FanHouse Miguel Montero

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.

For about five months of the season, Diamondbacks outfielder Chris Young was a draft disaster. Those who picked him in fantasy leagues suffered through the nausea of a sub-.200 batting average and anemic power numbers. Where was the dude who hit 32 homers in 2007 and 22 in 2008? Absolutely nonexistent ... at least until the last four games.

Nice of you to show up Chris, where have ya been?

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

Vladimir Guerrero's had a rough 2009, with injury issues and his dwindling power (his .466 slugging percentage would easily be his career low if the season ended today) causing concern the 34-year-old was full-on in the middle of a career decline.

With two cracks of the bat Monday night, "Vlad the Impaler" reminded us that he's been swinging a hot stick of late. In fact, he's been the old Vlad for quite some time. He just needed to shake the Earth a little bit to ensure everyone took notice.

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

Prospects' careers don't always progress the way we hoped they would. While players like Rick Porcello and Clayton Kershaw became fantasy-relevant before their 22nd birthdays, Nolan Reimold had to wait until he was 25 to get a legitimate shot. Travis Hafner wasn't a true force until he was 27, etc.. In any case, like the curious one of scorching outfielder Garrett Jones, it's important to keep that perspective in mind.

So what exactly do we know about "The Robber Baron"? (Other than the fact that he's drilled nine homers in his first 17 games with Pittsburgh)

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.

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 ...
Still incredibly young Diamondbacks. It seems like when the Backs failed to keep the momentum going after an early season charge, people forgot this was still a very young team. The overwhelming majority of the roster is younger than 30, and most of the offense is younger than 27. This means we have a large group of guys who have the potential to throw up career-year type numbers at the drop of a hat. Be ready ...

The Red Sox have been among the most active teams in free agency since the calendar turned to 2009, inking the likes of Takashi Saito, John Smoltz, Brad Penny, Rocco Baldelli and Mark Kotsay to deals in the new year. Those are good signings for an organization as deep as the Red Sox, but a major hole at catcher remains on the big league roster.

Boston has already signed Josh Bard to a non-guaranteed deal this winter, but unless it is willing to hand a significant portion of the catching duties to an untested backstop like Dusty Brown or George Kottaras, it is going to need another catcher.

Longtime backstop and team captain Jason Varitek is still a free agent, but, at least for now, the Red Sox seemed resolved to pursue other options in an effort to get younger behind the dish.

After a disappointing end to the 2008 season, it's been a quiet winter for the Arizona Diamondbacks. With a stockpile of young talent and rumors that the team it looking to cut payroll, they've largely stood pat, content to bank on that young core to keep them in contention next year and into the next decade.

They took a key step toward keeping that core intact Tuesday, agreeing to a three-year, $14.25 million contract extension with starting catcher Chris Snyder, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. The deal also includes a club option for a fourth year that could raise the total value of the pact to more than $20 million.

Snyder is often overlooked, both alongside the other top young catchers in the game, like Joe Mauer and Brian McCann, and alongside the impressive young talent on Arizona's roster, but he's turned into one of the better backstops around. Even in a year in which he hit .237, Snyder still managed to post a .348 on-base percentage and career highs in home runs, extra-base hits and RBI in 2008, and, at 27, he's just entering his prime.

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

The Diamondbacks made one of the biggest splashes of the 2007 Hot Stove season, landing ace Dan Haren in a trade with the A's. In the end, though, their offense, which is stocked with youngsters, didn't improve even close to enough for them to repeat as NL West champs.

The good news is that Haren and NL Cy Young runner-up Brandon Webb will be back in 2009, along with a cast of talented hitters who have their best years ahead of them. Furthermore, the NL West is wide open with the reigning champion Dodgers headed for a winter of major turnover.

Of course, Arizona has a few notable holes to fill before Spring Training, but it is the closest thing to a favorite the West has at this point. The D'backs simply have to make a few tweaks to return to the top of the division and the postseason.