FanHouse Khalil Greene

One of the more interesting injury-related developments this season has been the spate of anxiety, stress and other emotional/mental issues cited as reasons for sending players to the disabled list. Dontrelle Willis, Joey Votto and Khalil Greene, who missed two games after a previous stint on the DL, have all been struck with these ailments, which has generated two general schools of response.

The first is sympathetic. Many people in this country have suffered from such problems, or have close friends or family members who have suffered, and they know that being a talented athlete doesn't make you immune. The other camp feels that these are just excuses for teams to stash away players performing poorly.

My first thought when I read that Khalil Greene went on the disabled list with "extreme butterflies," where his highs are too high and his lows are too low, was to laugh. My second thought, a few moments later, was "oh man, this guy is exactly like me."

So this Dugout took a few different forms. At first it was Khalil Greene being followed around by a little black raincloud that struck him with lightning from time to time. Then it was about him in high school, giving himself ulcers worrying about second year Spanish. Then it was about him in the future talking to his grandson about the anxieties of baseball, but I scrapped that because who would think THAT was a good idea.

Tonight's Dugout is after the jump.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ever since Khalil Greene was a kid, he knew that he took things more seriously than the other kids.

And not in a good way.

On the day that Greene was placed on the disabled list because of social anxiety disorder, the Cardinals shortstop described a long-running pattern of emotional problems in an interview with FanHouse.

Earlier Wednesday in the power rankings I speculated -- off the cuff -- that Cleveland would start trading veterans. Well, it appears they will, because Jon Heyman of SI.com is reporting the Indians have officially placed Mark DeRosa on the proverbial trading block.

The versatile DeRosa can play adequate defense anywhere on the diamond except shortstop, center field and the battery, which could make him an attractive trade piece for teams with a variety of different needs. One in particular everyone is hearing is the New York Mets.

Usually when a team benches one of their players it's because he is doing the team harm. That's definitely the case with Khalil Greene in St. Louis. His OPS is .586 and he's done a poor job defensively as well, each of which is reason enough for the Cardinals to try out a new shortstop for the immediate future.

And that's what they're going to do. Tony La Russa told Greene that he'll move into a utility role for the immediate future, but his play is only part of the reason. The other part is the damage that Greene is doing to himself as a result of his struggles. It seems that Greene isn't able to leave his troubles in his locker at the end of the day.

After a nearly seamless start to the season, the St. Louis Cardinals are all-of-a-sudden reeling. Tuesday night, they lost 7-1 to the hapless Pirates, but that likely wasn't the worst occurrence. A single game in a season of 162 isn't a really huge deal, after all. Losing your power-hitting protection for Albert Pujols, however, is.

Ryan Ludwick gave chase to a ball off the bat of Nyjer Morgan early in the game and came up lame with a strained right hamstring. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Tony LaRussa anticipates the Cardinals will have to put Ludwick on the disabled list -- where he'd join fellow starting outfielder Rick Ankiel.

We haven't even completed two full weeks of the Major League Baseball season yet, but the (arguably) best rivalry in the National League is already giving us a taste of what an exciting race the NL Central could be this year. With all due respect to the Reds, Astros, Brewers and Pirates, and with all due disclaimers about how long the baseball season is, it seems blatantly obvious the two best teams in the division are the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.

For the past three days, the two teams have put on an entertaining show for anyone fortunate enough to be watching. Each game went down the wire, with both teams showing a flair for the dramatic.

As Opening Day approached, Tony La Russa wouldn't proclaim Jason Motte his closer or commit to Khalil Greene as his cleanup hitter.

Good thing.

Motte, a hard-throwing rookie, blew a save chance as the Cardinals lost 6-4 to the Pirates today. And Greene didn't look like sufficient protection for Albert Pujols (right).

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Over the course of baseball history we've seen some fantastic one-two punches in the batting order. The 1927 season gave us Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle terrorized pitching staffs in 1961 while David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez brought two World Series Championships to Boston between 2004 and 2007. In 2009 the St. Louis Cardinals plan to unveil a decidedly different idea of a one-two punch in the heart of their lineup.

We just concluded our fantasy draft here at Fanhouse. I have to say that I like what I did here.

It's a 12-team, rotisserie mixed-league using standard 5X5 scoring categories and rosters that include two catchers, a first baseman, a second baseman, a shortstop, a third baseman, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, a utility hitter, nine pitchers and three bench players.

Here's the Extra Base Knox team:

Round 1(3) - Albert Pujols, Cardinals - Wright and Hanley Ramirez went with the first two picks. Pujols is the best remaining player so I went with him. I'll take his massive offense in four of the five categories and smile all the way.

Round 2(22) - Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners - I made a tough decision here between him and Justin Morneau. I love Ichiro's speed and great batting average. With such high batting averages from my first two picks, I should be able to grab a big home run hitter with a low average later in the draft if I choose.

Round 3(27) - Carl Crawford, Rays - I didn't go power, I went speed again. Crawford plus Ichiro will pretty much guarantee my team is near the top in stolen bases.