Drafting Your Fantasy Baseball Team

With baseball season almost upon us, the most important aspect of the upcoming season is it means new fantasy baseball drafts. Finally, a reason to put all those meaningless stats and abbreviations to good use. A reason to pay attention to WHIP, OBP, SLG, OPS and the ever-more popular HRA (home runs allowed, as if you didn't know).

The toughest, and best, part of the draft is the first round, and who you should take when it's your turn.

So let's crunch some numbers and see if you can make heads or tails out of whom you should pick (Based on a 10-team draft).

1. Albert Pujols, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals. It's easy. He's going to hit, he's going to hit for power and he's going to drive in runs, a whole lot of them. Last year, the Cardinals first baseman hit 49 HRs, drove in 137 runs and hit .331 all while striking out just 51 times. (No, strikeouts are not a hitter's stat, but if he's not striking out he's moving runners over and driving them in). Of last year's top five home run hitters, Pujols' strikeouts were the fewest by more than half. Over the last three seasons, Pujols has hit 136 HRs more than anyone but David Ortiz. Do yourself a favor, if you win the first pick don't second guess, just take him.

2. Alex Rodriguez, 3B, NY Yankees. Now a lot of people might leap on to the criticism bandwagon with this pick at No. 2. But when it comes to consistency, it's tough to beat the Yankee Yankees fans love to hate. Baseball's highest paid player is paid an average of $25 million a year for a reason. Over the last three years, Rodriguez has hit 119 HRs and driven in 357 runs. He's a career .305 hitter. And as long as your league doesn't extend into the MLB playoffs, A-Rod will be fine (unless your league counts errors). With Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon setting the table for A-Rod, you can count on another 120 runs driven in and 30-plus home runs.