FanHouse Justin Duchscherer

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

You Oughta Know ...
That now it's the Red Sox who can't get out of their own way against the Yankees, as opposed to the other way around.

After going 8-0 against New York to start the season, Boston has now lost five straight to its rivals following a 20-11 drubbing at Fenway Park.

Hideki Matsui was the standout offensive star among many on Friday night, homering twice and driving in seven runs to pace the Yankee attack. Matsui and his teammates have made it very obvious that whatever hurdle there was to playing the Red Sox early in the year has now been cleared.

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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.

It's a funny thing, sometimes, to see how Power Rankings shape up over the course of the season. Just like when we started the year, there are a number of teams from one particular division sitting atop the rankings. Of course, there are plenty of surprises -- WHERE DID THE FREAKING GIANTS AND ROCKIES COME FROM?? -- and some other interesting stuff, like the fact that the Mets and Cubs just haven't been that good, which we discussed on the inaugural BaseCast recently.

MLB Power Rankings: Where we care what you've done for us lately when we break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world each week.

We're almost there. You can smell it in the air, can't you? That's right ... the NHL playoffs! Ha. I kid, of course. No one actually watches hockey (if it even exists). But people do get amped up for baseball, and the season is upon us. So, in that vein, we've got our final installment of preseason power rankings ready for your digestion. Play ball.

PHOENIX -- Justin Duchscherer is going to have arthroscopic surgery on his balky right elbow, most likely knocking him out of action for at least the first month of the season.

The A's haven't yet worked out the details on when or where Duchscherer will have the surgery and they won't know exactly how long he'll be out until doctors get in there and see what needs to be done. Typically, a pitcher would miss at least six weeks with even the most mild arthroscopic cleanup on his elbow.

Duchscherer, a two-time All-Star and the only pitcher in the A's rotation with any sort of successful track record, did not talk to reporters today, directing them to manager Bob Geren for comment.

"Anytime you lose a guy it's disappointing, especially a guy who was pegged as a possible No. 1 guy," Geren said.

A's ace right-hander Justin Duchscherer, a two-time All-Star and frequent visitor to the disabled list, suffered yet another setback today.

Duchscherer came out of a minor league game, his first competitive appearance of the spring, with elbow pain after 20 pitches, according to assistant GM David Forst.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Oakland Athletics.

There's been an awful lot said about the non-traditional stylings of A's GM Billy Beane over the years, but his greatest asset is an absolute refusal to see players as anything more than they are. While teams like the Yankees and Red Sox pay too much to aging veterans because of ties to the franchise and other clubs clutch prospects like gold bars with absolute values, Beane coldly uses players like the assets they are before moving onto a new batch.

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...
Most average team in the league. It's weird, because there don't seem to be many real weaknesses on team -- but can you really find a bunch of strengths? I hate the term "very average," but this team is pretty close to the mean across the board. As you scroll through ADP charts, you'll find the A's aren't often towards the top of the lists, but they are definitely there. As I said, average.

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.

Los Angeles Angels
It turns out the Angels only rented Mark Teixeira for a few months. Now it's time to find a replacement. Kendry Morales tore up the Dominican Winter League to the tune of a .404 batting average with eight home runs and 29 RBI in only 26 games. He's also 6-17 through six Spring Training games. Nobody expects, or even asks, Morales to fill Teixeira's shoes, but the Cuban defector could blast 18 to 20 home runs and bat upwards of .280 if given full-time at-bats. He's a great late round fantasy draft flier in mixed-leagues and should be grabbed in AL-only leagues of any depth.

That's right, MLB Power Rankings. You do know that that means, right? It means we're only a few short weeks/months (depends on you how you want to look at it, you pessimistic jerk) from starting the 2009 baseball season. Spring is nearly here, everyone has a bounce in their step and there's not an illegal, injectable steroid in sight!

So without further ado, let's get down to business and rank every single Major League Baseball team right freaking now. Because baseball can't wait any longer to get going.

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 obvious that Billy Beane doesn't understand the concept of Footprints in the Snow. You see first, we tell major league GMs what they oughta do, then we predict what they will actually do. After that, the GMs go and do something nobody expects and they show us why they're running baseball teams and we're blogging about it.

Beane has the order wrong. He's not supposed to go and leave his footprints in the offseason snow before we write about it? What fun is that? But that's exactly what Billy did yesterday as he went and traded for Matt Holliday. So what you're about to read is a second draft done through the prism of the Holliday trade. Thanks a lot Billy. Next time, could you take better notes at our meetings?