2015 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers: Late-Round Targets For Your Draft

Sleepers aren't what they used to be. The idea of grabbing a sleeper that could take your baseball league by surprise has become as outmoded as newspapers. The wealth of information available on the internet at the click of mouse means any player with a shot at a major league roster is well vetted by any diligent researcher.

Still, digging up value, especially in the later rounds of your draft, will always be the key to giving yourself a real shot at taking home your championship. Value can come in many forms on draft day, and today I want to look a few players who fall into several categories.

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Here are our four players to target late in your fantasy baseball drafts:

Brandon Belt, 1B, San Francisco Giants

Belt falls into the forgotten by injury category. Last year, Belt's breakout was cut short by injuries. First a broken hand, then a concussion sustained in batting practice served to hide a transformation that had begun the previous season. From August 1, 2013 though his injury on May 9, 2014, Belt hit .300+ with 16 HR, 46 runs scored and 52 RBI across just 352 plate appearances. Entering his age 27 season and his physical prime, the projections of 20 home runs may well be selling him short. With Pablo Sandoval in Boston and Hunter Pence injured, Belt will be given every opportunity to be the focal point of the Giants offense in 2015 and accrue the counting stats needed. Last year, just six qualified first basemen managed to hit at least .270 and launch 20-plus home runs. With an ADP around 200 and as the 28th first baseman, Belt is more than likely being drafted far too low for the production he will provide.

Danny Salazar, SP, Cleveland Indians

Salazar falls into the post-hype sleeper category. Last year Salazar was touted as sleeper after coming off a fantastic finish to the 2013 season. Salazar got off to a rough start. While he piled up strikeouts in bunches (47 in 40.2 innings), his 1-4 record and 5.53 ERA were harsh enough to sour most owners and even the Indians on him. After a stint in the minors, Salazar came back and posted the numbers people thought he was due for with five wins, a 3.50 ERA and 73 Ks in 69.1 IP across 12 starts, but by that point, he was overshadowed by Cleveland's Cy Young pitcher Corey Kluber. While his first-half numbers looked ugly, they were heavily influenced by a .369 BABIP and 14.8 HR/FB ratio, two numbers that should, and did, regress in the second half. Last year's 9.82 K/9 would have ranked sixth among qualified pitchers and his 3.52 FIP was 33rd. With an ADP of 241, the 2.83 FIP he posted in the second half of last year would have ranked 11th among qualified starters and could be the sign of a big year in 2015.

Steven Souza, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

Souza is the free-at-last prospect. With Bryce Harper and Jason Werth manning the corner outfield spots, Souza was finding playing time scarce in Washington despite two fantastic seasons in the high minors. With the deal that sent him to Tampa Bay, he has cleared the first hurdle to fantasy success and that is playing time. While projections don't see him maintaining the .300+ average he sported in the minors, the speed and power threat is real. Souza is projected to hit 22 HRs and steal 24 bases in 600 plate appearances, last year only four players managed to have more than 20 in each of those categories. With and ADP of 243, Souza can provide plenty value at the tail end of a roster.

Torii Hunter, OF, Detroit Tigers

Hunter is the old and boring pick. Hunter continues to to be a reliable even entering his age 39 season. There aren't a whole lot of projections, and number squinting to see what he has done. It's been a decade since he has failed to record 70 runs or 80 RBI. He's also logged at least 140 games in eight of the last nine years. Projections once again see a solid, unspectacular year from Hunter, but many times the certainty you can get by. Consistent production out of a guy with an ADP of 259 can help smooth over some misses on high-upside youngsters.

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Report: Chris Perez out 4-6 weeks

The Cleveland Indians play their regular-season opener on Thursday, April 5th at home against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Whether or not they will have Chris Perez available to close on Opening Day is now uncertain.

Per AP's Tom Withers, Perez is "out 4 to 6 weeks with strained oblique."

Six weeks from today is April 8th so if Perez is not available on Opening Day, he should be back close to that time.

