FEB

09

# Ryan Howard ' PHI ' After being injured and struggling the first six weeks of '07, Howard continued his assault on National League pitching. Although his average dropped 45 points, Howard still finished among the leaders in HR's and RBI's. Howard's one downfall is his horrendous eye at the plate. He set a new mark of swinging and missing with 199 strikeouts. Expect another monster season for Ryan, projecting .285, 53 HR, and 140 RBI. Albert Pujols ' STL ' There is only one reason that Albert isn't the number one player on the board overall. There have been more reports that his elbow has become such a problem that he is unable to straighten his arm. To make it worse, Pujols has said that he isn't going to push himself this year if the Cardinals aren't in the race. Since that is a distinct possibility after the way they finished last year, you are taking a pretty good-sized injury risk with Albert. I think he is still very much worth it, but it had to at least affect his ranking. He will make many people sorry if he stays healthy, look for .330/46/145 if the elbow doesn't bark too much. Prince Fielder ' MIL ' One thing you can't call Prince is late for dinner. One of the biggest men in baseball, he is also already one of the more feared young power hitters in the MLB. In just his second full season, Prince hit 50 HRs, and there's no reason to believe that his power numbers will decline. He won't kill you with his average and he even swipes a couple of bags a year. Don't think he's quite snuck into the first round yet, but another great year to the tune of .285/48/140 is well within his reach.  Hell, I'll even tack on 4 steals to that projection. Mark Teixeira ' ATL ' Habitually known as a second half performer, Tex didn't disappoint last year, as he hit more than half of his 30 HRs and 105 RBI after his trade to Atlanta at the deadline last season.  Fantasy owners are hoping that THIS is the year that he finally puts it together for the entire season....

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