We will be rolling out plenty of 2010 fantasy baseball coverage in the coming days, weeks and months, but let’s start right here with player-by-player profiles of our rough top 100 preseason rankings. Stay tuned to the site for more player profiles, draft kit information, rankings, sleepers, busts, etc. as Spring Training approaches.

Carlos Pena, 1B, Tampa Bay Rays
Overview: Premium power hitter who struggles to make consistent contact … has blossomed late in his Major League career, posting at least 30 HRs and 100 RBIs in all 3 seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays … tied for the American League lead with 39 homers (in just 135 games) last season, but also ranked third with 163 strikeouts.
2009 numbers: .227 avg., 39 HRs, 100 RBIs, 91 runs, 3 SBs in 135 games
Key splits and trends: Mix of poor contact rate (34% K rate) and sluggish BABIP (.247) did him in last season … better luck — Pena has a .293 career BABIP — should help move his average back toward a more respectable .250 … missed the final 3 weeks of the season with a broken index finger.
Strengths: Is a poor man’s Ryan Howard in his high power, low average contributions … is on the short list of players with 40-home run potential, but is also unlikely to out-perform his .247 career batting average.
Weaknesses: In addition to struggles making contact, also has a difficult time staying on the field … has never logged 500 at-bats in a single season and has hit better than .250 just once, in 2007.
Bold prediction for 2010: Average climbs back into the .240s and home run total soars into the 40s.

Evan Longoria hit two homers in a 5-4 loss at Baltimore Friday night, his third and fourth in the last three days. With the multi-homer game, Longoria moved into the major league lead with four long balls and knocked in his sixth, seventh and eighth runs of the season.

We like Longoria this season. A lot, in fact. So, his quick start doesn’t come as a huge surprise. He’s a mega-talented player with a solid head on his shoulders and a prime place in a quality Tampa Bay Rays’ lineup. Read more »

It’s a hard guarantee to make, but not when considering Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria’s ability and maturity level. We’ll say it, though: Longoria will be a Top 10 fantasy player this season.

The overwhelming thought is that Longoria is, and will be, a .270 type hitter in 2009 and beyond. But don’t be so sure. Some early contact struggles as a rookie were too much to overcome with his season batting average, which still checked in at a respectable .272. Those same early struggles shouldn’t be a factor in his second season. Read more »

The darling of Tampa Bay’s World Series run last year, David Price makes the move from big league bullpen to rotation this season. While the transition is often difficult, Price has given us no reason to believe he won’t make it with ease. The lefty is equipped with a dominant fastball-slider combination that should make him a top-of-the-rotation force for years to come.

Price was the No. 1 pick in the 2007 amateur draft after a truly dominant junior season at Vanderbilt. That success translated immediately during his first pro season, and he breezed from high-A Vero Beach in April to Tampa Bay in September. In three minor league stops, Price went 12-1 with a 2.31 ERA and 109 strikeouts in 109.2 innings. Read more »

The outlook is not so bright now, but could be exponentially better in the long-term for Tampa Bay Rays outfielder B.J. Upton.

After battling a shoulder injury for much of the 2008 season, he had surgery this winter to repair a torn labrum. The Tampa Tribune reports that Upton may not be ready for opening day, but he should be in much better position to produce when he returns. Read more »

It was a busy day for free agent outfielders Monday, with two signing multi-year deals with new teams. Tampa Bay inked Pat Burrell to a two-year deal, according to the Tampa Tribune, and the Chicago Cubs signed Milton Bradley to a three-year, $30-million deal, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

About time the market for corner outfielders heated up. Both are good signings in their own right, but the Rays should be commended for nabbing Burrell at the low, low rate of $8 million per year of a short-term deal. He will almost exclusively serve as a designated hitter, but will fall in line behind Carl Crawford and newly acquired Matt Joyce in left field. Read more »

“The sophomore slump”.

No one will ever actually admit to being a second-year player going through a mysterious curse that makes the best hitters and pitchers suffer tremendously following an impressive rookie year outing. Some say it’s just a lack of concentration, or raising the expectations too high for themselves, or just plain old nerves. Newsflash: Those three excuses are just better ways of saying, “I’m in the sophomore slump and I don’t think there’s any way out of it.” Read more »

Jimmy Rollins went 0-for-3 in Game 5.

Chase Utley went 0-for-3 with a run scored, but left five runners on base.

Even Ryan Howard, who was hitting at a .353 clip before taking an 0-for-4 in Game 5, struggled in the game that took nearly half a week to play. Thankfully for the Philadelphia Phillies, Jayson Werth went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a stolen base. Read more »

The ship has sailed for the Tampa Bay Rays on a potential World Series championship. The Rays had their opportunities early in the series, and by failing to cash in, they gave the Phillies more than enough time to get comfortable and find their rhythm.

This series turned out to be a race to that point. Who would break out of their funks first, Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria or Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins?

While Howard and Rollins emerged in big ways the last two games, Pena and Longoria may not wake up until spring training. Both players are in search of their first hits in the series — they are a combined 0-for-29 — and Phillies pitchers are searching for threats in the rest of the Rays lineup. Read more »

All season long, the Tampa Bay Rays won with balance. Hitting in the clutch, strong team defense, and solid pitching led the team to 97 victories. But, in the Game 1 loss to Philadephia in the World Series, the hitting faltered and all sense of balance was off.

Compiling only five team hits, the Rays lineup was stifled by opposing pitcher Cole Hamels all game long. The meat of the Ray’s order - B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena - were held without a hit in 12 at bats.

In attempt to offset the struggles of their teammates, Akinori Iwamura and Carl Crawford gave their best efforts to pick up the slack. Iwamura went 3-for-4, while Crawford added a home run. However, their effots were not enough to carry the team to victory, as the Rays fell into a 1-0 series deficit. Read more »