Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
While the majority of the American workforce got a day off on Labor Day, some major league hitters were getting their power stroke on in a big way. With only 11 games on the docket, four players left the yard twice in one game: Derrek Lee, Billy Butler, Mark Teixeira and Juan Uribe. The fantasy fallout isn't huge, save for one; Lee's having a resurgence, Butler a breakout campaign and Teixeira an MVP-caliber season. Uribe, though ... that's news.
Let's start with his 7.2 innings of work on the mound. Wolf gave up three earned runs and five hits. But he struck out an amazing ten batters while walking none. And this isn't the first good outing for Wolf in a while. In fact, quite the opposite.
If you take out the four earned run game on August 6th against Atlanta, you have to go all the way back to June 24th to find another day where Wolf didn't provide the Dodgers with a quality start. Nine of his last ten outings have been quality starts and he's sporting a 3.13 ERA over that time. He only has four wins to show for it, but that sounds like a run support issue and not a dig on Wolf.
You see, when it comes to marquee names like Pedro, the expectations are always a bit unrealistic. It would be nice if legends could harness the same stuff at age 37, but that's just not the way it goes. In fact, the Martinez we saw in his season debut Wednesday wasn't all that impressive from a fantasy perspective.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Vladimir Guerrero's had a rough 2009, with injury issues and his dwindling power (his .466 slugging percentage would easily be his career low if the season ended today) causing concern the 34-year-old was full-on in the middle of a career decline.
With two cracks of the bat Monday night, "Vlad the Impaler" reminded us that he's been swinging a hot stick of late. In fact, he's been the old Vlad for quite some time. He just needed to shake the Earth a little bit to ensure everyone took notice.
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.
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.
Let me put this simply: you want no part of being No. 1 in the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings. It just brings discord, losing and possibly suspensions to your baseball team. Such was the case with the white-hot Dodgers and Manny Ramirez, who now have to deal with a 50 game-ban of their star slugger. Who's doomed this week? Let's just say that no one would be too shocked if they weren't there again next Wednesday.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That Matt LaPorta has arrived. LaPorta, the key player the Indians got in exchange for CC Sabathia last year, finally donned an Indians uniform on Saturday. LaPorta did not get into the game in his first day in the big leagues, but Tribe fans are certainly going to be eager to see him when he does.
LaPorta, 24, was the seventh overall pick in the 2007 draft. He is a big-time slugger, considered one of the top hitting prospects in baseball. LaPorta has played outfield and first base. The Indians could use him at either of those spots, or at DH in place of the injured Travis Hafner.
Tuesday was the fifth time in his career that Carlos Zambrano received the honor of being handed the ball on Opening Day for the Cubs, but in his first four tries he was never able to come away with a victory.
That all changed on Tuesday night in Houston as Zambrano pitched six solid innings and out-dueled Roy Oswalt to help lead the Cubs to a 4-2 victory.
Zambrano would scatter five hits through six plus innings, striking out six Astros and walking three. Still, in spite of some control problems with his pitches, Zambrano looked a lot more in control of his emotions on Monday night as he kept himself from getting too fired up and just pitched.
Just as Knox posted his results from our recent FanHouse draft, I'll throw mine on here, too, for your critiques. Mr. Bardeen laid out the league format here. Year 101 is my team name, as you can see from the title to this piece, and it has a little something to do with my favorite baby bears.
Somehow, I ended up with the top pick in the draft. I haven't had this happen to me in years. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I picked first in fantasy baseball or football. Well, I'd been preaching -- since A-Rod fell injured -- what to do with the top choice. I had to put my money where my mouth was.
As we'll preach time and again at FanHouse, compiling a successful fantasy baseball team isn't about the most productive players. It's about what players give you the most value. Carlos Quentin was much more valuable last season than Ryan Braun -- despite ending with slightly inferior numbers -- because of how much cheaper he was to attain than Braun.
The best way to compile a winning team is to recognize areas where you can maximize the value of your draft picks. Not spending high picks on closers is one way to do this. Finding players being underestimated is another. Another, still, is to find places lacking depth and grab a strength.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
Tuesday was the fifth time in his career that 
Just as Knox posted his results from our recent FanHouse draft, I'll throw mine on here, too, for your critiques. Mr. Bardeen 
As we'll preach time and again at FanHouse, compiling a successful fantasy baseball team isn't about the most productive players. It's about what players give you the most value. 
