The Nats' kids are alright (US Presswire)

The Washington Nationals may not have had baseball's best off-season, but it was perhaps the busiest. It began with a November kidnapping, followed by a dramatic rescue (involving heavy gunfire), and it concluded with the unsuccessful pursuit of a $214 million free agent. Along the way, the Nats managed to assemble a decent 2007 fantasy roster — Brad Lidge, Mike Cameron, Mark DeRosa and Chien-Ming Wang each signed one-year deals — and they completed a six-player trade with Oakland, acquiring Gio Gonzalez.

So this team has not been idle. Even if Washington can't improve on last year's 80-win finish, no reasonable observer would argue that the Nats have had a boring winter.

The fantasy community has a few burning questions about this squad in advance of spring training, so let's dig in...

If you find Ubaldo's missing miles-per-hour, please notify the Tribe (US Presswire)

When the Cleveland Indians acquired Ubaldo Jimenez at the deadline last season, they trailed Detroit by just a game and a half in the American League Central. It was an aggressive move, no doubt, as the Tribe sent four prospects to the Rockies, including highly regarded pitchers Drew Pomeranz and Alex White. But the team was within range of the Tigers, so they played to win the flag. You can't help but admire the attempt.

The problem with the deal, of course, is that Jimenez was lousy when he reached Cleveland — even lousier than he'd been in Colorado. He allowed 43 runs over 65.1 innings for the Indians, posting a brutal 1.45 WHIP. Jimenez gave up at least five runs in three of his first four appearances. By the time he self-corrected in late-August, the Tribe had faded.

If this team has any hope at all of competing in 2012, they'll likely need an ace-like effort from Ubaldo. He's just one season removed from a third-place finish in the N.L. Cy Young race, so we know he's capable of brilliance. The biggest worry, as most of you know, was his loss of velocity from 2010 to 2011. He dropped a few ticks on every pitch in his repertoire last year, and his average fastball dipped from 96.1 miles per hour to 93.5. Perhaps not surprisingly, his swinging-strike percentage slipped as well (9.1 to 7.5).

Yu Darvish at the 2009 World Baseball Classic (Getty Images)

So the Texas Rangers have decided that the next six years of Yu Darvish's pitching career are worth something like $111.7 million, a remarkable number for a player with no major league experience. The Rangers submitted a record $51.7 posting bid, then inked Darvish to a six-year deal worth $60 million ($56 million guaranteed). You'll find a year-by-year contract breakdown right here, if you care about such things.

Darvish's price tag isn't much of a concern in the fantasy community, except as an indication of the team's expectations. When a club invests nine figures in a pitcher, they generally expect an ace. Darvish has been almost impossibly good over the past five seasons in Japan — in fact, each year has been better than Daisuke Matsuzaka's best, better than Hiroki Kuroda, better than Colby Lewis.

Just check the stats, 2007-'11:

2007, age 20 — 15-5, 1.82 ERA, 0.828 WHIP, 207.2 IP, 210 Ks, 49 BB, 9 HR
2008, age 21 — 16-4, 1.88 ERA, 0.897 WHIP, 200.2 IP, 208 Ks, 44 BB, 11 HR
2009, age 22 — 15-5, 1.73 ERA, 0.896 WHIP, 182.0 IP, 167 Ks, 45 BB, 9 HR
2010, age 23 — 12-8, 1.78 ERA, 1.015 WHIP, 202.0 IP, 222 Ks, 47 BB, 5 HR
2011, age 24 —18-6, 1.44 ERA, 0.828 WHIP, 232.0 IP, 276 Ks, 36 BB, 5 HR

Ridiculous. That's absolute mastery by any standard. Darvish posted a sub-2.00 ERA in back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back years, a Walter Johnson-level feat. Of course the hitting talent Darvish faced during that five-year stretch was nothing like what he'll find in MLB, but, well ... he destroyed the league. Exactly how much better do you think anyone else could have pitched? Matsuzaka never delivered a sub-2.00 ERA in Japan, nor did Lewis (2.68 in 2008, 2.96 in '09). Kuroda did it once, then posted a 3.56 ERA and 1.213 WHIP in 2007, his final season with Hiroshima.

So, just to be clear: Yu Darvish is very good.

Astros fans chase a freebie (Bob Levey-Getty Images)

The Houston Astros were such a flaming disappointment in 2011 that the team has actually been relegated, bumped to the American League, effective 2013. We're all anxious to see which low-power, .320-OBP scrapper will emerge as this team's regular DH, but that will have to wait. The Astros must first slog through the 2012 season as lame-duck National Leaguers. This group finished dead-last in the senior circuit in ERA last year (4.51) while scoring the third-fewest runs (615) and ranking next-to-last in total homers (95), so it can be reasonably argued that they don't do anything well.

The questions surrounding this team are many, although mixed league fantasy owners probably wouldn't describe any of them as "pressing." These are more like festering questions...

Rams fan tailgating (Scott Boehm-Getty Images)

If your league settles its championship in Week 17, then ... well, then you're part of the lunatic fringe of the fantasy community, for sure. Forecasting the NFL is always a bit of a crapshoot, but it's even crapshootier this week. Nonetheless, we'll try to set the table. Here are five need-to-know details about the final day of the regular season...