Rockies trade Ubaldo Jimenez to Indians for four prospects including Drew Pomeranz

The Colorado Rockies have traded starter Ubaldo Jimenez to the Cleveland Indians for four prospects: pitchers Drew Pomeranz, Alex White and Joe Gardner and first baseman Matt McBride.

All three pitchers rank in the top six of the Indians prospects by MLB.com with Pomeranz, the fifth overall pick in 2010, ranked second behind third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall.

Technically, Pomeranz can't be traded until August 15th.

Jimenez, who was rocked last night (four walks and four earned runs in one inning), has a reasonable salary over the next couple of seasons: $2.8 million (2011), $4.2 million (2012) and $5.7 million (2013). There is a club option for $14 million in 2014, but Jimenez can void that due to the trade.

But ESPN's Keith Law thinks that the Indians made a bad move for two reasons. First, the Indians have struggled (23-36) since their surprising start (30-15), which came against relatively easier competition. Second, it's unclear which Ubaldo Jimenez the Indians will get.

Last year, Jimenez was 15-1 with a 2.20 ERA heading into the All-Star Break. Since then, Jimenez has a 10-16 record with an ERA of 4.19.

"He's been a little beat up this year," closer Chris Perez said of Jimenez (via Paul Hoynsie of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer), "but Colorado isn't the easiest place to pitch. His road numbers are much better and he's on a club-friendly contract.

"I think we gave up a lot of talent, but you have to give talent to get talent. Pomeranz has a lot of talent, but at the same time he's never pitched up here. In five years we might be kicking ourselves."

As of last night's game, the Indians are 53-51 and 1.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers (56-51).

Fantasy Baseball: 2011 Outfielder Rankings

Our top three fantasy outfielders in 2011 are the same top three fantasy outfielders that most other sites have in their top three. However, I've seen all three in the top spot at a relatively even split. In an ideal world, I'd like to get my No. 1 outfielder as the third outfielder off the board.

Here are our top 50 outfielders in fantasy baseball for 2011:

1. Ryan Braun, Brewers: Although Braun hit a career-low 25 home runs in 2010, he has 90-plus runs, 97-plus runs batted in and 14-plus steals every year. Plus, he has hit .300-plus in three out of four seasons.

2. Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies: What a breakout season it was for Gonzalez! Despite missing 15 games, he finished with a line of .336-111-34-117-26. As solid as he was across the board, CarGo played much better at Coors Field (.380, 26 homers, 76 RBIs) than on the road (.289, eight homers, 41 RBIs) in 2010.

3. Carl Crawford, Red Sox: Crawford set career highs in runs scored (110), home runs (19) and runs batted in (90) last year in Tampa. In the past five years, Crawford has hit over .300 four times. And with the exception of his 109-game season in 2008, Crawford has stolen 46-plus bases every year since 2003.

4. Matt Holliday, Cardinals: Excluding his .290 batting average in his rookie season (.290), Holliday's full-year batting averages have been .300-plus every year. While he's unlikely to ever steal 28 bases again (as he did in 2008), Holliday will help in all counting numbers to the tune of roughly 95-100 runs, 100-110 runs batted in, 25-30 homers and 10-15 steals.

5. Matt Kemp, Dodgers: Other than a small year-over-year increase in home runs (26 to 28), Kemp's numbers declined across the board in 2010 from 2009. After three straight seasons hitting .290-plus, his average plummeted to .249. In addition, he saw year-over-year declines in runs scored (97 to 82), runs batted in (101 to 89) and stolen bases (34 to 19).

6. Josh Hamilton, Rangers: When projecting Hamilton's fantasy value, the first thing you need to take into consideration is the number of games you expect him to play. Even so, he can be highly productive when he misses plenty of games as he proved last year by being named the A.L. MVP despite missing almost 30 games.

