FanHouse Garrett Anderson

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.

The Atlanta Braves were alive in the wild-card race late in the season due to a powerful pitching rotation that featured six viable starting candidates (at least there were six at the end of the season). The Braves ranked third in the National League in team ERA with a 3.57 mark and had two 15-game winners in Derek Lowe and Javier Vazquez. They also ranked fourth in team batting average and sixth in runs scored even without a true cleanup hitter in the lineup.

If you examine their bullpen you'll also find two relievers who were in the top five in strikeouts among relief pitchers -- Mike Gonzalez with 90 and Rafael Soriano with 102. These relievers shared the closing duties for most of the season and each had ERA's below three to finish the year.

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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.

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
The problem with signing 36-year-old free agents is that they tend to get hurt a bit more than younger players. New Braves left fielder Garrett Anderson tweaked his right calf in warm-ups and will miss two to three weeks; maybe more. Matt Diaz in left field is not good for the Braves and it sure as heck isn't any kind of answer for your fantasy team. There is good news in camp, however, Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless inning today giving up only one hit and striking out one in his bid to return from right elbow surgery. Derek Lowe was next to untouchable pitching four perfect innings today striking out six and walking none.

FanHouse begins its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Atlanta Braves.

It's not my typical policy to engage in cheesy headline writing, however, this is GM Frank Wren's second full year at the helm with his team. Things are going to be different, in theory. But more importantly, it might be time to go ahead and realize that this isn't your dad's Braves team, or your older brother's for that matter. After 14 straight division titles, the Braves have been absent from the postseason for two straight years. Wren's job, obviously, is to fix that.

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 ...

Biggest offseason losers. At least that's what pessimists will try and tell you, anyway. The Braves -- and new GM Frank Wren -- seemingly made blunder after blunder in 2009, losing Rafael Furcal at the last minute, whiffing on A.J. Burnett, letting John Smoltz walk and failing to land Jake Peavy. But the reality is that Wren actually did a pretty darn good job assembling a talented squad that can certainly compete in the NL East in 2009. Oh, and they'll provide some nice fantasy value as well.

Update: Griffey denies making a decision -- see bottom of post.

Just last week it looked like Ken Griffey Jr. was on the verge of returning to Seattle where he started his career, but now, five days later, Junior still hasn't signed with anybody. In fact, with each passing day it seems less likely that Griffey is going to return to Seattle, as most of the talk surrounding him the last few days has been about him signing with the Atlanta Braves.

Since the Angels have their division wrapped up and are just playing out the final few weeks in preparation for the playoffs, the front office has been able to spend some time thinking about the 2009 season. Team owner Arte Moreno doesn't plan on going too far beyond the $120 million payroll the team has this season, and considering the free agents on the roster right now, I think it's safe to say that the Angels will look a bit different in 2009.

Mark Teixeira, Francisco Rodriguez, Jon Garland, Garrett Anderson, and Juan Rivera will all hit the market this winter, and I wouldn't be surprised if the only one of those four to return to Anaheim next season is Teixeira. Of course, with the departure of all those free agents, that would leave room in the budget for the Angels to still make a splash, and Moreno has his sights on one pitcher in particular.

Part of that commitment is expected to be a pursuit of the top pitcher on the market, Milwaukee left-hander CC Sabathia, speculation Moreno did little to shoot down Tuesday.

"We always try to stay very focused on pitching, and right now we think we have a solid one through four," Moreno said, referring to John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders and Jered Weaver.

"But do you go out and get a No. 1, or do you look for a 2, 3 or 4? We have a wish list of things we think will improve the team. But what you go after could affect your flexibility."

Adding Sabathia to their rotation would make one of the AL's strongest rotations even stronger, and would go a long way to making sure the Angels run away with the AL West again in 2009. Of course, I'm still of the opinion that Sabathia would probably prefer staying in the NL where he's dominated and he gets to swing the stick occasionally.

Cheap Yard Work helps you pick out likely free agents in your league that have been raking over the past week.

Keep in mind we have a really small sample with which to work this week ... because of that I made sure to pick out some names that we should all know in fantasyland.

