As players from Japan have become more prevalent in MLB, RotoWire has tried to be on the cutting edge of fantasy coverage of top players in Japan and other foreign leagues. We've expanded our coverage this spring by adding Patrick Newman of NPBTracker.com to our staff.

Newman is going to cover Japanese Professional Baseball player news for RotoWire. Newman's blog has drawn widespread industry praise for his coverage of Japanese baseball. He'll add his insight, and ability to read the actual Japanese media sources, to our coverage. Check out our Foreign Player News page, where his work will primarily appear

In addition to Newman helping our expanded coverage, we've also added two new cheatsheets to our fantasy baseball coverage.

Top Overall Non-MLB/Foreign Players

The first is the top 40 players in the world outside of MLB. These are the over 18-year old players who are not set to be taken in the annual MLB draft. It features the top players from Japan, Cuba, South Korea and anywhere else. These are the players that would be immediate impact players in most fantasy baseball leagues if for whatever reason ended up in MLB tomorrow. It's definitely a list to check out if you are in a keeper league that allows you carry international players.

It's also a very subjective list. While the top Japanese players (Yu Darvish, Norichika Aoki, Hisashi Iwakuma) are well known and easy to rank based on stats, the Cuban players ( Yuliesky Gourriel, Aroldis Chapman) are not. So we'd welcome any feedback.

Top Non-MLB/Foreign Players Most Likely to Come to MLB Soon

Finally, Newman has also helped us identify a second cheatsheet of the players most likely to come to MLB soon (likely in 2010) via the posting system or free agency.

These cheatsheets will be updated all year long and will be a guide to watch Japanese players who could impact fantasy in 2010.

We'd love any suggestions on expanding our international coverage.