Geezer's Fantasy Baseball Draft Prep Special

Here's another reason why this is the best time of year in sports: Fantasy Baseball is about to kick off. Baseball season is just a couple weeks away and if you haven't drafted yet, you will be soon. Here are five tips that I like to follow when I'm drafting my teams:

1. Its all about value. Knowing Average Draft Positions is the key factor in any draft. Reaching on players you could get three rounds later could kill you. Just because you love a guy does not mean you should reach for him. The best strategy you can have is to target players for each round and try and make sure you will get one. Value Value Value.

2. The old rule of don't pay for saves. I won't go to in depth on this because you probably are sick of hearing it, but there is no need to waste a high draft pick on a guy who throws a maximum of 4 innings per week. Especially in a head to head league.

3. Focus on guys that will help you in multiple categories. I love guys that will help you across the board in all five categories. If they have an awful batting average I just won't touch them (I'm looking at you Ryan Howard and Adam Dunn). Look to capitalize on as many stats as you can, rather than stat specialists.

4. Balance. You have to balance out your offense and starting pitching. I usually like to have at least one top tier ace on my staff. If I don't manage to get one I will absolutely get two from the second tier. I know a lot of experts will tell you to wait on pitching and get your offense early, and while that is a valid strategy, I like to have some pitching that I know I can count on, like the Lincecums, Santanas and Roy Halladays of the world.

5. Don't weigh too heavily on position scarcity, but don't forget it all together. There should be a cutoff point where you say "I won't be starting a player at this position worse than ____" Who fills in that blank is up to you but this is the only place where I would advocate a slight reach. If you know you are approaching that threshold, make sure you get someone you like. You don't want to look at your team after you draft and say "Wow, how did I end up with Mark Reynolds as my starting third baseman?"

There you have it. And as an additional bonus, here are my top 100 players on my big board this season:

• 1. Hanley Ramírez
• 2. Albert Pujols
• 3. David Wright
• 4. Miguel Cabrera
• 5. José Reyes
• 6. Ryan Braun
• 7. Josh Hamilton
• 8. Grady Sizemore
• 9. Evan Longoria
• 10. Tim Lincecum
• 11. Johan Santana
• 12. Ryan Howard
• 13. Ian Kinsler
• 14. Mark Teixeira
• 15. Carlos Beltrán
• 16. Lance Berkman
• 17. Jason Bay
• 18. Manny Ramírez
• 19. Chase Utley
• 20. Jimmy Rollins
• 21. Dustin Pedroia
• 22. Matt Holliday
• 23. Carlos Quentin
• 24. Carlos Lee
• 25. Nick Markakis
• 26. B.J. Upton
• 27. Alfonso Soriano
• 28. Brandon Phillips
• 29. Prince Fielder
• 30. CC Sabathia
• 31. Brian Roberts
• 32. Kevin Youkilis
• 33. Aramis Ramírez
• 34. Ichiro Suzuki
• 35. Roy Halladay
• 36. Brandon Webb
• 37. Adrián González
• 38. Justin Morneau
• 39. Jake Peavy
• 40. Brian McCann
• 41. Cole Hamels
• 42. Alexei Ramírez
• 43. Matt Kemp
• 44. Álex Ríos
• 45. Russell Martin
• 46. Josh Beckett
• 47. Nate McLouth
• 48. Geovany Soto
• 49. Joe Mauer
• 50. Carl Crawford
• 51. Chris Davis
• 52. Stephen Drew
• 53. Chad Billingsley
• 54. Magglio Ordóñez
• 55. Shane Victorino
• 56. Curtis Granderson
• 57. Jacoby Ellsbury
• 58. Dan Haren
• 59. Ryan Ludwick
• 60. Corey Hart
• 61. Hunter Pence
• 62. Garrett Atkins
• 63. Chipper Jones
• 64. Dan Uggla
• 65. Víctor Martínez
• 66. Adam Dunn
• 67. Jay Bruce
• 68. Rafael Furcal
• 69. Joey Votto
• 70. Aubrey Huff
• 71. Jermaine Dye
• 72. Francisco Liriano
• 73. John Lackey
• 74. Cliff Lee
• 75. James Shields
• 76. Derrek Lee
• 77. Ryan Doumit
• 78. Félix Hernández
• 79. Raúl Ibañez
• 80. Jhonny Peralta
• 81. J.J. Hardy
• 82. Troy Tulowitzki
• 83. Jon Lester
• 84. Daisuke Matsuzaka
• 85. Ervin Santana
• 86. Derek Jeter
• 87. Michael Young
• 88. Bobby Abreu
• 89. Vernon Wells
• 90. Ryan Zimmerman
• 91. Chone Figgins
• 92. Edinson Vólquez
• 93. Roy Oswalt
• 94. Yovani Gallardo
• 95. Joba Chamberlain
• 96. Carlos Peña
• 97. Scott Kazmir
• 98. Rich Harden
• 99. Lastings Milledge
• 100. A.J. Burnett

And my Players that I absolutely will not draft under any circumstance:

• Vladimir Guerrero
• David Ortiz
• Mariano Rivera
• Francisco Rodríguez
• Joe Nathan
• Brad Lidge
• Joakim Soria
• Chris Young
• Miguel Tejada
• Ben Sheets
• Khalil Greene
• Elijah Dukes
• Rickie Weeks
• Adam Lind
• Delmon Young
• Jered Weaver
• Edwin Encarnación
• Carlos Mármol
• B.J. Ryan
• Justin Verlander
• Álex Rodríguez
• Jonathan Broxton
• Jonathan Papelbon
• Bobby Jenks
• José Valverde
• Frank Francisco
• Fernando Rodney
• Trevor Hoffman
• Jorge Posada

Alright guys. I hope that helps out a little bit when you are putting together your draft strategies. And if I am in a league with you, don't steal all of my players!