[FREE] My, how things change in just a few short months.

While building a starting pitching staff isn’t nearly as frustrating as finding a healthy closer, it still can be a challenge. Remember a little over one-third of the pitchers who will pitch in the majors this season will spend time on the DL, which doesn’t help. As hard as it is to build an effective staff, we need to reduce our risk on draft day. Here is a look at American League starters who might be at risk this season.

Manager Joe Girardi's recent remarks that the loser in the starting rotation competition is not guaranteed a bullpen spot merely added fuel to recent media speculation that off-season acquisition Michael Pineda (RHP, NYY) might begin the season in Triple-A. While Pineda's 2011 skills clearly rank him as one of NYY's top rotation options, he reported to spring training camp overweight and has shown less velocity than during his rookie season with SEA.

As we do every year, we close out the pre-season calendar with a look at some possible long-shot league leaders and award winners. As always, our philosophy for this exercise is that anyone can predict an Albert Pujols MVP award or a Felix Hernandez Cy Young campaign. We're not interested in that level of prognostication; we're going to stick our necks out a good bit further.

With the start of the regular season less than a week away, we continue our annual review of the top prospects in baseball. This week we take a look the top starting pitching prospects in the game. Each year there seems to be a bevy of talented young hurlers that establish themselves as rotation mainstays.

(FREE) Experts league champions Glenn Colton and Fred Zinkie talk about strategy, tactics, and draft preparation.

Here are our Minor League draft grids, the essential tool for dominating the end-game or minor-league portions of your drafts this weekend.

Along with the regular season's first real game comes the regular season's first injury. Mike Carp (OF/1B, SEA) sprained his shoulder in Wednesday's opener in Japan. It was enough to send Carp to the DL. Carp 's surprising 2011 MLB production in his first extended look (290 AB) was due in part to high hit and hr/f rates (35%, 18%). Still, he had won the LF job in spring training and at 25 and with some pop (12 HR, 136 PX in 2011) he held, and still holds, some promise.

Punting categories is an old idea with limited potential for success. Or so it seems.

As part of an ongoing series, we continue to explore how behavioral economic principles may assist in the management of your fantasy baseball roster. The week, we discuss how attachment and endowment effects may impact roster decisions.

Much of the prospect discussion in spring training has revolved around future stars such as Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and Matt Moore. There has also been plenty of focus on international talents. While Yoenis Cespedes and Gerardo Concepcion have signed with major league organizations, Jorge Soler is waiting to be granted free agency by Major League Baseball. These three international prospects are profiled here with full scouting reports and a prognosis for future success.