FanHouse John Danks

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.

Before the season started, I was rough on Derrek Lee. I named him the biggest bust on the Cubs for this coming season and included him on the list of "five guys to lose" your fantasy league. I even predicted Mike Fontenot would hit more home runs than Mr. Lee. Obviously, it sounds outlandish now, in hindsight, as Lee clubbed his 35th home run Tuesday night. In the process, he established a new career high in RBI with 109. His OPS is the second-highest it's ever been -- trailing only his insane 2005 season when he did an Albert Pujols impersonation.

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.

All season long, we've been waiting for David Price to deliver on the hype. But Price's year has been up and down, with counting stats that resemble waiver-wire fodder outside of his strikeout total. Well, there's another Rays starter that may be on track to finish 2009 stronger than Price, and is well worth a spot in all keeper leagues.

Wade Davis, you now have our unbridled attention.

It's a great pitching week for Chicago-based teams. All four of the starting pitchers (two from the White Sox and two from the Cubs) are "Must Start" options.

Lineups lock on Monday at 1:05 PM ET, so get those two-start pitchers into your lineup before then.

Must Start
Jon Lester, Red Sox - Tuesday at TB (W. Davis) and Sunday at CWS (J. Danks)
Rich Harden, Cubs - Monday vs HOU (R. Oswalt) and Saturday at NYM (N. Figueroa)
Randy Wells, Cubs - Tuesday vs HOU (B. Moehler) and Sunday at NYM (M. Pelfrey)
John Danks, White Sox - Tuesday at MIN (N. Blackburn) and Sunday vs BOS (J. Lester)
Gavin Floyd, White Sox - Monday at MIN (A. Gabino) and Saturday vs BOS (T. Wakefield)
Josh Johnson, Marlins - Monday vs ATL (T. Hudson) and Saturday at WAS (G. Mock)
Roy Oswalt, Astros - Monday at CHC (R. Harden) and Sunday vs PHI (C. Hamels)
Randy Wolf, Dodgers - Monday vs ARZ (D. Davis) and Saturday vs SD (M. Latos)

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Cubs might be making a charge.

Saturday's 5-3 victory over Cincinnati put Chicago five games over .500 for the first time in more than two months. And the Cubs now trail the first-place Cardinals by just a half-game in the National League Central.

"Let's not get euphoric about it," manager Lou Piniella said.

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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.

Big ups to Prez for taking the PR reigns over while I was off last week. But we're back in the saddle, fresh out of the All-Star break and ready to incite you with our rankings. Also, I should point out that this is, relatively speaking, the "home stretch." Where even the most minuscule of mini-streaks can change a team's fate. Or something like that. Anyway, let's go to the list, where we'll find out if an attack on Jack Nicholson by the Phanatic and the addition of Petey was enough to vault the Phillies into the top spot of the Week 16 MLB Power Rankings. Cue drumroll.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Ryan Ludwick scuffled early this season, which was a sign to many about how much of a fluke his huge 2008 season was. Through June 29, Ludwick was hitting just .227 with a .718 OPS. Last season, he hit .299 with a .966 OPS in his career year, with a whopping 37 home runs and 113 RBI. Many thought it was an outlier, but he had never gotten a chance to play everyday in the majors until then.

In July, he's heating up and showing that he is no fluke.

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.

So, quick apology on my part: the Power Rankings were supposed to go live Wednesday, but things happened, I'm a jerkstore, excuses, etc., and here we are. It's not Wednesday! So please note that the records reflect Wednesday -- not Thursday, not Friday, not Saturday. Don't freak out in the comments and call me names. Please. I can't take that in my fragile emotional state right now. I might turn into Raul Ibanez, at which point I would yell at you and then strain my groin. And that wouldn't be good for anyone.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

It sure didn't take long for Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen to get used to the big leagues. Matt Wieters, on the other hand, needed 48 at-bats to respond to the hype.

Both top prospects hit their first home runs at the major-league level on Wednesday -- matching two-run jacks to left field -- but there's an acute difference in perceived fantasy value between them.

It's time to correct that, people.

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.

Maybe I'm being a bit hard on these guys, but almost 59 percent of the 41 pitchers who are starting twice this week are being placed in the "Risky Business" category.

There are a couple of touted rookies who make up the 59 percent like the Rays' David Price and Atlanta's Kris Medlen. There are also some big-named pitchers who should never be placed among the "Risky Business" pitchers who just are throwing well, or their teams aren't winning behind them. Jon Lester and Francisco Liriano come to mind immediately.

Like I said, in all there are 41 two-start pitchers this week. Make sure that you get your lineups locked early today as there are a bunch of afternoon games. The first is 1:10 PM ET when Houston plays Cincinnati.