Following up our National League All-Star team, we now present our American League stars. Same deal as the NL, where preseason expectations factor into the nominations. A highly regarded player can still make our cut, but it takes a pretty special first half to do it.

Chances are, high draft choices who haven’t missed significant time with injuries are producing in the neighborhood of what you expected. The difference in a fantasy team’s fortunes come down to guys on this list, who are outperforming their preseason draft stock. Read more »

Twins GM Bill Smith knew he wasn’t going to be able to sign Torii Hunter this past offseason. The Twins invested in their young talent, All-Stars Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, and they wouldn’t be able to compete with the $100 million-plus offers Hunter was going to receive and eventually took from the Angels. But Smith still had to find a way to replace Hunter’s 30-homer, 100-RBI production. So he traded Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to the Rays for 22-year-old Delmon Young.

Young is a five-tool player with MVP-type talent. After a respectable rookie season in which he hit .288 with 13 home runs and 93 RBIs, Young scuffled through the first few months of the season. He didn’t go deep until June 7, and all of his roto numbers except steals were lagging as well. Read more »