7. Shin-Soo Choo, Indians: In 2010, three players hit .300-plus, hit 20-plus home runs and stole 20-plus bases: Florida's Hanley Ramirez, Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez and Choo. For Choo, he's done so in back-to-back seasons (his only two where he has played 100-plus games).

8. Nelson Cruz, Rangers: Over the past two seasons, Cruz has missed 88 games but he still managed to hit 55 home runs and steal 37 bases during that span. That's a 162-game pace of 37 home runs and 25 steals.

9. Justin Upton, Diamondbacks: Upton, the number one overall draft pick in 2005, is still only 23 years old and undoubtedly has plenty of upside. Over the past two years, Upton have averaged 21.5 home runs and 19 steals despite averaging only 135.5 games. With good health, Upton should easily reach 20-20 with the potential for 30-25.

10. Andrew McCutchen, Pirates: Like Justin Upton, McCutchen was a high first-round pick in 2005 and has plenty of upside. As a 23-year-old, McCutchen finished with a line of .286-94-16-56-33. Since he'll start the season batting third in the Pirates' lineup, McCutchen should see his RBIs increase by a significant amount over last year's 56.

11. Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners: Since Ichiro won't help you in home runs and runs batted in, his value is tied to how well he performs in the batting average and steals categories. Over the past four seasons, he's had two seasons with .350-plus batting averages and two seasons with 40-plus steals. Only if he could do both in the same season (which he hasn't since 2001 and likely won't) ...

12. Jayson Werth, Nationals: Werth will play half of his games in Washington instead of Philadelphia, which is a bit of a concern, in 2011. That said, I can see a season of .275-100-25-100-15 (or close to it) for Werth.

13. Jose Bautista, Blue Jays: Although there's virtually no chance that he duplicates his 54-homer performance from 2010, Bautista could hit 35 or so homers with 100 runs batted in. Even better, he also has position eligibility at third base.

14. Jason Heyward, Braves: Heyward, who will turn 22 years old in August, hit .301 after the All-Star break in his rookie season last year. This spring, Heyward has been hitting the ball well (.356 average over 18 games). I see a line of .290-90-25-90-10 for Heyward in 2011.

15. Hunter Pence, Astros: Pence set career highs in runs scored (93), runs batted in (91) and stolen bases (18) in addition to tying his existing career high in home runs (25) in 2010. With a solid average (career .287 hitter), Pence should help in all categories at a very fair price.

16. Alex Rios, White Sox: There were 38 outfielders that hit 20-plus home runs in 2010. There were 15 outfielders that stole 30-plus bases in 2010. There were only two that did both -- Rios and Cincinnati's Drew Stubbs. The worry about Rios is his inconsistency and 15 (of his 21) home runs and 23 (of his 34) stolen bases came before the All-Star break.

17. Andre Ethier, Dodgers: Ethier got off to a hot start (.392 average, 11 homers and 38 runs batted in through 33 games) before fracturing his right pinky finger, which he feels bothered him after he came back too soon from the injury. He still managed to finish the season with a .292 average, 23 home runs and 82 runs batted in despite missing 23 games.

18. Mike Stanton, Marlins: Between Double-A and the Marlins, Stanton hit 43 home runs and 111 runs batted in combined. Stanton has big-time power and could come close to hitting 40 homers in his first full season in the big leagues. (Take our poll on how many home runs Stanton will hit in 2011.)

19. Jay Bruce, Reds: Bruce, who will turn 24 in April, hit .281 -- .338 from August to October -- with 25 home runs last season. As MLB.com's John Schlegel points out, Bruce has hit more home runs (68) than any other player his age and he ranks 41st all-time for most home runs in his first three seasons.

20. Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox: As the Red Sox leadoff hitter, Ellsbury should hit for a good average and rack up a ton of steals and runs. If you're a glass-half-empty kind-of guy, he won't do much to help in the power categories.

