Baseball America: 2005 Top 100 Prospects: 76-100

Baseball America starts their 2005 Top 100 Prospects countdown with numbers 76-100.

Prospects Report - 2005 Top 100 Prospects

Matthew Pouliot unveils his top 100 prospects for 2005 at Rotoworld.

Baseball HQ: RESEARCH & ANALYSIS - Recent history lessons

Alex Patton looks at LABR from last year.

Baseball Notebook: Making Contact and Margins of Error

David Luciani looks at contact rates.

Strike Zone - Top 10 Prospects - NL West

Matthew Pouliot wraps up his Top 10 prospect lists.

Tout Wars: National League Second Half 2004 Hits and Misses

Brian Walton has his list of second half players that produced and didn't produce in the NL last season.

Baseball Prospectus: Top 50 Prospects

Baseball Prospectus posted their annual Top 50 prospect list today - in case you need another prospect list.

Spikes Up: Top 20 Prospects, Part One

My fellow scribe at CS, Rob Blackstien, posts the first half of his top 20 prospect list.

AL or Nothing: Even More Reviews of Winter League Performance

My latest column at Creativesports.

The Hook: Top 60 Relievers

James Meyerriecks lists the top 60 relievers for fantasy leagues this season.

Doug Dennis: BULLPEN BUYERS GUIDE

It's Fantasy Baseball Friday and that means a free article from Baseball HQ. This week it's Doug Dennis' Bullpen Buyers Guide. Check it out.

Matthew Pouliot: Top 10 Prospects - AL West

Matthew Pouliot lists his top 10's from the AL West.

Baseball Prospectus: Fantasy Firefight

More on the issues around fantasy baseball and MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM).

The worrisome news, if you're a fantasy baseball player used to having innumerable online options to feed your addiction, is that MLB has decided to dramatically restructure how it licenses companies that run fantasy games on the Web. Official licensees will now likely be restricted to a Big Three of ESPN, CBS Sportsline and Yahoo! (some reports add AOL and The Sporting News as well), plus so-called "mom and pop" shops that will be henceforth limited to 5,000 customers apiece. For everyone else, it's likely to be a choice of scaling back their operations, closing up shop, or receiving a visit from MLB's lawyers.

Creativesports: 2005 MLB Player Database

Creativesports has launched their 2005 MLB Player Database. Use the DB to get projected dollar values and player notes (some from me) on almost every player on team 40-man rosters.

John Hunt: Fantasy fans, start salivating

Sports Weekly's John Hunt releases his first column of the fantasy season.

Baseball Notebook: Ask DL

David Luciani at Baseball Notebook has his most recent column posted.

Local firm takes a swing at MLB over fantasy games

An article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Friday examins the backlash from MLB Advanced Media after they purchased the licensing rights for fantasy baseball.

Other Web sites that run fantasy baseball leagues - ESPN.com, Yahoo, AOL and the industry leader, CBS Sportsline - have not yet started selling 2005 games. No licenses for the coming season officially have been issued, several sources said. MLB Advanced Media announced Thursday that Feb. 17 will be the grand unveiling of MLB.com and its licensed partners "new, exciting and expanded fantasy offerings." Waiting until Feb. 17 to debut sales is part of the new licensing demand.

The Hook: The Top 100 Starters - Part Two

The second half of Jim Meyerriecks' top 100 pitchers on Fantasy Info Central.

Matthew Pouliot: Top 10 Prospects - NL Central

The prospect lists keep on coming. Matthew Pouliot posts his latest prospect column at Rotoworld.

Diamond Futures: Top 100 Prospects (Hitters, Pitchers & Overall)

Diamond Futures has a nice interactive site listing prospect lists from this season and past seasons. Click on "overall" to access the prospect lists. The glossary on the site gives the following overview of their methodology:

While many professional scouts use a "tools" based system to evaluate players, that type of system is difficult for the average fan to use in comparing players. This is especially true when comparing minor league players, whom most fans don't see at all until they reach the major leagues. This system of evaluation also is plagued by the perception problem. One person always sees something different than another person. The problem is exacerbated when that person is either a fan of the team (and wants his prospects to be the best) or an employee of the team (and NEEDS his prospects to be the best).

The Theory we work with here at DF is that if a player will be an offensive force at the Major League Level it should show up in his minor league statistics if you look at them "correctly". This last point is obviously very important. Only by looking at statistics in the correct way can you gain any real insight into a players potential. The OPES is our shorthand way of looking at offensive prospects. Our hope is that it will allow the average fan to compare intelligently the value and potential of minor league position players. We hope you will find it useful. As always any suggestions for improvement will be appreciated..

The Minors First: Top 100 Prospects

I answered a post on a message board today from someone asking where to find a ranked list of minor league prospects for their draft. A lot of sites don't have their top 100's out yet. The Minors First has had their top 100 list of minor league prospects out since January 1st. It's a good resource if you are drafting early.

AL or Nothing > More Reviews of Winter League Performance

My latest AL or Nothing article at Creativesports. This week I look at winter league performances of some players from the Venezuelan League.

The Hook: The Top 100 Starters

My friend Jim at FantasyInfoCentral has put together his Top 100 Starters for 2005. Jim lists dollar values and the "projected round to be drafted" for each pitcher. I'm not a fan of using dollar value lists from any site that doesn't calculate them for you using your league parameters. However, the projected round drafted feature is nice and could come in handy for some.

THE SPECULATOR: Hidden fallout from the Beltran sweepstakes

Baseball HQ is a pay site but they release a free article each week. This week it's a recent article from THE SPECULATOR: Hidden fallout from the Beltran sweepstakes.

Matthew Pouliot - Top 10 Prospects - AL Central

It's prospect time (as you can tell from my last three posts). Matthew Pouliot ranks the top 10 prospects for each team in the AL Central.

John Sickels - Top 10 Prospects for 2005

John Sickels announces his top 10 hitting and top 10 pitching prospects for 2005 on what turns out to be his last column at ESPN. Seems John is getting overrun by Baseball America there. Sickels is starting a new blog called MinorLeagueBall.com (that he says will be operational in about two weeks) to continue on with his prospect reporting.

Lawr Michaels - Top 10 Prospects for 2005

Lawr releases the top 10 prospects from his Top 250 prospect list that he produces each season.

Ask DL - Easiest and Most Difficult Catchers to Steal Against

An Ask David Luciani Article at BaseballNotebook.com that includes, among other things, the Top Ten Easiest and Most Difficult Catchers to Steal Against in 2004. A stat that comes in handy when you are trying to decide when to place that fringe basestealer into your lineup.