Lance Berkman

Question:  What lately has been lacing Lance Berkman’s milk bone bat?  Answer:  Leather baseballs bouncing off the wood and flying out of MLB venues.

The fantasy baseball season is starting to filter out the big fish from the small ponds, the rooks from the bishops and the Cardinals hitters from the haters.

OK, we're not saying we would trade the artist formerly known as Fat Elvis straight up for Super Joe, but here are 10 compelling reasons why Lance Berkman is more valuable than the reigning NL MVP.

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Week 3

April 4th - April 10th 

Over the course of baseball history, we have been witness to some amazing feats. Whether it was watching Rickey Henderson steal bases like his life depended on it or remembering where we were and what we thought when Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record—young or old, big or small, we've all seen great things in the sport of baseball.

That said, watching some of the guys on this list run the bases isn't one of them.

While players like Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, and Josh Hamilton are accustomed to winning MVP awards, but it doesn't mean they are the most important players for their team to win.

We all know about team's most valuable players, but who really is the most important player for each team to have a successful season?

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During the first decade of this millenium, Lance Berkman was a staple in any conversation about the best hitters in baseball.

Through almost 12 seasons in Houston he had become the face of the franchise, along with Roy Oswalt, and was a former member of the Killer Bs, taking Derek Bell’s place in 2000 alongside Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.

In his first three full seasons, Berkman was 6th in Rookie of the Year voting and was a two-time All-Star:

A team's fortunes can often be severely altered by the injury or severe under-performance of just one player. When a team is littered with those types of players (see the New York Mets), a season can be over in just a few short months.

Coming into the 2011 season, every team expects to be better. If they didn't believe that, what's the point in even playing the games, besides the money of course? Some of the aforementioned type of players have moved on to new teams. That doesn't mean they aren't expected to make a comeback in their new digs however.

Albert Pujols and Michael Young have been the main headlines heading into the 2011 Major League Baseball season.

Pujols, one of the greatest players in the game's history, is seeking a record setting contract extension from the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Young, one of the most loyal players in Texas Rangers history, doesn't want to be moved to designated hitter full-time and is seeking a trade. 

            The Cardinals were widely expected to win the National League Central last season. The acquisition of Matt Holliday was expected to provide some pop for the lineup and protect Pujols well - which he did. A fully recovered Chris Carpenter was predicted to be back to his old Cy Young form - which he was. There were many reasons why the Cardinals should have shown a better record in the standings, yet they weren't able to beat out the Reds for the division crown. 

With so many of the big name free agents signed early on this off season, it has been a winter of trade rumors, and while most have proved to be nothing beyond just rumors, the Brewers managed to pull off two of the bigger trades of the off season.

However, the rest of the NL Central has been fairly busy as well, as the Cubs, Reds, Cardinals, and Brewers all look to be in the running for the division. Even the Astros and Pirates made a handful of moves that could make series' against them that much tougher.