FanHouse JoshAnderson

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.

On the day Milton Bradley began serving a team-mandated, season-ending suspension, former Cubs fan favorite Mark DeRosa suited up for the Cubs rival. He's been doing so since coming over in a trade from Cleveland. This past offseason, the Cubs moved DeRosa to the Indians as part of a concerted effort to free up payroll. The target: Bradley.

Thus, it was only fitting the chain of decisions were further cemented as awful when DeRosa hit two home runs and drove in four runs Monday night.

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

Remember 'Five Alive,' the juicy blend with five fruits that's fun for all the family? Well, Rick Porcello is a unique blend of rookie flavor who's reeled off five straight victories. You can hardly find that syrupy drink on the shelves anymore, but you can still find Porcello in about 30 percent of Yahoo! leagues. And that's not all there is to like about Porcello. After the jump, it's fun time for all fantasy owners! (sugar rush optional)

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

Big Apple, we have a problem. And one that could be a major concern in fantasy baseball leagues, too.

Jose Reyes, undoubtedly a top-10 fantasy pick, left Wednesday's game against the Dodgers after aggravating a right calf injury while trying to leg out an infield single. Reyes had missed five straight starts with the injury, and it looks like a trip to the disabled list is a possibility at some point. The Mets can consider alternatives to watching Ramon Martinez twirl his toothpick bat -- like the versatile Mark DeRosa -- but the solution isn't so simple for fantasy owners relying on his speed.

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

Ichiro's hobbies include: Hitting baseballs, getting massages from manager Don Wakamatsu, and hitting more baseballs.

One nice way to put injury concerns to rest is by smashing a grand slam in your first game back. Ichiro, who missed the first week and a half due to fatigue and ulcer troubles, went 2-for-5 with the homer, four RBI and a stolen base against the Angels. But his stat line paled in comparison to another leadoff star.

Gary Sheffield has been cut from the Detroit Tigers. You, as a fantasy baseball fanatic, have likely already heard the news. You also probably don't own Sheff, which is a good thing. At his age, lack of positional flexibility, and deteriorated skill set, Sheff wasn't worth owning in fantasy baseball this year. Now that point is hammered even further home. He'll probably catch on somewhere else as a DH, but I can't see him worth a roster spot this season.

The real spin here is what the Tigers will do with their lineup, now, and how that impacts others. Here is a partial list of who this will affect.

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.

Grand Theft Guide is FanHouse's fantasy baseball draft kit guide to all the base-stealers that matter in your league.

Most people will tend to agree with the following statement: Today's players are bigger and stronger than their counterparts from 15 years ago. However, if you look at stolen base statistics from 1993 you'll find that 45 players swiped 20 or more bases that year. Six players even stole more than 50 bags. In 2008, only 37 players notched 20 or more stolen bases, with only three swiping 50 or more.

Pablo Sandoval, Giants -- What do you call a 22-year-old kid who hits .345 in 145 major league at-bats with three home runs and 24 RBI, all while playing games at first base, third base and catcher? You call him anything he wants, and you thank him for his time and versatility.

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.

We're less than a month away from the World Series and I already have a sinking suspicion that this offseason could be one of the most boring in recent memory. Free agents finally started talking to other teams this week, but the biggest name (and story) is off the market now that Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees are happily re-united. And the Barry Bonds indictment is big news now, but people can only be indignant for so long. That leaves us waiting for the Mitchell report while the rest of the lackluster free agents sign. Oh, and we get to talk about trades like this one.

Once the Astros picked up center fielder Michael Bourn from the Philadelphia Phillies in the deal that sent Brad Lidge to Philly, Wade and Wren planted the seeds that delivered fruit Friday when the Astros acquired righthander Oscar Villarreal from Atlanta for outfield prospect Josh Anderson.

Josh Anderson for Oscar Villarreal! A middle reliever for a fourth outfielder! Sure, this trade probably helps both teams out and it's worth noting that Ed Wade is certainly going into overdrive early on in his tenure as Astros' GM while it's Fran Wren's first move as Braves' GM, but it's not really terribly interesting to people that aren't Braves' fans or Astros' fans. And it's the sort of move we should probably get used to.