Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
After hanging in contention until early August, the Astros bottomed out with a 23-36 finish in the season's final two months. That culminated in Cecil Cooper's firing and Brad Mills' hiring. The squad Mills inherits is full of both veteran players and holes that will make it hard for him to returnthe team to where owner Drayton McLane thinks it belongs -- the top of the NL Central.
That's because the Astros are currently caught in Ed Wade Purgatory. He can do just enough to keep his veteran squad in pseudo-contention, but probably not quite enough to get them into a real playoff race. That won't stop him from trying, though.
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.
There was reason for concern with Cliff Lee. After storming out of the proverbial gates upon his entrance to the so-called Senior Circuit, he stumbled. Lee's first five outings yielded a 5-0 record with a 0.68 ERA and a 39:6 K:BB in 40 innings. His next three? Ugly. He got a win (going 1-2), but his ERA in 15 innings was 9.60, after allowing 29 hits, 16 earned runs and 4 home runs.
Tuesday night, Lee re-announced his presence with authority.
While injuries were the main topic, we spoke about other topics, too. We talked a little about a potential platoon situation for Lance Berkman in Houston and we threw out a handful of household names that most fantasy owners should be dumping at this point.
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.
The second half of the season is in full swing and lo and behold if capitalism hasn't reared it's ugly head once again. Billy Beane was spun off Matt Holliday (as expected of course) and the eleventy billion dollar payroll machine that is the New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East. (Of course, that can't explain why the Mets are horrible but that's a whole other thing.)
Will the Yankees' surge be enough to propel them into the critically important No. 1 slot of the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings? Find out after the jump.
With the Houston Astros riding a sweep of the first-place Cardinals and suddenly finding themselves just a game out in the NL Central, it seems like a bad time for Lance Berkman to be going on the disabled list with a calf strain. Of course, that's just what the Astros announced Thursday, as Berkman's only been able to play part of one game since the end of the All-Star break. A looming four-game series against the Chicago Cubs, the team they're tied with for second, makes the timing of this news seem even worse.
Berkman, as usual, is the Astros' best hitter this year, with an on-base percentage over .400 and a team high 18 homers. Without him in the lineup every day, they'll have to hope that the resurgent Miguel Tejada can keep hitting for at least two more weeks until Berkman can return to daily duty.
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.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That it had been more than a year since the Red Sox had lost four straight.
But Tuesday's 4-2 defeat at Texas gave Boston its worst slide since dropping five in a row, June 28-July 2, 2008. And it meant the Yankees moved into first place alone for the first time since before the games of June 9.
Not even their stopper could overcome the Red Sox's continued offensive funk. Josh Beckett had been 6-0 in his previous 10 starts that followed a Boston defeat, but he lost to the Rangers, allowing four runs in an eight-inning complete game.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Clay Buchholz did exactly what the Red Sox wanted him to do, but still earned a ticket right back to Triple-A after doing it. The Red Sox, whose rotation is set, gave Buchholz the ball on Friday night as a reward for his successful comeback this year at Triple-A. The plan all along was for him to get one start and go back down, and that's what happened after he gave up one run in 5 2/3 innings in a victory over Toronto.
It was Buchholz's first big league game since last August, when he was demoted after a seven-game losing streak. This year at Triple-A, he was 7-2 with a 2.36 ERA, earning the brief promotion.
"Considering the circumstances and everything, I thought he had poise, I thought he had good stuff," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He attacked with his fastball, he threw his changeup, he threw his breaking ball. He commanded the game. It's really gratifying for us. We've heard all the reports and we've seen him work but then to see him do it tonight was a lot of fun for us."
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Ervin Santana went 16-7 with a 3.49 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 214 strikeouts last season. The promising 26-year-old has yet to rekindle the success in 2009, though, due mostly to arm injuries. Still, we know the potential he possesses, which is why there's no reason to give up on him halfway through the season. Any sign of a turnaround is sure to give fantasy baseball owners hope.
Thursday night, we got a glimmer. Santana dominated the A's. He worked 8 innings and struck out 4, while only allowing 3 hits, 1 earned run and 2 walks -- garnering the win in the process.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
MLB Power Rankings
With the Houston Astros riding a sweep of the first-place Cardinals and suddenly finding themselves just a game out in the NL Central, it seems like a bad time for 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
