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Yep . . .

 

1. Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins

Last year, I felt that Hanley Ramirez was the best all-around player in the National League last year and for that, I thought he should have won the MVP award.  He didn't, but he showed a whole lot of promise for a young 24-year old.  Ramirez should improve on those fabulous numbers he posted last year: .332, 29 homers, 51 bases stolen.  Ramirez had 125 runs last year but that number will be hard to improve.  Miguel Cabrera, the team's leading run producer, ran off to the Detroit Tigers.  Cameron Maybin wil lhave a hard time doing what Cabrera did.  I can see Ramirez improving on power in this very weak-pitching wise division and I can see him possibly raising his stolen bases.  Be warned though, Hanley hit .332 last year but because of that monster number, the only way to go is down.  He won't go down much, but don't go with him expecting a .330 average.

 

Projected 2008 Stats: .324, 33, 80, 53

 

 

2. Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies

Being the guy who just won the NL MVP award last year, you have to give Jimmy Rollins the credit he deserves.  He had a breakout season, reaching 30 homeruns and over 40 steals.  Where did all of that power come from?  We'll see if the power lasts, because Rollins' previous career high before 2006 was only 12 bombs.  Another thing you aren't going to get with Jimmy here is an average.  Rollins won the MVP award last year but, like his many years before, he failed to hit over .300 - not the production Ramirez gives you.  He is consistent with his batting average but too bad he is consitently in the .280's or .290's.  Rollins will steal 40 bases only once every few years so if you are going to want to keep Jimmy and go with him, it's a risky pick.  Just because of a breakout season in his 9th year in the MLB doesn't mean that he will continue that trend.

 

Projected 2008 Stats: .287, 27, 86, 38

 

 

3. Jose Reyes, New York Mets

Jose Reyes played great in 2006 and he started the first five months of 2007 but then the Met's famous collapse happened - and Reyes was a big part of it.  He only hit .226 in September.  It looks like the bad luck has carried on - he hasn't gotten off to the 2008 season as well as he would of hoped for.  Reyes stole 78 bases last yera but pretty much every other number from 2006 droped in 2007.  From the .280 average last year, the 12 homeruns, everything.  Reye's magnificent 2006 season may be carrying to far while Reyes looks to be on a decline.

 

Projected 2008 Stats: .291, 16, 70, 81

 

 

4. Carlos Guillen, Detroit Tigers

Even though Carlos Guillen made the switch from SS to 1B before the start of the season but he will still be considered a shortstop in fantasy for some reason.  Forunetly, Guillen will most likely make less errors and more offensive numbers (good ones).  Guillen became the first person to raise his average for six consecutive years but that streak ended in 2007 with a sub-.300 average after hitting .320 in 06.  Part of this was the tiredness of playng shortstop towards the end of the season but he may be able to hit .330 playing at first base.  Guillen has 20-20 talent, I wouldn't be surprised if he hit 25-30 homeruns.  His stolen bases will likely go down but 15 is still a good number, in which it will probably drop to.  Carlos reached 100 runs batted in for the first time in his career last year and I can see that number being raised a whole lot more this year.

 

Projected 2008 Stats: .326, 28, 117, 13

 

 

5. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies

Troy Tulowitzki had a strong rookie season last year, finishing with a .291 average and 24 homeruns.  This would of won the National League Rookie of the Year award if it were not for Ryan Braun's 34 homers.  Now the pressure is on for "Tulo" to repeat his magnificent 2007 season.  I think he will.  He is young and should improve his numbers as he gets older.  His average may go up to .300 this year.  He won't get a ton of RBI chances because of his position in the batting order but he will help a litlle bit in that catagory.  Unlike the first four people on this list, Tulowitzki is now a speed demon.  He only swiped seven last year and only has one this year.  His slow start might prevent him from a .310 average or above, something like that, but his slow start won't have much of an impact on his final numbers.  Its pretty simple: What you see is what you get and what you are seeing is a lot.

 

Projected 2008 Stats: .301, 30, 94, 6

 

 

Bust - Miguel Tejada, Houston Astros

Miguel Tejada was having a usual "Miguel Tejada Year" with the Baltimore Orioles with only a little bit of the season left last year and then - he slumped.  His name was mentioned among many others on the Mitchell Report and we all know what that was.  Well, it isn't easy to have comebacks on stuff like that.  Miguel is getting older, 31-years old, and with all of this stuff going against him, I just wouldn't risk having him on your team.  He hit a career low 18 homeruns last year and his homeruns have declined since 2004.  Take a look:

 

2004 - 34 homeruns

2005 - 26 homeruns

2006 - 24 homeruns

2007 - 18 homeruns

 

When your homerun total declines by 16 in four years, that is never a good sign.

 

Projected 2008 Stats: .283, 15, 87, 5

 

 

Sleeper - Brendan Harris, Minnesota Twins

After years of going back-and-forth from the minor leagues to major leagues but he finally made himself a MLB player last year with the Tampa Bay Rays and hit .286 with 12 homeruns in a little bit over 500 at-bats.  Although he left for a somewhat weaker lineup, Harris should still be able to put up a good sized number in runs and runs batted in.  Harris may even be able to hit 20 homeruns - not now though.  Eexpect 15 or something like that.  Harris has gotten off to a hot start this season, hitting .341 with three runs batted in.  He should improve and do a lot better this year than he did last year.

 

Projected 2008 Stats: .298, 16, 70, 7

April 17, 2008  07:42 PM ET

Good blog Dawgee,but your sleeper should be Jeff Kepinger,he's a pure hitter in the true sense of the word,and it wouldn't surprise me if he hit 320 or above

April 17, 2008  08:01 PM ET

Good blog but Reyes should only be on the list as a bust

April 17, 2008  08:45 PM ET

Really?

 
April 18, 2008  04:02 PM ET

Haha, so far, Tejada isn't really looking like a bust. And I agree with NYFAN, Reyes has more bust potential than Tejada, even with Tejada 2 years older.

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