Nomar Garciaparra, SS, Dodgers
Post-ASG stats: .462/.462/1.000, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI
Betcha never thought this first guy would be fantasy relevant again. I sure as hell didn't. Yet there he was dropping two bombs on Saturday. Don't expect that power to continue, but he will be playing pretty much everyday. You could do much worse, especially now while he's hot.

Billy Butler, DH, Royals
Post-ASG stats: .385/.429/.846, 2 HR, 7 RBI
We've been waiting on him to break through as a middle-of-the-order power bat and even endured a stint in the minors. He should be back for good, considering the Royals aren't gonna factor into the AL playoff picture.

Melvin Mora, 3B, O's
Post-ASG stats: .400/.471/1.067, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R
If you are one of the few owners looking for help at the loaded 3B position, Mora should suffice for the rest of the year. He's ancient, yeah, but he's still more than serviceable in the power categories.

Garrett Anderson, OF, Halos
Post-ASG stats: .455/.455/.727, HR, 5 RBI
He's actually probably not worth it in leagues where he's available due to oldness. He just fit with the theme so I figured I'd throw him in.

Cheap Yard Work takes a look at hitters who are likely unowned and most certainly raking.

Ryan Ludwick, OF, STL
7 day stats: .529/.518/.1.10, 3HR, 8RBI, 1BB, 0SB

It's highly unlikely that Ludwick is going to keep up his recent pace. In fact, his 11:29 BB:K ratio pretty much dictates that, no? Especially when we consider the high OBP he's been posting. It doesn't hurt that he's got a .443 BABIP or a 25% HR/FB% ratio wen you want to try and predict an inability to continue his streak. No reason you can't ride him while he's hot though.

Adam LaRoche, 1B, PIT
7 day stats: .300/.440/.650, 2HR, 5RBI, 5BB, 1SB

LaRoche stinks in the early season, as we've learned. But he's starting to heat up a little bit now, and that's nice in a week where the Pirates get 8 games. Particularly appealing is the five walks in the past seven days. Well, and the fact that picking him up could actually lead to using him for the rest of the year.

Garrett Anderson, OF, LAA
7 day stats: .368/.429/.947, 3HR, 8RBI, 2BB, 0SB

Age is an issue, but didn't seem to bother him last week. Unfortunately, he's only getting run against right handed batters, and the Angels face three Southpaws next week; only use him in daily leagues, but he's a nice filler in that capacity.
Mark Kotsay, OF, ATL
7 day stats: .364/.417/.634, 2HR, 6RBI, 2BB, 1SB

Kotsay can be injury prone/streaky, but when the guy is hot, he's a great fantasy play. That's two straight weeks of streaky in the good way though, and frankly, he's a vastly better play than the guy he's replacing, Andruw Jones.

Vladimir Guerrero has never been a big fan of playing the role of designated hitter. it comes across in his performance as well, because in the 41 games that Vlad was the Angels DH last year, he hit only .270 with 10 homers and 36 RBI. I say "only .270" because for Vlad, .270 isn't much. After all, this is a man who has hit .325 in his career, and never finished a full season with a batting average below .300.

After suffering through injuries last season, you'd think that maybe Vlad would be more willing to take a few days off in the field and just contribute at the plate. Of course, you'd be wrong.

"No, no DH," Guerrero said Tuesday, before switching to Spanish.

"I'm a right fielder," he said through first base coach Alfredo Griffin, who was interpreting. "I've got to wait until the season starts, see how my body responds, then we can decide what's best for me."

Well, Vlad, let me be the first to tell you that more time at designated hitter is whats best for you, and it's best for the team. One of the reasons the Angels signed Torii Hunter this season was so they could give both Guerrero and Garrett Anderson more time as the designated hitter and save the wear and tear on their aging bodies.

Vlad is 32 years old, though he walks like an 80-year old man coming off hip replacement surgery, so rest would be good for him from time to time. He's going to have to put his pride aside for a bit, and think about the team. Maybe some extra rest during the regular season will help keep him from wearing out once the Angels get to the playoffs where Vlad has hit .183 with a home run and 7 RBI in 16 playoff games as an Angel.

Not exactly the type of production the Angels are paying him for.