21. B.J. Upton, Rays: In the past two seasons, Upton has hit .241 or less. On a positive note, however, Upton has stolen 40-plus bases for three consecutive seasons. In addition, he hit 18 home runs last year while setting a career high in doubles (38). Had a couple of those doubles been homers, he would have been the only 20-40 outfielder last season.

22. Delmon Young, Twins: Young, baseball's top overall draft pick in 2003, hit nearly .300 (.298, to be exact) while setting career highs in home runs (21) and runs batted in (112) last year.

23. Chris Young, Diamondbacks: Young set career highs in runs scored (94), runs batted in (91), stolen bases (28) and batting average (.257) while belting 27 home runs. Provided the composition of your team will help you withstand the negative impact Young will have on your team's batting average, Young will help you all other categories.

24. Shane Victorino, Phillies: From 2006 to 2009, Victorino hit .281 or better every season. Although his batting average slipped to .259 in 2010, it was also the only season since 2006 in which his BABIP was below .300. Expect a bounce-back in average for the Flyin' Hawaiian, who has averaged 92 runs, 14 homers and 33 steals over the past four seasons.

25. Drew Stubbs, Reds: While Stubbs won't help any in batting average, Stubbs was one of only two outfielders to hit 20-plus home runs and steal 30-plus bases in 2010, as noted above.

26. Colby Rasmus, Cardinals
27. Corey Hart, Brewers
28. Curtis Granderson, Yankees
29. Nick Markakis, Orioles
30. Carlos Lee, Astros
31. Torii Hunter, Angels
32. Bobby Abreu, Angels
33. Adam Jones, Orioles
34. Michael Bourn, Astros
35. Ben Zobrist, Rays
36. Juan Pierre, White Sox
37. Carlos Quentin, White Sox
38. Vernon Wells, Angels
39. Brett Gardner, Yankees
40. Nick Swisher, Yankees
41. Aubrey Huff, Giants
42. Grady Sizemore, Indians
43. Jason Bay, Mets
44. Rajai Davis, Blue Jays
45. Michael Cuddyer, Twins
46. Carlos Beltran, Mets
47. Chris Coghlan, Marlins
48. Denard Span, Twins
49. Manny Ramirez, Rays
50. Tyler Colvin, Cubs

Feel free to send fantasy baseball questions to me via Twitter at @EDSBaseball or post them in our fantasy baseball forum.

See our fantasy rankings for infielders: C - 1B - 2B - SS - 3B

Fantasy Baseball: 2011 Shortstop Rankings

The top two fantasy shortstops are two of the best options in all of fantasy baseball, regardless of position. After Florida's Hanley Ramirez and Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki are gone, however, major question marks exist with many of the rest.

Here are our top 15 fantasy shortstops for 2011:

1. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins: Ramirez has hit .300-plus and 20-plus home runs in each of the past four seasons. In addition, HanRam has stolen 30-plus bases in four of five seasons. The ceiling? A season of .342-125-33-106-51 (BA-R-HR-RBI-SB) would tie all of his career highs.

2. Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies: Tulowitzki is one season removed from a 30-20 season. Despite missing one-quarter of last season, Tulo still managed to hit 27 home runs with 95 runs batted in while hitting .315. While he's the second-rated shortstop on our list, Tulowitzki could be one of the top three or four overall players selected in your draft based on average draft position from Mock Draft Central.

3. Jose Reyes, Mets: From 2005 to 2008, Reyes stole 58-plus bases per season while missing only 15 games during that four-year span. Over the last two seasons, Reyes has stolen 41 bases in 169 games. With a new contract on the line, how many steals and games will we see from Reyes in 2011?

4. Jimmy Rollins, Phillies: Over the past three seasons, Rollins has missed 106 games. While he likely won't duplicate his 2009 numbers (21 homers and 31 steals), it wouldn't surprise me to see Rollins finish with 15 home runs and 25 steals (or better).

5. Derek Jeter, Yankees: The good news? Jeter posted double-digit homers and steals for the 15th consecutive season. The bad news? Jeter hit only .270, his lowest average during that 15-year span, and only ten home runs, which ties a low during that span. Jeter will likely score more runs and hit for a higher average than Rollins while Rollins will likely hit more home runs and steal more bases.

