When President Elect Barack Obama announced change was coming, he did not anticipate it to be negative. However, after the stock market proceeded to drop another 650 points, Americans of all walks of life were hit even harder by a struggling economy.

However, do the economic stumbles affect professional athletes? Unlike most Americans, athletes don’t have to worry about putting food on the table. With the minimum salary set at $370,000, baseball players have the luxury of leading comfortable lives, making Joe the Plumber quite jealous. Read more »

Chances are, you have made some key free agent pickups throughout the regular season that have catapulted you into championship contention. Don’t let that keen eye for the undervalued free agent get away from you just because it’s September.

There are plenty of quality hitters left on the market that can put you over the top and into the winner’s circle. Here are the top 10 free agent hitters that you should consider picking up. Read more »

It’s go time in most fantasy leagues. Innings and starts limits still must be met, and title-chasing owners would be wise to do so. Spot starters are more important now than ever, thus making our Week 25 free agent profiles a crucial read.

Veterans are a theme as the season heads down the home stretch. But, their recommendations are based less on age than they are for reliability. The older guys compete for valuable wins and offer a little more certainty each start, even if it comes with less excitement and upside. Read more »

A quick look at starting pitchers available in at least 50 percent of ESPN.com leagues. These are the guys who either haven’t deserved or haven’t earned fantasy owners trust, but who could lend a helping hand during the stretch run. Though some of the pitchers on this list have limitless potential, it is important to tread lightly and use them in comfortable spots.

Home starts are always advisable, especially for youngsters who are a little timid when they leave their comfort zones. Keeper leaguers should pay special attention to pitchers like Clayton Kershaw, David Price and Ubaldo Jimenez, who all have top-of-the-rotation type stuff, but need to put it all together at the major league level. Even if they don’t crack your fantasy team’s starting lineup, they can still have carry-over value to next year. Read more »

The middle infield positions are by far the most frustrating and hardest to fill in fantasy baseball. There’s a fine line between it being your team’s strength and an impossible weakness; all it takes is one injury to trigger weeks of scrambling to fill spots. The problems compound quickly in deeper leagues, which is why we’re here to help with another installment of The Dirty Half Dozen.

These are six players available in at least 90 percent of ESPN.com leagues, who offer either good upside or quality help in at least one category. Youth, as is usually the case, provides the best opportunity for quick gains because they are unproven and relatively hard to trust. Jed Lowrie has surged to the top of the list with an excellent debut as Boston’s interim starting shortstop. Read more »

Middle relievers are cause for philosophical differences in fantasy baseball. How valuable are their innings? Must they have some kind of possibility for saves to be worthy of a roster spot? Answers to those questions really vary, but now is a time, with owners starting to max out starts limits, when middle relievers have more utility.

Ideally, a middle reliever would have oustanding ratios, a high strikeout rate, and at least a chance to pick up a save or two. Each of the five guys on this list have one or more of those three attributes, but the perfect reliever is indeed hard to find. Saves are instantly sprung upon a pitcher, so lengthy planning to find saves can be a futile enterprise. Read more »

Power makes a fantasy offense tick, so when a team doesn’t have it, competing for a league championship becomes doubly hard. Beyond the traditional big bats in fantasy - Pujols, A-Rod, Holliday, etc. - power can be scarce along the way. The Dirty Half Dozen is here to help, with six power hitting prospects available in at least 90 percent of ESPN.com leagues.

The centerpieces of this list all have a common tale to tell, having bounced back and forth between the majors and minors. But, none of those three players - Colorado’s Ian Stewart, Kansas City’s Billy Butler and Toronto’s Adam Lind - have lost their top prospect status. And each of them will be better for their experiences in the minors. Read more »

Some familiar names highlight free agent profiles this week, with Wandy Rodriguez and Kevin Slowey still available in most leagues and offering solid production. These are all guys available in at least 50 percent of ESPN.com leagues, and we try to give the best variety possible within those confines.

There are veterans Tim Wakefield and Pedro Martinez, who come recommended for very different reasons. And there are several young talents - Manny Parra, Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker - who are putting it together for contending teams. Wakefield and Andy Sonnanstine come with less upside but a little more reliability pitching in front of the Red Sox and Rays. Read more »

Left-handers are a theme for this week’s free agent profiles, with veterans Wandy Rodriguez and Randy Wolf topping the list. There’s a good mix of young and old, risky and conservative available for either permanent roster spots or spot-starting duties. Splits, especially the home/road variety, are a good jumping point for determining how each pitcher can help in your pursuit of a championship.

Rodriguez epitomizes the home/road split, pitching so dominantly at Minute Maid Park (0.98 ERA) that he warrants a long-term roster spot just for the right to start him at home. Meanwhile, a couple of rookies and reclamation projects make for intriguing options in deeper leagues. Read more »

It’s free agent time again, and while a lot of the same players can be found on our list and on your waiver wire, a few fresh faces are also proving worthy of a midseason pickup. Brian Giles continues to hit in front of Adrian Gonzalez in San Diego and the multi-position eligibility of utility players Alexei Ramirez and Maicer Izturis provides depth and flexibility.

With injuries beginning to creep up the fantasy leader board, any of the below can be an admirable stopgap or potential everyday start. Read more »