Kuzul

Fantasy baseball owners are in large part a patient bunch, but it never helps to see a high-round pick like James Shields get rocked in his first start of 2012.It took 105 pitches for Shields to get through just five innings against the New York Yankees on Friday—a team Shields had done surprisingly well against last year. Shields surrendered six earned runs against the Bronx Bombers, which was just three shy of his 2011 season total against them.With all that being said, though, the Tampa Bay ace was one of the best pitchers in the American League last year, and it's far too early to panic on the guy.Shields is coming off arguably his best MLB season, with a career-best 225 strikeouts and 16 wins through 33 starts in 2011. He's part of the most deadly rotation in baseball— his teammates include Matt Moore, Jeremy Hellickson and David Price—and there's ...

During his last few years with the Chicago Cubs, new Miami Marlins starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano made headlines for his temper tantrums more than his work on the mound, but the change of scenery will bring Big Z back to relevancy in 2012.Zambrano is an interesting name for fantasy managers every season. On one hand, he knows how to strike batters out and is a solid veteran; on the other hand, he can be a monster headache with all his random outbursts and foot-in-mouth type of comments.That being said, the Marlins didn't go out and acquire the former Cubs hurler without thinking they can control the big man. Who better to control Big Z than manager Ozzie Guillen, right? Exactly.While I don't expect Zambrano to pull any more of his usual outbursts during his first year on a new team, if he tries that stuff with Guillen, he's going to get ...

Too often in baseball drafts, I see guys coming off injuries from the previous season being forgot about. And from what I've seen so far, Johan Santana has fallen victim to this phenomena.I realize that Santana is coming off major surgery and hasn't played a regular season inning since 2010, but he's still a great talent and the unquestioned ace pitcher for the New York Mets.Even as a Mets fan, I can safely tell you that wins won't be his strong suit this season. I watched this club squander away countless wins for the former Cy Young winner a few seasons ago, and I fully expect similar events to take place in 2012. That being said, though, Santana is getting back into his old routine, pitching every five days, and his health looks to be at 100 percent so far this spring training."I'm feeling good. It's a process. And I'm ...

With so much going on in the shortened NBA season and the NFL playoffs kicking off, it's easy to get one's mind off of baseball. The smart fantasy baseball manager, however, is paying close attention to the MLB and planning accordingly.With any fantasy sport, it's easy to get caught up in the household names, but it's important to never forget the stats (especially in fantasy baseball). So without any more introduction, here are the five most important stats to key in on when drafting in the months to come.Begin Slideshow

For the past few decades, the Kansas City Royals have been little more than an afterthought in the world of baseball, but behind names such as Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler, Mike Moustakas, Aaron Crow and now Alex Gordon things are on the verge of turning around for the once forgotten franchise.The Royals haven't enjoyed a great amount of success in recent memory, finishing in last place of the AL Central six of the last seven season. Despite the lack of on-field success however, the team has enjoyed a fair amount of early round picks in the past few MLB drafts.With these early round picks, the team's management has chosen some quality players over the years, three of which made their debuts in Aaron Crow, Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas.Crow has been everything the Royals could have asked for in a set-up man, posting a 1.43 ERA and 37 strikeouts in ...