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All year long I’ll be offering help just like this in The Fantasy Inbox. Use the contact form to submit all your fantasy baseball questions and please give me as many details as you can. Including league format, roster sizes, and scoring settings will help me give you the best advice.

Today’s question come from Jon and it’s always a pleasure to answer any kind of baseball questions from you guys. Keep ‘em coming.

Q: I was offered Cliff Lee and Shane Victorino in exchange for Dan Haren and Raul Ibanez. Here are my reasons for being hesitant about Lee. His spring was AWFUL and last season was his best by far(possible fluke season??). I like him beacause his numbers were better than Haren’s , but Haren has steadily been on a climb and he is one Webb injury away from being the ace of the staff. What should I do??? Please help!!!

A: I think that you’re right to be hesitant about this deal, but maybe not for the reasons you mentioned. Yes, Cliff Lee’s ERA is a miserable 12.46 this spring, but pitchers tend to work on using different pitches in spring. Sometimes they spend a few innings just throwing breaking balls. It’s hard to gauge how good a pitcher’s spring is going by his ERA alone. Take a look at Lee’s strikeout to walk ratio. In 21.2 innings he’s struck out 18 while only walking two. That’s pretty dominant. The thing about Lee that worries me is his innings workload from 2008, which grew 80 innings from the previous year. I’m expecting Lee to still produce good numbers in 2009, but he won’t be back at the Cy Young level he achieved in 2008. Haren on the other hand excites me; and remember, he doesn’t need to be Arizona’s ace to be your fantasy ace. Haren has steadily increased his strikeout numbers while lowering his WHIP over the past three years. He pitches in a weak division with a bunch of pitchers parks. I definitely like Haren better than Lee going into 2009.

Victorino would be a slight upgrade from Ibanez, but it’s not enough to off-set how much better Haren could be than Lee. Victorino and Ibanez both have similar batting averages (both hit .293 in ‘08) but Ibanez has better power numbers. Yeah, you’ll get stolen bases from Victorino, a few extra runs scored and some pop, but the difference between the two just isn’t enough for me to advise pulling the trigger on this deal.

My opinion would be to decline this offer. With Haren and Ibanez you have to great, very consistently stable players. And Haren’s upside is the best of the bunch.

Paul sent me this one:

Ok, I’m in a 10-team NL-only league. $260 for 23 players. Allowed to keep 13. I think I have 4 or 5 competing for final two spots. Here’s a list of the 16 under consideration. Need to cut three. Thanks!

Fielder, $27; Hanley $35, Kelly Johnson, $2; Chris Young, Ariz $16; Milledge $1; Francouer $24; Theriot, $2; Peavy $32, Lincecum $10, Maine $6; Wandy R. $2; Lidge $17, Saito $16, Broxton $8; T. Pena $4, Qualls $1.

Thanks for the question Paul. I’m going to answer as you are in a 5X5 league.

Prince Fielder, Hanley Ramirez, Chris Young and Jake Peavy are rock solid keepers and on the definite list. With Fielder you get 40+ homers, 100+ RBI’s and runs and close to a .300 average. Ramirez is a five-tool stud, Young, if he gets his average up a bit, is a five-tool stud in the making and Peavy is one of the best, young, stable pitchers in MLB. That leaves us with having to cut three of the following:

