The Blue Workhorse

Let’s play a quick game of name those numbers. Who has produced these incredible statistics?

151.1 IP / 9 W / 2.28 ERA / 195 K / 1.13 WHIP

Jake Peavy? Johan Santana? Many of you might see the line and figure it must have been a line from Peavy, Santana, or one of the other top-flight starting pitchers 151 innings through the season.

However, these stats were the combined 2007 season statistics of Carlos Marmol and Jonathan Broxton, two of the most dominant middle relievers in the game.

In terms of fantasy baseball, middle relievers are often forgotten when they can be a huge weapon as an added bonus to your pitching staff. They can be the secret key to lower WHIP and ERA, and many of these guys also pile up the strikeouts:

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While #2 overall fantasy player Hanley Ramirez’s statistics are impressive, no one is that surprised after he was a top 5 pick in nearly every fantasy draft, but when Nate McLouth puts up similar numbers and is ranked as the #7 fantasy player overall…eyebrows are raised.

The McLouths and Cliff Lees of baseball is exactly what this list celebrates - the players who produce tremendous statistics considering the value they cost their fantasy owners, whether that be a late round pick or a timely pick up off the waiver wire:

For the past two seasons, there have been concerns about a couple of the most known and dominant closers in the game. Last season, it was New York Yankees’ stopper Mariano Rivera after he got off to a rough start. This season the troubles are in the other league, on the other coast as Trevor Hoffman, the man who enters to “Hell’s Bells,” has left without the lead, or a save, already twice in the early stages this season.

After week one of the MLB season, there have been several teams, including the Padres, that have already run into bullpen issues, particularly on Opening Day, so we decided to examine each of the 30 major league teams bullpen performances thus far and see which teams should really be concerned with their bullpen.

The Chicago Cubs came out of nowhere to win the division last year after finishing in the cellar in 2006 (yes, even worse than the Pittsburgh Pirates). This year, which will mark the 100th anniversary of their last World Series title, with the addition of Japanese superstar Kosuke Fukudome, the Cubs will again look to take the division crown and try to end the curse of the billy goat. Standing in the way of the Cubbies will be the Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, and possibly the St. Louis Cardinals.

Your NL Central previews with last year’s records, key additions, key losses, projected starting lineup, projected rotation, overall outlook, fantasy impact players, and our prediction for this season: