From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
With the recent news that Mark DeRosa is on the trade block and the White Sox have possibly landed Jake Peavy, junkies of major league baseball trade rumors got an early glimpse at what promises to be a very interesting July. It's far to0 early to know exactly who will be in the market for what -- or who can afford to take on temporary payroll in this economy -- but it's certainly fun to speculate. Let's do it.
FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Toronto Blue Jays.
There's no team in baseball in a worse spot than the Blue Jays. They've had to contend with the megapowers in New York and Boston for years, watching their competitive payroll and over-.500 seasons amount to nothing more than third-place finish after-third place finish. No matter how much they have spent and how much they have won, it has never been enough to catch the Red Sox or the Yankees.
FanHouse breaks down the who's who and the what's what of the baseball world each week with our MLB Power Rankings.
Spring Training is always a time of year when false hopes or false assumptions are built based on performance. It might Jeff Francoeur lacing the ball, for instance. Or Yovani Gallardo stinking the joint up. But it is also a time of year when season-altering injuries are revealed. For instance, Alex Rodriguez will miss the first 10 weeks of the season because of surgery. Chipper Jones is dealing with an oblique injury. Oh, and this Manny Ramirez guy signed with the Dodgers. So even though it might seem premature to react in a knee-jerk fashion, it's not.
Hence, we have our second installment of preseason MLB Power Rankings, just to keep your jones going for America's pastime.
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 ... Team about to lose one of the best pitchers in baseball. Let's face it, with the economy in the tank for the rest of this calendar year, major league teams will be forced to cut costs. Roy Halladay makes a lot of money. The Blue Jays are going to be the worst team in the AL East (yes, they really will). People will stop attending games, and the Jays are going to have to deal him for about 30 cents on the dollar.
With the 2008 season coming to an end, the future was starting to look bright for the Toronto Blue Jays. They have one of the best starting rotations in baseball, leading the Majors with a 3.54 team ERA, and if they can add a bat to their lineup to help score some runs, they can make a lot of noise in the AL East next season.
Of course, one of the big questions going into this offseason for the team is whether or not they were going to bring A.J. Burnett back. Burnett was rumored to be on the move at the trade deadline, but instead remained in Toronto, and he's currently tied with Roy Halladay for the team lead in wins (18) and leads the AL with 220 strikeouts. All of which virtually guarantees he's going to be opting out of his deal after the year ends.
Still, even if Burnett leaves Toronto for a bigger contract someplace else, the Jays were still comfortable with their rotation thanks to guys like Jesse Litsch and Shaun Marcum.
Well, they're probably going to have to try harder to keep Burnett around for 2009, because they just found out they aren't going to have Marcum. Shaun needs Tommy John surgery, and he won't be pitching next season. If the Jays lose both Burnett and Marcum for next season, that will leave two large holes in their rotation, and they probably won't have Dustin McGowan back until May as he recovers from shoulder surgery. In other words, next season could already be over before it even starts.
As I mentioned over the weekend, the Toronto Blue Jays had to place Shaun Marcum on the disabled list due to some problems with his elbow. More specifically, the fact that it had been hurting him the past few weeks. Marcum was scheduled for a visit with the famous Dr. James Andrews on Monday to find out what exactly was wrong, and to see how long he's going to be out.
He got some good news, as it doesn't appear that Marcum is going to miss too much time.
During an examination in Birmingham, Ala., Andrews confirmed Marcum was suffering from strained ligaments around the elbow and forearm. The injury wasn't deemed to be severe, and Andrews gave Marcum the go-ahead to begin a throwing program as soon as Saturday.
According to the team's website, there's still no established timetable for Marcum's return. He is eligible to be activated from the 15-day disabled list in time for Toronto's July 4-6 road series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but it's more likely that the Blue Jays will take extra precaution, meaning Marcum could be sidelined until around the All-Star break July 14-16.
While it's good news that Marcum will not be needing surgery and that it's an injury that should heal with rest, it still comes at a bad time for the Jays. They had lost seven in a row before beating the Pirates on Sunday, and have lost 14 of their 19 games in June to fall behind everybody in the AL East. Considering how well everyone else in the division has played this month, by the time Marcum makes it back to the mound, Toronto may be completely out of the race.
Now that Cito Gaston has re-emerged from whatever cave he's been in the last eleven years to return as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, and put J.P. Ricciardi's job in serious jeopardy (okay, so Ricciardi is probably the one who put his job in serious jeopardy), he has to be wondering if he'll have any starting pitchers left at the end of the season. The way A.J. Burnettis begging talking, odds that he won't be a member of the Blue Jays after July 31 are looking pretty good. Jesse Litsch has followed up his 7-1 start to the season by going 0-3 with a 6.46 ERA in four starts this month.
Then there is that whole Roy Halladay taking a line-drive off his head incident on Friday night against the Pirates. Halladay left the game immediately and underwent a CAT scan. The scan showed no broken bones, and Halladay hasn't been experiencing any headaches or other signs of a concussion, so it's looking like he won't be missing his next scheduled start.
The same cannot be said for his teammate Shaun Marcum, who has been placed on the disabled list.
Marcum, second in the American League with a 2.65 ERA, was to fly to Florida on Saturday to be examined by Dr. Steve Mirabello. Marcum will also see noted orthopedic Dr. James Andrews on Monday.
"Hopefully, we'll get good news and then after 7-10 days of a rest period, we'll make a decision and go from there," Blue Jays pitching coach Brad Arnsberg said.
Marcum says that he's been experiencing pain in his right elbow the last few weeks, but that hasn't seemed to stop him from pitching well over that span. Gaston has made no announcement as to who will take Marcum's place in the rotation, the team called up outfielder Adam Lind to take his place on the roster, and they'll probably just bump A.J. Burnett up a day to take Marcum's place on Tuesday.
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups
Milwaukee Brewers (37-33) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (35-37) - 8:05PM Est.
The Milwaukee Brewers have used their success at Miller Park, where they've won eight of their last ten, to pull themselves back into the NL Central race. The formula they've been using lately has been pretty simple: good pitching plus a lot of longballs.
The Brewers are binging on home runs, as they used five of them last night to beat the Blue Jays 7-0, and have hit 17 in their last six games. Why, if somebody donated $1,000 to Prince Fielder every time the Brewers went deep, he'd have that little debt of his paid off in less than a year.
Can the Brewer bats stay hot tonight against the reeling Toronto Blue Jays? Will Prince Fielder avoid jail time? The answers to these questions and more, after the jump
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups
Chicago Cubs (12-6) vs. New York Mets (10-7) - 6:00PM Est. ESPN
If you think Cubs fans are obnoxious to begin with (as a White Sox fan I kind of agree with Marty Brennaman's assessment of Cubdom, but at the same time, I don't place the blame on all Cubs fans as much as the morons who frequent the bleachers. And Eamonn.), you should hang around them when they're in first place.
I mean, after beating the Pirates yesterday, the first question Aramis Ramirez had for the media after the game was "Did the Cardinals win?" Hey, Aramis? It's April 21st. Let's hold off on the scoreboard watching for now, okay? It's a little early to worry about blowing division leads, and besides, even if the Cubs do win the division and get to the World Series, they'll probably just throw it.
With 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
With the 2008 season coming to an end, the future was starting to look bright for the Toronto Blue Jays. They have one of the best starting rotations in baseball, leading the Majors with a 3.54 team ERA, and if they can add a bat to their lineup to help score some runs, they can make a lot of noise in the AL East next season.
As I mentioned over the weekend, the Toronto Blue Jays had to place 
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