FanHouse CameronMaybin

September 1 always brings roster moves for big league clubs, so it's no surprise to see the Marlins shuffling things up today. Well, it's no surprise to anyone not named Luis Ayala. Ayala, the 31-year old reliever, was designated for assignment by the Marlins today after making just appearance since his call-up on August 29th and he was not pleased. This is what he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel:

"It was terrible what they did," Ayala said. "I don't know why they called me up if they were going to do this. I think it's a lack of respect. I know it's a business, but for me, it's something they've handled poorly."

In his place, the Marlins announced the call-up of Rick VandenHurk.

What do you do when your first-round fantasy pick goes on the shelf and might even need surgery? Scarf down some Yodels and cry into your pillow? Like Jimmy Dugan said, "There's no crying in (fantasy) baseball!"

Instead, there's a fantasy cram session podcast to help you cope. If you need advice on Josh Hamilton and Grady Sizemore, want to know which recently demoted prospects you should stash, or are curious why David Wright and the Mets are in a power funk, take a listen to what we had to say late Tuesday night.

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Joe Mauer has done everything he can to singlehandedly kill spring training as we know it.

Everyone else needs seven or eight weeks to get ready. But this guy gets 15 at-bats in minor-league camp, another 15 in Class A, and then shows up in the majors and hits .500 his first 10 games.

"Everyone keeps asking me what's going on," Mauer told FanHouse. "I really don't have any answer for that."

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

You couldn't have scripted all of the twists and turns the first 20% of the season has taken thus far. And if you could have, would anybody really watch?

Who had Frank Francisco and Ryan Franklin as two of the closers tied for the major league lead with nine saves at this point in the season? And we all knew Zack Greinke had talent and could blow up at any time. But, a 5-1 record with a 0.51 ERA and a league-leading 59 strikeouts. Seriously?

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 fantasy baseball question becoming increasingly more prevalent these days is very succinct: Is David Ortiz done? The problem? It's a tough question to answer. What do we actually mean by "done?" Is he ever going to be the guy who hit 54 home runs or the one who drove home 148 runs again? No. Not a chance.

We still have more than seven months before the Baseball Writers' Association of America hands out its hardware, but why wait? MLB FanHouse's staff is ready to name the award winners today.

But don't hold us to it.

These predictions are nothing more than having some fun. Think about it; there's two ways to predict who wins the MVP or Cy Young Award: take the obvious guy who's been at the top of his game (Johan Santana, Albert Pujols) or go with a hunch and make a stab at some so far unrewarded talent (Grady Sizemore, David Wright).

It would take some kind of player to supplant the leagues most valuable fantasy hitter, Hanley Ramirez, from his lead off role in Florida. A role in which he racked up 30/30 season and scored 125 runs.

Since camp opened, the Marlins have had that player, Cameron Maybin, penciled into the lead off role; moving Ramirez to the third spot in the lineup. Maybin is lightning fast and hitting at a .315 clip this spring with two doubles, a triple and a home run with two stolen bases.

But, with a week left in Spring Training, Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez thinks Emilio Bonifacio might lead off.

Emilio Bonifacio may end up winning the third base job. If that happens, manager Fredi Gonzalez said Bonifacio could lead off and Maybin could hit either second or in the lower third of the order. "I think if he's on the team, I think that's a pretty good spot for him,'' Gonzalez said after the Marlins' 5-4 loss to the Mets.

Bonifacio isn't hitting for as high of an average as Maybin is this spring (Bonifacio is hitting .278), but he has many more extra base hits as he's tallied four doubles and three triples to go along with his three stolen bases.

Every season, right around this time, there is a large flock of prospects all trying to prove to themselves and the front office that they belong in big league baseball. The key to fantasy baseball success when speaking of these prospects is to know whether or not they are going to make the team out of Spring Training. If not, you need to weigh the time line of each player and figure out if he should be a selection in your fantasy draft or if you'll be spending FAAB money or using waiver priority status on him.

Choose wisely when considering the acquisition of prospects. Most of these guys have bright, rocket-ship upside. But, not all will become effective fantasy assets.

Tommy Hanson, Braves - Unless a string of injuries occur to the Braves rotation this spring, Hanson will start the season at Triple-A Gwinnett. He'll, most likely, be the first starter called up as he was a strikeout machine in the Arizona Fall League and is still showing off his arm this spring. He's good enough to make a front-of-the-rotation impact almost instantly.

'Eye Spy' details first-hand Spring Training notes and observations from a fantasy baseball perspective.

After a long trip from Atlanta to Jupiter, Florida Wednesday night / Thursday morning, who could think of sleep when the Red Sox were playing the Cardinals? The game was sold out (all Red Sox and Yankees games are in Florida, I hear) but the nice scalper told me he'd do me a favor (he hates breaking up tickets for singles) and sell me a ticket for twice face value. Hmmmm. Josh Beckett was pitching, but the only other regulars were Jason Varitek and Jed Lowrie in the lineup on Friday. I opted to decline the nice man's offer and waited to head up to Tradition Field and see the Mets.

From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.

Atlanta Braves
There are a number of story lines buzzing in Braves camp. You have a battle between Jordan Schafer and Josh Anderson for the right to patrol center field. You also have five of Baseball America's top 100 prospects in camp, including the fifth ranked prospect who's been turning heads, Jason Heyward. But the king of the hill in to this point for the Braves is the fourth ranked prospect on that Baseball America list, Tommy Hanson. Hanson is fighting for a chance to grab the final rotation spot after he tore up the Arizona Fall League. In his first start he struck out two in two innings of work, walked one and allowed two runs. More buzzworthy was the fact that he touched 99 MPH on the radar gun and plunked Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada in retaliation to his shortstop Yunel Escobar being plunked earlier. Hanson pitches again today in an exhibition against the WBC team from Panama.