FanHouse RafaelFurcal

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.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know...
That the Cubs put an ugly finish to an ugly 2-4 road trip, losing 10-0 to the Diamondbacks. It's early, and they are 10-10, but so far the Cubs have not looked like the runaway best team in the National League that they were supposed to be. Manager Lou Piniella knows something is wrong.

"We're beginning to find out those other teams want to kick our butts. You're not going to win without playing with intensity every day, and the quicker that sinks in, the better."

Besides simply playing poorly, the Cubs have had to deal with Milton Bradley's issues and injuries, and now a problem that might land Aramis Ramirez on the DL. This weekend the Cubs will play the schizophrenic Marlins, so we'll see which team shows up, on both sides of the field.

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FanHouse begins its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Atlanta Braves.

It's not my typical policy to engage in cheesy headline writing, however, this is GM Frank Wren's second full year at the helm with his team. Things are going to be different, in theory. But more importantly, it might be time to go ahead and realize that this isn't your dad's Braves team, or your older brother's for that matter. After 14 straight division titles, the Braves have been absent from the postseason for two straight years. Wren's job, obviously, is to fix that.

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 ...
Eventual landing spot for Manny Ramirez. Seriously, it's going to happen sooner or later, so we'll just assume it's already happened for the purposes of this post. Obviously, if he either signs elsewhere (unlikely) or sits out this season (as unlikely as the holier than thou media embracing A-Rod), we'll have to re-fantasy-spin the entire offense. He's that important to the lineup.

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 ...

Biggest offseason losers. At least that's what pessimists will try and tell you, anyway. The Braves -- and new GM Frank Wren -- seemingly made blunder after blunder in 2009, losing Rafael Furcal at the last minute, whiffing on A.J. Burnett, letting John Smoltz walk and failing to land Jake Peavy. But the reality is that Wren actually did a pretty darn good job assembling a talented squad that can certainly compete in the NL East in 2009. Oh, and they'll provide some nice fantasy value as well.

FanHouse positional rankings were compiled by averaging the individual rankings of each member of the Fantasy FanHouse staff.

While Hanley Ramirez's steals, RBI and average took some decent hits in 2008, he still increased his home run output. Plus, he's only going to be 25 years old this year, and the 35 steals and .301 average aren't exactly anything to complain about. As his patience rises -- he shattered his previous career high in walks last year -- he'll grow as a complete player. Thus, despite strong competition from Jose Reyes, Ramirez was our unanimous choice atop the shortstop rankings.

More comments after the rankings.

1. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
2. Jose Reyes, Mets
3. Jimmy Rollins, Phillies
4. Stephen Drew, Diamondbacks
5. Derek Jeter, Yankees

The impact that Manny Ramirez had on the Dodgers as a team last season was pretty obvious. He took an offense that wasn't exactly intimidating to opposing pitchers and made it pretty darn scary. Where as a young Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier could do some damage on their own, if you put Manny between them in the lineup they become legitimate threats.

Which is probably why the Dodgers are hoping they can bring Manny back this season because replacing the production he gave the team will not be easy if he doesn't. Still, to listen to third base coach Larry Bowa talk about it, you'd think that the losing Manny would be like cutting off the arms and legs of the Dodgers' offense.

Strange as it might seem, the Oakland Athletics -- the very same club that has built its reputation on jettisoning All-Stars for the better part of the decade -- are pretty clearly in go-for-it-now mode. That's the only way trading for Matt Holliday, signing Jason Giambi and making a serious play for Rafael Furcal makes sense.

It's also the only way they would ever consider trading a cost-controlled 23-year-old first baseman like Daric Barton for the perennially injured Nick Johnson, as Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post reports.

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

Michael Young's time with the Texas Rangers has been punctuated by him making personal sacrifices to help better the team. After years as a good second baseman for the team with both the stick and the glove, he didn't have a problem when he was asked to move to shortstop in the wake of the Alex Rodriguez trade and the subsequent arrival of Alfonso Soriano. Sure, Young's offensive numbers didn't quite stand out at short quite like they did at second base, but it was about the team, not Michael Young

Since his move he's won a Gold Glove and has been named to the AL All-Star team five times. Well, now the Rangers would like him to make another sacrifice and move from shortstop to third base so they can make room for prospect Elvis Andrus. Only this time Young isn't down, and he's told the Rangers he's stood all he can stand and that he can't stand no more. He wants to be traded.

So where are the Rangers going to send him?

It must really suck to be Oakland Athletics shortstop Bobby Crosby this morning. After having to deal with all the rumors that the Athletics were going to sign -- and thought they had signed -- free agent shortstop Rafael Furcal, the deal fell through and Furcal went back to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Crosby probably felt relief knowing that he was going to be keeping his job, and just when he started to feel good about himself again, the A's kick him when he's down.

Since the team missed out on Furcal, they've decided to turn their attention elsewhere and now, according to Jon Heyman, elsewhere would be Orlando Cabrera. It's not hard to blame Oakland for wanting to find a replacement for Crosby, as Bobby does have a tendency to go on the disabled list every time the wind changes direction, and he did put up an unimpressive line of .237/.296/.349 last season in 145 games. He also had the second worst season of his career defensively, committing 17 errors and seeing his range factor drop to a career low of 4.17.

In Cabrera the Athletics would not only be getting a Gold Glove shortstop, but also an improved offensive player, even if he is getting up there in age, at 34 years old. Not to mention, thanks to the many years he spent with the Angels he has a good knowledge of the teams in the AL West.

What confuses me about all of this, though, is the direction the Athletics are taking. Remember the good old days when the Athletics would trade their soon-to-be rich players for a truck full of prospects? Now the team is doing nothing but bringing in high-priced veterans. Sure, the Furcal deal fell through, but the team still managed to get Matt Holliday from the Rockies, brought Jason Giambi back, and now they're going after Cabrera. What's next? Andy Pettitte?

It's as if the bad economy is actually helping the A's compete on the open market.