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In case you’ve been living under a rock lately, let me just go ahead and inform you that the Bedard to Seattle deal has finally gone through. Here’s a look at it:

Seattle sent Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman, Kam Mickolio and Tony Butler to Baltimore for Erik Bedard. Now, I’m not going to talk winners and losers from a team standpoint, many folks have already done that. But I do want to hit a few of the fantasy highlights for the players in this deal.

• Erik Bedard moved to a more pitcher friendly park and now, if he wasn’t already located near the top on most draft lists, is a top 5 starting pitcher option in mixed leagues and a top 3 in AL only leagues. Bedard’s current Average Draft Position is 39.05, which seems a bit high to take him in the early 3rd round in mixed leagues. His AL only ADP is 19.58, which is crazy considering Josh Beckett has an ADP of 23.05 (anyone who’s taking Bedard before Beckett, please come join a league in which I participate).
• Adam Jones should be the starting center fielder in Baltimore, and we’re finally going to get to see what he can do with 500+ at-bats. Camden Yard should help him pack on a few more power numbers as I’ve seen many people project 20+ home runs from Jones now.
• George Sherrill may be the Orioles new closer. I’m not sure how great his job security will be as the O’s closer job has about as good of a chance of changing hands as any closer’s job in the league. Don’t spend too much on Sherrill or grab him too early. You can take a flier, but not before you consider about 85% of the other closers in baseball.

Tom Verducci wrote a very interesting article over at SI where he speaks about seven young pitchers who are at risk of inury in 2008. How does he know?

It’s his hypothesis that any pitcher under the age of 25 who increases his innings pitched workload by 30 innings or more, is at risk of an injury the following year, or a ballooning ERA. In 2005 and 2006 he found 17 pitchers who were at risk and ten of them blew up. With those findings, I am thinking it’s best to listen to him.

In addition to his seven pitchers (Ian Kennedy, Fausto Carmona, Ubaldo Jimenez, Tom Gorzelanny, Dustin McGowan, Chad Gaudin and Yovani Gallardo), I’ve found 3 more who are at risk. The names that I have added to Mr. Verducci’s list may not be as sexy, but they are still in big league rotations (albeit at the back end of their rotations) and may or may not be on your draft lists.

• Kyle Davies | Kansas City Royals | +53.2 - Davies threw 92.1 innings in 2006 with some major league action mixed with some innings from the minor leagues. However, in 2007 he pitched 146 innings. That’s a 36% increase and could result in bad news for people who grab Davies. Although, with a 7-15 record and a 6.09 ERA, I can’t imagine he’ll make too many draft lists. He’s penciled in as the #4 starter in Kansas City for 2008, which is another good reason to leave him alone.
• Edwin Jackson | Tampa Bay Rays | +51.2 - Jackson saw his year-to-year innings pitched go from 109.2 in 2006 to 161 in 2007. And what happened to him as he put more and more innings on his arm? He got better. His 2nd half numbers were far better than his first half as his ERA dropped almost a whole pitcher (2.75 points). But those extra innings could take a toll in ‘08. He’s avoidable in mixed leagues as the earliest he’s been taken in mock drafts is in the 16th round. His Average Draft Position is 203.72 in mixed and he’s usually the 50th starting pitcher taken in AL only leagues. Let someone else take the gamble.
• Kevin Slowey | Minnesota Twins | +51.2 - Slowey pitched over 200 innings in 2007 which is about 25% more than he pitched in 2006. I suppose that Francisco Liriano’s arm troubles didn’t teach anyone in Twins organization a lesson about overuse. His 4-1 record and great 47:11 strikeout:walk ratio last season shows promise and upside. Let’s hope his arm can hold up. People have been gambling on Slowey in the 12th round of mixed leagues and he’s been the 48th starter off the board in AL only leagues.

A good number of pre-season prognosticators had already guessed this (in fact on our 2008 National League closer rankings he was already ranked #11), but today the Arizona Diamondbacks announced that Brandon Lyon would be their closer going into the 2008 season.

