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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.

Here is the list of fantasy first basemen who play in the American League Central Division. You’ll only find players on this list that will or could make a fantasy impact in 2008.

1. Justin Morneau | Minnesota Twins
2. Victor Martinez | Cleveland Indians
3. Paul Konerko | Chicago White Sox
4. Carlos Guillen | Detroit Tigers
5. Billy Butler | Kansas City Royals
6. Ryan Garko | Cleveland Indians
7. Jim Thome | Chicago White Sox
8. Ross Gload | Kansas City Royals
9. Garrett Jones | Minnesota Twins
10. Ryan Shealy | Kansas City Royals
11. Mike Hessman | Detroit Tigers

Here is the list of fantasy first basemen who play in the American League West Division. You’ll only find players on this list that will or could make a fantasy impact in 2008.

Now, before I get flooded with e-mails about the Athletics players making up 33% of this list, let me say that Swisher will play a lot of outfield in 2008 leaving a battle between Barton and Johnson, which I think Barton will win some time before the All-Star break. Until that happens, I need to leave them ranked like this. Once the picture becomes a little more clear, I can adjust so you can maximize value for your fantasy teams.

Also, Jarrod Saltalamacchia is not on this list as the Rangers have made it clear he is a full time catcher again. Obviously, if your fantasy league allows him to maintain his status as a first baseman as well as a cacther, Salty will be uber-valuable.

1. Nick Swisher | Oakland A’s
2. Richie Sexson | Seattle Mariners
3. Casey Kotchman | Los Angeles Angels
4. Daric Barton | Oakland A’s
5. Dan Johnson | Oakland A’s
6. Brad Wilkerson | Texas Rangers
7. Chris Shelton | Texas Rangers
8. Kendry Morales | Los Angeles Angels
9. Ben Broussard | Seattle Mariners

Here is the list of fantasy first basemen who play in the National League Central Division. You’ll only find players on this list that will or could make a fantasy impact in 2008.

1. Albert Pujols | St. Louis Cardinals
2. Prince Fielder | Milwaukee Brewers
3. Lance Berkman | Houston Astros
4. Derrek Lee | Chicago Cubs
5. Adam LaRoche | Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Joey Votto | Cincinnati Reds
7. Scott Hatteberg | Cincinnati Reds
8. Daryle Ward | Chicago Cubs

Here is the list of fantasy first basemen who play in the National League West Division. You’ll only find players on this list that will or could make a fantasy impact in 2008.

1. Adrian Gonzalez | San Diego Padres
2. Todd Helton | Colorado Rockies
3. James Loney | Los Angeles Dodgers
4. Conor Jackson | Arizona Diamondbacks
5. Ryan Kelsko | San Francisco Giants
6. Tony Clark | Arizona Diamondbacks
7. Rich Aurilia | San Francisco Giants
8. Nomar Garciaparra | Los Angeles Dodgers
9. Joe Koshansky | Colorado Rockies

Tim runs a couple of fantastic baseball blogs that I enjoy very much. I’ve officially crowned him with Superman status for his efforts yesterday on his blog MLB Trade Rumors.

I’ve written something in the neighborhood of 11,000 words today. That’s not a typo. Insane, isn’t it? In my opinion the Winter Meetings have been awesome so far; a constant flow of hot stove to discuss. Yesterday MLBTR had 490,000 pageviews, our second best day ever (can’t top this year’s trade deadline). Thanks for reading. We’re not even halfway done with the Meetings. I should note that I’ve written so much today that it all doesn’t fit on the page (I think the front page has 25 posts or so).

If you aren’t following along at MLBTR regarding the Winter Meetings, you are crazy!

Todays pitch count is 7.

1. David Laurila at Baseball Prospectus thinks that Dallas Trahern may be the sleeper in yesterdays Marlins-Tigers trade.
2. The Atlanta Braves, yesterday, acquired a lefty specialist with a 4.95 ERA from the Cubs. Here’s why they made the deal for Will Ohman.
3. A top 20 Los Angeles Angels prospect list heading into 2008.
4. The Arizona Fall League released their Top Prospects Team. A list of players “who distinguished themselves throughout the league’s six-week schedule against other top prospects from every organization in Major League Baseball. Voters were asked to consider Fall League performance and major league projectability”.
5. Matt at The Diamond Cutter compares his top 25 prospect list to MiLB’s top 25 thatwas released recently as a part of their top 50 countdown.
6. Mound Talk’s list of the Arizona Diamondbacks top 10 prospects.
7. Project Prospect’s top 5 Milwaukee Brewers prospects.