FanHouse OmarInfante

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

Big Apple, we have a problem. And one that could be a major concern in fantasy baseball leagues, too.

Jose Reyes, undoubtedly a top-10 fantasy pick, left Wednesday's game against the Dodgers after aggravating a right calf injury while trying to leg out an infield single. Reyes had missed five straight starts with the injury, and it looks like a trip to the disabled list is a possibility at some point. The Mets can consider alternatives to watching Ramon Martinez twirl his toothpick bat -- like the versatile Mark DeRosa -- but the solution isn't so simple for fantasy owners relying on his speed.

From now until the regular season begins, Fantasy Flings is where you'll find interesting story lines about your favorite teams from Spring Training. If there is a position battle, a nagging injury, a comeback story or a youngster making a surge for the "big club" we'll let you know the fantasy implications.

Atlanta Braves
Omar Infante and Matt Diaz are popular kids in camp as Spring Training winds down. They're popular not so much for their talent or spring numbers (although both have great spring stats) but for who they will be replacing in the starting lineup if mending time stretches into the regular season. Chipper Jones is nursing an oblique injury and Garrett Anderson a calf problem. Both are expected to return to action this week. If that doesn't happen or further set-backs occur, Infante and Diaz gain some NL-only value.

'Eye Spy' details first-hand Spring Training notes and observations from a fantasy baseball perspective.

After a long trip from Atlanta to Jupiter, Florida Wednesday night / Thursday morning, who could think of sleep when the Red Sox were playing the Cardinals? The game was sold out (all Red Sox and Yankees games are in Florida, I hear) but the nice scalper told me he'd do me a favor (he hates breaking up tickets for singles) and sell me a ticket for twice face value. Hmmmm. Josh Beckett was pitching, but the only other regulars were Jason Varitek and Jed Lowrie in the lineup on Friday. I opted to decline the nice man's offer and waited to head up to Tradition Field and see the Mets.

As we all sit around and wait for the blockbuster deals involving Johan Santana and Miguel Cabrera to take place, there have been a couple of smaller trades going down the last few days.

Just this morning the Cubs sent Will Ohman and recently acquired Omar Infante to the Atlanta Braves for Jose Ascanio.

Ascanio is a hard-throwing 22-year old righthander with limited big league experience. He has a mid-90's fastball, and in his 16 innings with Atlanta out of the bullpen last season, he was 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA and 13 strikeouts.

Anybody who's familiar with the Cubs knew that Will Ohman wouldn't be back with the team this season after spending most of 2007 parked deep in Lou Piniella's doghouse. After being demoted to the minors in August, Ohman said that the team knew of his sore shoulder that was responsible for his performance, while the club said they had no idea he was injured.

Ohman later admitted he was mistaken lied about it.

It's the second time Omar Infante has been traded this winter, as he was just acquired by the Cubs from the Tigers in the deal for Jacque Jones.

Yesterday the Chicago Cubs made a trade with the Detroit Tigers that sent Jacque Jones back to the AL Central, and brought Omar Infante to the north side of Chicago. It was the second trade the Cubs had made with Detroit in the last three months, as they acquired Craig Monroe from Detroit in August.

Well apparently there's a "One Former Tiger At A Time" rule with the Cubs, because they've now shipped Monroe to the Minnesota Twins. In return the Cubs will be getting the infamous player to be named later.

As far as Monroe's concerned, this is a good thing for him. He never found much playing time with the Cubs, and even though the team has said goodbye to both Jacque Jones and Cliff Floyd in recent days, it didn't look like he'd get much playing time next season either.

There are more rumors out there that the Cubs are currently talking to Tampa Bay about a deal that would bring Carl Crawford to Chicago for prospects. Whether or not those talks are going to become a reality remains to be seen, but it's obvious the Cubs are looking to make more changes to their outfield.

In Minnesota, Monroe will have the chance to compete with Jason Kubel for playing time in the Twins outfield. Which there should be plenty of to go around should Torii Hunter sign elsewhere this offseason.

The Tigers shored up their outfield on Monday following the acquisition of Jacque Jones from the Cubs in exchange for Omar Infante. Nothing is official, but it seems likely that Jones will see the bulk of the duties in left field platoon. From Jon Paul Morosi of the Detroit Free Press:

"I'll play that by ear," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said during a telephone interview Monday afternoon, when asked if he envisioned a platoon between Jones and [Marcus] Thames. "We face so many right-handers that Jacque is going to play a lot, but I can't forget about Marcus."

Jones' splits weren't all that pronounced last season (.295 vs. lefties; .283 vs. righties), but that's likely a fluke due to sample size. Over his career, he's hit just .233 against lefties and .294 against righties. He did suffer a huge power drought last season, going from 27 home runs in 2006 to just five in 2007, but the Tigers are probably hoping that a return to the American League will get him back on track.

In any case, Infante was expendable, especially with Edgar Renteria in the fold. And the Cubs are throwing in some money to defray the cost of Jones' $5.5 million salary, so this was pretty much too good to pass up. Jones will be a free agent at the end of the year, but barring the unexpected he'll likely just be a one-year fix until uber-prospect Cameron Maybin proves that he's ready for regular duty in the big show.