Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
The Reds are at a crossroads. They've compiled some nice young talent at the major league level with guys like Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, and Johnny Cueto (plus the injured Edinson Volquez) and they have some prospects close to the big leagues in Drew Stubbs and Yonder Alonso, but that might not be enough to get them quite over the top in 2010.
This winter the Reds have to decide what to do with their roster. Should they keep some of their older, more expensive players and gun for what might be a weak division, or should they sell off on the veterans and try to rebuild a core around the younger guys before they leave town?
Editor's Note: FanHouse's Jeff Fletcher contributed to this report
CHICAGO -- The Reds' need to slash payroll, according to a major league source, could lead them to explore trading second baseman Brandon Phillips as well as right-handers Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang.
Cincinnati's 2009 payroll was about $71 million. General manager Walt Jocketty said during a break Tuesday at the GM Meetings that he "might" have to move some high-salaried players to meet the 2010 goal.
"We're going to probably have less to spend this year than we have in the past," Jocketty told FanHouse. "It just depends on how [ticket] sales go this offseason."
Two good things happened to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. They beat the Pittsburgh Pirates and emerged from their one-day stay in last place in the NL Central. That coincided with Scott Rolen's return from the disabled list. Unfortunately with the Reds, their two pieces of good news were balanced with two more players hitting the disabled list. Aaron Harang will miss the rest of 2009 after an appendectomy on Saturday night and Chris Dickerson badly sprained his ankle during a pick-off attempt during Sunday's game.
The list of Reds' injuries this year is staggering. John Fay at the Cincy Enquirer has a good run down of all of them; every opening day starter except Brandon Phillips has spent time on the DL while Harang joins Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto there, making up 3/5ths of their opening day starting rotation. It's an incredible run of bad luck that's certainly part of the reason the Reds are battling the Pirates for last place. I also think it's creating an easy excuse for a team that has deeper running problems.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
The team might not win a lot of games, but it sure is fun watching the Washington Nationals hit.
In yesterday's 8-3 win against Milwaukee, the Nationals received dingers from Christian Guzman, Adam Dunn, and Ryan Zimmerman. The round-tripper was Guzman's fifth of the year. Seeing Dunn and Zimmerman display some power is nothing new for Nationals fans; in fact, the pair has hit homers in the same game four times in August and the seventh time this season. The round-tripper was Guzman's fifth of the year.
Right-hander Aaron Harang's season is over for the Cincinnati Reds, as the team announced he underwent an emergency appendectomy Saturday night.
Harang, 31, went 6-14 despite a not-as-awful 4.21 ERA, thanks to the third-worst run support in the National League. He leads the NL in losses and hits allowed (186 in 162 1/3 innings). He won just one of his final 16 starts, going 1-10 with a 4.78 ERA
To fill the roster spot, third baseman Scott Rolen was activated from the disabled list.
Rolen, acquired from Toronto in late July, had been out because of a concussions suffered Aug. 2 when he was hit in the head by a pitch from Colorado's Jason Marquis. Rolen played in two Triple-A rehabilitation games, going 2-for-6 with an RBI.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
It must be nice being a Phillies pitcher.
The Philly sluggers put 12 runs on the board in yesterday's game against the Diamond- backs, giving them a total of 25 runs scored in the three-game sweep. Joe Blanton went eight innings and allowed three runs, which is going to be enough to earn a W on most nights when you're on the same team as these hitters. The team has now won eight of their last nine games and look to be the favorites to repeat as NL champions.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
One of the most prized prospects in baseball is blossoming before our eyes. And his timing couldn't be better as the Colorado Rockies are in the thick of a Wild Card hunt.
Carlos Gonzalez did it all in the minor leagues. Before being called up he hit ten home runs and batted .339 in 48 games. He struggled a bit upon arriving in Denver, but now is really turning it on.
Over the last month, Gonzalez is batting .432 with a home run and three stolen bases. His 1.114 OPS shows that he's really creaming the ball and his eruption is fueling the Rockies' winning ways. On Sunday Gonzalez went 3-for-5 and brought his season batting average up to .283.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
A few weeks ago we discussed the possibility of the Padres promoting 21-year-old phenom Mat Latos. Well, he now has four major league starts under his belt, and, needless to say, he's doing just fine. After a solid outing Monday night, Latos is 3-1 with a 2.66 ERA and a sparkling 0.89 WHIP. He's struck out 16 while only walking 6 in 23 2/3 innings. He's also pitching in one of the best pitcher's parks in baseball.
So, he should be owned in all fantasy leagues, right?
There are 47 pitchers in fantasy Week 14 getting two starts. In an unusual turn of events, they are pretty evenly partitioned between "must starts," "solid starts" and "risky business".
I love Matt Cain this week. He gets two home starts and gets very, very favorable pitching matchups. If he doesn't get two wins and put up impressive strikeout totals and a low ERA, I'll answer questions every Friday afternoon from here on out in a live chat.
First pitch on Monday is at 1:05 PM ET. Make sure you get your rosters set early.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Tuesday was an interesting night for pitchers. Heck, I was just giddy that there were more than two games being played.
It took Justin Verlander a little over a month to convince baseball pundits that he was the "real deal". Going into Tuesday night's start Verlander was the hottest pitcher in baseball. He was touched up for five earned runs in four innings and it'll be interesting to see how the fantasy baseball world reacts. The only correct reaction is to throw him back into your lineup for his next start. One bad outing in ten is a great run at things.
We also saw some gems Tuesday night. King Felix Hernandez threw a complete game shutout and allowed only two hits. If he pitched in New York or Boston we'd all be talking Cy Young.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
Editor's Note: FanHouse's Jeff Fletcher contributed to this report
Two good things happened to the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Right-hander 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
There are 47 pitchers in fantasy Week 14 getting two starts. In an unusual turn of events, they are pretty evenly partitioned between "must starts," "solid starts" and "risky business".
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