6. Alexei Ramirez, White Sox: Through his first three seasons, Ramirez has been remarkably consistent in the five standard categories in 5x5 leagues. Career lows for Ramirez: .277 average, 65 runs, 15 home runs, 68 runs batted in and 13 stolen bases. Career highs: .290 average, 83 runs, 21 home runs, 77 runs batted in and 14 stolen bases.

7. Elvis Andrus, Rangers: In each of his first two seasons, Andrus has stolen 30-plus bases. But hamstring issues slowed him down last year as he had 18 of his 32 steals in the first two months of the season.

8. Stephen Drew, Diamondbacks: At a position with a scarcity of power, Drew is one of a handful of shortstops with 20-homer potential and he had double-digit steals last year. If you're league rewards for triples, Drew has finished in the top three in the category in each of the past three seasons.

9. Rafael Furcal, Dodgers: Over the past three seasons, Furcal has missed a total of 203 games including 65 of them in 2010. On a positive note, Furcal stole 22 bases, which is his highest output since 2007 (25 steals) and he enters a walk year.

10. Starlin Castro, Cubs: As a 20-year-old, Castro hit exactly .300 in his rookie season. Through 20 spring games, Castro is hitting .344 with four home runs and 15 runs batted in. Although he has four homers this spring, he hit only three in 125 games (463 at bats) last season.

11. Ian Desmond, Nationals: In his first full season with the Nationals, Desmond had double-digit home runs and steals with ten and 17, respectively. Desmond hit higher after the All-Star break (.283) than before it (.255) so a season with a .280 average, 15 home runs and 20 steals seems reasonable.

12. Asdrubal Cabrera, Indians: Cabrera failed to play 100 games last season due to a broken forearm, but he's having a great spring, for what it's worth. Through 17 spring games, Cabrera it hitting .385 with three home runs, 12 runs and four steals. He won't help in homers, but when he played 131 games in 2009, he hit .308 with 81 runs scored, 68 runs batted in and 17 steals.

13. Erick Aybar, Angels: Aybar won't help much at all in the power categories, but he stole a career-high 22 bases last year and hit a career-high .312 the year before that. If he hits .300 with 20-plus steals, he's a solid value at this spot.

14. Yunel Escobar, Blue Jays: Escobar entered 2010 as a career .301 hitter while coming off career highs in runs (89), home runs (14) and runs batted in (76). However, last season was mostly a year that Escobar would like to forget as he posted career lows in batting average (.256) and home runs (four) while driving in only 35 runs. Perhaps a higher post-trade average in Toronto (.275) over his average in Atlanta (.238) bodes well for a bounce-back in 2011.

15. Jhonny Peralta, Tigers: Although Peralta is struggling this spring (.206 with no home runs or runs batted in through 21 games), you can do worse than get 15 homers and 81 runs batted in from a late-round shortstop as he put up last season. In addition to shortstop, he's eligible at third base, another talent-scarce position. Since 2005, Peralta has driven in 68-plus runs every season with 81-plus in each of the past three. During that same span, he has belted 20-plus homers three times.

Feel free to send fantasy baseball questions to me via Twitter at @EDSBaseball or post them in our fantasy baseball forum.

Fantasy Baseball: 2011 Catcher Rankings

Year in and year out, catcher has often been a talent-scarce position when it comes to fantasy baseball.

In 2011, that's not necessarily the case.

In my opinion, the top four fantasy catchers are head and shoulders above the rest of the competition, but there are plenty of options as you go deeper into the draft that can help (or, at least, won't hurt) your team.

