FanHouse MelvinMora

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.

Before we get our heaping of box score browsing, let's look at a related subject: The fantasy baseball stretch run. With the annual ushering in of September baseball, we see roster changes galore. Not only are there call-ups with the legal expansion of rosters, but players with seemingly minor injuries are shut down on teams who have fallen out of the race. You also have younger players being given an audition for 2010, or being shut down so the team doesn't overwork them in their first season of increased workload. If you are in the thick of things in your fantasy baseball race, now is not the time to use a laissez-faire approach.

SEATTLE -- Erik Bedard faced Baltimore for the first time Tuesday since the Orioles dealt him to the Mariners to be the final piece of their American League West championship puzzle. Only it has hardly worked out that way. The Mariners, along with Bedard, have struggled mightily since the deal, while the Orioles revamped their farm system and added two productive major leaguers in the deal.

A deal hasn't helped a team more since the Dallas Cowboys practically won three Super Bowls by trading Herschel Walker to Minnesota 20 years ago. Bedard was able to exact a semblance of revenge and some pride for bruised Seattle with 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball. He struck out seven and walked three in an 8-2 Mariners win.

This was dominant Bedard with his curveball snapping and fastball crisp. This Bedard hasn't been seen much in Seattle. And the question is whether the Mariners will ever get any real value out of Bedard, a free agent at season's end and likely to bolt elsewhere.

The Orioles planned on having third baseman Melvin Mora, who was on the disabled list because of a strained left hamstring, play one or two minor-league games before being activated.

Then a water main broke Tuesday in downtown Baltimore, the streets flooded and businesses shut down for the day.

The ensuing traffic snarl caused Mora to miss his flight from Baltimore to Norfolk, where the Orioles' Triple-A club is located, so Mora talked his way into coming off the DL without a rehabilitation assignment.

LOS ANGELES -- It's easy to mock the World Baseball Classic, to deride it as nothing but a money-making machine for MLB, a global monstrosity that has little to do with forwarding the game and everything to do with padding a few select wallets.

And then you plop down in section 106 Saturday night in Dodger Stadium and in one tremendous burst of an inning, all the negativity dissipates. Korea's Yong-Kyu Lee opens the WBC semifinal game with a walk off Venezuela pitcher Carlos Silva, a pitcher described in the Korean media as "a mighty, ferocious giant," and just like that, tremors start rocking the ballpark on the hill.

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 just can't buy a break. They can't get any big names to sign with them (Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett), they are getting majorly outspent by the two big boys in the division, and the Rays skyrocketed past them last season due to an impressive franchise turnaround. I've seen people tout these guys as the "2009 version of the Rays." My reply? You have got to be kidding me. There's not near enough here for a run at .500, much less the World Series.

The Daily Jolt is a dose of baseball reality every weekday morning.

Why Brian Roberts and why now? The Orioles haven't had a winning season this millennium. Andy MacPhail is entering his second full season in control of the team's baseball operations. The five-year plan, it would seem, is still several seasons away from coming to fruition.

Baltimore handed Roberts a four-year, $40 million contract extension over the weekend. He is 31, and that question lingers. Why give Roberts $10 million a season when he figures to be on the down slope of his career before the O's are in any position to win?

On Wednesday, the Baltimore Orioles unveiled several changes to their uniform and logo, hoping to be like the Tampa Bay Rays, who changed their uniforms and made it to the World Series, and hoping not to be like the Indians, who changed their uniforms and had to bust ass for a month and a half to finish above the Royals.

As someone who grew up an O's fan, I'm overjoyed that every Orioles fan I know can have a slightly happier next-five-months brandishing a physical, existing talking point to make them feel like the Orioles have made progress. "Hey, things are turning around, the O's are trying to sign Teixeira!" Argh, not they aren't. "We've got great prospects in the minor leagues!" Yes, and they will remain great prospects in the minor leagues until they die or are traded away. "We got new uniforms!" Okay, yeah, we did get new uniforms!

This morning's Dugout is after the jump.

Cheap Yard Work helps you pick out likely free agents in your league that have been raking over the past week.

