Pitching in a tight divisional race for most of the season, he finished 19-6 with a 2.72 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, .221 BAA and nearly a K per inning.  And as the no. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft and his dominant turn as a closer in the 2008 postseason, you know the guy’s got talent.  

Those of you who had Price on your team last year probably got him cheap…which unfortunately for you won’t happen this year.  I rank him just below the top tier of Halladay/Lee/Sabathia/Lester, et al.

Shields does have fairly good strikeout numbers, but I can’t recommend him for ownership…there are spot-starters you can get that will be better than Shields.

Wade went 7-1 after July 1, with an ERA of 3.45 and fairly good strikeout numbers.  I think he’s well worth a mid-to-late round pick, and someone who is going to get better.  Don’t be surprised to see him as the Rays no. 2 starter by midseason.

Jeff Niemann was as good a starter in baseball in 2010 until he got hurt.  A top five pick in 2004, Niemann was phenomenal until mid-July.  At that point, he was 9-3 with an ERA right around 3.00, but finished the year at 12-8 with a 4.39 ERA, making the rest of his season, well, not so good.  

I think Niemann will be somewhere in between his two 2010 personas…not a 20 game winner, but not a guy with a near-5.00 ERA.  A late round pick in Mixed leagues, a decent value buy in AL-only.

And at no. 5, my favorite young pitcher in baseball, Jeremy Hellickson.  Brought up to the Majors as a reliever in 2010, he was outstanding at 4-0, nearly a K per inning, a 33:8 strikeout to walk ratio, an ERA of 3.47, WHIP of 1.10 and a BAA of .232.  

Hellickson can throw 4 pitches for strikes, and has a devastating change-up (not Trevor Hoffman-esque, but devastating nonetheless) and good makeup.  He’s worth owning, so put him on your target list for your draft.

The Rays also boast two more top starting pitching prospects – Matt Moore (who has as much potential as anyone around, but will probably start the year in AA) and Chris Archer (just acquired from the Cubs, he went 15-3 with 149 K’s in 142 innings and an ERA of 2.34 in AA – who could see some action if the chips fall right.  Put them on your dynasty watch list.