FanHouse YunelEscobar

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

Big Apple, we have a problem. And one that could be a major concern in fantasy baseball leagues, too.

Jose Reyes, undoubtedly a top-10 fantasy pick, left Wednesday's game against the Dodgers after aggravating a right calf injury while trying to leg out an infield single. Reyes had missed five straight starts with the injury, and it looks like a trip to the disabled list is a possibility at some point. The Mets can consider alternatives to watching Ramon Martinez twirl his toothpick bat -- like the versatile Mark DeRosa -- but the solution isn't so simple for fantasy owners relying on his speed.

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

He's only 21 years old. He's only 21 years old. Whenever you get frustrated that your future fantasy stud is struggling, it's important to take a breather and repeat those words. When I was 21, I think I spent my Wednesday nights playing Counter-Strike and eating bad pizza. Justin Upton, on the other hand, has to deal with expectations that he's the next Willie Mays. Whatever happened to the 27-year-old "breakout" rule? Suddenly it's six years younger?

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
There are a number of story lines buzzing in Braves camp. You have a battle between Jordan Schafer and Josh Anderson for the right to patrol center field. You also have five of Baseball America's top 100 prospects in camp, including the fifth ranked prospect who's been turning heads, Jason Heyward. But the king of the hill in to this point for the Braves is the fourth ranked prospect on that Baseball America list, Tommy Hanson. Hanson is fighting for a chance to grab the final rotation spot after he tore up the Arizona Fall League. In his first start he struck out two in two innings of work, walked one and allowed two runs. More buzzworthy was the fact that he touched 99 MPH on the radar gun and plunked Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada in retaliation to his shortstop Yunel Escobar being plunked earlier. Hanson pitches again today in an exhibition against the WBC team from Panama.

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.

Rafael Furcal and Arn Tellem are way beyond personas non grata in the Atlanta clubhouse at this point; it seems too, that most of the insiders and outsiders following the baseball world tend to at least agree with Frank Wren with regard to how that deal didn't go down.

Which may explain why, after finalizing a deal with the Dodgers last week, Furcal has come out to say his peace piece and deny that there was ever a deal with the Braves.

"We never gave the nod to the Braves," he said Sunday after arriving to play winter ball for the Aguilas of Cibaenas.

"That is not true," Furcal said. "We never, not my agents nor me, agreed to anything with the Braves."

Hearing Furcal deny the deal is no surprise -- he's technically telling the truth I suppose, and it's not as if he would actually point out that he screwed them over even if he did. What seems far more interesting, to me, is part of the statement that Tellem released:

4. Furcal ultimately decided to accept the Dodgers' offer, taking into consideration a number of factors the most important of which was his desire to continue playing short-stop and not make the position change to second base that the Braves were requiring.

Now, this little nugget comes amidst a bunch of legalese styled yada-yada that includes Tellem stating that the Braves "must entertain" opportunities from their clients "in accordance with the rules of Major League Baseball."

The Oakland Athletics have been the top mentioned team in the Rafael Furcal "sweepstakes," with the Dodgers considered an outside shot to ink the shortstop. No one had really considered the Braves -- especially given their obsession with Jake Peavy -- likely to land the former Atlanta All Star, but that's the word coming from the ATL.

The Braves appear to be on the verge of bringing back shortstop Rafael Furcal, a move that could be the precursor to a trade for a starting pitcher.

FoxSports.com reported early today that Furcal, a free agent and former Braves standout, has agreed to return to Atlanta on a three-year contract that could be announced as soon as he passes a physical. He missed much of last season with back problems.

And there's a really strong chance that this move could signal PEAVY TIME in Atlanta -- it makes either Kelly Johnson or Yunel Escobar more or less expendable (at least until Raffy gets injured midway through April).

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

Jake Peavy is the type of pitcher who can change the complexion of an entire franchise. He won the Cy Young award in 2007 as a 26-year-old with the San Diego Padres after compiling an obscene stat line. He went 19-6 with a 2.54 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and struck out 240 batters in only 223 1/3 innings. He suffered through an injury-riddled 2008 campaign, but still managed to put up an ERA nearly one entire run better than the league average.

Obviously, when Padres general manager Kevin Towers decided to start over with his team by moving his hottest commodity for prospects, Peavy was the guy. Towers has supposedly been in trade talks ever since, though the specific teams and the number of whom are interested seems to fluctuate on a daily basis. This is the Hot Stove league at its very best and worst at the same time. It can be exciting or annoying, depending upon your point of view.

The two main suitors for Peavy seem to be the Cubs and Braves. Let's take a look at where we've been and the chances of a deal moving forward.

When the Padres kicked off the Jake Peavy sweepstakes last month, they knew his no-trade clause would make things more difficult than your standard salary dump. He was only interested in going to a handful of teams, and all of them were in the NL.

And then, after the Padres kicked off talks with the Cubs and Braves, Peavy threw another wrench into the mix, saying he'd block a trade to teams on his original list if he felt they were gutting their roster to acquire him. (In other words, sure, he'd like to play for the Braves ... but not if Yunel Escobar isn't there.)

With so many hoops to jump through, it's not a surprise the Padres have talked for a month without getting a deal done. From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

"We've had advanced discussions with the Cubs and Braves, which are Jake's priority teams," General Manager Kevin Towers said last night, "but at this point in time, I do not see a potential deal with either club."

Towers admitted to having discussions with the Dodgers, but it doesn't take a front office mole to figure out that his preference is probably to avoid handing him over to a division rival where he can haunt his former team several times a year for the length of his contract. So what are his options?

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

It's pretty obvious to any Braves fan that Frank Wren has to do some major retooling this offseason. Atlanta has never been a win-now-at-any-cost type of team, and they shouldn't suddenly become one; but the Braves have a loaded farm system and no major league pitching.

And frankly, there's only so long that you can allow prospects to develop without actually using them to make your team at the big league level better (that's not to say that trading blue chipper Tommy Hanson is acceptable; it's not). But the Braves, by virtue of the Peavy rumor train that's rolled through MLB gossip circles over the past few weeks, are one of the biggest teams to watch over the next few weeks: a new GM gets his chance to make a mark on a team with the chance to return to glory by pulling off a trade with his West Coast counterpart and fitting the pieces to make the Braves stop stinking up the NL East in embarrassingly anti-historical fashion.

Some reports have surfaced that the Braves have pried the "front-runner" label from the Cubs in the Jake Peavy sweepstakes, because of organizational depth when it comes to minor league progress. Peavy has a full no-trade clause, and the Braves are among the teams he said he'd be open to joining.

Late last night, however, details emerged that there could be a potential snag in those talks. You see, Peavy wishes to play for a winning team. One of the players who is being discussed as part of the deal is the Braves young shortstop, Yunel Escobar. Peavy's agent, Barry Axelrod, has stated Peavy would likely invoke his no-trade clause if Escobar is included in the deal.

"Escobar's a pretty good player," Axelrod said. "To be honest, Jake and I have said, 'If that kind of trade gets made, who plays short for them?'"

Another interesting layer is that the Padres are looking to move Khalil Greene. What if Greene is included? He's a serious downgrade from Escobar, but he's been Peavy's teammate for a while ... maybe that would help push the deal through? Then the question would become, do the Braves even want Greene?

Stay tuned.