Kevin Youkilis

They say good starting pitching is contagious. After starting the year with a record of 2-5 and a cumulative ERA of 7.24 in the first 10 games, the members of the rotation have gone 6-2, with an extraordinary ERA of 1.65, in the last 10 games.

Their performance has been even more extraordinary over the last eight games, compiling a mark of 6-1, with a 1.01 ERA.

Heard This Blog ranked the top five Jewish current baseball players

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Although the Red Sox began the 2011 season with an embarrassing three-game sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers, the Sox still have plenty of time to validate the media’s enormous expectations and secure a playoff spot.

However, in order to emerge victorious from a competitive American League East, the Sox must step back from the spotlight and focus on winning each individual game.

When it comes to his lineup, Boston Red Sox Manager Terry Francona has a lot of difficult decisions to make. He was handed some of the best puzzle pieces around and was told to “Tetris” them together to the best of his ability.

Francona better invest in those extra big pencil erasers that you used to buy in elementary school. You know, the ones that fit onto the end of the writing utensil over the small eraser that’s already attached to the pencil. I think Tito will be going through quite a few of those.

1. Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays

2. David Wright, New York Mets

3. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

4. Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals

5. Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox

6. Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers

7. Jose Bautista*, Toronto Blue Jays

8. Pedro Alvarez, Pittsburgh Pirates

9. Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants

10. Casey McGehee, Milwaukee Brewers

11. Martin Prado*, Atlanta Braves

12. Michael Young, Texas Rangers

As the title suggests, there's rampant optimism among Red Sox fans after this winter's acquisitions. The club traded for Adrian Gonzalez, a highly-prized first baseman whom the Boston brain trust has coveted for years. That grab was followed by the signing of Carl Crawford, the former Tampa left fielder who was the top free agent available this offseason.

For some fans, the American League East is a treacherous place. When baseball’s biggest super powers all swing their bats in the same division, it’s hard to gain any ground when you’re the little guy. 

Yes, I’m talking to you Baltimore.

But, thanks to our overactive sports imaginations and a little something called fantasy baseball, we can build our own big league monopoly, so let’s mine the AL East and construct a divisional behemoth that will strike fear into the hearts of fake teams everywhere.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Kevin Youkilis’ current ADP on Mock Draft Central is 30.89, nearly 11 spots below where we believe he belongs.

As we fast approach the start of another baseball season, let's return to a familiar question: Who's better, the Yankees or the Red Sox? 

The Red Sox made more upgrades to their roster during the offseason, but the Yankees were the better team last year.  So where does that leave us?  Let's take a look, position by position.

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We all know that third base has quickly become one of the shallowest positions in baseball.  Outside of the top four options, there is a ton of risk involved. 

Yes, there are players with tremendous upside, but there are significant red flags hanging over them.  Let’s take a look at how I currently have the top 15 ranked (as well as top 12 for those in AL or NL-only formats, which can be found at the bottom of this post):