Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Ryan Ludwick scuffled early this season, which was a sign to many about how much of a fluke his huge 2008 season was. Through June 29, Ludwick was hitting just .227 with a .718 OPS. Last season, he hit .299 with a .966 OPS in his career year, with a whopping 37 home runs and 113 RBI. Many thought it was an outlier, but he had never gotten a chance to play everyday in the majors until then.
In July, he's heating up and showing that he is no fluke.
ATLANTA -- The entire Atlanta Braves 25-man roster, coaching staff, some former players and almost 900 fans were in attendance today to watch Greg Maddux become the 21st player in Braves history to enter their Hall of Fame.
Joe Simpson was the Master of Ceremonies today at a luncheon celebrating the career of Greg Maddux, which spanned 11 seasons in Atlanta and ended with the pitcher landing eighth on the all-time wins list with 355 career wins.
Instead of focusing on his four consecutive Cy Young Awards, a feat nobody has ever matched, or his 18 Gold Gloves, fans were treated Friday to stories about Maddux the person and teammate; stories which not only proved his worth as a ball player, but showed us all that Greg Maddux lived, breathed and loved this game, and wanted not only to be the best, but have fun doing so.
Hold your breath, Cubs fans. Aramis Ramirez dislocated his left shoulder diving for a grounder in Friday night's game against the Brewers. We'll have to wait and see what the full prognosis is, but this could be a very serious blow for Chicago depending on the type of dislocation.
Ramirez, who came into the game batting .369 with 16 RBI, injured the shoulder when he made a great diving stop on a sharply hit grounder off the bat of Ryan Braun. He immediately grabbed his left arm in pain and Braun was safe at first as the ball rolled away.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know... That the Cubs put an ugly finish to an ugly 2-4 road trip, losing 10-0 to the Diamondbacks. It's early, and they are 10-10, but so far the Cubs have not looked like the runaway best team in the National League that they were supposed to be. Manager Lou Piniella knows something is wrong.
"We're beginning to find out those other teams want to kick our butts. You're not going to win without playing with intensity every day, and the quicker that sinks in, the better."
Besides simply playing poorly, the Cubs have had to deal with Milton Bradley's issues and injuries, and now a problem that might land Aramis Ramirez on the DL. This weekend the Cubs will play the schizophrenic Marlins, so we'll see which team shows up, on both sides of the field.
FanHouse begins its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Atlanta Braves.
It's not my typical policy to engage in cheesy headline writing, however, this is GM Frank Wren's second full year at the helm with his team. Things are going to be different, in theory. But more importantly, it might be time to go ahead and realize that this isn't your dad's Braves team, or your older brother's for that matter. After 14 straight division titles, the Braves have been absent from the postseason for two straight years. Wren's job, obviously, is to fix that.
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 ... Eventual landing spot for Manny Ramirez. Seriously, it's going to happen sooner or later, so we'll just assume it's already happened for the purposes of this post. Obviously, if he either signs elsewhere (unlikely) or sits out this season (as unlikely as the holier than thou media embracing A-Rod), we'll have to re-fantasy-spin the entire offense. He's that important to the lineup.
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.
FanHouse positional rankings were compiled by averaging the individual rankings of each member of the Fantasy FanHouse staff.
While Hanley Ramirez's steals, RBI and average took some decent hits in 2008, he still increased his home run output. Plus, he's only going to be 25 years old this year, and the 35 steals and .301 average aren't exactly anything to complain about. As his patience rises -- he shattered his previous career high in walks last year -- he'll grow as a complete player. Thus, despite strong competition from Jose Reyes, Ramirez was our unanimous choice atop the shortstop rankings.
The impact that Manny Ramirez had on the Dodgers as a team last season was pretty obvious. He took an offense that wasn't exactly intimidating to opposing pitchers and made it pretty darn scary. Where as a young Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier could do some damage on their own, if you put Manny between them in the lineup they become legitimate threats.
Which is probably why the Dodgers are hoping they can bring Manny back this season because replacing the production he gave the team will not be easy if he doesn't. Still, to listen to third base coach Larry Bowa talk about it, you'd think that the losing Manny would be like cutting off the arms and legs of the Dodgers' offense.
Strange as it might seem, the Oakland Athletics -- the very same club that has built its reputation on jettisoning All-Stars for the better part of the decade -- are pretty clearly in go-for-it-now mode. That's the only way trading for Matt Holliday, signing Jason Giambi and making a serious play for Rafael Furcal makes sense.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
ATLANTA -- The entire Atlanta Braves 25-man roster, coaching staff, some former players and almost 900 fans were in attendance today to watch 
Hold your breath, Cubs fans. 
Starting Five
FanHouse begins its 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
FanHouse positional rankings were compiled by averaging the individual rankings of each member of the Fantasy FanHouse staff. 
The impact that 
Strange as it might seem, the Oakland Athletics -- the very same club that has built its reputation on jettisoning All-Stars for the better part of the decade -- are pretty clearly in go-for-it-now mode. That's the only way trading for 
