FanHouse LukeHochevar

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 2005, Tom Gorzelanny pitched in the majors for the first time. He was just 22. Two years later, he went 14-10 with a 3.88 ERA -- logging more than 200 innings in 32 starts for the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates. He did allow too many hits, but he was only 25 years old, so it appeared he would settle in as an anchor for the ever-rebuilding Pirates.

Instead, he had a disastrous past two seasons and had been relegated to the minors. Last week, Gorzelanny was traded to the Cubs, and Tuesday night he passed his Cubs debut with flying colors.

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

Heading into 2009, here's what we thought we knew about Rich Harden: Absolutely lights out stuff, but can't be counted on to stay healthy consistently. In 2008, he went 10-2 with a 2.07 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP and 181 strikeouts in 148 innings. Those are elite numbers on a per-start basis. The problem, of course, is that he only made 25 starts. In 2007, he had a 2.45 ERA, but only pitched 25 2/3 innings.

Until Monday night, 2009 had been quite surprising from the 27-year-old right-hander.

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

Every year in fantasy baseball there are a number of players whose hype exceeds reasonable expectations, because so many freaking people have them tagged as a "breakout." Peter Gammons may have been the first to tag Adam Jones with such a label, but it caught on quickly, and he was a popular fantasy draft selection. (Note that this also applies to my homie Chris Davis, who I think might hit 40 taters, but who was wickedly overvalued coming into drafts. More on this in a second.)

And the man that wants no part of being called "Pacman" -- for obvious reasons -- is suddenly flat-out destroying opposing pitching. Jones was always considered a "five-tool" prospect, with power and speed potential, not to mention just being a great baseball player.

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

When Luke Hochevar was summoned to the majors last season, he had started only 13 games at the triple-A level. He had compiled a 2-4 record with a 4.54 ERA in those starts. Translation: It appears the former number one overall draft pick had been rushed -- especially when you consider his ensuing major league numbers. In his rookie year, Hochevar went 6-12 with a 5.51 ERA and 1.47 WHIP. His strikeout rate was well below his capabilities as well.

There have been plenty of people, players and fans alike, who have expressed their displeasure with the World Baseball Classic this spring. Some people saw it as a distraction that only put their team's players at risk to injury, while some of the players in the WBC just thought it was a bit too boring for their taste. I'm guessing one player with no complaints about it is Sidney Ponson.

Ponson made two solid starts against the Dominican Republic while playing for the Netherlands and landed a minor-league deal with the Kansas City Royals. Now, after only a few weeks with the team and the recent demotion of Luke Hochevar, it looks as though Ponson has earned a job in the Royals rotation.

PHOENIX -- Luke Hochevar might eventually find the big league stardom that is expected of a player drafted No. 1 overall, but it's not going to be now.

The Royals sent Hochevar to Triple-A Omaha Tuesday morning, leaving the starting rotation picture clearer, but still unsettled. It's going to be Zack Greinke, Gil Meche, Kyle Davies in the first three spots, with Sidney Ponson, Horacio Ramirez and Brian Bannister still in the mix for the others. Word around camp is that Bannister is going to be the odd man out (which seems like a pretty steep drop for a guy who not too long ago was pretty good).

Anyway, what's the deal with Hochevar?

FanHouse breaks down the who's who and the what's what of the baseball world each week with our MLB Power Rankings.

Spring Training is always a time of year when false hopes or false assumptions are built based on performance. It might Jeff Francoeur lacing the ball, for instance. Or Yovani Gallardo stinking the joint up. But it is also a time of year when season-altering injuries are revealed. For instance, Alex Rodriguez will miss the first 10 weeks of the season because of surgery. Chipper Jones is dealing with an oblique injury. Oh, and this Manny Ramirez guy signed with the Dodgers. So even though it might seem premature to react in a knee-jerk fashion, it's not.

Hence, we have our second installment of preseason MLB Power Rankings, just to keep your jones going for America's pastime.

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 ...
Team who finished above the hype-machine Tigers last season. In fact, finishing only 12 games below .500 in a division that was expected to be very strong had to have exceeded expectations in the first year of Trey Hillman's managerial stint. After all, it was the first year since '03 the Royals didn't finish in last. They still have holes, but they also have a good group of young, talented players.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Kansas City Royals.

The 2008 season was a lot like every other season for the Kansas City Royals lately, with one major exception. They didn't finish in last place of the AL Central. No, that honor went to the Detroit Tigers instead. Still, while fourth place isn't really anything to get excited about in any baseball city other than Pittsburgh, in Kansas City it has bred hope for better things in 2009.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Kansas City Royals (35-43) vs. Colorado Rockies (32-46) - 8:10PM Est.

Remember earlier this season when the Diamondbacks started out the season something ridiculous like 20-1, Chase Utley had around 14 home runs in the first week of April, and everyone was saying that the National League had finally caught up to, and passed, the American League as the class of baseball?

You aren't hearing much about that anymore now that interleague play has started are you? That's because the AL is kicking the NL's butt so far this season. Only three teams in the American League have a losing record against the senior circuit right now (Toronto, Cleveland, Cincinnati) while only four National League teams (New York, Atlanta, Colorado, Cincinnati) have a winning record against the AL.

The biggest kick in the stomach for the National League? The Royals are 11-3 against them so far this season. The same Royals team that's 24-40 against it's own league. All of which means that if the Royals haven't contacted Bud Selig and asked about switching leagues yet, they should seriously consider it.