FanHouse Brendan Harris

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the...

Absolute best team in baseball that you've never heard of. The Twins don't spend a lot of money nor do they make a lot of headlines. What they are good at, however, is winning. The Twins won the American League Central Division every year from 2002 to 2004 and again in 2006. In 2007 they finished third in the division and in 2008 they lost a one-game playoff to just miss the post season. This team wins with a small-ball, almost National League feel or approach.

From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.

Chicago White Sox
The buzz around White Sox camp is position battles. Up for grabs is the third base position, center field and second base. Josh Fields and Dayan Viciedo are fighting for third and Fields has the leg up. Both hitters can mash the ball and both play suspect defense; although Fields is improving. Fields worked extensively this off-season at Camp Cora and Cora mentioned that everyone would be shocked with what they see out of Fields this year. He has three hits in six at-bats with two doubles so far this spring. Jayson Nix and his four hits in six at-bats with two doubles seem to be taking over as front-runner for the second base job thought to belong to Chris Getz. DeWayne Wise is being called the "best player this spring" and may be taking the center field job from injured Jerry Owens.

Minnesota Twins second baseman Alexi Casilla has been somewhat of an unsung hero for the surprising Twins this season. He didn't play his first game of the season for Minnesota until May 11th, but since joining the team Casilla is hitting .323/.360/.438 with 38 runs driven in. Another player who's been performing well but under the radar in Minnesota is starter Glen Perkins.

Much like Casilla, Perkins didn't start his season with the Twins until May 10th, but has gone 7-3 in 15 starts since. Still, neither had the best time in New York as the Twins were just swept by the Yankees in the Bronx, but Perkins' memory of things seems to be a bit tainted.

During the fifth inning of yesterday's game, the Yankees had runners on first and second with one out and Jose Molina at the plate. Molina hit a ground ball to Brendan Harris at third and after Harris threw to Casilla at second, Alexi started walking slowly to the dugout. He'd completely forgotten that he had only made the second out of the inning, and never threw to first to complete the double play.

Needless to say, Perkins wasn't very happy about it and yelled at Alexi while on the field. It didn't help matters at all a few pitches later when Justin Christian lined a two-run double down the left field line to break up a scoreless tie.

It seems that no matter how many times we see it, baseball fans just never learn. Every spring baseball fans and experts alike say that this is the year that the Minnesota Twins are going to finish below .500 and at the bottom of the AL Central. Then summer comes along a few months later, and there they are. Sitting on top, or near the top of the division while the rest of us scratch their heads.

Though it happens every season, it still catches us all by surprise, but this season has been the most baffling of all. There is just no way that the Twins should be sitting at 40-36, only a game and a half behind the first place White Sox. The obvious reasons for this are that the team said goodbye to both Johan Santana and Torii Hunter during the offseason, and that Francisco Liriano has spent his time on the disabled list.

Still, it's not exactly a new phenomenon that teams carry on and continue playing well after saying goodbye to their stars. The Athletics have been doing it for years along with the Twins, so we know it can be done. The difference between these Twins, though, and the Twins and Athletics teams of the past is how they're doing it.

The guys who were supposed to replace what was lost have been horrible so far, yet they're still winning.

Wow, I did not see this coming. According to La Velle Neal of the Star-Tribune, the Twins and Rays are close to making a pretty big trade that may not technically be a blockbuster but is damn close:

The main pieces changning teams would be outfielder Delmon Young and righthander Matt Garza. But indications were strong on Wednesday that as many as six players could be involved.

In addition to Garza, the Twins would send Tampa Bay shortstop Jason Bartlett and reliever Juan Rincon for Young, shortstop Brendan Harris and outfielder Jason Pridie. Pridie was with the Twins during spring training of 2006 as a Rule 5 pick.

Young finished in a distant second place to Dustin Pedroia for AL Rookie of the Year honors this year after hitting .288/.316/.408 with 13 home runs and 93 RBI. Scouts believe that he's only tapped the surface of his potential, though -- he hit .316 over parts of three minor league seasons and should eventually hit 30 homers a year in the majors. He's had a few run-ins with authority in his short career, but he's still only 22 years old and there's no doubting his talent.

As for Garza, he's been touted as a potential ace but has put up good-not-great numbers in the majors compared to excellent numbers in the minors -- basically making him the pitching equivalent of Young, I guess. The change of scenery should do him good, though -- not because I think there's something inherently good about pitching for the Rays, but simply because the Rays are more likely to stick him in the rotation and leave him there, whereas he was always working on a relatively short leash in Minnesota.