Last year April went by, Joe Mauer was injured, and life went on. Then May happened and Joe Mauer started to hit home runs. Not only did Mauer hit for more power than he ever had, he went on to have a career year, and very likely a top ten all time season by a catcher (probably one of the best by WAR standards, but we won’t focus on that).

In the Fantasy world Joe Mauer owners had to sit on a month with some likely back up catcher who may or may not have helped in anyway. When he came back he out hit all catchers by a massive margin.

Joe Mauer hit 5 more home runs than any other catcher, 11 more hits, and out walked all other catchers. He did this while missing a month. I only mention this over and over again because its incredibly impressive.

Here’s a quick rundown from last year at the catcher position and their wOBA based fantasy points.

Joe Mauer 491 (19.64 points a week)
Victor Martinez 441 (17.64 points a week)
Brian McCann 337 (13.48 points a week)
Kurt Suzuki 320 (12.8 points a week)
Russ Martin 313 (12.52 points a week)
Yadier Molina 310 (12.4 points a week)
Jorge Posada 288 (11.52 points a week)

and so on.  Joe Mauer did not play all season so he averaged 23.38 points a week if you subtract time spent on disabled list. Joe Mauer was so much better than every other catcher. If you were up against Joe Mauer and you were lucky enough to have Victor Martinez, you already had to make up 6 points. 6 points was roughly 2% of the total points in an average week scored.

2% does not exactly scream super awesome, Albert Pujols provided the same advantage on a weekly basis, but unlike Pujols. The 7th best player at his position wasn’t providing half the production. If you were not a V-Mart owner, and you had someone like Jorge Posada, or some blend of average catchers, you were more than 10 points behind.

Roughly 1.5 of the 6 match ups were decided by less than 10 points. This small advantage could have turned ~25% of fantasy matches.  Joe Mauer’s average draft position according to MockDraftCentral.com is 12. In the last 100 mock drafts, Joe Mauer was never taken before 4th overall, and as late at 19th.

While fantasy baseball is a lot on luck, and circumstance, and I cherry picked some of the stats, but Joe Mauer was pretty amazing last season, and even if he slows down this season, he’s so much better than other catchers, that he could be the best fantasy player in 2010, he was in 2009.

1315. That is the numbers of innings Brandon Webb has thrown in healthy seasons. 4. That is the number of innings Brandon Webb through last year while injuring his shoulder in the first game of the season. The Diamondbacks lost their ace for the season, on opening day last season, then had to make the decision whether or not to pick up the team option for 10+ million dollars in the offseason.

The DBacks went ahead and decided to keep Webb around for another season despite getting nothing even a similar to a guarantee for their investment. The DBacks are definitely playing a game of feast or famine with their payroll as Brandon Webb has shown he can be pretty good, around a 7 K/9, less than 3 BB/9, a home run rate that never even sniffs 1.0 over 9 innings, and what was durability.

Likely last season a lot of fantasy owners got burned just like Arizona by having Webb cash out after one game. However should you remain weary of him on draft day? I don’t think so, early spring reports show that Webb is healthy and throwing, while I don’t expect 30 starts from him, there is definite value in getting 20-25 starts from Brandon Webb.

If your league features a DL Webb is a great addition to your team as he may start the season on the DL. While you sandbag a pick somewhere in the draft to snag him up, you might just have that “waiver wire” gold pick up in May or June when Webb starts throwing his sinking fastballs that eventually forces opposing batters to beat up the infields across the National League.

In a traditional roto league Brandon Webb might be good for 10 wins, 100Ks, a low ERA, a good whip, not a lot of walks, he might not be good for any of that. In a FIP league like our own here, he’s got a great background of efficiently deep starts, a decent K rate, gives up less home runs in a season than most relievers. Our league values a great staring pitcher and Webb is exactly that.

The X factor in the whole deal is that team option Brandon Webb and the Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to. Not only does Brandon Webb get paid this season, next offseason he’ll be on the open market. Even if the Diamondbacks are not winning, I got a feeling Brandon might be auditioning for potential clients every 5 days. This is a win-win situation for fantasy managers as they have a motivated player who might sleep their way deep into the draft.

I wouldn’t throw a 5th round pick at him, but I wouldn’t let him slide past round 12 in my league. At that point its worth testing the waters and trying to find a steak in a sea of mediocrity. Brandon Webb has super sleeper written all over him, and he shouldn’t cost you a whole lot. If he fails you move on, if he recovers, you might be on your way onto your own post season pay day…assuming you’re participating in a league that pays you to win.