Keep in mind we have a really small sample with which to work this week ... because of that I made sure to pick out some names that we should all know in fantasyland.

Nomar Garciaparra, SS, Dodgers
Post-ASG stats: .462/.462/1.000, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI
Betcha never thought this first guy would be fantasy relevant again. I sure as hell didn't. Yet there he was dropping two bombs on Saturday. Don't expect that power to continue, but he will be playing pretty much everyday. You could do much worse, especially now while he's hot.

Billy Butler, DH, Royals
Post-ASG stats: .385/.429/.846, 2 HR, 7 RBI
We've been waiting on him to break through as a middle-of-the-order power bat and even endured a stint in the minors. He should be back for good, considering the Royals aren't gonna factor into the AL playoff picture.

Melvin Mora, 3B, O's
Post-ASG stats: .400/.471/1.067, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R
If you are one of the few owners looking for help at the loaded 3B position, Mora should suffice for the rest of the year. He's ancient, yeah, but he's still more than serviceable in the power categories.

Garrett Anderson, OF, Halos
Post-ASG stats: .455/.455/.727, HR, 5 RBI
He's actually probably not worth it in leagues where he's available due to oldness. He just fit with the theme so I figured I'd throw him in.

Our MLB editor provides weekly dispatches from major league games in Notes From the Clubhouse.

Manny Ramirez and the sluggish Boston Red Sox arrived in Baltimore very early this morning at the tail end of a tough 10-game road trip. Ramirez sits just two home runs away from the 500th of his career, but he doesn't appear to be letting Boston's 6 AM arrival here in the Charm City slow him down.

As Manny departed the clubhouse for a pre-game workout he pointed to Josh Beckett, the Red Sox starter tonight, and told him he was going to get to 500 homers in the next two days. Ramirez doesn't have a home run against either of the Baltimore starters in this abbreviated series -- Jeremy Guthrie and Daniel Cabrera -- but if Manny feels good, I'm not sure it even matters. He is, after all, one of the top right-handed hitters of this generation.

The other major news to report is that Boston manager Terry Francona has left the team because of a death in the family. His wife's mother passed away last night during the Red Sox's game against the Twins and Francona found out following the game. He could return to the team as early as Thursday, Boston's first off day this month. The Red Sox face the Brewers Friday at Fenway Park to open interleague play.

Brad Mills will take over the managing duties in the meantime, but he doesn't expect much to change. "This is a veteran team, the dynamics are going to stay the same," he said during his pre-game meeting with the press. Mills has been Francona's bench coach since he took over as manager in 2004, and he may eventually have a future as a manager himself, but he isn't thinking about that today. "Not under these circumstances," said Mills.

Melvin Mora joined the Baltimore Orioles back in 2000, making him the elder statesman of the team. In that time, he has seen four different managers run the team. During his tenure, the Orioles have placed fourth in the AL East every year except 2004, when they placed third. They have never one more than 78 games during that time.

So why would he want to stay on the O's? Apparently, he doesn't. According to the Baltimore Sun, Mora is considering waiving his no-trade clause:

"I can't tell you right now what I'm going to do. But I want to be on a winning team. I don't want to be like, 'Let's make the fans wait six more years and then we're going to try to start winning again.' You don't want to deal with that.

"I'm an Oriole. I want to win with the Orioles, but I have to see what moves they make. We need to bring in some good players - young players, veteran players. It doesn't matter. You can win with young players. But I have no idea what they are going to do."

President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail has not come right out and said the Orioles are going to try to rebuild. But MacPhail has stated that he will not pursue any of the big-name free agents such as A-Rod, Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter. The expectation throughout the league is that Miguel Tejada will be traded during the off-season. So let's review: not signing talented free agents, trading the team's best offensive player. Sounds a lot like rebuilding.

There have been rumors of conflict between Mora and skipper Dave Trembley as well. Mora felt disrespected when Trembley sat him to play rookie Scott Moore. Mora was also not happy with Trembley for publicly calling Daniel Cabrera "unprofessional" after throwing behind Dustin Pedroia's head.

The hot stove is heating up early.