FanHouse Chad Gaudin

Though they still have a few more victories before advancing to the ALCS, according to the New York Post, the New York Yankees have already decided that they will be using Chad Gaudin -- not Joba Chamberlain -- as their fourth starter should they get past the Twins in the ALDS. It's a move that seems a bit surprising, considering the Yankees' insistence on keeping Chamberlain in the rotation all year, but it also appears to be the correct move.

Chamberlain was, frankly, terrible down the stretch as a starter. From August 6 to Sept. 30, he made 11 starts and produced a 7.69 ERA. He allowed opposing hitters to hit .321 against him with a .926 OPS. Throughout his career, he's been much more effective as a late-inning reliever, and we saw it again Wednesday night -- when he came in to retire Delmon Young in the eighth inning of Game 1.

As fall begins and the Yankees near their first American League East championship since (gasp!) 2006, it's time for the focus in the Bronx to turn to the playoffs. While discussing Joba Chamberlain with the Bergen Record, Brian Cashman let two interesting playoff-related tidbits slip. The first is that the Yankees are planning on going with a 10-man pitching staff during the Division Series. The second is that Chamberlain isn't guaranteed one of those ten spots if he doesn't, "step it up," in the near future.

There's no denying that Chamberlain's been awful lately. In his last nine starts, his ERA is 8.25 and hitters are reaching base at a .409 clip. Even if he can't turn things around completely, it's hard to imagine him being left off the playoff roster entirely. Leaving him off of the playoff roster would leave a spot open for someone like Chad Gaudin, who's not really much of an upgrade. Still, looking at the schedule it's entirely possible that Cashman isn't bluffing.

Anyone else long for the day when Joba Chamberlain is just another starting pitcher in the major leagues? Whether he turns out to be the second coming of Nolan Ryan, Ryan Vogelsong or something in between, it will be nice to stop all of the discussion about how many innings, pitches and days a week he can pitch before turning into a pumpkin.

Alas, that day still hasn't arrived. The Yankees announced the latest change to the Joba rules on Friday. He'll now take a turn every fifth day, according to Peter Abraham of the Lohud Yankees Blog. No problem there, but there will be starts where he pitches less than five innings to ensure that he remains below his prescribed innings limit for the year.

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

The Nationals of all teams are the hottest club in baseball. They've won five straight games, scoring no fewer than five runs in each of their six games in August. Mike MacDougal recorded saves in four of those five wins, but the real hero in Washington is Ryan Zimmerman.

How desperate are the Yankees for starting pitching depth? They traded Thursday for a guy who was 4-10 with a 5.13 ERA despite pitching in the National League and at a pitchers' park.

The Padres traded right-hander Chad Gaudin to the Yankees for a player to be named.

With Chien-Ming Wang (shoulder) out and Phil Hughes entrenched as the main setup man in the bullpen, the Yankees had been using Sergio Mitre as the No. 5 starter -- and had almost no other options. But Mitre has a 7.50 ERA wth 32 hits allowed in 18 innings over four starts.

Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.

While he wasn't able to secure the win last night, Brett Anderson did a great job in his spot start for us, allowing two runs in 7.2 innings and striking out eight. August is going great so far! I gambled with today's spot start, tabbing Tom Gorzelanny in his return to the majors. Cincinnati has been in a big offensive slump, and hopefully our pitcher can take advantage of it.

Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.

Chad Gaudin was able to give the Stream Team another quality start, pitching six innings while giving up three runs and striking out three. Hey, it ain't great, but it counts as a QS. That makes four in a row for our squad, and after the Rangers scored four runs off the excellent Josh Beckett last night, I'm a little on edge about our Clay Buchholz spot start tonight. Then again, if Buchholz excels against the Rangers in Texas, he should be good to use against just about any opponent.

Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.

While Brett Anderson didn't get all the way through a perfect game, he did give the Stream Team another eight innings of scoreless ball, proving that when a pitcher is on fire, you play the guy no matter which team he's facing. Disregarding our July 18th start that was postponed, in our last two starts the Team has pitched 16 innings while allowing no runs or walks and striking out 13. Did I just jinx Tim Stauffer tonight? Most certainly!

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.

It's a funny thing, sometimes, to see how Power Rankings shape up over the course of the season. Just like when we started the year, there are a number of teams from one particular division sitting atop the rankings. Of course, there are plenty of surprises -- WHERE DID THE FREAKING GIANTS AND ROCKIES COME FROM?? -- and some other interesting stuff, like the fact that the Mets and Cubs just haven't been that good, which we discussed on the inaugural BaseCast recently.

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

Adam LaRoche, he of the longest swing in the majors, is starting to heat up. In the last 9 games, he's hit .387 with 3 home runs, 5 RBI, 4 runs, 2 doubles, a .444 on-base percentage and 1.186 OPS. If his career history is any indicator, we can expect things to continue along this pace.

It's just that he's starting things up a bit early. In LaRoche's career, he's been two different players per season. Just look at his splits. He's a decent hitter with good power in through June. From July on, though, he's a good hitter with great power.