FanHouse DavidMurphy

Chris Davis was everyone's sweetheart in fantasy baseball draft season, and rightfully so. As a 22 year-old last year, the slugger burst onto the scene with 17 home runs and 55 RBI in only a half season. His power numbers in the minors provided us with plenty of evidence that this wasn't a fluke. Instead, through six games and 25 plate appearances, Davis has reached base only three times. He's only accrued 1 hit in 22 at-bats. So with that paltry .045 batting average, his owners have been rewarded with 0 home runs and 0 RBI.

Is this a bad omen? Does Davis really suck, or is he simply in an early season swoon?

You may have seen our FanHouse preseason MLB predictions for the 2009 season a few days ago. Two of us picked the Texas Rangers to win the AL West. I scoured the internet over the past few days, and, though the search wasn't comprehensive, I couldn't find anyone else who picked the Rangers.

First of all, everyone should realize these picks are for fun. When I see some of the comments under the predictions post, I can't help but scratch my head. When did it become cool to just anonymously tell someone they are stupid without giving your own opinion? That's more cowardly than anything. Regardless, I'll attempt to shed a little light on my personal rationale for the pick.

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...
Best offense in the league. The Rangers are going to score more runs than any other team, and they don't have an over-abundance of star-power. This means their position players are a veritable fantasy goldmine. On the flip-side, though, their pitching staff is atrocious, especially the starters. Needless to say, if you are picking a Texas Ranger on draft day, he'd probably better be on the offensive side of the board.

It's not a complete surprise -- we knew the deal was in the works earlier in the day -- but it's still remarkable nonetheless: the Red Sox acquired Eric Gagne from the Rangers in exchange for southpaw Kason Gabbard and minor league outfielders Engel Beltre and David Murphy.

What makes this so surprising? For one, the Red Sox really had no need whatsoever for Gagne: they already feature the best bullpen in the game by far, allowing a 2.74 ERA while hold the opposition to a .224 batting average.

Of course, there's a difference between not having a need for Gagne and not having a use for him, and the Red Sox will certainly enjoy using him in conjunction with All-Stars Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon to essentially shorten the game to six innings. Yeah, six innings: Gagne has a 2.16 ERA, Papelbon sits at 2.15 and Okajima sports an 0.87 mark. If you can't get on the board against the starter, you're certainly not going to against that trio.