It is being reported (by Cliff Lee himself) that after an all-day flirt fest with the New York Yankees, the Seattle Mariners have decided to deal their rent-an-ace in division to the Texas Rangers.
The fantasy focus of this deal is of course that Lee is going to a better team with infinitely better run support.  Even with very little help from his offense, Lee has been as dominant as expected, going 8-3 with a 2.34 earned run average and now he has the added bonus of not having to pitch a shutout every time he takes to the mound.  There [...]

It’s days like this that I really love my job.  I turn on the television, and fire up the ole laptop preparing to search for a topic to write about, and the search takes exactly 30 seconds.  What a weird and whacky end to the work week.
Let’s start with the first game of the day.  What a long strange trip it’s been for the Chicago Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano.  From end of the bullpen guy, to best number three starter in all of baseball to ace, to just opening day starter, to eighth inning guy, back to starter, and now to…..former [...]

The first round of the 2010 NFL Draft is in the books and 32 players have new homes with NFL teams. Which of the eight skill position talents drafted in the first round could help your fantasy team next season? Here’s CPR’s list of the best skill players from the opening night of the draft with a look to the 2010 season.
1. Ryan Matthews RB | San Diego
It was clear that the Chargers would be targeting a running back in this year’s draft after parting ways withLaDainian Tomlinson last year, and they did just that by trading up in [...]

- The two closers on the hottest seats in the majors officially lost their jobs on Sunday. In Texas, Rangers’ manager Ron Washington announced that Neftali Feliz would take over for the embattled Frank Francisco. After two blown saves from Francisco, Washington had apparently seen enough. Consider yourself lucky if you can grab Feliz and his high-90s fastball in your league.
- In Baltimore, while nothing is “official”, manager Dave Trembley did say Sunday that Mike Gonzalez would be removed from the stopper role for at least the time being. Righty Jim Johnson should be the most popular addition from the [...]

Opening Day 2010 is in the books. Here’s some of the day’s fantasy highlights and lowlights.

As we wrote earlier in the day, Albert Pujols spent his day in Cincinnati doing what he does best, hammering baseballs all over the field. The Cardinals’ slugger hit his first two longballs of the season and finished the day with four hits in the Redbirds’ 11-6 trouncing of the Reds… Fellow Cardinal Colby Rasmus hit his first homer of the season as well in the game, a possibly breakout 2010 could be in store for the center fielder… Pittsburgh’s Garrett Jones hit two homeruns [...]

For the Fantasy owner, Opening Day is a day to sit back and enjoy the first taste of the game that has been away for far too long. Opening Day is certainly not the time to make knee-jerk reactions to box score lines from day one. There’s 161 more games to go people! No need to look to trade Jacoby Ellsbury (0-for-5) or be discouraged with C.C. Sabathia’s rough Sunday night outing… it’s just Opening Day.
So in hopes of relieving the temptation for you to do it, here’s a few Knee-Jerk Assessments of my own from the first three and [...]

It seems the Falcons may have gotten the running game going again against the Niners. That’s good news for owners of Michael Turner.
I like Jay Cutler all year with the Bears. The Bears D should be just bad enough to keep him throwing a lot of passes.
Is anyone really worth owning in St. Louis outside of Steven Jackson? Maybe the kicker Josh Brown. Maybe.
I’d get Michael Crabtree now if you have an open waiver spot. He might not do much in the Niners offense, but he’s worth a flyer.
Seattle’s offense came back alive with Matt Hasselbeck’s return. It should stay that [...]

Rashard Mendenhall finally showed some signs of life in Pittsburgh. I have a hunch that he may not be giving back the job to Willie Parker anytime soon.
San Diego’s defensive struggles should help their offensive numbers. The Chargers play better when they’re throwing the ball and spreading the field.
Derek Anderson has the job in Cleveland. Grab him on waivers if you’re desperate. Really desperate.
It seems running back Bernard Scott might start to see an increased role in Cincinnati’s offense. Grab him if you need running back depth.
Is Brandon Marshall back? That catch-and-run yesterday looked like it.
Tennessee’s defense continues to struggle. [...]