What do you do when your first-round fantasy pick goes on the shelf and might even need surgery? Scarf down some Yodels and cry into your pillow? Like Jimmy Dugan said, "There's no crying in (fantasy) baseball!"
Instead, there's a fantasy cram session podcast to help you cope. If you need advice on Josh Hamilton and Grady Sizemore, want to know which recently demoted prospects you should stash, or are curious why David Wright and the Mets are in a power funk, take a listen to what we had to say late Tuesday night.
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 Blue Jays have the best offense in the American League right now. Toronto has scored 104 runs so far this season, the most in the AL, and 20 more than both the Red Sox and the Yankees (though it has played two extra games).
The Jays struggled to generate offense last year, finishing 11th in the league in runs, but they have scored at least five runs in 11 of their 17 games so far this year, a feat it took 26 games to accomplish in 2008. Four Toronto regulars -- Aaron Hill, Adam Lind, Scott Rolen and Lyle Overbay -- are hitting over .300, so the Jays might not be able to keep this pace up.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Ichiro's hobbies include: Hitting baseballs, getting massages from manager Don Wakamatsu, and hitting more baseballs.
One nice way to put injury concerns to rest is by smashing a grand slam in your first game back. Ichiro, who missed the first week and a half due to fatigue and ulcer troubles, went 2-for-5 with the homer, four RBI and a stolen base against the Angels. But his stat line paled in comparison to another leadoff star.
FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Toronto Blue Jays.
There's no team in baseball in a worse spot than the Blue Jays. They've had to contend with the megapowers in New York and Boston for years, watching their competitive payroll and over-.500 seasons amount to nothing more than third-place finish after-third place finish. No matter how much they have spent and how much they have won, it has never been enough to catch the Red Sox or the Yankees.
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.
Every season, right around this time, there is a large flock of prospects all trying to prove to themselves and the front office that they belong in big league baseball. The key to fantasy baseball success when speaking of these prospects is to know whether or not they are going to make the team out of Spring Training. If not, you need to weigh the time line of each player and figure out if he should be a selection in your fantasy draft or if you'll be spending FAAB money or using waiver priority status on him.
Choose wisely when considering the acquisition of prospects. Most of these guys have bright, rocket-ship upside. But, not all will become effective fantasy assets.
Tommy Hanson, Braves - Unless a string of injuries occur to the Braves rotation this spring, Hanson will start the season at Triple-A Gwinnett. He'll, most likely, be the first starter called up as he was a strikeout machine in the Arizona Fall League and is still showing off his arm this spring. He's good enough to make a front-of-the-rotation impact almost instantly.
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 about to lose one of the best pitchers in baseball. Let's face it, with the economy in the tank for the rest of this calendar year, major league teams will be forced to cut costs. Roy Halladay makes a lot of money. The Blue Jays are going to be the worst team in the AL East (yes, they really will). People will stop attending games, and the Jays are going to have to deal him for about 30 cents on the dollar.
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.
Boston Red Sox What's the strength of this Red Sox club so far in spring? By looking at the numbers, it's their bullpen. The seven projected relievers in the bullpen (Jonathan Papelbon, Takashi Saito, Ramon Ramirez, Justin Masterson, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima and Javier Lopez) have combined to give up only one run on six hits in 13 innings of work. Last season the Red Sox bullpen produced 34 wins and these seven pitchers struck out 456 batters. What does all of this mean for your fantasy club? It means that Paps is still a solid, lock down closer. It also means that if you're looking for cheap wins, strikeouts, low ERA's and WHIP's you should start by scouring the Red Sox pen. And if your fantasy league uses holds, the value from this list just went up.
Yard Work focuses on what chicks allegedly love: the long ball. From the big boppers to the small poppers, it's a rundown of which home run hitters will make a dent in your fantasy baseball league.
When Jose Reyes makes his move for second and robs another bag from an unsuspecting pitcher, the Mets faithful follow with applause and "Jose, Jose Jose Jose!" chants. But there's 50 or so more to go from Jose, and no matter how dirty that jersey gets, it's still just a stolen base.
David Wright steps up to the plate, drills a first-pitch heater into the picnic area ... it's BIG APPLE TIME. Cue the wackier video animation and the rumbling seats, too.
Say what you want about the appeal of steals, the home run is still king.
In fantasy baseball, however, that king can be overrated.
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.
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
From now until the regular season begins, 
