Sports

FTSE: Fantasy Tracker Stock Exchange

With the economy on the minds of most Americans, why not relate fantasy baseball to one of the biggest factors in determining the state of the economy, the stock exchange.

Fantasy baseball works a lot like the stock market: Players who have a good spring watch their stocks soar on draft day, and players who aren’t quite up to speed yet will find themselves being drafted later and later.

With Opening Day less than three weeks away, the FTSE will help tell you which players have been helping their stocks this spring and which players are in the red.

Stocks Rising:

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(Getty Images)

(UPI)

Fernando Martinez – New York Mets

2010 Spring Training – .556 BA 3 HR 11 RBIs 8 R 0 SB

Fernando Martinez’s spring will force the Mets to make an interesting decision once Opening Day rolls around and the rosters shrink to 25 players. Martinez is one of the Mets most highly touted prospects, and with Carlos Beltran expected to miss the first month or so of the season, depth at outfield has become an issue for the team. Martinez has torn apart pitching this spring, racking up three homers, 11 RBIs and a .556 batting average in 30 at-bats so far. Regardless what the Mets decide to do with Martinez, either play him in the outfield with the big league club or have him start the season at Triple-A, he has certainly helped his fantasy stock and is worth consideration in the later rounds of your draft.

Francisco Liriano – Minnesota Twins

2010 Spring Training – 7.0 IP 0 W 3.86 ERA 1.00 WHIP 12 K

Rumblings of Francisco Liriano’s return began in February when he pitched wonderfully during the Caribbean World Series, and now Liriano is showing the same promise in spring training. It’s very easy to forget Liriano was the talk of the majors in 2006, when he complied a 12-3 record, a 2.16 ERA and struck out 144 batters in 121 innings before suffering an injury that forced him to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss all of 2007. Since his return in 2008, Liriano has gone 11-17 and watched his ERA and WHIP balloon to 5.80 and 1.55 in 2009. Liriano probably won’t be the same dominant ace he appeared to be in 2006, but it is very hard to overlook his dominance early on this spring and he is definitely worth the risk as a No. 3 or 4 starter in any league.

Stocks Dropping:

Skip Schumaker – St. Louis Cardinals

2010 Spring Training – .121 BA 0 HR 2 RBIs 3 R 0 SB

Skip Schumaker has never been a huge offensive threat, but he was a serviceable player, especially after his switch from the outfield to second base last season. Though his HR and RBI totals aren’t special, Schumaker is a career .301 hitter and has managed to score more than 85 runs in each of his past two seasons hitting from the leadoff spot for the St. Louis Cardinals, making him a solid middle infielder. That was before this spring. Schumaker is hitting an abysmal .121 this spring and his OBP and Slugging are equally as bad at .194 and .152, respectively. Schumaker’s production, or lack there of, will without a doubt cause owners to question his ability to be a starter on any fantasy roster and effectively lower his status on draft day.

Brett Myers – Houston Astros

2010 Spring Training – 9.0 IP 2 W 6.00 ERA 2.00 WHIP 9 K

Brett Myers is one of the most overrated pitchers in all of baseball, and the Houston Astros are about to learn that the hard way. For two seasons, Myers was able to mask an ERA that was close to 4.00 and a WHIP that was over 1.20 by striking out 397 batters in 413.1 innings, but those days are long gone. Myers’ career ERA is 4.40 and he has given up more than 20 home runs in five of his eight major-league seasons. If you can believe it, Myers has been even worse this spring. Despite having two wins, Myers has given up seven runs (6 ER) and 11 hits in nine innings. Myers’ only redeeming quality is his ability to strike out batters, but the high ERA and WHIP may be too much to overlook. Myers is at best a fifth starter and has fallen into the much later rounds of most drafts.