FanHouse Eric Byrnes

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.

Since the moment they were swept out of the 2007 NLCS, the Diamondbacks have been waiting. Waiting on their impressive collection of young talent. Waiting on their dynamic rotation duo of Dan Haren and Brandon Webb to deliver a playoff spot. Waiting for everything to come together.

It hasn't happened yet. Arizona was passed by the Dodgers in late 2008 after holding the NL West lead for much of the season. Then, this past year -- one filled with calamity, including a major shoulder injury to Webb that limited him to one start -- saw the Diamondbacks dip all the way to last place.

Arizona is still waiting. There is still promising young talent on hand, including the terrific Justin Upton. There is still hope. It's just tempered by all the work that needs to be done to get the Diamondbacks back in contention.

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For a guy who only has a .695 OPS over the past two seasons, Julio Lugo still looks like a wanted commodity -- at least now that the Red Sox had to designate him for assignment. There are at least two teams rumored to be connected with Lugo at the moment.

The strongest rumor seems to have Lugo landing in New York, with the Mets. He'd fill in at shortstop until the injured Jose Reyes returns to the lineup. The rumors are circling because the Mets reportedly are looking to cut ties with Tim Redding.

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

By the looks of his season stats, you wouldn't know that Jordan Zimmermann has actually been one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors over the past month. We're talking a 1.90 ERA and a .198 batting average against. On that same note, Minnesota's Scott Baker is holding opposing hitters to a .205 average over his last five starts. The turnaround of these pitchers teach fantasy owners an important lesson about staying patient and swooping in when the time is right.

SAN DIEGO -- Joe Kerrigan saw it watching video over the winter. Zach Duke saw it in the attitudes of his fellow pitchers in spring training.

Now, the rest of baseball is seeing it too. The Pirates pitching doesn't stink. In fact, it's pretty good.

But is this real? Or just a three-week fluke?

Even Kerrigan, the veteran pitching coach, doesn't know for sure, but he's enjoying it while it lasts.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

We're getting close to having three full weeks of baseball in the books. Astute fans know that it's definitely not enough to reveal the outcome of the season, but it's certainly enough of a sample to start drawing preliminary conclusions. Of course, you still have the occasional instance where home crowds boo their own players for one reason or another. Wednesday, for example, CC Sabathia was booed by about half the Yankee Stadium crowd when he departed after allowing six earned runs in 6 2/3 innings, upping his ERA to 4.81 on the season.

Saturday Seven is a weekly lightning-round of questions delving into the personalities of major leaguers.

Eric Byrnes is more than a player for the Diamondbacks. He's an institution. He is such an outgoing, lively character that his show, "The Eric Byrnes Show," has become one of the most popular programs on the local Fox Sports affiliate. Byrnes was an MVP candidate as recently as 2007, but he suffered through a disappointing 2008 because of hamstring injuries. He's back, healthy this year. "I'm really enjoying baseball a lot more than I have in a long time."

On to the questions...

Typically, this would be where I insert some super-awesome quote written by Oliver Stone, just in order to make up for my totally lame title.. One problem: I couldn't find anything that was "family friendly" enough to slot into this post. Instead, how about we break down five different platoon situations that are emerging/have emerged in the early fantasy baseball season. If you've got a particular situation you want examined, hit us on the hip here.

Taylor Teagarden vs. Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Thus far, Teagarden has gotten one start and managed the same number of hits in five at-bats. He's walked once and struck out once, and well, it's pretty obviously Salty's gig ... or is it???

Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes is slowly making his comeback from his battle with hamstring injuries. He played in a minor league game on Sunday and went three for five with a stolen base. He even seems to have his speed back.

He said he was clocked in 4.18 seconds running out a ground ball to first. He said he regularly was timed at 4.2 before he was hurt.

What he doesn't have back is his starting job.

Just where Byrnes - in the second year of a three-year, $30 million contract - would play is another problem. The Diamondbacks' outfield is set with Conor Jackson in left, Chris Young in center and Justin Upton in right. Melvin has talked about Byrnes relieving all three at times.

The worrisome part of that quote is that Melvin seems to have Byrnes slated as the 4th outfielder. That's fine, and probably a good place for him coming back from injury, but it seems that fantasy GM's participating in mock drafts over at Mock Draft Central are picking Byrnes in the 13th round with an average draft position of 155.69.

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 ...
Still incredibly young Diamondbacks. It seems like when the Backs failed to keep the momentum going after an early season charge, people forgot this was still a very young team. The overwhelming majority of the roster is younger than 30, and most of the offense is younger than 27. This means we have a large group of guys who have the potential to throw up career-year type numbers at the drop of a hat. Be ready ...