FanHouse Jerry Hairston Jr

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 Cubs
Sean Marshall is the favorite to win the job as the Cubs 5th starter in the rotation, but he's going to have to fight off a slew of others including Chad Gaudin, Ken Kadokura and Jeff Samardzija. Marshall went a long way towards proving he's the right choice on Tuesday as he threw three perfect innings. In five spring innings he's given up one run, four hits, struck out two and walked none. With the addition of Milton Bradley, Kosuke Fukudome only has one option in the outfield; center field. He'll be competing with Reed Johnson for that job. Johnson is the only one in camp as Fukudome is participating in the World Baseball Classic.

Obviously the fantasy season is past the halfway point, but you gotta work with me here. There aren't any games that count for the next few days, so it's the perfect time to formulate these teams. Unlike the actual All-Star game, there are different parameters for judging who makes the fantasy All-Star team. Value matters. For example, Hanley Ramirez is obviously the best fantasy player in baseball. He was a high first round pick in every draft, though, so he's not really exceeding expectations.

There's a reason you make the fantasy All-Star team this way ... owners don't win leagues by drafting Hanley Ramirez first overall. You do, however, win your league by loading up on value picks like Josh Hamilton and Geovany Soto ... while you lose your league by taking some of the big names I'm going to list on the "bad" team.

I've named each team after their backstop. Why? I felt like it.

Let's have fun.

TEAM GEO (these are the fantasy All-Stars)

C - Geovany Soto -- You can convince me that you thought Geo was a top ten catcher and that he'd hit 20 home runs coming into the season. You can't convince me that you had him top three and on pace for almost 30.

Earlier today the blogger formerly known as Postman E touched a bit on Reds' fans' frustration with the Reds (and, most probably, Dusty Baker) signing Jerry Hairston Jr. and Corey Patterson to compete for the centerfield job, presumably with über prospect Jay Bruce. Given Baker's history with Patterson, it is a bit of a suspicious move, though given Bruce's young age it doesn't bother me that much.

What does bother me is the implication in this article that because Patterson failed as a young prospect with the Cubs, Bruce will have the same problem with the Reds. When Patterson was called up in 2000 at the age of 20, he was in the middle of hitting .261/.329/.491 in AA. That's a good, but it's not particularly great. He then struggled at AAA the next year at age 21 and never found his stride again. All-in-all, Patterson had one great year in the minors at the age of 19 in A ball. The Cubs simply never bothered to find out if that year was a fluke. Bruce, on the other hand, tore up three levels last year at the age of 20, culminating in a 50 game stretch in AAA in which he hit.305/.358/.567. He's hit for power, average, and shown good patience at every level he's played at. There's really no reason to believe he's not a superstar waiting to happen.

The Reds are absolutely justified if they start Bruce out in AAA this year. He doesn't even have 300 plate appearances above A ball and he's only 21. If they feel he's not ready, they should keep him in AAA and get him more plate appearances there. But they shouldn't keep him in AAA because Corey Patterson struggled. That's like comparing apples and corkscrews and it's not really fair to either player.

In the latest move of MLB's and George Mitchell's ongoing investigation into steroid use by the league's players, it has been reported in the New York Times that Mitchell is going after the medical records of a few current and former Baltimore Orioles. Including Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro.

Investigators of steroid use in baseball are seeking medical records from at least two of the game's premier sluggers over the past dozen years, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, along with records from dozens of other players suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs, a baseball official with direct knowledge of the request said.

The investigators in the inquiry, headed by the former Senator George J. Mitchell, have also asked the Baltimore Orioles to send medical files to Jason Grimsley, David Segui and Fernando Tatis, the official said.

There's only one problem with Mitchell's latest move. The players in question don't have to give up their medical records if they don't want to. So really, this newest "attempt" to uncover steroid abuse in baseball will serve no purpose.

Really though, what should we expect? What has Mitchell done over the last year that has come up with any actual information? Bud Selig and George Mitchell don't want to find anything out about steroid use and baseball, and probably because they already know everything that has gone on in the game over the last 20 years or so.

Mitchell knows that the players don't have to release their medical records to him, so that's exactly why he's asked for them. That way it gets on the front of the New York Times sports section and makes it look like baseball is actually trying to do something about the problem.

Previously at the Fanhouse:
George Mitchell Readying Final Phase Of World Domination Plan
Gary Sheffield Won't Cooperate With George Mitchell, Either
Remember That Steroid Ivestigation? George Mitchell's Not Done Yet