I’m really excited about the opportunity to write for the World Cup of Fantasy Sports and share my love and passion for fantasy baseball. I’ll try to blog a couple times weekly about topics that I feel need discussing.

I won’t go into all of my philosophies about fantasy baseball in this first blog. You’ll get to figure those out as we go. Just know there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not spending some time thinking or reading about fantasy baseball, and I hope my passion comes out in my writing.

I’m always interested in hearing from fans, so don’t hesitate to drop me an email. I’ll try to respond to each one in a timely manner.

The hot stove was pretty active in recent days, with a couple deals taking place.

First, the Yanks acquired Javy Vazquez and a minor leaguer from the Braves for switch-hitting outfielder Melky Cabrera and two minor leaguers (wow, the rich keep getting richer!).

Vazquez returns to the Yankees for a second time, having pitched for them in ’04, and I expect his ERA in ‘10 will be closer to the 4.91 he posted in the Bronx five years ago than the 2.87 number he had with Atlanta last year. Vazquez is a better pitcher in the NL, and there’s every reason to think his ERA will take a hit going back to the AL when you couple his propensity for the long ball with pitching in that new bandbox in the Bronx. He’ll still register his 200 Ks, and playing for an offensive juggernaut like the Yankees certainly won’t hurt his win total.

Cabrera is a fourth outfielder who has no business starting regularly in the Majors. His fantasy value will be skewed hitting in Yankee Stadium last year, but he has virtually no power and isn’t much of a stolen base threat. Maybe he’ll hit 10 homers and steal a handful of bases with a respectable average, but he’s nothing more than a late-round filler in deep NL-only leagues.

One of the minor leaguers Atlanta received in the deal, Michael Dunn, could have some fantasy relevance down the road. He’s a lefty with a power arm and potential if he can improve his control. Dunn struck out 99 in 73 1/3 innings last year between Double-A and Triple-A before a brief promotion to the Yanks.

The Jays also sent reliever Brandon League to Seattle for starter-turned-reliever-turned-starter Brandon Morrow.

League is someone to keep an eye on for saves this season. Some will look at his ERA and think, ‘Meh, nothing special.’ But delve deeper and you find a pitcher with elite skills and serious closer potential. He improved his command last year while having a 9.2 K rate. I’ll preach this often: draft someone with dominant skills and let the opportunities work itself out. David Aardsma’s ’09 was a fluke aided by several factors not likely to be duplicated again. The door will open in Seattle for saves.

Morrow gets out of a situation in Seattle where he got jerked around as to whether they should start or relieve him. The Blue Jays will likely start him and hope he can get some control. Morrow is still young with plenty of upside. Just monitor his progress for now.

I’ll check back in after Christmas. If you have a topic you want me to rant over, shoot me an email.

Enjoy the holidays, everyone. Only two months until pitchers and catchers in Arizona and Florida.