) ~ PIT (Morton), ATL (Jurrjens)
Chris Narveson (MIL) ~ @CIN (Wood), @FLA (Volstad)
James McDonald (PIT) ~ @NYM (Dickey), PHI (Halladay)
Charlie Morton (PIT) ~ @NYM (Gee), PHI (Worley)
Aaron Harang (SD) ~ @ATL (Hudson), HOU (Lyles)
Kyle McClellan (STL) ~ SF (Bumgarner), CHC (Dempster)
Chris Carpenter (STL) ~ SF (Vogelsong), CHC (Lopez)
Madison Bumgarner (SF) ~ @STL (McClellan), COL (Nicasio)
Livan Hernandez (WAS) ~ PHI (Halladay), @ARI (Saunders)
Jason Marquis (WAS) ~ PHI (Lee), @ARI (Kennedy)

Despite only having one win on the season, Bumgarner has been pitching better of late with three runs or less allowed in six consecutive starts. Hammel gets two road starts next week where he has a 1.71 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. Livan is 0-4 in his last five starts, but has allowed five runs in his last 20 innings with 15 strikeouts. No surprise that Harang has been better at PETCO Park where he has a 3.40 ERA with a 1.24 WHIP vs. 5.51 and 1.59 on the road so a better option would be to sit him and then start him if your league has daily transactions. McDonald has allowed two runs or less in five of his last six starts and is 3-1 in his last six outings. Wood has turned around things around in May with a 3.30 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP as he has been harder to hit with a .243 batting average against.

Sit Them:

Joe Saunders (ARI) ~ FLA (Volstad), WAS (Hernandez)
Rodrigo Lopez (CHC) ~ HOU (Happ), @STL (Carpenter)
Chris Volstad (FLA) ~ @ARI (Saunders), MIL (Narveson)
Jordan Lyles (HOU) ~ @CHC (Lopez), @SD (Harang)
Aneury Rodriguez (HOU) ~ @CHC (Zambrano), @SD (Latos)

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Tony Mancini has been playing fantasy baseball for 17 years. He has won American League only leagues at CBS Sportsline and in his 12 team private leagues. He also holds dynasty league titles in his 24 team private league. He has previously written for Rotomojo.com as an American League correspondent.

Tony will be handling the waiver wire articles as well as doing some other additional work for the site going forward.

While he has four pitches he can throw for strikes, he still needs to do a better job of putting hitters away. Yes, I say this despite the fact he struck out seven hitters in five inning. He also recorded zero ground ball outs and six fly ball outs. He was able to record two outs via pick-off moves. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Thursday…

Hitters:

Vernon Wells hit his 4th home of the season, giving him seven RBI on the young season.

Chris Davis sat against the lefty starter Ricky Romero in place of Ryan Garko. If you are a Davis owner, you have to hope this is not going to be a permanent platoon situation.

Miguel Cabrera went 4-for-5 with four RBI and drilled his second home of the year.

Chipper Jones will miss the next 2-3 days with a strained oblique with Omar Infante expected to fill in for him.

Pitchers:

Brad Penny was good, 7 innings with one run and four strikeouts (ah, the magic of Dave Duncan) while Bronson Arroyo was just a little better in 8 innings with one run allowed and six strikeouts, though neither factored in the decision.

Similar results in Texas as Ricky Romero (7 innings, one run four k’s) squared off with C.J. Wilson,7 scoreless innings and nine strikeouts. I had a chance to catch part of the game and Wilson looked legit as a starter. He had some natural tail to his fastball as a lefty so it looked like a screwball at times. The announcers mentioned Wilson’s goal is 12 pitchers per inning and he was pretty close to that with 98 through seven innings of work. By the end of the season, it is not unrealistic to think that Wilson may be the most valuable Texas starter from a fantasy standpoint.

Brett Anderson tossed six shutout innings with four strikeouts to notch his first win of the year.

Randy Wells used 13 ground ball outs in six scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves to earn a win. Wells walked two and struck out one in the game.

Jeff Niemann of the Tampa Bay Rays lasted only four hitters before leaving the game after being hit with a line drive from Miguel Tejada in his pitching shoulder.

Closers:

Frank Francisco blew Wilson’s win, allowing four hits and three runs in the ninth inning.

Leo Nunez rebounded from his poor outing the previous night to work a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his first save.

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2010 Houston Astros Projected Batting Order:

1.  CF Michael Bourn (ADP 103)
2.  2B Kaz Matsui  (ADP 351)
3.  1B Lance Berkman (ADP 63)
4.  LF Carlos Lee (ADP 65)
5.  RF Hunter Pence (ADP 83)
6.  3B Pedro Feliz (ADP ND)
7.  SS Tommy Manzella (ADP ND)
8.  C Jason Castro / J.R. Towles (ADP ND / ND)

2010 Houston Astros Projected Rotation & Bullpen:

1.  Roy Oswalt (ADP 156)
2.  Wandy Rodriguez (ADP 111)
3.  Brett Myers (ADP 328)
4.  Bud Norris (ADP 394)
5.  Brian Moehler / Felipe Paulino (ADP ND / ND)

Closer – Matt Lindstrom (ADP 245)
Handcuff – Brandon Lyon (ADP 313)

2010 Houston Astros prospects with potential impact this year:

1.  Jason Castro – C
2.  Sammy Gervacio – RP

One of the key take aways from spring training is seeing where players are going to fall in each team’s line up. Moving up or down in the line up from the previous season is going to have a direct impact on a players stats.