Here are the top 15 catchers for 2011:

1. Joe Mauer, Twins: Although Mauer is the top option at catcher in fantasy baseball, the power he exhibited two seasons ago (28 home runs) was nearly wiped out by the team's move to Target Field. Mauer, the 2009 American League MVP, hit only nine home runs -- even worse, only one in 239 at bats at home -- in 2010. That said, Mauer has won 60 percent of the A.L. Batting Titles over the past five seasons.

In our opinion, who should be the No. 2 fantasy catcher is less clear-cut, which led us to set up this poll question and this discussion thread so let your voice be heard.

2. Victor Martinez, Tigers: Martinez, who was in Boston last year, led all catchers in runs batted in (79) while hitting over .300 (.302, to be precise) in 2010. Now that V-Mart is with Detroit, he is expected to see lots of, um, action as the team's designated hitter, which should boost his number of plate appearances.

3. Buster Posey, Giants: Posey, last year's NL Rookie of the Year, hit .305 with 18 home runs and 67 runs batted in. Last season, Posey played 30 games at first base, but manager Bruce Bochy says that Posey will get a "complete day off" when he's not catching in 2011.

4. Brian McCann, Braves: During the span of the past three seasons, McCann leads all catchers in runs batted in (258) and is second in home runs (65) to Mike Napoli. That's the good news. The bad news is his batting average has slid in back-to-back seasons (.301 to .281 to .269).

5. Geovany Soto, Cubs: In the past three seasons, Soto has hit .280-plus twice with a sub-.220 season in between. During that span, Soto has averaged only 116 games per season and has hit one home run per 22.5 at bats. If he stays healthy and gets close to 500 at bats (as he did in 2008), a realistic line for Soto is .275-60-20-75.

6. Carlos Santana, Indians: A top ten prospect by Baseball America in 2010, Santana was called up in June and hit .345 with four homers and 15 runs batted in over 18 games that month. After June and before getting hurt, however, Santana hit only .207 with two home runs and seven runs batted in over 28 games. The sky's the limit for Santana, but there may be some bumps along the way for the young catcher.

7. Miguel Montero, Diamondbacks: Montero missed roughly half the season in 2010 and hit only .222 (35 for 158) from August to October. In the previous season (2009), however, Montero hit .294 with 16 home runs in 128 games.

8. Matt Wieters, Orioles: In many instances, folks overreact to the hype. While Wieters has generally disappointed since being called up, he's still under 25 years old. There is time for him to develop into an elite fantasy catcher and he might actually be somewhat under the radar heading into 2011.

9. Mike Napoli, Rangers: Over the past three seasons, no catcher has hit more home runs (66) than Napoli, who lands in Texas (via Toronto) this off-season. After a couple of seasons with a respectable batting average (.270-plus), Napoli regressed last year to .238 (his lowest average since his rookie season). Although he hit over .300 versus lefties (.305), he hit only .208 against right-handers.

10. Kurt Suzuki, Athletics: Last season, Suzuki hit a career-low .242 although he ranked fourth amongst catchers in runs batted in (71). This off-season, the A's made a few free-agent acquisitions that should help take some pressure off Suzuki and help him bounce back. The question is how much? If it's to 2009 levels (.274 average with 15 home runs and 88 RBI), he's a huge bargain at where he's being drafted.

11. Jorge Posada, Yankees: The addition of Russell Martin will help Posada, who has played only 282 games over the past three seasons, keep from wearing down in 2011 as he's expected to mostly be the team's designated hitter. I expect his batting average to bounce back closer to his career average (.275) and excluding the 2008 season when he played only 51 games, Posada has hit 18-plus homers every year since 2000.

12. Yadier Molina, Cardinals: It's not too often that you get (nor do you look for) stolen bases from your catcher, but Molina has 17 of them over the past two seasons. Molina's batting average declined to .262 last year, but his cumulative batting average over the past three seasons is .286. Molina is a guy that likely won't hurt your roster while giving you something that you would least expect from this position.

