Dear Mr. Fantasy: Last-minute advice

You can e-mail your Fantasy Baseball questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Dear Mr. Fantasy in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we do not guarantee personal responses or answers to all questions.

I was wondering if you can clarify your position regarding taking Ryan Howard over Jose Reyes. Wouldn't you take Alfonso Soriano ahead of both those guys if you had the number two pick? -- Frank Caruso, New York, N.Y.

MH: I think Soriano deserves all the credit in the world for what he did last season in Washington (.277-46-95-119-41). The most impressive part was his power production in a pitcher's ballpark (24 homers to 22 on the road). However, his best season came in a contract year. Now that he has got an eight-year deal, don't be surprised if he lets up on the pedal a little bit. Soriano is still a legit first-round Fantasy pick, but there is no way I am taking him over Howard or Reyes.

I have the No. 1 pick in our upcoming draft for a Head-to-Head league. The obvious choice is Albert Pujols. But with first base being a deep position, should I take someone like Robinson Cano or Jose Reyes and try to get a quality first baseman later? Or should I stick with Pujols? -- Jeff Gillespie, Fairhope, Ala.

MH:I can't put this in any simpler terms -- do NOT pass on Pujols. I can see where Reyes might be an entertaining pick, but Cano is nowhere near Pujols in terms of Fantasy production. Please read Eric Mack's recent column on drafting Pujols. This guy has been nothing but productive since he came into the majors. You can't pass up on a proven commodity like Pujols.

Now that Alex Gordon has been named the Royals starting third baseman, how high does he shoot up on the third base rankings? -- Kurt Schooley, Lawrence, Kan.

MH: Fantasy owners across the country rejoiced when they heard the news about Gordon being named a starter. Here we are talking about a kid that has Albert Pujols-type potential. He has certainly moved up the Fantasy rankings and it is probably safe to say he becomes a top-10 Fantasy 3B. He has played only one season in the minors and made it no higher than Double-A, but he spent four years at Nebraska, so he is MLB ready. I am expecting Gordon to have some struggles as a rookie, but nothing that should scare off Fantasy owners. I recently drafted him in the 12th round of a first-year, 12-team keeper league, so even I am hopping on the Gordon bandwagon.

I need a closer and there are none left in my league. What is the current closer situation on teams like Tampa Bay and Cincinnati? Any suggestions? -- Don Moore, Greenville, S.C.

MH: It is a mess right now in both Tampa Bay and Cincinnati when it comes to closers. Let's first start off with Tampa. Prior to camp, the team was excited to hand the reigns over to Seth McClung. However, he has been awful this spring (11.57 ERA in 9 1/3 innings), leaving many to doubt his abilities. There has been some talk about Brian Stokes stepping in as closer, but the team might also look at Shawn Camp, who has a 0.93 ERA in 9 2/3 innings. It is best to steer clear of closers in Tampa. Outside of the fact that who knows what is going to happen come opening day, but you are also talking about a closer on a sub-.500 team.

Cincinnati looks to go into the season with a closer-by-committee situation. And with the emergence of Dustin Hermanson, who is coming off a serious back injury, the picture is even more muddled. You should probably steer clear of situations like that in Tampa and Cincinnati until they officially name someone a closer. If you can, add Jorge Julio, who was just named the closer in Florida. He is a better option than taking a chance on someone who has yet to nail down a job.

I have a dilemma. I have Nick Markakis, who I like a lot, but I also know he is sought after by a lot of people in my league. I have offers for Mark Teahen and Ryan Zimmerman among others. Is Markakis too good a prospect to get rid of or is either one of the other two projecting to be as good or better? -- Jacob Cullers, Sacramento, Calif.

MH: Markakis is a good prospect, but if you can get your hands on Zimmerman, make that trade ASAP. There are so many outfield options that letting Markakis go is no big deal. But passing on Ryan Zimmerman is a mistake. You are talking about a guy that projects as well, if not better, than David Wright. He will be a top player at his position for years to come and there is no certainty that same fate will befall Markakis.

I am in the middle of the draft order and I was wondering if I should go with a high ranking middle infielder like Chase Utley in the first round or just pick the highest ranked player? -- Robert Sansone, USA

MH: I was in your situation last week during a 12-team keeper-league draft (picking 7th overall) and I went with Utley. The first six players off the board were Pujols, Reyes, Johan Santana, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Howard and Soriano. I passed on the likes of Miguel Cabrera, David Ortiz and David Wright to get the strongest option at second base. You can't always go by the overall rankings. Use the rankings more as a guideline, but make sure to do your pre-draft research. Target guys you are really set on and pre-rank them. Your draft will go a lot easier if you identify players you want on your team.

Is Kerry Wood worth hanging on to for this season? Or should I pick up someone off the waiver wire like Carl Pavano, John Patterson, Greg Maddux, Zach Duke or Mark Mulder? -- Tony Pettinato, King of Prussia, Pa.

MH: Tony, it looks like you are in the market for a starting pitcher, so in that case, go ahead and drop Wood. He will not be back in the team's rotation this season. He will be in middle relief and could even wind up as the team's closer. But it looks as though his days as a starter are done.

What round do you think Brandon Phillips should be drafted? I think he is going to have a huge season. -- David Gorman, Princeton, N.J.

MH: Phillips finally reached his potential in his first season with the Reds in 2006. He kind of reminds of Adrian Gonzalez. Everyone wanted to write off the 24-year-old Gonzalez after he failed to pan out as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2000 amateur draft. I believe the same fate has transpired with the 25-year-old Phillips. Too much pressure was placed on these guys to develop fast, and they needed a situation where they got a second and third chance to prove themselves with no one looking on. Phillips is being drafted right now as the ninth best 2B. He is going as high as 62nd overall pick and as low as 215. His draft average is about 141, so in a standard 12-team, mixed league, you are looking about a late 11th round pick or perhaps early 12th round.

I have read almost every article on the internet about Fantasy Baseball this year but can't get over how no one has any sleeper picks for shortstops. The only names that have come up are Troy Tulowitzki and Jhonny Peralta. But even then, I have seen them both get drafted higher than I would expect. Is there anyone else out there? --Sam Joseph, Cambridge, Mass.

MH: Sam, there is no need to worry. There are plenty of shortstop sleepers out there. The four that come to mind are Khalil Greene, Stephen Drew, Bobby Crosby and J.J. Hardy. Greene is entering that famous breakout year for players who are 27 years old and has shown great promise this spring at the plate. Drew is likely going to bat leadoff for the Diamondbacks and that means more at-bats for the second-year major leaguer. He has future All-Star written all over him. Crosby and Hardy are two injury-risk sleepers. We have seen the potential that Crosby brings to the table, but he has had two injury-plagued seasons and is one of those high-risk, high-reward guys. Hardy is plenty capable of putting together a good season, but once again, his first two seasons in the majors have been marred by injuries.