Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
A former basketball player at California State University--Northridge, Chris Davis, stands out at 6-foot-7 in the boxing ring, where he's attempting to transition from a hoopster into a pro brawler.
FanHouse caught up to Davis at The Fortune Gym in Los Angeles, where former Manny Pacquiao trainer, Justin Fortune, is preparing him for his pro debut.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
For the Texas Rangers, 2009 was a rousing success of a transition year. The team who used to simply try to outscore you altered their mindset. They put more of an emphasis on pitching and defense, and it paid off. They dropped down from first to seventh in runs scored in the AL, but the team ERA climbed from last (14th) to eighth. Their defense went from one of the worst in baseball to being considered one of the best.
The result was a huge step forward in the one stat that really matters for Ron Washington and his troops: they won 87 games, which was the most for the Rangers since 2004. Expect the growth to continue as the Rangers are loaded with young talent. The only problems could be money (more on that later) and the fact that their division is going to be really strong for the foreseeable future. But, hey, to be the best, you gotta beat the best.
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.
The Phillies weren't expecting much when they signed Pedro Martinez right around mid-season. Well, let me rephrase and say the Phillies weren't expecting this much.
On Sunday, Martinez pitched eight scoreless innings and struck out seven while walking two. But those aren't his most amazing numbers. When Martinez pitches the Phillies are a perfect 7-0. Think about that. Every time Pedro runs out there to take the mound the Phillies win.
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.
By now we all know of the greatness of San Francisco pitcher Tim Lincecum. He's the best pitcher in baseball this season, with a 2.34 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 233 strikeouts in 200 1/3 innings. But there's another hard-throwing young kid in the Giants organization that, like Lincecum, has a shot to be one of the league's best very quickly. He's a guy you want to burn that No. 1 waiver priority on, in case he sticks in the rotation for the rest of the season. He is Madison Bumgarner.
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.
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.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
It's rare that I lead Roto Rush with news not from the field, but this saga is too good to pass up.
Jake Peavy, newly acquired by the Chicago White Sox, on Thursday declared himself ready to start. He said that pitching Saturday in New York would be fine by him.
The Sox, on the other hand, feel Peavy needs one more Triple-A rehab start before he's ready for major league action. That final rehab start will happen for the Charlotte Knights on Saturday. If all goes well...
Chris Davis' chances of making the Titans 53-man roster took a hit when a hamstring injury sidelined him for last week's Bills' game and tonight's game against the Cowboys.
But what he was doing while the Titans were flying to Dallas might really finish his tenure with the Titans. While the rest of the team was in Dallas, Davis was arrested Thursday night/Friday morning and charged with driving under the influence.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
With Chris Davis safely tucked away in Triple-A Oklahoma City, Andruw Jones feels that he deserves more at-bats for the Texas Rangers. The way he's been hitting over the last month proves his point.
Jones belted three home runs on Wednesday and has 11 RBI and five home runs over his last four games.
Over the course of the past month, Jones has hit nine homers and driven in 19 runs. If his batting average were higher than .224 over that time period Jones would really be forcing the hand of Rangers' management. As it sits right now, Jones will see more playing time at DH, but may not see every-day at-bats, yet.
"He swung the bat well against Tampa Bay," manager Ron Washington said. "He's swinging the bat very well right now. It doesn't mean he'll be in there [Friday]. He may or may not be. But he's productive right now and I'm going to play him as much as I possibly can."
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.
Well, I'll tell you one thing: baseball ain't boring, folks. At least if you're in the middle class anyway; the upper crust is (somewhat) starting to establish itself across MLB's ranks and the bottom portion of the league is certainly holding steady. But in the middle, well, goodness. We have a lot of would-be title contenders. How's your semi-crappy team faring in the all-important MLB FanHouse Power Rankings this week? Find out after the jump.
These Kids Are Alright is FanHouse's look at minor league prospects who could have a fantasy impact in the near future.
The upside of Justin Smoak is quite large. Unfortunately, so is the potential for the bad puns with his last name when he does arrive in the bigs and start to play well. Let's see, there will probably be derivations of "Where there's Smoak, there's (insert something instead of 'fire')," "Smoakin' Hot" and "Justin Smoaks Home Run in Rangers Win." Sigh. You know it's coming.
Regardless, none of that journalistic laziness/lameness should deter us from keeping an eye on Smoak in fantasy baseball. The 22-year-old Smoak is a 6-foot-3 switch-hitter. He has a tad bit less power than the recently demoted Chris Davis, but he's also a much better overall hitter -- something the Rangers would welcome after Davis' 114 strikeouts and paltry .256 on-base percentage.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos. 
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Chris Davis' chances of making the Titans 53-man roster took a hit when a hamstring injury sidelined him for last week's Bills' game and tonight's game against the Cowboys.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
