FanHouse Kurt Suzuki

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.

In the immediate aftermath of the tragic crash that claimed the life of Angels' pitcher Nick Adenhart and two of his friends, things looked bleak for Jon Wilhite. The former Cal State Fullerton baseball player was in critical condition and his head and spine had been separated, a horrific condition known medically as "internal decapitation." According to this article about the surgery required to save his life, more than 95 percent of people that suffer the injury die at the scene of the accident and most that do survive the immediate aftermath end up paralyzed.

Wilhite not only survived, but he's walking and was able to throw out the first pitch at the A's-Angels game in Oakland Saturday night. He's expected to make a near-full recovery, which both of his parents call "a miracle." The A's honored the lone survivor of the accident not just by having him throw out the first pitch, but by helping Wilhite's friend and former teammate at Fullerton, Kurt Suzuki, raise over $50,000 to help with his recovery.

Saturday Spotlight is a weekly lightning round of questions delving into the personalities and stories of major leaguers.

Kurt Suzuki is not the most high-profile player on the A's, but you might start to hear a little more about him later this summer. Suzuki, who is batting .297, seems to be the team's most likely All-Star. He is a workhorse behind the plate (caught 141 games last year) and he's got some clutch pop with the bat. He's got 16 homers, including two game-winners.

On to the questions ...

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.

While it's entirely possible the Blue Jays do hit a snag, isn't it about time columnists across the internet stopped doing Can the Blue Jays Really Keep This Up? pieces by now? I've seen at least 10 in the past three weeks. There are almost as many The Rangers Are For Real posts. The discrepancy in the media's faith in those two is likely due to the divisions in which the teams reside, but seven weeks isn't a small sample. At some point, you have to start giving credit where it's due.

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Joe Mauer has done everything he can to singlehandedly kill spring training as we know it.

Everyone else needs seven or eight weeks to get ready. But this guy gets 15 at-bats in minor-league camp, another 15 in Class A, and then shows up in the majors and hits .500 his first 10 games.

"Everyone keeps asking me what's going on," Mauer told FanHouse. "I really don't have any answer for that."

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

I think we can all agree that it's far too early to start voting upon who the best 2009 players are when it's only the middle of May. That being said, there are certainly some shining stars at this point who deserve some props. Plus, Major League Baseball recently released their All-Star ballots for our voting pleasure -- we vote on who will start the All-Star Game. If that's not important, I don't know what is. Let's take a gander.

OAKLAND -- Dallas Braden was a punch-line: "All you need to know about the A's rotation is that Dallas Braden is the Opening Day starter."

A month into the season, it doesn't seem like such a joke anymore. Although he's got little attention on the injury-ravaged A's, Braden is off to one of the best starts in the American League.

Braden, who starts on Tuesday night against the Angels, has a 2.10 earned run average, second in the league to Zack Greinke.

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

Here are three abbreviations you don't want to see near your closer's name in the box score: BS, BB and HBP. Those three -- blown save, walk, and hit by pitch -- were all a part of B.J. Ryan's line Wednesday night against the Rangers. Prepare for the uptick in ownership of Jason Frasor and Scott Downs. Is it time to hit the panic button on Ryan after three blown opportunities?

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

In news that probably means a lot more to fantasy baseball players than real baseball fans -- with all due respect to the Pirates and their true fans -- Ryan Doumit is going to miss the next 8-10 weeks. He'll be undergoing wrist surgery and have some pins inserted. As fantasy owners, we must march on and look at how to replace the production of a very solid offensive catcher.

OAKLAND -- Terry Francona was having one of those mornings.

Not only was his team reeling from its worst eight-game start in 13 years, but he had just hours earlier milked 11 innings out of his bullpen and had to put Daisuke Matsuzaka on the disabled list. The pitcher who was coming from Triple-A to take Matsuzaka's spot was traveling all the way from Rochester, with no chance of arriving in Oakland by the start of the game.

So the Red Sox manager was somewhat heartened when Tim Wakefield stopped by his office with a message.