FanHouse CarlosSantana

What should we expect from injury-ridden Josh Hamilton and Carlos Quentin? David Ortiz is showing signs of life, but is it real? And why should catcher Carlos Santana, center, be on your list of prospects to watch? All those questions are answered, and more, as Knox Bardeen and I discuss key injuries, slumping stars, and young talent in a fantasy cram session. Listen to the podcast after the jump.

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

Ben Zobrist has transformed from a run-of-the-mill slap hitter into one of the most powerful middle infielders in baseball. Right when you thought he might be cooling off, SMASH! -- a grand slam against Kansas City for his 10th home run of the year. He's slugging .659 with a 1.073 OPS for crying out loud. And he's somehow still available in over 35 percent of mixed leagues. So the question becomes: Is it time for you to believe in the man Joe Maddon nicknamed "Zorilla" or will his power eventually fade just like Marco Scutaro's did?

The Phillies are the National League champions. As Jacob mentioned earlier, this obviously means that the Dodgers are not and that they're facing a pretty good amount of uncertainty this winter with a lot of players, namely Manny Ramirez, Rafael Furcal, and Casey Blake all facing free agency at the end of this season. Without Furcal and Ramirez, the Dodgers don't even win the 84 games that they won in 2008 and there's a good chance they miss the playoffs. That begs and important question: was the spending spree that General Manager Ned Colletti went on at the trade deadline to acquire Ramirez and Blake worth it?

For Blake, the Dodgers traded minor league reliever Jonathon Meloan and minor league catcher Carlos Santana to the Indians. For Ramirez, they traded Andy LaRoche and minor league pitcher Bryan Morris to the Pirates as part of the three-way trade that involved Jason Bay. That's four pretty decent prospects for two months of Ramirez, who was awesome, and two months of Blake, who was not.

I suppose the first question is whether or not just making the playoffs is enough. The Dodgers probably could've given the Diamondbacks, who fell apart down the stretch, a run for their money with someone much less talented than Manny Ramirez. Still, that's a futile line of reasoning. The Dodgers won the division with Manny Ramirez and they beat the Cubs because Casey Blake enabled them to not have to start Angel Berroa or Jeff Kent at second base. Still, four prospects for four months that didn't result in even a pennant?

As we ease back into regularly -scheduled Dugout programming post-Fanhouse makeover we have to get used to seeing familiar faces in new places. Lately Cleveland has taken the Baltimore Orioles approach to getting out of last place by trading away all their good players for prospects, so their best pitcher is now a Brewer and their third baseman/first baseman when they're tired of Ryan Garko hitting .006 is now an L.A. Dodger. The Andy Marte Era has begun!

Today's non-Wikipedia Dugout entry chronicles two things:

1) The blockbuster trade between the Indians and the Dodgers
2) My ability to write about the Dodgers without falling back on that terrible Fresh Prince of Bel-Air running gag from the G1 Dugout

Major League beard-trading is after the jump.