Take for instance Erick Aybar of the Los Angeles Angels. With the loss of Chone Figgins, Aybar now has the chance to hit lead off for the entire season. What is the direct impact to him from a stat perspective?

If we look at Figgins numbers from last year, he had 716 plate appearances which includes walks and hits. Averaging that out per 158 games gives him 4.53 plate appearances per game. (I realize this number could be off by .1 or so for games he pinch hit or was a defensive replacement, left a game injured, etc.) but at a top level, 4.53 is the number.

Aybar had 534 plate appearances in 137 games which was good for 3.90 per game. So if we slot Aybar into a lead off spot for the entire season and he gets roughly the same number of plate appearances as  Figgins did last year, he would see an additional .63 plate appearances per game. Factoring that out over 150 games as a baseline gives Aybar an extra 95 plate appearances for this season; or in simpler terms almost an extra month worth of stats.

The same type of numbers apply for Jason Bartlett who looks destined to hit number one for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010. Hitting first last season, Bartlett averaged 4.39 plate appearances. At the other spots in the lineup, he averaged only 3.64 plate appearances.  Factoring that out over 150 games as a baseline and it gives him an additional 113 plate appearances over the course of the year.

Again, it is just another one of the many downsides when using magazines for statistical projections because the data is old and not fluid. If you want the most up to date projections and information, check out the The FBT Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide. It is available for purchase for just $9.99. You can view a sample here to see the template for the top 10 catchers and top 10 starting pitchers.

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These are unpaid positions, but it will provide you with great writing experience and the chance to write on topics that you are interested in.

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To me, a sleeper is someone that does not have a lot of value heading into the season, or is in the minor leagues and will be up in the major leagues soon, or somebody that in an AL or NL only format is going to be able to help your team.

With that in mind, as your fantasy baseball draft or auction winds down, here are some names to keep in mind as the best 2010 fantasy baseball sleepers by position.

C – Jason Castro (Astros) – only has Humberto Quintero in front of him and the Astros need all of the offense they can get. Reached Double-A last season and it would be quite jump for him to reach the major leagues. However, holds a .295 career minor league batting average with good plate discipline (77 walks to 108 strikeouts). Struggled in the Arizona Fall League hitting .143 in 42 at bats.

1B – Logan Morrison (Marlins) – like Castro, Morrison played in Double-A last year. Suffered a fracture in his right wrist in 2009 which limited his at bats to 278. Has great plate discipline as he walked 17 more times than he struck out. Power still needs to develop, but with the budget conscious Marlins, he has a chance to open the year at first base. Could put up similar stats to James Loney of 2009.

2B – Chris Getz (Royals) - was traded to Kansas City along with Josh Fields for Mark Teahen in the off season. Royals general manager Dayton Moore has already gone on record saying there could eventually be a trade with the depth they have in the infield which would open a starting role for Getz if that happened. Had 25 stolen bases in 375 at bats in 2009 so he is a good end game option in AL only leagues.

SS – Starlin Castro (Cubs) – this might be a little bit of a stretch but he has been drawing rave reviews in the minor leagues and handled himself well in the Arizona Fall League. With a weak link at second base, there is a slim chance that Castro could open the year at shortstop with Ryan Theriot moving to second base. Has a career .302 batting average with 34 steals in 665 at bats. Received a lot of playing time in the AFL and hit .376 with nine steals in 101 at bats.

3B – Chad Tracy (Cubs) – just another Aramis Ramirez shoulder injury away from getting 500+ at bats. Can also play first base so he should be able to get 250-300 at bats with the Cubs and has a little pop in his bat. Nice end game pick in NL only leagues.

OF- Jim Edmonds (Brewers) – an under the radar signing by the Milwaukee Brewers. Out of baseball last season and will be 40 in June, however he has a few things going for him. One, Carlos Gomez is in front of him and there is no guarantee he hits any better than he did with the Minnesota Twins. Two, if they fall into a platoon, Edmonds as the left-handed batter will get the majority of at bats. Slugged 19 home runs in 250 at bats with the Cubs in 2008.

SP- Felipe Paulino (Astros) - has the chance to grab the 5th starter spot from Brian Moehler. Has a nice strikeout rate but has been too inconsistent in the major leagues. Had a string of four solid starts in September in which he allowed 9 runs in 23 innings with 27 strikeouts, but then was bombed for eight runs in his last start of the month. Is an option in NL only leagues and  worth stashing on reserve for his strikeout upside.

SP – Hector Rondon (Indians) - the Indians rotation is a mess so it’s not like he has a bunch of stud pitchers to pass on the depth chart. Split time last season between Double-A and Triple-A. Has shown good control in the minor leagues with 1.9 walks per nine innings and eight strikeouts per nine. Even if he starts the year in Triple-A for more seasoning, he should not be down there too long. Turns 22 later this week.

RP – Kris Medlen (Braves) – made it to the major leagues before Tommy Hanson did last season. Once he arrived, he struggled as a starter and was then moved to the bullpen. He posted some nice numbers after the All-Star break with a 2.80 ERA and 1.22 WHIP with more than a strikeout per inning. Only a string of bad starts away by Kenshin Kawakami from moving into the rotation.