The Fantasy Sports Writers Association gave out its 2008 honors on Tuesday at the FSTA winter business conference, and a third of them went to RotoWire.

Repeat victories in the categories of best baseball print publication and best baseball writer (Jeff Erickson) led an effort that garnered six plaques in all for the company. It was the second straight year that RotoWire claimed six awards. No other company earned more than three this time around.

This year’s haul also included writer of the year nods in golf, racing and college sports — the first time that last category has been included in the FSWA program. The lone surprise might have been that RotoWire’s Janet Eagleson ceded the award for top hockey writer to someone else (ESPN’s Sean Allen) for the first time in the category’s three-year existence.

“I’m shocked and surprised since it was a very strong field with a lot of outstanding writers,” RotoWire president Peter Schoenke told FSB.com on Wednesday. “I’m very happy for the first-time winners on our staff and proud that both our top editors for MLB and NFL won awards.”

The FSWA has been giving out awards since 2004. Entries are whittled down to finalists by the board of directors, with winners determined by a panel of three independent judges. This year, that panel included Wisconsin-Stevens Point journalism professor Dr. Steven Hill, Ithaca College journalism professor and Society of Professional Journalists board member Mead Loop, and longtime sports columnist for the Washington Post Len Shapiro.

Here is a full list of Rotowire’s 2008 honors and the finalists in each category:

Baseball Print Publication
CBS Sports
RotoWire
Rotoworld

Baseball Writer
Tristan Cockcroft, ESPN
Jeff Erickson, RotoWire
Scott Pianowski, Yahoo

Football Web Article
Greg Kellogg, Fantasy Sharks
Chris Liss, RotoWire
Jeff Pasquino, Footballguys.com

Golf Writer
Ross Devonport, CBS Sports
John McNamara, RotoWire
Greg Vara, RotoWire

Racing Writer
Natalie Anthony, Football Diehards
Scott Engel, RotoExperts
Mark Taylor, RotoWire

College Writer
John Baker, SportsBuff.com
Will Harris, ESPN
Adam Mankuta, RotoWire

It wasn’t that long ago when the Giants threw a thoroughly regrettable amount of money and number of years at Barry Zito. It’s been a bit longer since the Rockies made Mike Hampton the highest paid pitcher ever. It’s been longer still since the Dodgers made too big an investment on Kevin Brown, and then mortgaged the last few years to the Yankees.

Despite any warnings that might be deprived from those situations, the Yankees have reportedly agreed to pay lefty starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia nearly $23 million for the next seven years.

Sabathia is just 28, won the 2007 American League Cy Young Award, ranked fifth in National League Cy voting last year despite spending just half the season in the N.L. and has posted earned-run averages of 3.22 or better in each of the past three seasons. He’s looking like one of the top three starters to come off the board in most mixed leagues in 2009. So what is the early reaction to his signing?

Steve Schwarz of The Sports Network gets into the numbers on how Sabathia has fared in New York and against his new divisional foes and thinks the additional run support will boost the pitcher’s value.

Sporting News‘ George Winkler doesn’t expect much to change with Sabathia’s projections as a result of his move to the Yankees, because Sabathia was already good and proved himself in the American League.

ESPN’s Tristan Cockcroft joins the Yankee-boost crowd but cautions against some risk factors such as Sabathia’s weight and workload late in 2008. He also predicts a backlash later in Sabathia’s Yankees stint.

With less than four months to go before the first pitch, it’s never too early to get figure out where Sabathia belongs in your own rankings.