FanHouse Vernon Wells

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

Nearly a month ago, we ran out a roundtable on Jimmy Rollins, advising you to trade for the underperforming shortstop. Well, his struggles seem like a distant memory now. Rollins is not only back, he's one of the hottest middle infielders in fantasy baseball. Oh, and he's also one funny dude (great Dick's commercial if you've never seen it).

Just how hot is J-Roll? Let's go to the statistical tape ...

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

The second half of the season is in full swing and lo and behold if capitalism hasn't reared it's ugly head once again. Billy Beane was spun off Matt Holliday (as expected of course) and the eleventy billion dollar payroll machine that is the New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East. (Of course, that can't explain why the Mets are horrible but that's a whole other thing.)

Will the Yankees' surge be enough to propel them into the critically important No. 1 slot of the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings? Find out after the jump.

NEW YORK – During the top of the fifth inning Friday, a gate in the outfield fence at $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium popped open.

When no member of the grounds crew appeared, Toronto center fielder Vernon Wells went over and latched the wall himself.

"I should have closed it," he joked, "and just stayed behind the gate."

Yes, it's been the kind of year that makes Wells want to hide.

And while the Blue Jays are just five games out of an AL playoff berth after Friday's 4-2 loss, they are also left to wonder: Where would we be with Wells playing up to his contract?

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

I think we can all agree that it's far too early to start voting upon who the best 2009 players are when it's only the middle of May. That being said, there are certainly some shining stars at this point who deserve some props. Plus, Major League Baseball recently released their All-Star ballots for our voting pleasure -- we vote on who will start the All-Star Game. If that's not important, I don't know what is. Let's take a gander.

OAKLAND -- You heard all that talk over the winter about how the American League East was going to be a tight three-team race.

The Blue Jays apparently didn't.

"You don't have to believe what you hear," Toronto shortstop Marco Scutaro told FanHouse. "In baseball, anything can happen. Last year if you would have told me in spring training that Tampa Bay would be in the World Series, I'd say you are crazy."

The first-place Blue Jays improved to 22-12, best in the American League, by taking two of three from the A's this weekend. Toronto has lost only one series so far this season.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

A few days before the 2009 Major League Baseball season began, I was watching MLB Network. They were doing their Cubs' installment of "30 Teams, 30 Days." As I went to take a sip of my beverage, former Indians and Rangers general manager John Hart, when examining the Cubs' lineup, said, "you know you're gonna get your 30 homers from Derrek Lee." I'm pretty sure I spit Pepsi all over the room in disbelief.

After five-plus innings and 89 pitches, rookie phenom Rick Porcello was removed from his major league debut Thursday in Toronto. The 20-year-old had what I would call a good rookie outing, and you can see why the Tigers were so quick to promote him to their big-league rotation.

Porcello had solid stuff and good location for the majority of his first five innings. He's got good sinking action, in addition to running the two-seam fastball in on right-handed hitters. His fastball lived in the low-to-mid-90s (mostly between 91-94), and he showed some confidence in his curveball.

After five-plus innings and 89 pitches, rookie phenom Rick Porcello was removed from his major league debut Thursday in Toronto. The 20 year-old had what I would call a good rookie outing, and you can see why the Tigers were so quick to promote him to their big league rotation.

Porcello had solid stuff and good location for the majority of his first five innings. He's got good sinking action, in addition to running the two-seam fastball in on right-handed hitters. His fastball lived in the low-to-mid-90s (mostly between 91-94), and he showed some confidence in his curveball.

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.

'Passed Out ...' is FanHouse's way of not saying that stupid, sexy "s" word that everyone gets so caught up on. Regardless of what they're called, though, you still want to draft and/or own these players.

Here's the deal. I hate the word "sleeper," especially this day and age. There are too many resources in and around fantasy sports and too many people are aware of which players are likely to break out. It's that sort of mentality that gets folks really overhyped. However, that doesn't mean great value will be missing on draft day. I have effectively culled that value to provide a list of folks who will vastly outproduce their draft position.