FanHouse MannyBurris

We just concluded our fantasy draft here at Fanhouse. I have to say that I like what I did here.

It's a 12-team, rotisserie mixed-league using standard 5X5 scoring categories and rosters that include two catchers, a first baseman, a second baseman, a shortstop, a third baseman, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, a utility hitter, nine pitchers and three bench players.

Here's the Extra Base Knox team:

Round 1(3) - Albert Pujols, Cardinals - Wright and Hanley Ramirez went with the first two picks. Pujols is the best remaining player so I went with him. I'll take his massive offense in four of the five categories and smile all the way.

Round 2(22) - Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners - I made a tough decision here between him and Justin Morneau. I love Ichiro's speed and great batting average. With such high batting averages from my first two picks, I should be able to grab a big home run hitter with a low average later in the draft if I choose.

Round 3(27) - Carl Crawford, Rays - I didn't go power, I went speed again. Crawford plus Ichiro will pretty much guarantee my team is near the top in stolen bases.

One of the more heated position battles this spring, and a contest with huge fantasy implications, came to an end this morning as Giants manager Bruce Bochy informed Kevin Frandsen that he was being optioned to Triple-A Fresno.

Kevin Frandsen was called into Bruce Bochy's office this morning and left in street clothes. The Giants just gave the official word: he has been optioned and will begin the season at Triple-A Fresno. All signs pointed to this yesterday.

This opens the door for Manny Burris to be the every day second baseman. As a fantasy owner, this is the move you were hoping the Giants would make. With full-time at-bats, Burriss could make a run at stealing 25 bases this season.

Burriss has a .357 batting average with 25 hits this spring (second on the team) and has stolen four bases in 70 at-bats. Don't expect him to stay above the .300 mark this season, but you can see that his stolen base totals if projected out to 550 at-bats or so will provide a great source for cheap steals.

I have a stock answer for the question I get each and every year; "When do you want to hold the draft?". Here it is, and I think everybody should repeat after me. The fantasy draft should be as close to Opening Day as possible. Let me say that again, the fantasy draft should be as close to Opening Day as possible.

Don't agree with me? Why don't you ask anyone out there who has already had their fantasy draft and took Alex Rodriguez in the first round. I bet they would agree with me.

There are many reasons to wait as long as possible to hold your fantasy baseball draft...

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.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Chad Tracy missed a good chunk of the 2008 season due to knee surgery, which held him to only 273 at-bats. Tracy says he's been healthy since mid-way through the off-season and manager Bob Melvin expects big things from him in 2009 saying he can see it as Tracy drives the ball.

When I see him drive the ball to left-center field, for me, his legs are under him," Melvin said. "Those are the ones he was having a little trouble getting out there and extending on, probably trying to pull a little too much. And when he did he hit the ball the opposite way, it (was) not with the force he had before. Now it looks like to me he's hitting it hard the either way.

Tracy's average draft position right now is a very low 387.75. If he can return to 2005 form where he hit 27 home runs and batted .308 or anywhere close to that, he'll be a steal.