The Blue Workhorse

As I flipped the channel to FOX at about 8:00 pm, I had no idea that tonight would be one of the most intriguing All-Star Games in recent memory.

With the great opening ceremony linking the former greats with the present stars, I had a feeling this might be a special night and a special game.

The only thing that surprised me about the opening ceremony was the Steinbrenners brought the ceremonial game balls in a brown paper bag. C’mon guys, you’re the Steinbrenners, you can do better.

Before I get to the game:

5 quick reasons I hated the All-Star Game

…more…

Major League Baseball’s All-Star Break is great for many reasons.

Getting to see the collection of baseball legends along with the current stars on the field at Yankee stadium was a truly special moment.

In addition to the festivities, I have always enjoyed the game itself. Watching stud pitchers give maximum effort for an inning, both leagues assembling a numbers-packed studly lineup, and the overall atmosphere of the game is a great treat midway through the baseball season.

Another great reason for the game: we all get a break from fantasy baseball. A mental break is nice from the leagues we have been keeping up with since late April.

Since we have one-more day of the All-Star Break, I want to give some props to players who brought the wood, and others who fell off the baseball map:

“I got chills,” Josh Hamilton said of hearing his name being chanted by the Yankee Stadium crowd Monday night during the Home Run Derby.

No Josh. You gave us all chills.

Earlier today, Major League Baseball announced the rosters for the 79th All-Star Game being held at Yankee Stadium, which is only appropriate since this is the final season for the historic ballpark.

The starters were determined solely by the fan vote once again, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, we wanted to do what we hadn’t seen anywhere else and break down the selections team-by-team, so that you could easily see who was selected from your favorite team (starters are in bold):

The date was December 21, 2007.

The Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers decided to make a trade. A winter trade that was not necissarly significant at the time. The experts said there would be bigger ones, and there were right. Johan Santana, Erik Bedard, and Dan Haren were just a few names to hit the market this past winter and help change the landscape of the American and National Leagues.

However, who could have predicted the outcome of that late December day?

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:

Thankfully for the Seattle Mariners, when they lost 15 of their last 17 games last season and ran themselves out of a possible playoff berth, they were overlooked because a team in New York was having an even more colossal collapse. After all was said and done, the M’s ended up 6 games behind the division champ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, or whatever they want to call themselves.

This offseason Seattle made sure they had a pitching staff that wouldn’t be able to go through the rotation more than 3 times with only two wins. They traded for Erik Bedard and Carlos Silva to bolster their pitching staff. However, LAA of A also made significant moves in the off-season by signing free agent Torii Hunter and trading away Orlando Cabrera to strengthen their starting rotation with Jon Garland.

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: