By popular demand … the Fantasy Baseball Mailbag! It’s informative, fun, and it goes down easy, just like Cookie Crisp (the back-of-the-box puzzles are wicked tough). The Baseball Friend prattles on after the jump. Oh, and if you’ve already drafted Delmon Young, he looked impressive in taking Ian Kennedy deep over the centerfield fence today. (Yes, that is a certain USF and FSU fan to your right.)

Continued thanks to everyone who has been writing in. I’m only going to do one question today as it has a long (well, long even for me,) answer and is divided into two parts. As always, you can email me any questions. Onto the communication:

Q: Will writes: Hey TBF – I’m in a H2H league and having trouble finding rankings for this format. Do you think you could post a top 10 by position with an eye toward H2H? Maybe top 15 for Outfielders? I actually think your answers are better then ESPN! No pressure but I will probably use your lists as my cheat sheet this year. Thanks!

TBF: Thanks for writing in, Will. TBF feels no pressure! I have ice in my veins.

After careful consideration and a consult w/TBL, I’ve decided against actually doing a rankings post. I feel like there are so many sites/mags that do this, why add one more to the mix? I mean, you don’t need me to tell you that Pujols, Howard, Fielder, Tex and Morneau are the top 5 1Bs in the draft (even if I wouldn’t draft Pujols under just about any circumstances this year.) That said, I’ll answer your question in 2 parts. 1. Guys I seem to like more than others at certain positions and 2., a few thoughts on the difference between how you draft roto vs. H2H.

Here are some guys that I have ranked higher than most:

C: Mike Napoli. I know his AVG is an issue and if you’ve already drafted Adam Dunn, you probably can’t also carry Napoli and finish respectably in BA. But the power is real (I think only V Mart, McCann and Posada will out-homer him at the position,) and he’ll even throw in 5-10 SB, which is huge at catcher. I think he’s a top 10 C and he’s not being ranked/drafted as such.

1B: Ryan Garko. He hits for AVG, has decent power and is in a great lineup. The only thing that could possibly keep his RBI total under 100, barring injury, is the fact that while awesome, V Mart and Hafner aren’t the fleetest of foot and probably won’t be scoring for 1st on any of his many doubles. Still, I think he’s .290, 30, 100 and after you get out of the first/second tier, who is giving you that?

2B: BJ Upton. I’ve talked about this before in this space, but he should not, under any circumstances fall out of the 2nd round. He is 30/30 from 2B AND the OF and just coming into his prime. Last year was not a fluke. He was always supposed to be this good. Think Grady Sizemore. If Sizemore were eligible at 2B in addition to the OF, would he be going in the late 2nd/early 3rd round? No. No he wouldn’t. Neither should Upton.

3B: Edwin Encarnacion. He’s going to be more valuable than Adrian Beltre this year. I have him 10th after the big 6, Figgins, Zimmerman and Chipper (although you could argue Chipper’s injury stuff would put him below him.) He hits for AVG (over .300 after his call back up last year,) the power is coming (I’m guessing 25 homers, especially in that park,) and he’ll steal 10 bases. Think Scott Rolen in his almost prime (obviously not with the glove, though.)

SS: Um…everyone? The position hasn’t been this deep since…well, ever, really. That said, I like Jhonny Peralta quite a bit. I think he’s easily .280, 20 HR and 85 RBI. Historically, you’d have been psyched to get that from your SS. But I don’t see a way that he even ends up in the top 10 at the position this year without Tejada and Furcal getting hurt/indicted (in no particular order. Furcal could go on a massive killing spree for all we know.) I’m not there yet, but I’m almost at the point of recommending you not draft people like Michael Young and Carlos Guillen. They’re both excellent options, of course, but the drop off between them and guys like Peralta isn’t as much as say the drop off in SP between guys like Verlander/Sabathia (being drafted around where Young and Guillen are,) and say, Derek Lowe (being drafted around where Peralta is.) In fact, I just convinced myself. Don’t draft Young or Guillen. Take a top pitcher instead and get your SS later. If you don’t get one of the big 3 (Hanley, Rollins or Reyes,) or get Jeter or Tulo at market value (late 3, early 4 on Jeter, mid-late 4 on Tulo,) wait to draft a SS.

OF: I’ll throw a few at you:

Bobby Abreu. Had a ROUGH start last year, but still hit a decent .283 with 15 homers, 25 SB, 101 RBI and 123 runs scored. That’s right, 123 runs scored! He’s got the coziest lineup spot in the Majors, still gets on base and is playing for his last contract. He’s about as valuable as Grady Sizemore, but is going 2 rounds later. Take him in the 3rd.

Delmon Young: He’s .300, 20/20 and if he keeps hitting 5th behind Mauer and Morneau as he has early this Spring, he’s going to drive 100 runs in. He’s going in the 9/10 rounds, but he should be going in the 7th. Grab him in the 8th and be psyched.

Michael Bourn: He’s Juan Pierre minus 25 points of AVG. He’s going 9-10 rounds later than Pierre, though and while Pierre has the possibility of losing AB to guys like Kemp and Ethier, Bourn is going to play every day. He’s my pick to lead the NL in SB. I don’t love drafting speed only guys (more on this in a bit,) but there’s real value here.

Nate McClouth: He won’t hit for AVG and the Pirate’s lineup does kinda suck, but assuming he wins the CF job (he should,) he’s good for 15 HR and 30 SB. He’s going in the 23-25 round and that doesn’t make any sense to me.

SP: Matt Cain. Do you have any idea how unlucky this guy was last year? His bullpen sucked, his lineup sucked…well, actually, they still kinda do, but the won/loss record last year was way out of whack with his numbers. I’d rather have him than Roy Oswalt, though, who is going 5-6 rounds higher.

Andy Pettitte: This one really becomes an issue of whether or not you think his head will explode. Personally, I don’t think it will. He’s already distancing himself from Clemens, and anyone who has watched his career knows how competitive he is. I think he’s going to find a way to harness the negativity and feel he has something to prove. There’s no real upside here, but 15-16 wins, and ERA under four and decent K numbers are very useful. He’s going way lower than he should be. Draft him where you think Andy Pettitte should be drafted, minus the mental stuff.

RP: Matt Capps. I for the most part agree that you don’t need to draft the “top” guys to compete in saves. Capps has a lock on the job, and honestly, he’ll be just as valuable as Huston Street or Bobby Jenks or Jose Valverde who are all going 5 or so rounds ahead of him.

As for Roto vs. H2H, there are fewer differences than you think. You should still load up on hitters early as regardless of format, they are more reliable/projectable than pitchers. However, I do believe that pitching should be valued more in an H2H league. Remember, to do well in a H2H league, you have to be good EVERY week. Sure, depending on your league rules, you can roll a few pitchers and pile up Ks and hopefully Wins, but it’ll kill your ratios (if these guys were that good, they wouldn’t be on your waiver wire.)

I think in an H2H format, you must have at least 3 top level pitchers to win, whereas in the Roto format, you can do with 1-2. Consistency is everything. Remember, in H2H, you have the option to sit guys a lot more than you do in Roto. In Roto, you’re compiling as many stats as you can, but in H2H, you just have to beat your opponent that week. That emphasizes quality over quantity. If you have 2-3 top pitchers, you can just roll them early in the week and if they do what they’re capable of, you can avoid using lesser guys as you should have your ratios locked up with a good shot at W and K as well. To this end, make sure you get a top SP in the first 5 rounds in H2H.

Also, relievers are more valuable in H2H. Adding and extra 2-3 ip a week from a guy like Carlos Marmol makes a huge difference in your ERA/WHIP and adds a few Ks as well. Make sure you have 3 guys getting saves and at least one strong middle reliever (think Rafael Betancourt,) to keep your ratios down and Ks up.

Finally, I always make sure I have one speed specialist in H2H. Someone like a Michael Bourn or Willy Taveras or even Dave Roberts. As we all know, speed doesn’t slump and if you’re in a tight race on a given week, it’s great to have one of those guys to get you a bag or two so you can snatch away the SB category for the week.