FanHouse ChaseHeadley

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

On the day Milton Bradley began serving a team-mandated, season-ending suspension, former Cubs fan favorite Mark DeRosa suited up for the Cubs rival. He's been doing so since coming over in a trade from Cleveland. This past offseason, the Cubs moved DeRosa to the Indians as part of a concerted effort to free up payroll. The target: Bradley.

Thus, it was only fitting the chain of decisions were further cemented as awful when DeRosa hit two home runs and drove in four runs Monday night.

After an improbable stretch where the San Diego Padres won eight of nine games, they were sitting with a 9-3 record. Since then, they have fallen to 12-15, a bad stretch which included a six-game losing streak. The team has many issues, obviously, but the offense is not doing the job at all. They rank 11th in the NL in runs scored, 15th in batting average and 14th in on-base percentage.

First-year hitting coach, Jim Lefebvre -- the fourth in four seasons for the Fathers -- is willing to be accountable for the failures of the entire offense.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the San Diego Padres.

You know that scene in Caddyshack where Chevy Chase turns to Rodney Dangerfield and says, "You're not ... you're not good, Al. You stink" If Kevin Towers was sitting near me right now, that's what I would say. And one would imagine if there wasn't so much ownership turmoil around the Padres right now, someone else might have noticed as well.

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 ...
Worst team in baseball. Much like the 2008 incarnation, there are very few bright spots on the 2009 San Diego Padres. Jake Peavy is obviously awesome (although he does have a lot of mileage already), Adrian Gonzalez has been quite consistent the past few years, Chase Headley is dreamy if you're one of those folks that are obsessed with prospects (/raises hand), and Heath Bell might be able to save some games ... if the Pads can get him a lead.

That's right, MLB Power Rankings. You do know that that means, right? It means we're only a few short weeks/months (depends on you how you want to look at it, you pessimistic jerk) from starting the 2009 baseball season. Spring is nearly here, everyone has a bounce in their step and there's not an illegal, injectable steroid in sight!

So without further ado, let's get down to business and rank every single Major League Baseball team right freaking now. Because baseball can't wait any longer to get going.

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

After clinging to contender-ship for the past few years, it seems as though last season was a wake-up call to San Diego Padres GM Kevin Towers. Trevor Hoffman will not be the closer this year, Khalil Greene is likely to be traded, and Jake Peavy is definitely going to be traded. Let's examine what triggered this.

The Padres can't hit, and they are not in position to develop an offense any time soon. They had been able to survive with little offense the previous three seasons because their pitching and defense -- teamed with their home-field advantage in spacious Petco Park -- was able to churn out those 3-2 and 2-1 victories enough times to stay competitive. That all went by the wayside in 2008, as significant time was missed by Peavy and Chris Young atop the rotation (they made only 45 combined starts after making 64 in 2007) and the rest of the starters were shaky all season. In turn, the team ERA ballooned from 3.70 to 4.41.

The question as to whether the San Diego Padres need to make trades is not so much a "yes or no" thing as it is a "why the hell hasn't Kevin Towers gotten started yet?" kind of thing.

San Diego needs a lot of stuff, although mainly offense. Adrian Gonzalez is still somehow underrated, but having to carry the entire team on his back isn't good for anyone. Chase Headley is also a great future prospect, but the Fathers are too loaded with usable veterans not to make a move for some offensive upside.

You have to assume that Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Josh Banks and Cha Seung Baek can form four-fifths of a decent rotation to start 2009. No, seriously. Have you seen the NL West?

The state of the division -- 10.5 back in the NLW = epicFAIL -- is exactly why the Pads should have been peddling sooner, or at the very least trying to drive up the value of some of their pitchers, specifically Randy Wolf and Greg Maddux.

Maddux has a no-trade clause, but you have to think he'd be willing to get moved to a contender that's close to his native San Diego, and Los Angeles has plenty of prospects they want to deal.

Trevor Hoffman may be the all time saves leader and an all time great Padre, but he's also on the downslope, albeit the top, of his career and would be a superb addition to a playoff team.

Really, if they can get back some prospects or a decent offensive player for 2009, anyone on the Padres except Peavy, Gonzo and Headley should be on the market.

Finally, mercifully, the San Diego Padres have decided to bring their top prospect, Chase Headley, to the major leagues. Headley got the call this weekend and will start his first game Tuesday when the Fathers face the Bronx Bombers in Yankee Stadium. So, you know, no pressure.

'He's on his way,' [GM Kevin] Towers said before Saturday's Interleague game against the Indians.

[...]"I think the environment is much better than it was three weeks ago," Towers said. "We have got a lot of guys contributing offensively. When he gets here, he shouldn't have to feel like he's got to carry this ballclub. We're playing good baseball now.

"To me, now is kind of the right time to have him here, when things are going well."

And by "going well", what Towers means is "after his June 1 arbitration date; well enough after, in fact, to make sure everyone forget that's why I kept him down in the first place."

Although, in fairness, the Padres have won seven of their last ten while leapfrogging the Giants and Rockies and somehow climbing within 6.5 games. Additionally, Jake Peavy is back, so maybe things aren't as bleak as they were earlier. Convenient, really.

Fantasy Spin: Headley is going to be OF eligible and likely 3B eligible as he'll spell Kevin Kouzmanoff. He's an impact player, who I would grab in most leagues (if you need 3B help), especially keepers. Of course, he is also a rookie and an OF, so be patient and don't expect him to pull a Ryan Braun or anything.

Remember that whole thing about the Tampa Rays sending Evan Longoria back to the minors after a blistering spring training, essentially because they are cheap? Well, San Diego is doing the exact same thing with Chase Headley (a.k.a. "Lamar")now. Except GM Kevin Towers is completely denying it.

'He will be up here,' Towers said Thursday. 'I hate to set a timetable, but he is going to be up very shortly.'

Towers again said the decision is unrelated to money.

'First and foremost,' Towers said, 'we felt that before we wanted to put Chase in a big league environment, we wanted to get him as much time as possible in the outfield, playing under the lights and in different venues, so he's not worried about his defense when he comes up.'

See, it does not really bother me that the Padres are waiting longer to call him up because they want to save money. It is a business decision and Headley -- unlike Longoria in Tampa Bay -- will not increase their chances of winning (because those chances are roughly one percent and even that feels generous).

After June 1, San Diego will tack on an extra year until Headley is available for arbitration. So why not just say that? I know, it sounds ridiculous, this notion of "honesty", but we all know what is happening here. Especially when you call up four other minor leaguers (to replace Chris Young and Josh Bard) but not your best one.

"My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention."

Some ingenious pundits thought that the San Diego Padres would call up Chase Headley soon enough for him to make an impact in the NL ROY race. Even after releasing Jim Edmonds, it appeared as if the Fathers would rather wait and let "Lamar", as I will be calling him from now, develop at AAA instead.

But with the Pads in dead last in the MLB and Jake Peavy DL bound, Kevin Towers has intimated that changes are afoot. So maybe, that NL ROY hope is still alive, since some of these changes will likely include calling up youngsters for a full on pot of joe.

Chase Headley will likely be one of those call-ups. Right, Kevin? Right?