MINNEAPOLIS -- Johan Santana had never seen the Metrodome before the Twins took him from Single-A in the Rule 5 draft.
"When I first got there," Santana told FanHouse, "my first impression was, 'How can you play baseball in a place like this?'
"I came from Single-A and from Venezuela, and we don't have any of that stuff. ... I couldn't figure it out. How could this thing [the roof] be up in the air? And then it feels like you're in a bubble. And then you play baseball."
As the No. 1 overall pick in 1990, Chipper Jones signed with the Braves for $275,000.
Even in today's dollars, that's about $450,000 -- or about 3 percent of Stephen Strasburg was guaranteed as this year's No. 1 pick.
And Jones agreed to his deal the night before the draft, while Strasburg came within two minutes of missing last Monday's deadline to sign.
"I think the only way that you're going to get kids signed and get them into the various camps is to put some kind of cap on it," Jones said. "I was always of the belief that you make your money at the big-league level."
That's how the teams want it too. When the current collective bargaining agreement is up in two years, Major League Baseball may pursue an NBA-style slotting system -- with signing bonuses locked in depending on how high a player is picked, as opposed to the current non-binding slot recommendations.
SEATTLE -- Erik Bedard faced Baltimore for the first time Tuesday since the Orioles dealt him to the Mariners to be the final piece of their American League West championship puzzle. Only it has hardly worked out that way. The Mariners, along with Bedard, have struggled mightily since the deal, while the Orioles revamped their farm system and added two productive major leaguers in the deal.
A deal hasn't helped a team more since the Dallas Cowboys practically won three Super Bowls by trading Herschel Walker to Minnesota 20 years ago. Bedard was able to exact a semblance of revenge and some pride for bruised Seattle with 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball. He struck out seven and walked three in an 8-2 Mariners win.
This was dominant Bedard with his curveball snapping and fastball crisp. This Bedard hasn't been seen much in Seattle. And the question is whether the Mariners will ever get any real value out of Bedard, a free agent at season's end and likely to bolt elsewhere.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Dare we say it? He's back. The man who won the 2005 Cy Young and finished third the following season is officially back in the Cardinals rotation. He made the Brewers -- one of the best hitting teams in the league -- look stupid for eight innings Monday, which means he's now thrown 23 innings of shutout ball this season. His staggering numbers thus far: 23 innings, 0 earned runs, 23 strikeouts, 10 hits, 4 walks.
Categorically Speaking is designed specifically for Rotisserie GM's. The information is great for all fantasy baseball formats, but for those of you who could use some help bolstering a specific roto category, this is for you. We're going to pay close attention to players who might be readily available on your waiver wire or who you might target in non-blockbuster trade talks.
So, your fantasy baseball team isn't doing so well, huh? We've all been there. Either your hitters are all cold at the same time or your pitchers are getting shelled. Nothing seems to be going right.
Look at the bright side. It's only the end of April. There are five good, solid months left for your team to recover. And, one of the ways to try and make that recovery is to focus on rotisserie categories that you may be deficient in.
If you know that you're getting killed in runs scored but doing well in the other categories, then it may be time to find some run scorers without hurting your other stat categories. The same can be said for each of the stat categories your league uses.
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 wasn't enough for Jacoby Ellsbury to win every U.S. citizen a free taco by swiping the first base of the 2007 World Series. No, Jacoby Ellsbury does more than feed the country. He's working to steal the hearts of all baseball fans. He took a step towards that goal Sunday night by stealing home during the final game of the Yankees/Red Sox series at Fenway Park.
This was the first straight-steal of home plate by a Red Sox player since Billy Hatcher did so in April of 1994. Jose Offerman stole home on the front-end of a double-steal in 1999.
LOS ANGELES -- Davey Johnson spent the past week eloquently explaining how desperately he wanted Team USA to win the World Baseball Classic, figuring a title would sooth America's sense of entitlement over the sport and silence some of the tournament's grumbling naysayers.
So how to explain Johnson's head-scratching managerial moves Sunday night, decisions that led to Japan beating the U.S., 9-4, in an elimination semifinal game? Why did Johnson keep starter Roy Oswalt in for a brutal pounding even after it became clear the Japanese had his number? Has the bumbling Adam Dunn mastered the vagaries of Dodger Stadium's right field yet? And any regrets over starting Captain America at shortstop, leaving Jimmy Rollins to DH?
A quick glance at the 9-3 final in Sunday's elimination game between the United States and the Netherlands doesn't really tell the full story. Besides the loser going home, this game managed to drum up some interesting sub-plots and more drama than your run-of-the-mill March game. In the end, the Dutch are going home and the U.S. lives another day, but there was a little more to this one than that.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.
Meet the ... Team who just can't buy a break. They can't get any big names to sign with them (Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett), they are getting majorly outspent by the two big boys in the division, and the Rays skyrocketed past them last season due to an impressive franchise turnaround. I've seen people tout these guys as the "2009 version of the Rays." My reply? You have got to be kidding me. There's not near enough here for a run at .500, much less the World Series.
As we'll preach time and again at FanHouse, compiling a successful fantasy baseball team isn't about the most productive players. It's about what players give you the most value. Carlos Quentin was much more valuable last season than Ryan Braun -- despite ending with slightly inferior numbers -- because of how much cheaper he was to attain than Braun.
The best way to compile a winning team is to recognize areas where you can maximize the value of your draft picks. Not spending high picks on closers is one way to do this. Finding players being underestimated is another. Another, still, is to find places lacking depth and grab a strength.
Every Sunday, 
SEATTLE -- 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
LOS ANGELES -- 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
As we'll preach time and again at FanHouse, compiling a successful fantasy baseball team isn't about the most productive players. It's about what players give you the most value. 
