2008 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers - Outfielders

Here are your 2008 MLB sleepers that qualify as outfielders (in order of sleeperishness):

Sleepers
1. Justin Upton - As I've said before, Upton is going to be a Griffey-esque superstar at some point. That's probably not going to be this year, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him go 20/20. Plus, he'll get plenty of playing time.

2. Jay Bruce - Anyone who thinks that Bruce isn't quite ready is wrong. Unfortunately, one of those people just might be Dusty Baker. Bruce is a complete hitter with nothing left to prove in the minors. Click on his name, look at what he did last year as he ascended through the minor league ranks and try to tell me he's not ready to contribute at the major league level.

3. Michael Bourn - You can take Juan Pierre with the 100th pick or you can wait 100 picks and get almost the same production out of Bourn. I suggest the latter.

4. Billy Butler - Butler qualifies at outfield in the Yahoo! game and I forgot to mention him among the first basemen. He's really a DH, but whatever. His career minor league AVG/OBP/SLG numbers were: .336/.416/.561 and last year he hit .292 with 8 homers in 92 games for the Royals. The kid can flat-out hit and once he gets comfortable in the majors, he'll hit 30 homers. He is only going to be 22 this season, so it might take a little time. Or it might not. That's what makes Butler such a fun sleeper.

5. Adam Jones - The Orioles have to give Jones playing time, right? They can't possibly play Jay Payton ahead of him, can they? Jones hit 25 homers in only 101 minor league games last season. Add to that his double-digit steal ability and you've got yourself a sleeper.


Semi-Sleepers
1. Josh Hamilton - 19 homers in only 90 games last season. It seems impossible that someone could be away from the game that long and come back and do what he's done. He must be a natural.

2. Josh Willingham - His power dropped a little last year, but I wouldn't be surprised to Willingham get close to 30 homers this year. Add in a few steals and more RBI opportunities with Cabrera's departure moving everyone up in the order. By the way, Willingham's teammate, Jeremy Hermida, deserves a mention as something of a semi-sleeper for the same reasons.


Deep Sleepers
1. Cameron Maybin - Maybin struggled a lot in his brief major league debut (21 strikeouts in 49 at-bats) but he is incredibly talented and, as of right now, the Marlins don't have any exciting alternatives in center field (sorry, Alejandro De Aza). So, Maybin could sneak in there and hit 10-15 homers and steal 25-35 bases. I'm not optimistic about his batting average as I think he'll strike out a lot, but the counting stats could be quite good.

2. Colby Rasmus - I guess Skip Schumaker will be in the Cardinals' outfield to start the year, but Rasmus is good enough that he could force the team's hand within a couple months. As with Maybin, I wouldn't count on a high batting average, but Rasmus did hit 29 homers in 128 minor league games last year and even chipped in 18 steals. You probably don't need to draft him, but be on the look-out for a call-up.