Five Numbers you should know for the 2009 Fantasy Baseball season

2 : The number of tier 1 third baseman. Longoria might eventually join Wright and ARod at the hot corner. But for this season this is again the shallowest top tier talent pool heading into drafts. If you don’t land one of these two, get ready to ride the up and down roller coaster that is the remaining talent.

104: How many points Hanley Ramirez finished ahead of the second place SS in .OPS. Sure 3b is shallow, but Hanley is the number one pick, period. There is no one in the game that destroys his competition at his position like this. Also, one of these seasons he is going 40/40 with average to boot. Do you dare pass on it?

1.065: Nelson Cruz’s .OPS.  Sure, it spans over a few different levels and into winter ball. But the man has raked since the start of the season and has not stopped. He has slugged over .600 in triple A, the majors and now winter ball. He steals bags to. Basically he has the potential to give you tier one production in round 15 or beyond ( ADP has him 194 th overall).  

'  

0: The number of times AJ Burnett has pitched back to back seasons of 200+ innings or made 30+ starts. Listen I am a huge pitching fan, I am also a fan of Burnett as his stuff is filthy, but the man is 32 next season and coming off a career high in IP and more importantly an increase of 55IP from one season to the next. His ADP is currently 20 amongst starting pitchers, this is simply too high. He will help a team but he should not be taken ahead of hurlers like Matt Cain, Ervin Santana and Yovani Gallardo.

5 th : Randy Johnson’s K/9 rate: Ok so its not a number quite like the rest, big deal. The fact is the Unit still has it, his 8.46 K/9 is proof he is still dominant. He is being drafted like a tier 4 sp when he is a lower T2 to elite T3. I would bet a lot he is better then the Bret Myers, Carlos Zambranos of the world. (for those who think I am nuts, RJ beat both in WHIP and K’s last season.)