Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
After Tim Lincecum missed a start, fantasy owners still in the championship race had to have been holding their collective breath. Now is not the time to lose your staff ace. His next start would be a test of his health. Last year's NL Cy Young winner took the hill Monday night against the wild card-leading Rockies, and he passed the test with flying colors. While the 4 free passes were a bit disappointing, Lincecum more than made up for that with a win, 11 strikeouts and just 1 earned run in 7 innings of work. He's back, and he'll be a force the rest of the way (now if only someone could convince him to get a freaking haircut).
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.
Let me put this simply: you want no part of being No. 1 in the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings. It just brings discord, losing and possibly suspensions to your baseball team. Such was the case with the white-hot Dodgers and Manny Ramirez, who now have to deal with a 50 game-ban of their star slugger. Who's doomed this week? Let's just say that no one would be too shocked if they weren't there again next Wednesday.
It's not a terribly glorious week for two-start pitchers in week six (Monday, May 11th - Sunday May 17th) of the fantasy baseball season. With the light day of action on Monday there are only 34 total this week, and most of this week's pitchers are risky picks.
You won't need to set you lineups until 7:05 PM ET on Monday as the only four games are night starts
Must Start Johan Santana, Mets - Monday vs ATL (D. Lowe) and Saturday at SF (R. Johnson) Matt Cain , Giants - Tuesday vs WAS (J. Zimmermann) and Sunday vs NYM (M. Pelfrey) Jered Weaver , Angels - Tuesday vs BOS (J. Masterson) and Sunday at TEX (S. Feldman) Roy Halladay, Blue Jays - Tuesday vs NYY (A. Burnett) and Sunday vs CWS (G. Floyd)
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... Team that should have more doctors on staff. Lofty expectations turned sour when major keys to the Indians lineup went down with injury in 2008. Victor Martinez, Travis Hafner, Fausto Carmona, and Jake Westbrook all lost significant time to various maladies. The health and or hasty return of these guys, and the continued health of Kerry Wood are crucial to the Indians having any success in 2009.
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.
Chicago White Sox The buzz around White Sox camp is position battles. Up for grabs is the third base position, center field and second base. Josh Fields and Dayan Viciedo are fighting for third and Fields has the leg up. Both hitters can mash the ball and both play suspect defense; although Fields is improving. Fields worked extensively this off-season at Camp Cora and Cora mentioned that everyone would be shocked with what they see out of Fields this year. He has three hits in six at-bats with two doubles so far this spring. Jayson Nix and his four hits in six at-bats with two doubles seem to be taking over as front-runner for the second base job thought to belong to Chris Getz. DeWayne Wise is being called the "best player this spring" and may be taking the center field job from injured Jerry Owens.
Spot Jobs gambles by picking five spot starters for the week and five usual starters to avoid. The success rate is usually around 50%, but the risk level is always through the roof. Obviously, though, you always start Brandon Webb (when healthy) and sit Dave Bush.
Five Down
Randy Johnson, DBacks, @ Boston -- As I assumed would happen when he was going well, he's in the middle of a free-fall. He's done. I wouldn't start him again the rest of the season anyway, but getting the Red Sox in Fenway is a rough task for anyone. Do not let him destroy your ERA and WHIP just for a few Ks.
Roy Oswalt, Astros, vs. Rangers -- I don't trust him anymore, and the Rangers lead the majors in runs scored. He's already disappeared from "must-start" territory, so why would you let him go against a team that mashes like Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Milton Bradley, and company?
Daisuke Matsuzaka, Red Sox, @ Houston -- That last debacle of a start was enough to scare me temporarily, and the Astros definitely have the potential to take advantage of mistakes in that park. I like him for one sit and then he's back to a must-start.
I don't know if Cleveland Indians starter Jake Westbrook has enjoyed all the time he's spent on the disabled list the last two seasons, but I know he's having a hard time staying away from it. Just a few weeks after returning from his latest stint, Westbrook felt a little soreness in is elbow after his last start against the White Sox.
The Indians were hoping that it was nothing out of the ordinary, and that Jake would be fine in time for his next scheduled start tonight in Arlington against the Rangers. He won't be, as he's been placed back on the disabled list.
This poses an interesting problem for the Indians, as they have no idea who is going to take Jake's place in the rotation while he's down.
