Fan News

Every season a handful of young players take the next step in their career. Something clicks, and they go from good ballplayers, to All Stars.

In 2008, it was Dustin Pedroia, Nate McLouth, and Ryan Ludwick who made that step.

Last year it was Felix Hernandez, Aaron Hill, and of course, Zack Greinke.

Who will it be on 2010? Well, I have compiled a list of the top ten most likely players to have breakout seasons, in my opinion of course.

You'll agree with some, disagree with others perhaps, but what is the fun if everybody agrees with everything?

Enjoy.

The momentum of the 2010 fantasy baseball season is slowly picking up, and one of the things that will be increasingly occupying rental space in everybody’s crawl will be just whom to select as the first overall draft pick.

While we enter this year with a handful of players that seem to be no-brainers, there are just as many players lurking in the distance that could actually wind up being better picks than those we think.

Are you an owner in a two-catcher format who likes to wait until the last few rounds to fill out one or two of your catching spots?  While it’s not a strategy that I’m in favor of (which we’ll discuss soon), here are two players that are worth eyeing who are going in Round 18 or later of 12-team formats:

Jesus Flores - Washington Nationals

Pots atop the Hot Stove have been boiling furiously over the past few days.

Jason Bay signed with the Mets. Adrian Beltre signed with the Red Sox. Matt Holliday is nearing a contract with the Cardinals. The market’s best offerings are suddenly disappearing.

Lost in all this was the news about the Cleveland Indians.

After three months of ranking among the most stagnant teams in baseball, the Tribe has quietly signed two free agents in 24 hours.

Jason Bay is officially a Met. He passed his physical, had his press conference, and is now the new left fielder for the Amazin’s. He’ll essentially replace Carlos Delgado in the middle of the order (or will he? Please tell me Delgado will not be back; he needs to make his “clubhouse presence” present in another clubhouse).

Art Lawrence is a rabid Yankees fan, but there was one time when he rooted for the Yankees' opponent.

The Yankees had summarily dismissed Casey Stengel after the 1960 World Series.

In June, 1963, Casey Stengel managed at Yankee Stadium, but he was managing the Mets. For one of the few times in his life, Art Lawrence wanted the Mets to win.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m the same guy who said heading into last season that I thought the Red Sox had made enough savvy moves to challenge the Yankees for the pennant.

Not quite. My prediction that cost-effective reclamation projects such as John Smoltz and Brad Penny would pay serious dividends landed somewhere between woefully off base and numbingly stupid.

So take what you will from this: I really like the team the Sox are preparing to roll out in 2010.

Congratulations to the Mets. After all those other teams' offseason signings where Omar Minaya appeared to be sleeping (literally), the Mets finally made a move, signing former Pittsburgh Pirate and Boston Red Sock (is that the singular?), Jason Bay. 

Bay, 2004 Rookie of the Year in the National League, is a great player. A top-15 outfielder without a question, probably even top 10. 

But the Mets signed the wrong guy.