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.
The second half of the season is in full swing and lo and behold if capitalism hasn't reared it's ugly head once again. Billy Beane was spun off Matt Holliday (as expected of course) and the eleventy billion dollar payroll machine that is the New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East. (Of course, that can't explain why the Mets are horrible but that's a whole other thing.)
Will the Yankees' surge be enough to propel them into the critically important No. 1 slot of the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings? Find out after the jump.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Alfonso Soriano and Fernando Tatis each hit game-winning grand slams, but they've got nothing on Josh Willingham. The Nationals' outfielder hit two grand slams -- in consecutive innings, no less -- to almost single-handedly beat the Brewers.
Willingham became just the 13th player to hit two grand slams in one game, the first since Bill Mueller did it for Boston in 2003. With eight RBI, Willingham tied the franchise record set by Tim Wallach with the Expos in 1990.
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, that took freaking forever ... but the Blue Jays finally started to stink the joint up. I swear to you, you can't stay long atop the MLB Power Rankings -- our failure by osmosis jinxing ability is just too strong, son. At any rate, it was a weird week for ranking baseball: the Cubs continued to skid, the Padres went on a tear and Toronto fell off the face of the planet. So, yeah, spiciness ensued, and you may take the jump to see how badly your team fared. Unless you're a Rangers or a Braves fan, in which case they couldn't have done that poorly.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Remember when Rickie Weeks was a hot new prospect whose quick bat drew comparisons to Gary Sheffield? Yeah, turns out that was four years ago.
Following season after season of frustration for hopeful fantasy owners, Weeks is finally coming through. The speed isn't there, but he's homered in three straight games to give him nine total in only 140 at-bats. By comparison, he only hit 14 in 475 at-bats last year. So has our man-crush of yesteryear suddenly transformed into the new Dan Uggla, or is this impressive power display just another tease?
Daniel Murphy burst on to the major league scene rather quickly. He went from decent prospect to top rookie last season, as he had some very good splits (.313/.397/.473) in his first 131 major league at-bats.
Manager Jerry Manuel thinks so highly of him that the original plan to have him platoon with Fernando Tatis in left field has been scrapped. Murphy has impressed so much that the left field job is now his to lose.
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 ... Chokers. Sorry, folks, but until they can actually close out a regular season, that's the label they're getting. Fortunately for us fantasy folks, we don't really care about total team performance in the regular season, provided it doesn't impend on individual players' abilities to post statistics. And in that sense, the New York Baseball Mets are quite the enjoyable team to watch. They have a slew of top-tier players on the squad and generally almost always provide a ton of fantasy value. Not much will change in terms of that this year, although you may be surprised as to where it will come from.
Our MLB editor files dispatches from the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas in Notes From Sin City.
While the baseball world watches and waits for Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia to make up their mind, or even just for a scrap from super-agent Scott Boras, closer Francisco Rodriguez has become the belle of the Winter Meetings ball.
Though the Mets have yet to publicly acknowledge that they have signed the record-setting reliever, it is widely believed that Rodriguez has agreed to a three-year deal with the club worth roughly $37 million and containing a vesting option for a fourth year that could push its value past $50 million.
Problem solved, right? Third straight September swoon averted, right? Hardly.
Look, there's no doubt that the Mets' biggest need heading into the offseason was to fix their wretched bullpen. And there's no doubt that Rodriguez is a big part of the puzzle in that regard. But they also play in the same division as the reigning world champions and a pair of clubs in the Marlins and Braves who are capable of winning 85-plus games if things break right.
With the trade deadline right around the corner, our MLB editor brings you the top five rumors every day until July 31.
- The Mets have no idea what to expect from Ryan Church the rest of the way and the Fernando Tatis-Endy Chavez combination in left field probably isn't going to cut, so everyone, including manager Jerry Manuel, is expecting the team to add an outfielder before the trade deadline. Just don't expect that outfielder to be of the Adam Dunn or Matt Holliday variety -- they just don't have the chips. New York has one of the shallowest farm systems in baseball as a consequence of the Johan Santana trade, particularly in the coveted major-league ready category.
That leaves the Mets looking at players like Xavier Nady, Raul Ibanez and Casey Blake, which really is fine. They need an upgrade on what they currently have in left field and some insurance for their injured right fielder to win the NL East, not a star player.
The good news is that all those nagging injuries that Moises Alou has been getting in his never ending minor league rehab stints have come to an end. The bad news is that's because his latest injury has turned out to be pretty significant.
Omar Minaya announced after today's game that Alou's hamstring, which Josh told you was giving him problems during a rehab game in Binghamton last night, is torn ... and surgery has been recommended. If Alou does opt for surgery, he's most likely out for the season.
Certainly, most people out in the crowd would advise Moises to hang it up, that it's not worth being away from his family to go on these endless minor league assignments to go back to the major leagues even though he's done almost everything you can do in the game. Certainly a stark contrast to a guy like Brett Favre who, as far as we know, is perfectly healthy yet has an entire city's psyche under siege with his sudden indecisiveness. And this is not to get on Favre, but to give Alou a lot of credit for continuing the work and going through the setbacks because he's 100% sure that he wants to play major league baseball. There's something noble and tragic about it at the same time. But if Alou wants to continue at it next season, even though the final result might not be what he would want, then more power to him.
Just because the Mets didn't fire Willie Randolph, it doesn't mean the team isn't open to making some changes in hopes of getting back on the winning side of things. You need only look at last night's lineup against the Marlins to see that.
Fernando Tatis won the game with a 12th inning double and he was joined in the lineup by Nick Evans and Damion Easley. Tatis and Evans were both in the minor leagues earlier this month and Easley started for the second straight night at the expense of Carlos Delgado. Does that mean the Mets have benched him?
"I told him he has to pick it up," Randolph told Mets.com before the game. "His defense played into (the decision). He has to pick it up. He didn't like what I said. I don't want him to be happy (about) not playing. But he had no choice."
Nor should he because Delgado isn't doing anything right now. Never the best glove, Delgado's bat no longer carries that deficiency and the Mets aren't hitting on enough cylinders to keep waiting for him to come around. There's a caveat, each of Easley's starts came against lefties and Delgado's expected in the lineup against Brad Penny tonight, but there's probably not much rope left for Delgado.
Maybe he should shave his moustache and goatee. Growing a 'stache got Jason Giambi cooking, perhaps the opposite could get New York's other first baseman in gear.
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.
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
With the trade deadline right around the corner, our MLB editor brings you the top five rumors every day until July 31.
Just because the Mets didn't fire 
