FanHouse CarlosPena

Federal authorities have asked seven Major League Baseball players -- Greg Maddux, Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon, J.D. Drew, Andruw Jones, Carlos Pena and Jay Bell -- to return millions of dollars that they received from investor R. Allen Stanford as part of a payout in his alleged Ponzi scheme, according to a report in the Washington Times.

The players -- all clients of Scott Boras -- did not commit any wrongdoing, but, as early investors in the Stanford Financial Group, are believed to have received dividends from Stanford financed by investors that came after.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

I think we can all agree that it's far too early to start voting upon who the best 2009 players are when it's only the middle of May. That being said, there are certainly some shining stars at this point who deserve some props. Plus, Major League Baseball recently released their All-Star ballots for our voting pleasure -- we vote on who will start the All-Star Game. If that's not important, I don't know what is. Let's take a gander.

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.

Over the last week a few of the big-time home run hitters seem to have woken up. Hanley Ramirez blasted three last week which constitutes 60% of his year long output. Matt Holliday also hit three home runs, bringing his year-long total to four. But, let's take a look at a few options to help you in home runs that might be available in more fantasy baseball leagues.

Thursday we took a look at undervalued catchers. It seems like a logical progression to take a look at first basemen today.

When it comes to finding value when drafting this position, a few interesting names pop up. Believe it or not, I think Mark Teixeira is undervalued with an ADP of 12.60. Grabbing him with the 13th pick in a fantasy draft would make most people happy, and I'm not sure that he won't outperform Miguel Cabrera, who's a solid first-rounder with an ADP of 7.26. But, the swing from Teixeira to Cabrera isn't enough to "officially" place Teixeira on this list. Just know that if you walk up to me and tell me you got "Big Teix" in the second round, I'm going to pat you on the back.

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 ...
Best team in baseball. Yes, they are still better than the Yankees and Red Sox. Lost in all the joy of last season were the facts that two key players were injured down the stretch and another had an absolutely dreadful offensive season. Throw in the addition of Pat Burrell, and the continued growth of the young pitching staff, and you have a team who can take on the big-spending Yankees and venerable Red Sox.

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

While there is still time left in the Hot Stove season, and there are a few high quality players left on the market -- Ben Sheets, anyone? -- the Yankees have been the team who has made the biggest splash in all of baseball thus far. That splash was seemingly a reaction to missing the playoffs for the first time since the strike-shortened 1994.

The big baseball news of the day was the announcement the Dustin Pedroia was named the American League MVP. A minor footnote to that story, though, was the fact that Pedroia won despite being completely left off the ballot by one of the voters.

For what it's worth, voters seem to be getting better at this: they rightly recognized Tim Lincecum as NL Cy Young and Albert Pujols as the NL MVP despite the fact that neither one played on a team that even resembled a playoff contender, which in the past would have disqualified as serious candidates by a lot of voters.

But on the other hand, you're telling me there's someone out there who actually watched the games and didn't walk away thinking that Pedroia was one of the 10 best players in the game? That's not quite as bad as thinking Edison Volquez was still eligible for the NL Rookie of the Year award (which three voters did), but it certainly reeks of a backlash against the Red Sox ... right?

In the Playoff Pulse series, our MLB editor takes on a hot October topic.

Over the next few hours and days, sports fans are going to be inundated with every possible take on the way Bud Selig handled the events of Game 5. Some of it will be fair and some of it will not be.

My quick take: Selig was dealt a tough hand and played things very poorly. He made a bad situation worse by not invoking his powers as commissioner and suspending the game immediately when it began to rain heavily in the fifth inning. It was not an easy situation, and because Selig is uncharismatic -- because he and the sport he presides over make for an easy target (just ask Congress!) -- he'll take more of a beating than he deserves. Be wary of who you listen to and read on the topic. Many of the columnists and pundits who rip baseball for every single flaw it has, will overlook the very same flaws in other sports, particularly in the NFL.

All that aside, let's not forget that there's still a series to be finished, a championship to be won, anywhere from three innings to two games (and change) left to be played in the 2008 season.

So how are the actual parties involved in this series going to be affected by the weird, wild suspension of Game 5? The answer to that question seems pretty obvious: Everybody except the Phillies and their die-hard fans is a big winner.

Rightfully so, the only thing baseball fans are talking about right now is the weather in Philadelphia, but don't forget why the Rays were able to overcome the hole Scott Kazmir put them in the first inning: the middle of their order finally woke up.

Carlos Pena (pictured) and Evan Longoria opened the World Series by going a combined 0-for-29 in the first four games, and at least early on, it didn't look like their luck was going to change in Game 5. After being dropped one spot in the lineup before the game, Pena opened the second inning by grounding out to first base on an ill-advised bunt attempt. One pitch later, Longoria followed by flying out to center. Two pitches, two outs. It was ugly.