FanHouse JeremyHermida

With the conclusion of the World Series, it appears Major League Baseball isn't wasting any time thrusting us directly into Hot Stove season. In the midst of Mark Teahen rumors, we have been served our first actual trade. The Boston Red Sox have acquired 25-year-old outfielder Jeremy Hermida from the Florida Marlins for pitchers Jose Alvarez and Hunter Jones.

Thus far in his career, Hermida has failed to live up to the lofty expectations that come for someone with his natural abilities. A former first-rounder once said to have five-tool potential, Hermida has hit .265 with a barely above average OPS through just over 3 1/2 seasons in the bigs. Of course, some circumstances should be considered.

MLB Power Rankings: Where we care what you've done for us lately when we break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world each week.

HAVE YOU HEARD? YANKEE STADIUM HAS A WIND TUNNEL!!! Does it matter/is it real? Probably not. In fact, it might actually be on the other end of the spectrum of importance when compared to MLB Power Rankings. This week, we welcome another brand new No. 1 at the top of our rankings, although, all spoiler alerts aside, it's from the same division as last week! Debate the quality of your team, after the jump.

We just concluded our fantasy draft here at Fanhouse. I have to say that I like what I did here.

It's a 12-team, rotisserie mixed-league using standard 5X5 scoring categories and rosters that include two catchers, a first baseman, a second baseman, a shortstop, a third baseman, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, a utility hitter, nine pitchers and three bench players.

Here's the Extra Base Knox team:

Round 1(3) - Albert Pujols, Cardinals - Wright and Hanley Ramirez went with the first two picks. Pujols is the best remaining player so I went with him. I'll take his massive offense in four of the five categories and smile all the way.

Round 2(22) - Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners - I made a tough decision here between him and Justin Morneau. I love Ichiro's speed and great batting average. With such high batting averages from my first two picks, I should be able to grab a big home run hitter with a low average later in the draft if I choose.

Round 3(27) - Carl Crawford, Rays - I didn't go power, I went speed again. Crawford plus Ichiro will pretty much guarantee my team is near the top in stolen bases.

'Eye Spy' details first-hand Spring Training notes and observations from a fantasy baseball perspective.

After a long trip from Atlanta to Jupiter, Florida Wednesday night / Thursday morning, who could think of sleep when the Red Sox were playing the Cardinals? The game was sold out (all Red Sox and Yankees games are in Florida, I hear) but the nice scalper told me he'd do me a favor (he hates breaking up tickets for singles) and sell me a ticket for twice face value. Hmmmm. Josh Beckett was pitching, but the only other regulars were Jason Varitek and Jed Lowrie in the lineup on Friday. I opted to decline the nice man's offer and waited to head up to Tradition Field and see the Mets.

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
There are a number of story lines buzzing in Braves camp. You have a battle between Jordan Schafer and Josh Anderson for the right to patrol center field. You also have five of Baseball America's top 100 prospects in camp, including the fifth ranked prospect who's been turning heads, Jason Heyward. But the king of the hill in to this point for the Braves is the fourth ranked prospect on that Baseball America list, Tommy Hanson. Hanson is fighting for a chance to grab the final rotation spot after he tore up the Arizona Fall League. In his first start he struck out two in two innings of work, walked one and allowed two runs. More buzzworthy was the fact that he touched 99 MPH on the radar gun and plunked Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada in retaliation to his shortstop Yunel Escobar being plunked earlier. Hanson pitches again today in an exhibition against the WBC team from Panama.

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.

With the trade deadline right around the corner, our MLB editor brings you the top five rumors every day until July 31.

- The Red Sox, Marlins and Pirates are indeed working on a three-way deal that would send Manny Ramirez to South Florida, Jeremy Hermida and prospects to Pittsburgh and Jason Bay (and possibly reliever John Grabow) to Boston. The trade is still a long way from being completed, however, with the teams expected to haggle right up to the deadline on the prospects heading to the Pirates. The deal is fragile because it involves three teams and prospects from both Florida and Boston, so it could go right down to the wire, and there's always a chance the deal collapses.

But there is also a different feeling in Boston this time around with Ramirez, much like the feeling in 2004 when GM Theo Epstein swallowed hard and got rid of the beloved Nomar Garciaparra. If the three-way deal with the Pirates collapses, it's not out of the realm of possibility that the Red Sox would then deal directly with the Marlins. And remember this: while the Red Sox would love to have Manny Ramirez in their lineup in October, it won't be as difficult as you'd think to replace his production over the final two months of the season because he is so poor defensively.

- GM Kenny Williams has already added future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. to the White Sox's roster, but he might not be done. With Scott Linebrink on the DL and closer Bobby Jenks just off of it, Chicago is looking for bullpen depth. Williams and the White Sox have been connected with Oakland closer Huston Street for a few weeks now, and there are indications from the Windy City that he'll make a final push to acquire him before the 4PM ET deadline. Eamonn Brennan has already covered the Nick Swisher-Street swap speculation already at FanHouse and correctly assumes that a deal is unlikely.

The Manny Ramirez Will He or Won't He Get Traded Saga, which has reached such ridiculous proportions that people were discussing a swap of ManRam and Brett Favre (please? pretty please?) was taken to a whole new level on Wednesday evening.

Ramirez has always had the "Manny Being Manny" card played for him (he doesn't actually play it himself) but given the latest shots he took at the Boston Red Sox organization that refuses to satisfy his contract demands, it's hard to imagine anyone taking this with an aloof grin and head shake.

"During my years here I've seen how they [the Red Sox] have mistreated other great players when they didn't want them to try to turn the fans against them," Ramirez said in an interview with ESPNdeportes.com

"The Red Sox did the same with guys like Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez, and now they do the same with me. Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy," Ramirez added. "I love Boston fans, but the Red Sox don't deserve me. I'm not talking about money. Mental peace has no price and I don't have peace here."

Yeah, so, that's reasonably awkward. It also means that Theo Epstein has about 18 hours to deal him. Which might mean less than full value. We know he's not going to Philadelphia and while the Florida deal (Josh Willingham or Jeremy Hermida)seemed a little strange ... well suddenly it has caterpillar legs.

With the trade deadline right around the corner, our MLB editor brings you the top five rumors every day until July 31.


- The Jason Bay market appears to be heating up. Both the Rays and Cardinals have had serious discussions with Pittsburgh about acquiring the left fielder. Tampa Bay would seem to have the upper hand since it has the better farm system and does not play in the same division as the Pirates. GM Neal Huntington is believed to have asked for shortstop prospect Reid Brignac and pitching prospect Jeremy Hellickson, with Hellickson believed to be the sticking point. There is also late word that the Red Sox could jump into the Bay talks as part of a three-way deal that would send Ramirez to Florida, prospects to Pittsburgh and Bay to Boston.

While I don't think the Red Sox are seriously considering trading Manny Ramirez anywhere, the fact they've come out and said they would think about it has been more than enough for teams to come calling. There have been rumors that the Red Sox are having conversation with the Phillies, Dodgers, and most surprising of all, the Florida Marlins.

Considering that the Marlins spent the last off season shipping Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis north to Detroit instead of paying them, it's somewhat surprising that they would want to add Manny's contract to their payroll, but according to Ken Rosenthal the idea isn't that crazy.

Manny to the Marlins? The idea, first reported by SI.com, is not as wacky as it sounds.

The chances of the Red Sox trading Manny Ramirez remain slim, but executives from at least one rival club in touch with Boston are convinced that the Sox are intent on purging their left fielder.