FanHouse Dallas McPherson

From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.

Atlanta Braves
Omar Infante and Matt Diaz are popular kids in camp as Spring Training winds down. They're popular not so much for their talent or spring numbers (although both have great spring stats) but for who they will be replacing in the starting lineup if mending time stretches into the regular season. Chipper Jones is nursing an oblique injury and Garrett Anderson a calf problem. Both are expected to return to action this week. If that doesn't happen or further set-backs occur, Infante and Diaz gain some NL-only value.

Dan Haren has been awful this spring. Adam Jones is raking, as is Chris Shelton. Michael Bourn has been a completely worthless hitter. Of the above players, two have stat-lines that matter, and two have ones that don't.

You see, judging spring training stat-lines in fantasy baseball can be helpful, but you don't want to get too caught up in it. After all, the games are meaningless. Most established veterans are just going through the motions in attempt to get their body ready for the real season. For them, the stat-lines are meaningless. Thus, I don't care that Haren has sucked thus far. I'd still draft him with confidence.

Let's take a deeper look at a when they matter, when they don't, and why.

Yard Work focuses on what chicks allegedly love: the long ball. From the big boppers to the small poppers, it's a rundown of which home run hitters will make a dent in your fantasy baseball league.

When Jose Reyes makes his move for second and robs another bag from an unsuspecting pitcher, the Mets faithful follow with applause and "Jose, Jose Jose Jose!" chants. But there's 50 or so more to go from Jose, and no matter how dirty that jersey gets, it's still just a stolen base.

David Wright steps up to the plate, drills a first-pitch heater into the picnic area ... it's BIG APPLE TIME. Cue the wackier video animation and the rumbling seats, too.

Say what you want about the appeal of steals, the home run is still king.

In fantasy baseball, however, that king can be overrated.

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 ...
Most bizarre franchise in MLB history? While the Yankees plod along, spending trillions and winning every year, the four Marlin fans remaining in Miami have always been treated to a roller coaster of sorts: either the Marlins are kind of randomly breaking out as a contender or they're mid-firesale.

Last year was different though: the Marlins were supposed to stink, and yet, they didn't. This season, though, as a result of that success, there's a decent chance some of their players will be overvalued for fantasy purposes (hello, Dan Uggla) which might hurt their overall team value. Still, some young sleepers are there and certainly worth your consideration.

Kids Are Alright will examine some hot minor league prospects and their potential to be fantasy relevant towards both seasonal and keeper leagues. If you'd like to read more of Will Brinson's minor-league rantings, check out Greensboro Grassbloggers, his Single-A blog.

I can almost guarantee you that next week, this space will get filled by Evan Longoria descriptions. I'm headed to see him in Durham on Friday, so if you're around the area, holler. In the meantime though, we're staring down a pile of small sample sizes with which to judge our minor leaguers. In doing some quick sorts, a few interesting names popped up. Bear in mind, again, it's early.

Dallas McPherson
Once upon a not too long ago time, McPherson was considered a can't miss prospect at third base for the Halos, sure to team up with Brandon Wood and form a dominant left side of the infield for years to come. Obviously, that didn't pan out. A season's worth of DL time (back surgery) left him to float and the Marlins (or the Alburquerque Isotopes, if you will) to sign him. He's a Greensboro, NC, guy, so I gotta give him a little dap, although it's unlikely he'll be falling back to his hometown Grasshoppers with the way he's swinging the bat early.

Through three games and just 10 at bats (yes, I know, sample size), D has busted out with three homers and this line: .400/.455/1.300. Now yes, it's early. But it's the Marlins we're talking about. Jeremy Hermida is still DL-bound. Are Cody Ross and Luis Gonzalez so good to stop them from giving McPherson a run. And what if his back surgery fixed him up? Is he that horrible of a flier to try and backdoor in your really deep/NL-only league? I think not.

Well, not really. But as we creep ever closer to the start of the season -- only four more hours! -- it's possible the Angels would like to postpone Opening Day for another, oh, four or five weeks.

Los Angeles' other team will start the season without their best pitcher, Bartolo Colon (inflamed right shoulder), and their second best, Jerad Weaver (right biceps tendinitis). Also injured is Chone Figgins, whose named is confusingly spelled and whose fingers are broken.

But that's not all. OF Juan Rivera has a broken left leg and is likely to miss significant time, and third baseman Dallas McPherson is still recovering from back surgery and is on the 60-day DL.

I mean, jeez. Sure, some other teams have injuries -- the continued struggles of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood come to mind immediately for this Cubs fan -- but man, the Angels have really been hit hard. You have to sort of feel bad for them. As the familiar excitement of Opening Day comes rushing back, somewhere Arte Moreno and the Angels front office are sitting and dreading the start of the regular schedule and all of the injuries -- and Gary Matthews nonsense -- it will surely entail.