2008 Fantasy Baseball Player Rankings

Your draft date is rapidly approaching, and everybody needs a second (and third, and fourth) opinions on who they should pursue on their fantasy baseball team this season.

About.com fantasy baseball guru Kevin Kleps has done a lot of the legwork for you, with rankings by position.

Kevin's credentials: He's done this for a long time as an award-winning fantasy baseball and football columnist. This is his 10th year of doing these rankings for the Lake County News-Herald, a 50,000-circulation daily newspaper in suburban Cleveland, where he's the assistant sports editor. And he's been in fantasy leagues even longer, consistently in the money in just about all of them.

On to the advice:

• You're picking toward the top of the first round. Does Albert Pujols' injury scare you? It should, but how much? Plus, a breakdown of the first round.
• Fantasy baseball drafts would be nothing without risks. But if you have an opportunity to grab one of these guys at this position, they can stop some headaches before they come. Check out the top "money" players at each position.
• Why wouldn't you want Carl Crawford or Joe Mauer on your fantasy team? Because you can probably do better for the spot in the draft that they'll be picked. Don't fall into these traps. A breakdown of the most overrated fantasy players.
• You've been burned before: Ken Griffey Jr. Randy Johnson. They're old or they're overlooked. But there's value there. Here's a breakdown of the most underrated fantasy players.

The player rankings:

• Top 20 catchers
• Top 20 first basemen
• Top 20 second basemen
• Top 20 shortstops
• Top 20 third basemen
• Top 60 outfielders
• Top 10 designated hitters
• Top 80 starting pitchers
• Top 20 relief pitchers