The competition was between Lyon, Chad Qualls and Tony Pena to see who would close out games. The Diamondbacks front office decided to announce their decision now instead of letting the trio compete for the job in Spring Training.

Here are the pre-season rankings for the American League closers.

1. Jonathan Papelbon | Boston Red Sox
2. Joe Nathan | Minnesota Twins
3. J.J. Putz | Seattle Mariners
4. Francisco Rodriguez | Los Angeles Angels
5. Bobby Jenks | Chicago White Sox
6. Mariano Rivera | New York Yankees
7. Huston Street | Oakland Athletics
8. Joakim Soria | Kansas City Royals
9. Todd Jones | Detroit Tigers
10. Troy Percival | Tampa Bay Rays

Update 2-1-2008 at 10:16 PM: The complete 2008 closer rankings are being maintained at the Fantasy Baseball Closer Rankings page.

It’s a fantasy baseball given that says something to the effect of, 35%-45% of all the saves in MLB will come from players who went undrafted in your fantasy baseball draft. By saying that I’m telling you that, while important, ranking closers isn’t an exact science. And doing so two weeks prior to pitchers reporting to camp is foolish. Which is why I’m doing it.

Expect lots of movement on this list.

1. Takashi Saito | Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Jose Valverde | Houston Astros
3. Francisco Cordero | Cincinnati Reds
4. Billy Wagner | New York Mets
5. Trevor Hoffman | San Diego Padres
6. Chad Cordero | Washington Nationals
7. Manuel Corpas | Colorado Rockies
8. Jason Isringhausen | St. Louis Cardinals
9. Brad Lidge | Philadelphia Phillies
10. Rafael Soriano | Atlanta Braves

Update 2-1-2008 at 10:17 PM: The complete 2008 closer rankings are being maintained at the Fantasy Baseball Closer Rankings page.

Let’s take a look at the pre-season fantasy baseball rankings for the top 20 starting pitchers in the National League.

1. Johan Santana | New York Mets
2. Jake Peavy | San Diego Padres
3. Brandon Webb | Arizona Diamondbacks
4. Cole Hamels | Philadelphia Phillies
5. Dan Haren | Arizona Diamondbacks
6. Aaron Harang | Cincinnati Reds
7. Carlos Zambrano | Chicago Cubs
8. Roy Oswalt | Houston Astros
9. John Smoltz | Atlanta Braves
10. Chris Young | San Diego Padres
11. Brett Myers | Philadelphia Phillies
12. Ben Sheets | Milwaukee Brewers
13. Matt Cain | San Francisco Giants
14. Rich Hill | Chicago Cubs
15. Brad Penny | Los Angeles Dodgers
16. Yovani Gallardo | Milwaukee Brewers
17. Jeff Francis | Colorado Rockies
18. Ted Lilly | Chicago Cubs
19. Tim Lincecum | San Francisco Giants
20. Tim Hudson | Atlanta Braves

As we’re only 14 days from pitchers and catchers reporting to camp, here are the eary rankings of American League starting pitchers.

1. Josh Beckett | Boston Red Sox
2. C.C. Sabathia | Cleveland Indians
3. Erik Bedard | Baltimore Orioles
4. Justin Verlander | Detroit Tigers
5. Scott Kazmir | Tampa Bay Rays
6. John Lackey | Los Angeles Angels
7. Felix Hernandez | Seattle Mariners
8. Roy Halladay | Toronto Blue Jays
9. Daisuke Matsuzaka | Boston Red Sox
10. James Shields | Tampa Bay Rays
11. Fausto Carmona | Cleveland Indians
12. Javier Vazquez | Chicago White Sox
13. Kelvim Escobar | Los Angeles Angels
14. A.J. Burnett | Toronto Blue Jays
15. Chien-Ming Wang | New York Yankees
16. Francisco Liriano | Minnesota Twins
17. Jered Weaver | Los Angeles Angels
18. Joe Blanton | Oakland Athletics
19. Jeremy Bonderman | Detroit Tigers
20. Curt Schilling | Boston Red Sox