FanHouse Jeff Clement

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

By all accounts, this has been a season to forget for Josh Hamilton. While it would have been hard to meet the expectations that come after a 32-HR, 130-RBI season (Hamilton's numbers in 2008), no one could have predicted a fall this precipitous.

After a .242, two-HR April, we called it a rough start. Hamilton followed that up with a .237 May and went on the shelf for a month. The struggling Texas outfielder entered the All-Star break hitting .243 with just six HRs on the season. By August 2, his average was down to .220.

And then, something finally clicked.

The news of Jack Wilson heading to Seattle dropped out of the sky like a hammer early Wednesday afternoon.

Everyone knows the Pirates are rebuilding, but it was a real surprise to see Wilson headed to Seattle. The Mariners adding veterans and payroll? Are they actually buyers at this deadline?

That's certainly the initial impression here. Wilson is one of the best defensive shortstops in the league and he's having one of the best defensive seasons of his career at the age of 31. He's not a great hitter, but he's got a better bat than Yuniesky Betancourt, who manned short for Seattle for most of this year.

Update: The Mariners have obtained shortstop Jack Wilson and right-hander Ian Snell from the Pirates for infielder Ronny Cedeno, Jeff Clement and three other minor-leaguers.

The move indicates Seattle is not in "sell" mode, which was indicated Tuesday as FanHouse reported the M's planned to hold on to Jarrod Washburn.

Wilson, 31, is an excellent defender who was batting .267 with four homers and 31 RBI. He is eligible for free agency after this season unless Seattle picks up an $8.4 million option.

Snell, 27, was demoted to Triple-A after going 2-8 with a 5.36 ERA for Pittsburgh. In six minor-league starts, he is 2-2 with a 0.96 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 37 1/3 innings. He is signed through next year ($10.25 million) with a team options for 2011-12.

Mariners prospect Jeff Clement is headed to the Pirates, according to a major league source. The source did not know whom Seattle would receive in return but said there were other M's minor-leaguers involved.

Clement was pulled from his Triple-A game on Tuesday night.

It could be a deal for a pitcher (Zach Duke?) or part of a three-team trade. Also, the M's could use a shortstop, and Pittsburgh has been looking into trading middle infielders Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson.

Clement, 25, is a left-handed hitter whose defense at catcher is suspect and has had trouble against lefty pitchers. But he was the third overall pick in the 2005 draft.

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

The days where boos rained down upon Kosuke Fukudome seem like a distant memory.

Through nine games on the new season, the formerly-embattled center fielder is batting .375 with three homers, eight RBI, six runs and a steal for good measure. Compare that to his rookie campaign, where he only managed 10 big knocks in 501 at-bats. Should we believe in this new and improved Fukudome, or is it only a matter of time before fans are ripping him to shreds again?

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
The Florida Marlins already have a three-game lead in the NL East. Yesterday's 6-2 victory over the Braves finished off Florida's first-ever sweep of a series longer than two games in Atlanta.

The Marlins' 8-1 start matches the team's best, set in 1997 and tied in 2004. Since the three-tiered playoff system began in 1995, 10 teams have started 8-1 or better and only three missed the playoffs (2002 Indians, 2003 Royals and those 2004 Marlins).

Dan Haren has been awful this spring. Adam Jones is raking, as is Chris Shelton. Michael Bourn has been a completely worthless hitter. Of the above players, two have stat-lines that matter, and two have ones that don't.

You see, judging spring training stat-lines in fantasy baseball can be helpful, but you don't want to get too caught up in it. After all, the games are meaningless. Most established veterans are just going through the motions in attempt to get their body ready for the real season. For them, the stat-lines are meaningless. Thus, I don't care that Haren has sucked thus far. I'd still draft him with confidence.

Let's take a deeper look at a when they matter, when they don't, and why.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Seattle Mariners.

The Mariners of 2008 provided a case study in why overachieving isn't always a good thing. The team won 88 games in 2007, which could be looked at in one of two ways. You could say the team was close to contending and should go all in for a run at the postseason, or you could look at their expected record and say that the team outperformed expectations and shouldn't do anything drastic.

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 who someone predicted would win the World Series last year. Seriously. When you stop laughing, you can check out the link (he's the top one listed -- though when you see his other atrocious picks you won't be surprised). Was I any better? Glad you asked. I actually took Mr. Downey to task before Opening Day. You can check the rest of my stuff if you wish, as there were some misses in there.

Anyway, it's safe to say expectations are a slight bit lower heading into '08.

Jeff Clement's first stint at the big league level did not pan out quite so well. To say that he struggled -- batting .167 with 0HR, seven walks and 20 strikeouts in 48 at bats -- would be an understatement. But as soon as he got demoted to the minors, he started ripping the cover off the ball. Again.

Hence, the Mariners have decided to call Clement back to the bigs. He hasn't played in the majors since returning yet, but he should strap back on the padding and/or take a trip to the outfield soon.

He has been playing at AAA-Tacoma though, absolutely raking the ball -- nine homers, another nine doubles, getting on base at a .375+ club and only 17 strikeouts in May and June combined -- since returning. Which would explain why the M's didn't mind bringing him back up (well, that and their MLB worst record).

Now, Clement is going to be catcher eligible for fantasy purposes, but he might not always play there, giving him the potential to be a half-season/poor man's Josh Willingham from 2006.

Is he a must add in every fantasy league? Um, no. Smaller leagues don't want to burn waiver claims or take the risk that he will do what he did last time. But if you have a 12 team league (or bigger) or use two catchers, I think I'm grabbing him for the upside. Right now, the internet related buzz says to hold off on grabbing him, but if you don't beat the buzz, you end up continuing to play Jesus Flores.

The downside is there (see his first promotion) but the power from that spot, especially if you're in a keeper league, is too strong to ignore.

While Monday was already a great day of change in Seattle with the deserved firing of general manager Bill Bavasi, it wasn't the only thing that changed with the Mariners yesterday. For the first time since August 19th, 2006, Ichiro Suzuki started a game in right field.

Right field was where Ichiro spent his first five years in Seattle, and after the team sent Wladimir Balentien back down to Tacoma in favor of Jeff Clement, there was an opening in right and John McLaren says he'd been thinking about making the move for a month or so. Still, this may not be the last move that Ichiro makes this season, as McLaren also said he's toying with the idea of dropping him out of the lead-off spot in the Mariners lineup.

McLaren said he's also spoken to Ichiro about a move out of the leadoff spot in hopes of jump-starting an offense that ranks last in the American League in runs scored and second-to-last in team batting average.

Such a move does not appear imminent, however, because McLaren said there is currently no other obvious candidate to hit leadoff.

"Ichiro is on board with anything we want to do to help the club, and I think most of these guys are from the same school in that clubhouse," McLaren said.