Fantasy Baseball

I'm sure everyone agrees that last weekend's trade of Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees was unprecedented on many levels.

Yes, he's got the biggest contract and is the best player in baseball and he was traded, anyway. Yes, he was traded to the Yankees, who just got back from the World Series and who will now eclipse any other team's payroll by more than $50 million. Yes, the Yanks already have an All-Star shortstop, but they still went for A-Rod; and yes, the Yankees are now an undisputedly evil enterprise that has manifested itself like a cancer towards the ruination of baseball, and in turn, society.

All of these things are true. But the second I stopped vomiting, it occurred to me-the A-Rod trade was also the biggest thing that could have happened for Fantasy Baseball this year.

Yes, that's what I said, Fantasy Baseball. For those of you who don't know, fantasy sports are pretty much God's answer to the intellectual sports fan's plea for stimulation beyond PTI-and Fantasy Baseball, in my humble opinion, is the best of them all.

In brief, as a fantasy manager in traditional leagues, you get to draft your own team out of the universe of real players (AL-only, NL-only, or the whole of baseball) and call them the "Down City Piledrivers" or "Boobs! Two O'Clock!" (These are team names from my current fantasy basketball league), and put them up against other teams controlled by other managers within your league.

Basically, it's like getting a bunch of your friends together, lining up all the best players in baseball against the wall at the playground, and then picking teams. You get a limited number of picks, you keep your teams the whole season, and you build stats based upon what your players do each night to compete with the other teams.

In most traditional leagues, you'll have to have a player for each position, some starters and relievers, plus a handful of reserves. The standard 5 x 5 rotisserie statistical categories are Runs, Home Runs, Stolen Bases, RBIs, and Batting Average for batters, and Wins, ERA, WHIP, Strike Outs, and Saves for pitchers. So the guy in your leagues who matches up the best when you add his rankings in all of the stat categories wins all the Mepos at the end of the season. If you still don't understand, e-mail me.

If you have Nomar at short and he hits two homers tonight, then you add two hits, two runs, two homers, and at least two RBIs to your stats. What if you have Giambi and he sprains his pinky diving for a bunt and will be out for the season? Bummer dude, you need a new first baseman.

Throughout the season, you can trade for players on other teams, you can talk trash, and you can drop slumping guys and pick up streaky no-names off the free agent list. You can try to load up on power and give up on your relief pitchers. You can do pretty much anything you want since you are the manager and this is your fantasy, after all.

So now back to the A-Rod trade, which, I may remind you, also involved Alfonso Soriano (whom I no longer hate). Probably for the first time ever, the top two fantasy players are changing teams and probably positions. Previous to this trade, it was almost a given that A-Rod and Soriano would go 1-2 in every draft. Now, everything is out of whack. So let's take a look.

First, the teams. A-Rod moves to a line-up padded with stars that will probably score over 1,000 runs, so that means he'll be driving in at least 150 RBIs, right? But Yankee stadium is no Arlington, especially for righties, and I expect that the rest of A-Rod's numbers will take a hit. In fact, over the past three years, Rodriguez has hit just 6 homers there, and batted a paltry .241. Also, the only right-handed Yankee to hit over 40 dings in a season was Joltin' Joe himself, and that was back in 1937.

And steals? Like I will emphasize many times this spring, steals are often the X-factor that make a decent hitter a fantasy star. But do you think that the Yanks will be giving A-Rod the green light before Giambi, Sheffield, and Williams come to bat? I don't think so. As it is, A-Rod only swiped 17 last year. Expect that number to drop.

What about Soriano? This guy has been a fantasy superstar the past two seasons, ranking in the top three each time, averaging 38 homers and 38 steals. But without the protection and the clout of the Yanks' line-up, you can't expect this guy to score 100 runs a season anymore.

On the other hand, you can expect all of his other numbers to go up. Soriano hit .462 at Arlington Park last season, better than at any other stadium. On top of that, Soriano won't be batting lead-off anymore in Texas, so he'll have increased RBI opportunities, plus manager Buck Showalter will let him steal. And who says Soriano couldn't hit 50?

The other major factor in this trade is position. When A-Rod was a shortstop, he stood slightly ahead of a crowd of other fantasy stars, which includes Derek Jeter, Nomar Garciaparra, Miguel Tejada, Edgar Renteria, and up-and-comer Orlando Cabrera. Now, Rodriguez will probably get moved to third base, where there is a depth of decency, but an utter lack of stars now that Albert Pujols is no longer eligible to fill the hot corner. This means that A-Rod has more value, since having him a third will give you a large advantage over all of the competitor's third basemen.

For second baseman Soriano, he was distinguished along with Jeff Kent and Brett Boone from a junk heap of others. Now he will probably be moving to the outfield, where there are many other stars.

However, in almost every fantasy league, players keep eligibility at the positions that they played regularly the previous season. So A-Rod can still be your shortstop and Soriano still your second baseman, which gives them both a flexibility that makes them even more valuable -- at least for this next year.

Therefore, unless you're in a keeper league, I would draft Soriano ahead of A-Rod if given the opportunity. There, I said it. And I'm out of words for now...