FanHouse KurtSuzuki

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.

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...
Most average team in the league. It's weird, because there don't seem to be many real weaknesses on team -- but can you really find a bunch of strengths? I hate the term "very average," but this team is pretty close to the mean across the board. As you scroll through ADP charts, you'll find the A's aren't often towards the top of the lists, but they are definitely there. As I said, average.

As this baseball season comes down the final stretch, Mike Piazza has found himself on the bench more often than not, even though he's healthy. Kurt Suzuki has taken over the catcher spot, and Mike has to share DH duties with Dan Johnson.

Piazza is well aware that these last couple of weeks will be his last in an Athletics uniform. It's not that Piazza hasn't performed well this season, it's the fact that the Athletics will be going younger next season. What the 39-year old catcher/designated hitter isn't so sure of is whether or not this will be his last few weeks playing baseball for anybody.

"I just think I'm not in the mood to make a decision right now," Piazza said. "You have to detach yourself, take a step back. It's impossible to make a decision when you're in the washing machine - you've got to get out and dry off. You never make a good decision when you're emotionally charged."

Man, the media are so invasive these days. Asking a guy such a tough question while he's inside a washing machine. That's just rude.

My gut tells me Piazza will be back next season. He can still play and I'm sure there's a couple of American League teams who wouldn't mind his bat in the lineup. There were a lot of rumors that Piazza was going to be traded to the Twins earlier this summer, and since Torii Hunter won't be back, I'm sure they'll be looking for somebody to replace his offensive output. Piazza may just be that guy.