The club will make a corresponding roster move to bring up a pitcher from Triple-A Buffalo for Tuesday's game. Manager Eric Wedge said Monday night that Tuesday's starter had yet to be determined, and, with sixth starter Jeremy Sowers unavailable because of the seven innings he tossed Sunday, it was possible the Indians would use a host of relievers for the ballgame.
"We've got to talk about it," Wedge said. "We've got a couple different options, and we've got to get somebody on their way."
As I mentioned in my previous post about Kerry Wood, teams around baseball are finally starting to make the final roster decisions that face their ballclub, and that's an awesome thing because it means the season is almost here. The latest team to announce who their fifth starter is going to be is the Cleveland Indians.
They had the option of choosing between three left-handers for the spot, and in the end, they've chosen Cliff Lee.
The Indians' left-hander was named the club's No. 5 starter on Monday, beating out lefties Aaron Laffey and Jeremy Sowers for the final spot in Cleveland's rotation. Lee, demoted to the minors last season, has had a solid spring. He pitched five scoreless innings on Saturday against the New York Mets.
Lee struggled in 2007, going 5-8 in 16 starts while sporting a 6.29 ERA and had to spend some time in the minors because of it. While the team is saying that Lee has earned the spot because of how he's pitched this spring, I think it has a lot more to do with the way Aaron Laffey and Jeremy Sowers pitched this spring than it does Cliff's performance.
There's also that three-year $14 million extension Lee signed in the summer of 2006 that probably has something to do with the decision as well. While the Indians are one of the baseball's best teams, they don't have the kind of money laying around to pay a guy $5 million to help their AAA team.
Jake Westbrook made his third rehab start for the Lake County Captains, as he tries to work his way back from an abdominal injury. He was good for the first three innings, but then he blew up in the fourth. After it was said and done, Westbrook lasted five innings, allowing four runs and throwing two wild pitches.
It's the third straight rehab start in which Westbrook has struggled. In the three starts he's 1-2 with a 7.90 ERA. Luckily for the Indians and Westbrook, nobody's looking for results in a rehab stint, they're only hoping he can pitch without re-aggravating the injury.
"I had one bad inning, but it was just me getting behind again a little bit,'' Westbrook said. "Overall, I felt real strong, especially compared to how the last two (starts) went. I just feel a lot better.''
And there it is. The results don't matter because he feels good. This is good news for the Indians, as they've been playing well enough without Westbrook, so now that they're getting their other ace back, things can only improve.
Eric Wedge isn't sure when the Tribe will bring Westbrook back, even though he thinks that Jake could come back now, it's more likely he'll make one more rehab start first. The only person who should consider this bad news is Jeremy Sowers. He's going to lose his spot in the Indians rotation once Westbrook returns, and he could find himself back in the minors.
On Deck is The Fanhouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups
St. Louis Cardinals (18-25) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (19-26)-1:10PM Est.
The Cardinals probably wish they could play the Pirates 162 times a year. If that were the case, they'd probably be doing a lot better job defending their title. They're 5-2 against them, and look to sweep them for the second time this season this afternoon. Their de facto ace Braden Looper will go to the mound looking to seal the deal, and he'll be squaring off against Tom Gorzelanny.
Kansas City Royals (19-28) vs. Cleveland Indians (27-17)-8:10PM Est.
I don't know what it is, but the Royals just seem to have the Indians number. Back in 2005 it was the Royals sweeping the Indians on the final weekend of the season to keep the red hot Tribe from making the playoffs, and tonight they look to complete another sweep of the Indians. This time the Royals have caused the Indians to fall out of first place in the AL Central, and it's all up to Jeremy Sowers who's not only pitching to avoid the sweep, but also could be pitching for his job.
San Diego Padres (26-20) vs. Chicago Cubs (20-24)-10:05PM Est.
Sticking with today's unofficial theme of teams on the verge of sweeps, the Padres look to do the same to the Cubs. The Padres are tied with Atlanta for the second best home record in the NL at 14-8, and have won 10 in a row at PetCo Park. Today it will be up to Chris Young to further test the patience of Lou Piniella as he faces Jason Marquis.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
From now until the regular season begins, 
Spot Jobs gambles by picking five spot starters for the week and five usual starters to avoid. The success rate is usually around 50%, but the risk level is always through the roof. Obviously, though, you always start 
I don't know if Cleveland Indians starter 
As I mentioned in 
Jake Westbrook