13. Chris Iannetta, Rockies: Iannetta is the anti-Mauer. He's not going to win a batting title anytime soon, but he's close to a lock to provide you with 20-plus homers from the catcher position with the full-time job, which he now has. In 154 games over the past two seasons combined, Iannetta has hit only .216 but he also hit 25 home runs (in 477 at bats). That's one home run per every 19 at bats.

14. J.P. Arencibia, Blue Jays: Arencibia is another guy that will likely hurt you in batting average but help you in the power categories. Between Triple-A and a few games with the Jays last year, Arencibia hit a total of 34 home runs in 496 at bats.

15. Carlos Ruiz, Phillies: Ruiz is the Adam LaRoche of the catcher position. In other words, his splits before and after the All-Star break tell a completely different story. Over the past three years, Ruiz has hit only .237 before the break, but he has hit .285 after the break. The contrast wasn't as great in 2010 (.283 and .316 splits, respectively).

Feel free to send fantasy baseball questions to me via Twitter at @EDSBaseball or post them in our fantasy baseball forum.

Perfect...but not really

We nearly saw a third perfect game this season. Well, we did. But not really.

Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga was one out away from throwing the first-ever perfect game in Detroit Tigers history. And he did. Or he didn't.

Galarraga did his part. However, umpire Jim Joyce called Cleveland's Jason Donald safe (when he was clearly out).

Joyce handled it like a man, apologizing to Galarraga saying he "cost that kid a perfect game."

While this error is another reminder of why baseball should have instant replay, Ian O'Connor of ESPN New York recommends that MLB commissioner Bud Selig intervene and reverse the call.

Considering the call happened on the last play (or what should have been the last play) of the game, O'Connor's recommendation makes sense.

It won't impact the outcome from a win-loss standpoint. But it will impact history.

Another strong spring outing for Carmona

Cleveland Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona has now lowered his spring ERA to 0.45 after he pitched seven scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks today.

In the past three seasons, Carmona's numbers have deteriorated each year.

That said, Carmona won 19 games in 2007 and finished the season with an ERA of 3.06.

According to MockDraftCentral.com, Carmona is not in the top 108 starting pitchers off the board as far as average draft position (ADP) is concerned.

Considering his low (or non-existent) ADP, Carmona has certainly become viable as a late-round sleeper with a good chance to bounce back in 2010.

Wood out, Perez in (at least, for now)

When we did our Fantasy Baseball Weekly podcast focusing on relief pitchers (and catchers) last month, I mentioned that one of the set-up guys that I liked was Cleveland's Chris Perez for a couple of reasons.

With the possibility of the Indians being out of contention mid-season and with Wood in the last year of his contract, the Tribe could have easily unloaded Wood and his contract. In addition, there was the possibility that he would lose the job due to lack of performance or good health.

So, for the next six-to-eight weeks, it's the latter (lack of good health) that will create the opportunity for Perez.

Per Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Wood has suffered a strained latissimus dorsi that will keep him out for up to eight weeks and put him on the disabled list for the 13th time in his career.

Lonnie Soloff, the Indians' head trainer, said, "If there is one positive, it's not his elbow or shoulder where he's experienced surgical issues in the past."

After the All-Star break last season, Wood converted eight of ten save opportunities, had an ERA of 2.96 and struck out 30 batters in 24 1/3 innings.

"[Wood's absence] won't be such a long time," [Indians GM Mark] Shapiro said, "and we feel Chris can handle the job in the interim. It will be an opportunity for him."

"It's a good audtion," Perez said. "It's a good way for the new coaching staff to get a look at me. I hope I take the ball and run with it and get off to a good start and help this team get off to a good start. I think that's one of the easiest ways to ruin a season right off the bat is to have the bullpen blow games."

Perez, who is only 24 years old, finished 2009 strong with an ERA of 3.10, a WHIP of 1.00 and batting average against of .184 after the All-Star break.

Indians fire Eric Wedge

On the day that Browns coach Eric Mangini named Derek Anderson starting quarterback, the Cleveland Indians announced that manager Eric Wedge will soon be (just) Eric Wedge.

