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Baseball Brunch: Meet the Rarest Breed

Ryan Ludwick / Cody RossEvery Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Cody Ross blames his mom.

"My dad was a really good athlete (Kenny Ross, who played safety at New Mexico in the late 1960s)," said Ross, the Marlins' right fielder. "My dad was all right[-handed]. My mom's a lefty, so maybe I got that gene from her."

Ross and St. Louis' Ryan Ludwick are the only two active position players who throw left and bat right. Just 14 such players in baseball history have gotten as many as 1,000 at-bats -- and that list now includes a Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson.

"He kind of put us on the map," Ross said.

Roto Rush: Double Trouble on Labor Day

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

While the majority of the American workforce got a day off on Labor Day, some major league hitters were getting their power stroke on in a big way. With only 11 games on the docket, four players left the yard twice in one game: Derrek Lee, Billy Butler, Mark Teixeira and Juan Uribe. The fantasy fallout isn't huge, save for one; Lee's having a resurgence, Butler a breakout campaign and Teixeira an MVP-caliber season. Uribe, though ... that's news.

Roto Rush: Fasten Your Seatbelts, It's Call-Up and Shut Down Time

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

Before we get our heaping of box score browsing, let's look at a related subject: The fantasy baseball stretch run. With the annual ushering in of September baseball, we see roster changes galore. Not only are there call-ups with the legal expansion of rosters, but players with seemingly minor injuries are shut down on teams who have fallen out of the race. You also have younger players being given an audition for 2010, or being shut down so the team doesn't overwork them in their first season of increased workload. If you are in the thick of things in your fantasy baseball race, now is not the time to use a laissez-faire approach.

Roto Rush: Carlos Pena's Power Surge

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

When you select Carlos Pena in fantasy baseball, you know you aren't getting batting average help. Still, his career-low .223 mark this year was well below expectations, and up until August 5, the power numbers weren't nearly high enough to console disappointed Pena owners.

Well, that has all changed. Since that date, Pena has slugged 11 home runs and driven home 22. His average has been respectable (.286) and his OPS is ridiculous (1.307). On the season, Pena now has a six home run lead on the rest of the AL with 37. He's also third in RBI (91).

Handicapping the Home Run Derby: Can Anyone Top Albert Pujols?

If one theme has emerged during the first half of the 2009 season in the National League, it's that it's Albert Pujols' world and we're all just living in it. After nine superb seasons in which he's only finished out of the top four in MVP voting once, he's somehow on pace for his best season yet.

With this year's Home Run Derby in St. Louis and Pujols making a point to perform in front of the home crowd, it's essentially him against the field Monday night. Do Adrian Gonzalez, Carlos Pena, Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, Joe Mauer, Nelson Cruz, or Brandon Inge stand any sort of chance of spoiling Pujols' parade?

Feds Want Collection of Boras Clients to Pay Back Millions in Stanford Scam

R. Allen StanfordFederal 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: Early All-Star Ballot


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: Hurting for Home Runs? They Are Still Out There


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.

MLB Power Rankings: Week 4


MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

Two Undervalued First Basemen


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.

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