• Kelly Johnson - At $2, Johnson is an incredible bargain. You should get $13 plus value out of him and help in all 5 categories. Keep
• Lastings Milledge - Another bargain at $1 and increased playing time with the Nationals makes this an easy choice as well. Keep
• Jeff Francoeur - Might be a bit overpriced at $24, but not by much. His home run total dropped in ‘07, but his batting average increased. I think you may be able to replace Francoeur’s OF numbers elsewhere and for less money than $24. It’s a tough call for me, but I gotta let him go. Cut
• Ryan Theriot - Theriot at $2 is another amazing bargain. 30+ stolen bases can be expected. Keep
• Tim Lincecum - $10 is a lot cheaper than you would get him on the open auction market. He’s got great stuff but it’s just too bad he pitches for the Giants. He’ll take some bruising, but will provide great strikeout totals and a sub 4.00 ERA. Keep
• John Maine - Maine at $6 is a super deal too. His ERA should stay below 4.00 and another 15 win season isn’t unrealistic. Nor is it unrealistic to think he may approach 20 wins. Keep
• Wandy Rodriguez - If he could only pitch all of his games in Houston he’d by a top tier option. Rodriguez is going to kill you on the road, but maybe you can sit him in those situations <g>. That being said, for $2 you can take a flier on him and see if he can correct his road woes and have a breakout season. Keep
• Brad Lidge - Lidge is going to be high risk/high reward for 2008. I can see a lot of saves for him with the Phillies. I can also see him hanging his head after home run balls are launched out of one of the best home run parks in baseball. Houston wasn’t much of a pitchers ballpark either, so we’re going to go high reward here. Keep
• Takashi Saito - Saito is getting close to the regression years. Well heck, he’s 38, it’s safe to say he should see some declining numbers in 2008. Spend the $16 elsewhere. Cut
• Jonathan Broxton - If Saito is regressing, who will be there to take his place? The answer is Jonathan Broxton and he’s one dominant relief pitcher. His upside, and $8 price tag, make him a better choice than Saito. Keep
• Tony Pena - Pena is the heir apparent in Arizona, and you’re going to need some saves since we’re cutting Saito. Watch him though, as his second half numbers weren’t as strong as the first half. $4 is a good price and there is upside there. Keep
• Chad Qualls - $1 is a great price, but Qualls is still a set-up guy. I know, I know… I just said the exact opposite when talking about your two Dodger closers, but here I think Qualls loses out. There I think Broxton wins. It’s possible for him to move into the closer role in Arizona, but only if your other guy (Pena) falters. It’s a tough decision but you can only keep Pena or Qualls. Since Pena has the job right now, my choice is him. Cut

So, there you go. Cut Frenchy, Saito and Qualls. But these weren’t easy decisions. Great question!

Keep those questions coming to the Fantasy Inbox.

I recently received a question from Schmidty who asked for a little bit of guidance for his team regarding keepers. I love these questions and encourage you to continue to send stuff like this in. I’ll answer everything that I can in this new section called the Fantasy Inbox.

“I’m in a 10 team roto league (5X5) and i can keep 6 so who should i keep from this roster.

Hitters:
Kenji Johjima, Ian Kinsler, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Derek Jeter, Carlos Beltran, Chone Figgins, Jeff Francoeur,Melky Cabrera, Aramis Ramirez, Victor Martinez, Howie Kendrick, J.J. Hardy, Hunter Pence.

Pitchers:
Johan Santana, Matt Cain, Jered Weaver, Chris Capuano, David Weathers, Carlos Zambrano, Aaron Harang and last but not least Yovani Gallardo.

Thanks in advance!”

Schmidty, I only want to keep one of your pitchers. And if I am only keeping one, obviously, it’s Johan Santana. Not only is he, arguably, the best in the game right now, but he’s also, most likely, going to be pitching for the Red Sox or the Yankees next season. That equates to even better numbers.

Victor Martinez is another must keep as he’s the top catcher in fantasy baseball. After he and Russell Martin there is a production drop off at the catcher position, so it’s my opinion to keep Martinez and not bother with wading into the sub prime catcher market. Another top tier option for you to keep is Prince Fielder. You just can’t give up his power production.

I’m going to move away from power numbers for my next two picks and advise you to keep Chone Figgins and Carlos Beltran. Figgins is really going to boost your batting average and stolen bases and Beltran is a five-tool fantasy outfielder who is also a top tier fantasy outfielder.

My last suggestion for you was one I struggled over, but finally chose Ryan Braun. There are many who fear a sophomore slump from this guy. I’m not sure which side of that fence that I stand, but Braun hit .324 and 34 home runs in only 113 games. In 2008 he’ll play in many more games and if you get the same numbers from him, he’s a great choice for a keeper. but what if he produces more with the added at-bats? You just can’t pass up that upside potential.

So to keep everything nice and neat, here is my list of keepers for you.

• Johan Santana
• Victor Martinez
• Price Fielder
• Chone Figgins
• Carlos Beltran
• Ryan Braun

Thanks again for the question, Schmidty. If anyone else has any questions about keepers, fantasy baseball or any other related topic, please use the contact form to find many ways to reach me.