However, Wedge will manage the remaining games this season.

"I still wanted to finish what we started this year," said Wedge. "I felt it was the right thing to do. It's been a long run here as managers go. It will be a tough day."

Only four managers -- Bobby Cox (Braves), Tony La Russa (Cardinals), Mike Scioscia (Angels) and Ron Gardenhire (Twins) -- have managed their club as long as Wedge has managed the Tribe.

"It's been a long run, as managers go,'' Wedge said. "I have a great deal of respect for the Dolans, Mark Shapiro, the city of Cleveland and Tribe fans all over the place. I'm a big believer in being accountable for what you do. I take responsibility for this.''

The Indians are 64-92 on the season and 5-20 in their past 25 games.

In his seven seasons, Wedge will finish with a winning percentage just shy of .500. His best season was in 2007 when the Indians won 96 games and lost to the Red Sox in the ALCS.

Cliff Lee throws three-hit shutout

Although he improved to only 4-6 with tonight's 3-0 win over the Cardinals, Cliff Lee, the A.L.'s reigning Cy Young, has pitched very well this season.

Especially, if you ignore his first two starts when he allowed a whopping 11 runs in only 10 innings.

Despite his shaky start to the season, Lee has now lowered his ERA to 2.88 after tonight's three-hit shutout. And he got it done in only 93 pitches.

Excluding his first two starts, Lee's ERA is 2.20.

Except for the run support and blip early in the season, it's as though Lee has picked up from where he left off in 2008.

Grady Sizemore placed on the DL

The Cleveland Indians have placed Grady Sizemore on the 15-day disabled list.

The culprit is inflammation in his left elbow.

Sizemore, the team's center fielder, has been used as the Indians DH in nine of the 12 previous games in which he has played.

Chris Gimenez of Triple-A affiliate Columbus has been called up to take Sizemore's roster spot.

Gimenez can play a variety of positions including the outfield and catcher. In the minors, he has played 24 games as catcher, 11 as left fielder and three as first baseman this season.

Indians catcher Victor Martinez was out of the lineup today against the Yankees and he left yesterday's game in the first inning after fouling a pitch off his knee.

On the season, Sizemore was hitting .223 with nine home runs and 31 RBI in 49 games.

A day to forget for the Yankees

The Cleveland Browns are jealous of the Cleveland Indians. Their major-league counterparts did what the Browns couldn't do in the last six weeks of the NFL season.

Put up 22 on an opponent.

For the Yankees, who opened up the new Yankee Stadium this weekend, they experienced a first that they hope to never repeat.

In the course of the Indians scoring 22 runs against the Yankees yesterday, the Tribe scored 14 runs in the second inning.

Yankees' pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, who's been (un)remarkably consistent this season, gave up eight runs in 1 1/3 innings pitched.

On the season, he's 0-3 with an ERA of 34.50. He's allowed 23 runs in only six innings.

“We have six losses on the year right now, and he’s got three of them,” Johnny Damon said. “In all three of those games, we’ve been blown out and we’ve had to go to our bullpen, so maybe our bullpen’s not sharp the following days. I don’t know what more to say, but hopefully he can figure it out, because it’d be tough to keep on going like this.”

With performances like this, maybe the Yankees will lower ticket prices to $1,999.

Manny would like to finish career in Cleveland

You could say that Manny Ramirez lived in LaLa Land before joining the Los Angeles Dodgers.

And Dodgers outfielder (and head-case) Manny Ramirez says that he loves L.A.

So, that makes him think about ending his career in Los Angeles Cleveland.

"I love L.A. I really do. But the way the city responded to me, it reminded me a lot of how it was in Cleveland."

"I would like to play for Cleveland one more time, to go back where I started," said Ramirez. "I have so many good memories there, why not? I think to go back where you started is everyone's dream."

Considering the lack of interest in Manny (at least, at his and agent Scott Boras' price demands), it may be unlikely that the feelings are mutual.