FanHouse Rafael Soriano

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.

The Atlanta Braves were alive in the wild-card race late in the season due to a powerful pitching rotation that featured six viable starting candidates (at least there were six at the end of the season). The Braves ranked third in the National League in team ERA with a 3.57 mark and had two 15-game winners in Derek Lowe and Javier Vazquez. They also ranked fourth in team batting average and sixth in runs scored even without a true cleanup hitter in the lineup.

If you examine their bullpen you'll also find two relievers who were in the top five in strikeouts among relief pitchers -- Mike Gonzalez with 90 and Rafael Soriano with 102. These relievers shared the closing duties for most of the season and each had ERA's below three to finish the year.

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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 the season started, I was rough on Derrek Lee. I named him the biggest bust on the Cubs for this coming season and included him on the list of "five guys to lose" your fantasy league. I even predicted Mike Fontenot would hit more home runs than Mr. Lee. Obviously, it sounds outlandish now, in hindsight, as Lee clubbed his 35th home run Tuesday night. In the process, he established a new career high in RBI with 109. His OPS is the second-highest it's ever been -- trailing only his insane 2005 season when he did an Albert Pujols impersonation.

An interesting statistic just flew by me. Over the last two weeks three pitchers have blown two saves. While that's not earth shattering stuff, it is odd that two of these three pitchers play for the Seattle Mariners.

In addition to David Aardsma and Mark Lowe's inability to close out games over the last two weeks, they've also seen spikes in ERA. Aardsma hasn't had a month yet where his ERA was above 2.25. But, in August he's exploded for a 7.36 ERA. And, his 2.16 WHIP is approaching those low ERA's he enjoyed earlier. Lowe's high ERA of 4.34 from April to June has now risen to touchdown status as his post-June ERA is 6.84. These aren't the trends you want in your late inning pitchers.

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

Adam Kennedy: 5-for-7. Mark Ellis: 4-for-6. Orlando Cabrera, Kevin Youkilis, and J.D. Drew: 3-for-5 each. Six other players with two hits. Five more with a single hit. 35 in all, and nary a home run to be found. Boston's Clay Buchholz and Oakland's Vin Mazzaro each gave up nine hits in the game, and Boston was able to piece together five runs in the third to end up with a 6-2 lead after six innings. But as they say, that's when things got interesting.

ATLANTA -- Nobody has ever argued the fact that Bobby Cox is a smart baseball guy. But how could he have known that the Braves bats would come alive like this?

Sitting in his office after Thursday night's game, a game which marked the return of baseball from the All-Star break and the return of Jeff Francoeur to Atlanta, in a Mets uniform, Cox said, "I think the hitting you're going to see in the second half is a lot better than the first half."

If you include Thursday's game, the Braves have scored 24 runs in their four games since the break, all against the Mets. They've also averaged 10.25 hits per game and hit six home runs in their three victories (and one loss) against New York.

"I looked at the schedule and I think we have 35 games in the second half between the Mets, Phillies and the Marlins." said Derek Lowe who pitched in Thursday's 5-3 win.

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.

In what is most likely music to many fantasy owners' ears, Jose Valverde is back from the disabled list and ready to close out games for the Astros. He's thrown in two games since his return and has struck out three batters and hasn't allowed a hit in 1.1 innings of work. It's likely that he'll re-assume the role of closer for the Astros upon their next save opportunity.

Manny Ramirez still gets all of the press in Los Angeles, even when he's not on the field. That's a shame because Jonathan Broxton has become a dominant force on the mound, and one of the games top closers. He's closed out his last eight save opportunities and leads all closers in strikeouts with 53. He also frustrates hitters more than other closers as hitters only have been able to muster a .103 batting average against Broxton.

It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. Each week The Closer Report will give you that information. And if that wasn't good enough we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.

Here's an interesting statistic. Somewhere between 30 percent and 40 percent of the closers who are listed as the the team's official closer will not be in that role by the end of the season. It's the case every year. Whether a closer loses his job due to injury or just plain can't get the job done, you're going to learn that you can find saves on the waiver wire throughout the season. You just have to know where to look.

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

Someone forgot to tell Erik Bedard and Travis Hafner that this isn't 2007. Or maybe it is?

I always love good redemption stories and the surprises they bring for fantasy owners. But through just one week of the season, looks can be deceiving ... or hints of something entirely palpable. The dilemma with rotisserie league outcasts like Bedard and Hafner is you're dealing with this nagging birdie in the back of your mind telling you this can't be real.

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
The problem with signing 36-year-old free agents is that they tend to get hurt a bit more than younger players. New Braves left fielder Garrett Anderson tweaked his right calf in warm-ups and will miss two to three weeks; maybe more. Matt Diaz in left field is not good for the Braves and it sure as heck isn't any kind of answer for your fantasy team. There is good news in camp, however, Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless inning today giving up only one hit and striking out one in his bid to return from right elbow surgery. Derek Lowe was next to untouchable pitching four perfect innings today striking out six and walking none.