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. 
All of the focus during these winter meetings is on the big moves: signings of K-Rod and CC Sabathia, a JJ Putz trade, Jake Peavy rumors, etc. Just because the focus is elsewhere, that doesn't mean that the smaller market teams aren't active. It's just harder to notice. 
Generally, being a Pirate fan is a pretty grim existence. When they go on a run like they have in the past week (seven wins in eight games to pull within a game of .500), it's generally unexpected, pleasant, and inevitably followed by bad news. Last night, the other shoe dropped on the Pirates in their otherwise solid 8-4 win over the Cardinals: catcher Ryan Doumit broke his thumb and is going on the disabled list for a while. He's not happy, either: "Obviously, it hurts," Doumit said. "I don't even know what to say. It couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm tired of the cliches, about how things happen or things are going to get better. I'm tired of it all. It's frustrating."The good news is that initial X-rays point to it being a small fracture in the tip of his thumb and he might only miss two or three weeks. That won't be known for sure until his full examination is done by a hand specialist, the results of which are expected some time today. Doumit's always battled injuries, but this one comes at a particularly bad time with him mashing along at a .350/.382/.573 pace. Ronny Paulino will replace him full-time until he returns from injury and right now his OPS (.596) is only slightly higher than Doumit's slugging percentage. The Pirates' surprising start was already unlikely to last long, without Doumit, it's even less likely.
Yesterday Matt Watson reported that all that talk of Jason Bay going to Cleveland in exchange for Kelly Shoppach and Cliff Lee was dead. The trade wasn't going to happen.That Jason Bay deal, all of a sudden, is alive.So let's see. As of yesterday afternoon, the Indians didn't feel that this deal was necessary. While they were offering Kelly Shoppach and Cliff Lee, they didn't feel giving up anything else for Bay was needed to make their team better.
In a surprising twist, the Pirates and Cleveland Indians revived talks at the Opryland Hotel late last night and developed a framework for a five-player trade, Bay and catcher Ronny Paulino going to Cleveland for outfielder Franklin Gutierrez, catcher Kelly Shoppach and either starter Cliff Lee or a minor-league pitching prospect.
If you would've asked a Cub fan about their bad start, which took place right in the middle of some great performances by players on the team, they would've told you that the reason the Cubs started so poorly was because they were failing to do the smallest things that end up having the biggest effect on the end of the game. They were probably talking about Aramis Ramirez, whose brain fart probably cost the Cubs a 15-inning marathon against the Pirates last night.
After Ronny Paulino reached first base in the fiftteenth, this one took on a Twilight Zone feel. Jose Bautista layed down a bunt, but Derrick Lee's throw to get the lead-footed Paulino at second hit Paulino. With pinch-bunter Zach Duke at the plate, the Cubs charged the corners with shortstop Cesar Izturis covering third, hoping to nail Paulino at third. They didn't even need that, though because when Duke failed on his bunt attempt, Michael Barrett had Paulino nailed by something like 85 feet. Except that Aramis Ramirez, standing 40 feet in front of the bag, screened the throw and even seemed to try to catch the throw like he was still on third base (though everyone seems to be putting the blame on Barrett right now it didn't look like it was his fault at all). He deflected the throw away from Izturis and Paulino scored from third on a sac fly a play later.
I expected Lou Piniella to explode at this sloppy play, but for once, Lou was understated:
If the Cubs are going to get things together and make a serious run at the playoffs later this year, they can't let games like last night happen. It's that simple.''It wasn't the best major-league game,'' Piniella said after a botched throw from catcher Michael Barrett on a steal of third set up Jack Wilson's sacrifice fly in the 15th. ''We had our chances. We just didn't take advantage of them.''
This early part of the season has been about as roller-coaster like as possible for the Houston Astros. They started out 1-5, rallied to 9-6, and now have dropped four in a row to fall back to 9-10. Tonight's loss had to be especially distressing for the 'Stros because after three straight losses to Milwaukee and Philadelphia, they had to be hoping that seeing the Pirates (0-4 at home) in Pittsburgh with Paul Maholm (came into tonight's game with a 6.14 ERA in three starts) on the mound would be a cure all for them tonight. I mean, it would have to be, right?
