Today we will begin to roll out our preseason content in an effort to get you ready for all of your drafts. So that we can remain short and punchy yet also comprehensive, we’ve settled on a certain approach for these next few weeks.

We’re going to dedicate our time to attacking each position one by one. This week, we will cover catchers and first basemen. Those lumbering lumber-swingers will be our focus, and once we debut the combined RotoGraphs rankings, we’ll cover risers, fallers, divers, dippers, lungers and squatters.

In other words, each RG writer will take a different slant at the two positions. Some will talk about the old guys that are sliding down the rankings, others about young guys coming up. We’ll outline some $1 sleepers and some deep league options. We’ll handicap some position battles.

This way, you’ll get many different opinions about one position at a time and we’ll still be able to get you your rankings in time.

Let’s also take this moment to welcome Erik Hahmann (of DRaysBay), Justin Merry (of Basement-Dwellers), Michael Barr (of RotoHardball) and Howard Bender (of FantasyBaseballBuzz) to the RotoGraphs team. We’re excited about this year!

This year, I was given the opportunity to be in the presitigious Scoresheet BL (short for “Both Leagues”) Kings fantasy league. It’s a mixed league, but with a roster size of 35 players, and competition from 23 of the brightest analysts around, it’s going to get pretty intense.

Scoresheet is a bit of a different animal than your normal fantasy league. Rather than just adding up the stats for your players like most leagues do, Scoresheet allows you to manage your entire roster and plays simulated games based on your roster construction. You can do the obvious things like set your lineup and rotation, but you can also set when starters are pulled, when relievers enter and when to use pinch-hitters. It can be pretty addictive, and ever since I had given up a team a couple of years ago, I had been wanting to get back into a league. Mission accomplished.
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We’ve been over it before, but the concept of “replacement level” is very important in regular old (boring) baseball, and it may be equally important in fantasy baseball. So, in order to better nail down a replacement level, I need your help. But first, some basics on replacement level before we get to the voting.

A replacement level player is defined as “a player who is available on the waiver wire in a majority (50.01%) of leagues.”

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The upcoming season will be pretty exciting at RotoGraphs. We’re bringing on some new faces to mesh with the old and expanding our coverage. This post, however, is about what YOU want.

So, please use the comments section to tell us what you’d like to see more of at RotoGraphs. More in-depth pieces about single players? More rankings information? More mailbags? More work on leagues with different settings? More pro and con?

Less of any of this?

Let us know. We aim to please.

The Rangers made a pretty bold move last year when they moved long-time reliever and sometimes closer C.J. Wilson into the rotation, and he rewarded them with 4.4 WAR season and four pretty good playoff starts. If you’re reading this site, then you’re well aware that even an average big league starter is more valuable than a great reliever if he’s giving you 180 IP, but teams have been slow to admit this. The Tigers are going to try to replicate the Rangers’ and Wilson’s success in 2011 by turning one of their own lefty relievers into a starter, that being Phil Coke.

There are similarities (besides the obvious: being left-handed, late-20’s at the time of the switch, yadda yadda yadda) and differences between the two, so let’s explore them before figuring out if Coke is rosterable in a standard league.

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With Spring Training right around the corner, we’re starting to hear some rumblings about who will and who won’t be in line for save opportunities, at least in the early part of the season. Here’s the latest…

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Over the last four or five years, Joe Mauer, Brian McCann, and Victor Martinez have been the gold standard for fantasy catchers. Jorge Posada was a fine fourth wheel for a while, and now Buster Posey is forcing his way into the picture, but for the most part it’s been those three and everyone else. We have every reason to expect Mauer and McCann to continue their greatness in 2011, but what about the new Tiger V-Mart? The various projection systems aren’t bullish on him this year. Let’s round ’em up…

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Depending on how his fielding develops, Starlin Castro may always be one of those players whose better in real life than in fantasy baseball. However, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have any fantasy value, so it’s important that we investigate and figure out exactly how much he is worth.

Instead of looking at all the different projection systems that we feature here on FanGraphs individually, it’s best to combine the four and get some kind of consensus. Because I’m a swell guy, I’ve done that for you. And for those of you wondering, I didn’t take the easy way out by just averaging out his actual batting average, instead using the hits and at-bats like a good little boy.

Combined projection: 73 R, 5 HR, 58 RBI, 14 SB, .300 BA (549 AB)

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