FanHouse Xavier Nady

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

No, I didn't lose a bet to Matt Snyder (although he is running roughshod over our fantasy league right now) and he hasn't stolen my log in information to write favorable posts about the Chicago Cubs. I feel it's just necessary to expound a bit about what's been happening on the north side lately.

The Cubs won their second game in a row and made it back to .500 on Thursday. They did so with a scoring barrage led by Derrek Lee. If Lee's two home runs on Thursday weren't enough foreshadowing for a breakout, imagine that we're only two games into July and Lee already has three homers and nine RBI. He had six homers and 20 RBI in June. Is Lee a 30-home run player again?

Yankees outfielder Xavier Nady has been on the shelf since April 14. He was recently playing in Triple-A on a minor league rehab assignment when he suffered a huge setback and had to pull himself from the game. It appears the injury was devastating. He'll be forced to undergo Tommy John surgery, which normally takes at least one calendar year to heal; sometimes more. This means Nady likely won't be ready until about July of 2010.

The Yankees have been using Nick Swisher in right field most of the time with Nady out, so they'll likely continue to do so. They haven't exactly struggled offensively without him, as evidenced by the comments made by manager Joe Girardi.

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 the looks of his season stats, you wouldn't know that Jordan Zimmermann has actually been one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors over the past month. We're talking a 1.90 ERA and a .198 batting average against. On that same note, Minnesota's Scott Baker is holding opposing hitters to a .205 average over his last five starts. The turnaround of these pitchers teach fantasy owners an important lesson about staying patient and swooping in when the time is right.

NEW YORK -- The Yankees were pretty down about the way their ballpark opener went. But first baseman Mark Teixeira was feeling pretty good -- for a different reason.

"I got some good stuff after I came out of the game," Teixeira said with a smile. "And I think I'm going to be just fine."

The good stuff was a cortisone shot in his injured wrist. Teixeira, who missed three games on the Yankees' recent road trip because of the wrist injury, came out of Thursday's home opener in the seventh inning with the Indians ahead 10-1 and immediately visited with a team doctor who advised and administered the pain-relieving injection.

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.

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

After a terrible first week, Texas first baseman Chris Davis was one of the hot topics of concern in fantasy baseball circles. My colleague Matt Snyder recently tried to put those fears to rest in Slump or Suck, and right on cue, Davis went ahead and smashed them with his bat.

Some potentially bad news for the Yankees tonight, as Xavier Nady left tonight's Yankees/Rays game with what's being described as a "sharp pain" in his throwing elbow. Nady's going for an MRI on the elbow later today, but given his history with the elbow and the description of the injury, it doesn't sound good.

Of course, calling this "bad news" is relative. I don't mean to sound coarse because Nady seems like a swell guy, but if he's hurt, Nick Swisher takes over in right field. I think it's pretty easy to make an argument that Swisher is (at least at the peak of his game) a better player in a lot of ways than Nady.

Typically, this would be where I insert some super-awesome quote written by Oliver Stone, just in order to make up for my totally lame title.. One problem: I couldn't find anything that was "family friendly" enough to slot into this post. Instead, how about we break down five different platoon situations that are emerging/have emerged in the early fantasy baseball season. If you've got a particular situation you want examined, hit us on the hip here.

Taylor Teagarden vs. Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Thus far, Teagarden has gotten one start and managed the same number of hits in five at-bats. He's walked once and struck out once, and well, it's pretty obviously Salty's gig ... or is it???

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

There were a bunch of eye-opening performances scattered throughout Thursday's games, but none bigger than the seven one-hit innings hurled by Chris Carpenter. The 33-year-old hadn't won a game for the Cardinals since the 2006 World Series, yet there he was, striking out seven Pirates and needing just 92 pitches to get through his day of work. Is Carpenter already back to fantasy ace status, or was this just the stinkin' Bucs making him look good?

When the Yankees traded for Nick Swisher in November, it made sense. The Yankees could let Jason Giambi leave as a free agent and play Swisher at first base. Swisher, literally a "Moneyball" player, fit in well because his power and on-base skills would be fine in the lower half of the Yankees lineup.

Then, a month later, the Yankees decided they wanted Mark Teixeira. It dealt a blow to the rival Red Sox, who had their hearts set in Teixeira, but created a couple of logjams. The long-term problem was that first base was now taken up for eight years -- even though Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter all probably need to move there within the next three.