1. The Packers and Texans are locked into their playoff seeds, so they can't be trusted. These teams offer the most sit-down risk. Green Bay has clinched everything worth clinching in the NFC, and the Houston owns the No. 3 spot in the AFC. Aaron Rodgers, fantasy's highest-scoring asset through 16 weeks, is INACTIVE in the finale. This gameplan should belong to Matt Flynn, Brandon Saine and James Jones.

The Texans may not rest the entire varsity offense, because A) they've been lousy in recent weeks, dropping their last two games, and B) Andre Johnson is returning from injury. But still, the priority for Houston in Week 17 has to be keeping everyone upright and unbroken. Arian Foster is a no-go, inactive. Ben Tate likely draws the start.

2. The Falcons might not have anything to play for today, depending on the Detroit-Green Bay outcome. Scott already discussed this scenario (and all others) on Wednesday. If the Lions beat the Pack early in the day, then Atlanta will be locked into the No. 6 seed in the NFC — and if that's the case, then the Falcons will have no obvious incentive to put his key skill players at risk. We might just see plenty of Chris Redman, Eric Weems and Jacquizz Rodgers. As of this moment, I'd prefer not to be in a position where I needed a big performance from any Falcons, despite the excellent match-up (Tampa Bay). Or, if I was unavoidably tied to the Atlanta offense, I'd want to have the appropriate handcuff on my roster.

Jimmy Graham (US Presswire)

Throughout the week, the Yahoo! fantasy team will review each of the four major positions, with an eye toward 2012 drafts. The plan is to take a Q&A approach. We're looking at trends, sleepers, rookies, free agents, potential busts and breakouts ... it's like an early draft of a position primer, basically. We begin today with the tight ends, a group that just rewrote its chapter in the record book.

This season, NFL analysts have frequently written that 2011 is "The Year of the Tight End." This dude said it, as did this guy and this guy and even this guy, our friend Mike Salfino.

But you might recall that NFL analysts also declared 2009 to be "The Year of the Tight End," after eight different players at the position caught at least 75 passes, with Dallas Clark snagging 100. That year, Clark became the first tight end to deliver a 100-catch, 1,000-yard, 10-touchdown campaign, and Vernon Davis tied the all-time single-season position record for touchdowns (13).

The fact is, tight end usage has been trending upward across the league over multiple seasons. If you think 2011 was a huge year for this position, just wait 'til you see 2012 ... and then 2013, and every year thereafter. The tight end revolution didn't just begin. It's been unfolding for a few years. At this point, it can be argued that they've taken over. Please welcome our new fantasy overlords. The top-scoring players at this position now deliver fantasy totals that match the numbers posted by top-tier receivers. Just check the year-to-date WR/TE scoring leaders:

1. Calvin Johnson, 233.7 fantasy points
2. Rob Gronkowski, 211.9
3. Wes Welker, 206.2
4. Victor Cruz, 183.8
5. Jordy Nelson, 182.1
6. Jimmy Graham, 181.3

If you intend to own Gronkowski or Graham next season, be prepared to draft 'em higher than any tight end has been selected since the prime years of Shannon Sharpe. Both players will fly off the board within top-20 overall picks, and possibly the top-15.

Tony Romo (US Presswire)

Let's make one thing clear from the start: This post is not for anyone who wants to take a victory lap.

If you feel the need to share the details of your Week 16 fantasy triumph in blog comments, then this is the place for you. Follow the link. Shoo. Go there, right now. Tell the community all about your fantasy aptitude. You've earned it, champ.

But if you're facing a hard-luck loss in Championship Week and there's no hope of a Monday night bailout, then this is where you belong, among sympathetic gamers.

Here, we offer safe haven to anyone who's about to add one of these awful things to their fantasy profile —>

Oof. Sickening. Hurts just to look at it. Second is the cruelest place. Retch. 

If you're about to add such an object to your virtual awards case, then there's a decent chance blame can be assigned to one of these persons/events...

McCarthy & Rodgers (Brace Hemmelgam-US Presswire)The Packers haven't exactly been talking like a team that intended to rest starters this week, regardless of the playoff math. As Clay Matthews said on Wednesday, "We're going to play this thing to win."

But still, we always worry about a team's commitment to using its varsity roster when a game presents nothing but risk, with no potential reward.

[Related: NFL winners & losers: Lions can't pass on shot to make bigger roar]

As it turns out, you have nothing to fret about -- except maybe the Bears' defense and the Packers' O-line -- if you've invested in Aaron Rodgers or Jordy Nelson or Jermichael Finley or any other Green Bay asset. The Niners edged Seattle on Saturday, 19-17,  so the Pack has not yet wrapped up home field in the NFC playoffs. With a win at Lambeau on Sunday, they'll clinch everything worth clinching. And Chicago is starting a McCown at quarterback, so, um ... yeah. Not too threatening.

[Related: NFL playoff picture and scenarios: Who's in, who's out]

The Bears defense has actually handled Rodgers reasonably well over the past three seasons, which is to say he crushes them with slightly less force than he uses with other opponents. You'll recall that he tossed three TD passes to Finley back in the Week 3 win. If you need a contribution from a Packer in Championship Week, you'll probably get it. The team should be properly motivated. Matt Flynn can sit another week.