Ross is boss

Ross Ohlendorf throw his best outing in two months as the Pirates ride their big right-hander to a 3-0 victory over the Cubs. Ohlendorf has pitched well in his first full season as a starter, posting a 7-6 record with a 4.41 ERA on a losing team.

Fantasy Impact: Certainly, you can do better than Ohlendorf, but you can also do much, much worse. The young righty continues to pitch well despite his low strike out total. He actually notched eight in seven innings in this one. He's a great low-end rotation option. If you've got him as a 5the or 6th starter, you're exceeding your replacement value.

Ug-Lee

Indians starter Cliff Lee threw the Chicago White Sox batting practice in game two of their series giving up 7 runs on 11 hits in three innings. His ERA soars to 3.39, which is obviously very respectable but still bot that of a frontline fantasy ace.

Fantasy Impact: Earlier in the year we talked about Lee's inflated value after his Cy Young season. Certainly there are fantasy managers out ther who over-valued the solid lefty. The fact of the matter is this: Lee is a good to very good pitcher, but he's not one of the top 10 or even 20 pitchers in baseball. He'll never dominate like the game's best, and therefore he'll continue to be a top-end No. 3 or low end No. 2 fantasy starter. If you drafted him high or kept him, here's hoping you moved him prior to this paltry showing.

Ramirez rehab scheduled

Aramis Ramirez's rehab assignment begins Thursday, which is good news for the Cubs. Ramirez's bat has been sorely missed, but the Cubs are seeing production in his place from rookie Jake Fox. Fox went 2-3 Monday in a 3-1 victory over the Pirates, leaving him at .347 at the Major League level this season. Fox is Chicago's hottest hitter, and taking him out of the lineup would only be counterproductive while he's hitting so well.

Fantasy Impact: If and when Ramirez is ready to come back, the Cubs will have a serious decision to make: do they sit Fox, a below-average defensive player, in favor of Milton Bradley in right field? Ramirez would certainly inherit his third base spot when he's available, meaning Fox will have to slot somewhere else. Right field might be the only option.

Alexei's OK

Alexei Ramirez left the White Sox game against the Indians when a Chris Perez pitch struck him in the head. Ramirez stayed down for a couple of minutes as the White Sox training staff evaluated him on the field. While it was a scary moment, Ramirez says he will be able to play on Tuesday.

Lesson learned?

Did the Brewers learn a valuable lesson last year via the CC Sabathia trade? This year, Milwaukee is not going to deal top prospects like Matt Gamel and Alcides Escobar for high-priced free-agents to be, even if it's badly needed pitching they can acquire in return. Doug Melvin, who giddly said "We're going for it!" last year, has certainly changed his tone regarding a blockbuster deal.

"It's almost impossible. You never say never but it's not my focus at all. Those young players are valuable." After LaPorta was dealt for Sabathia, who led the Brewers to the playoffs for the first time in 26 years, Escobar moved up to the top spot in the organizational prospect rankings by Baseball America magazine, with Gamel at No. 2. As badly as the Brewers need starting pitching help with Dave Bush on the disabled list and Manny Parra in the minors, Melvin said the price would be too high if he included Gamel or Escobar. Gamel has been with the Brewers since May 14 and is batting .244 with two homers and 12 RBI in 32 games.

Middle- to small-market teams like the Brewers who cannot afford a dearth of big contracts need to hang onto their high-end prospects, because in the end, they get nothing. The traded prospect is gone, and so is the player Milwaukee traded for. We ripped Milwaukee for the Sabathia trade last year, saying mortgaging the future wouldn't bring them a title. This time The Brewers wised up.

Lesson learned?

Did the Brewers learn a valuable lesson last year via the CC Sabathia trade? This year, Milwaukee is not going to deal top prospects like Matt Gamel and Alcides Escobar for high-priced free-agents to be, even if it's badly needed pitching they can acquire in return.

"It's almost impossible. You never say never but it's not my focus at all. Those young players are valuable." After LaPorta was dealt for Sabathia, who led the Brewers to the playoffs for the first time in 26 years, Escobar moved up to the top spot in the organizational prospect rankings by Baseball America magazine, with Gamel at No. 2. As badly as the Brewers need starting pitching help with Dave Bush on the disabled list and Manny Parra in the minors, Melvin said the price would be too high if he included Gamel or Escobar. Gamel has been with the Brewers since May 14 and is batting .244 with two homers and 12 RBI in 32 games.

Middle- to small-market teams like the Brewers cannot afford a dearth of big contracts need to hang onto their high-end prospects, because otherwise, they get nothing in the end. The traded prospect is gone, and so is the player Milwaukee traded for. We ripped Milwaukee for the Sabathia trade last year, saying mortgaging the future wouldn't bring them a title. This time The Brewers wised up.

Tulo standing tall

Troy Tulowitzki's resurgence after a tough stretch early in the year may be attributed to altering his batting stance. He's standing more upright at the plate.

Fantasy Impact: Anyone who hits seven homers over 19 games should be worth a start, and after the top shortstops, Tulowitzki remains one of the best options at the position.

Backing Beckham

Over the past nine days, Gordon Beckham's nothing average has climbed steadily to .196. In that span, he's hit three doubles and a home run, bumping his slugging percentage up to .314, which is nearly respectable for a player hitting just below the Mendoza line. His 2-3 day with a double against the Reds gives him hits in six of his last seven games.

Fantasy Impact: Beckham is hitting .348 over that stretch of seven games, making him more than a viable option at third base or shortstop during while he's hot. He probably won't keep up this pace, but even if he slips just a bit, he's one of the better middle infielders in fantasy baseball. Grab him.

Not bad, Volstad

After four straight losses and back-to-back flame-outs, Chris Volstad got it back on track against the Yankees in a 6-5 win. Not only did Volstad earn a quality start, he also managed to walk just one and strike out four over six innings. Despite a 4.74 ERA, Volstad's WHIP is a solid 1.28.

Fantasy Impact: Volstad's struggles saw him dropped in numerous fantasy leagues, but he's still an average or above-average starter for the most part. If he's available, grab him, because he won't last long.

Hot Rodriguez

Sean Rodriguez launches his 22nd home run of the season (21 came in the Pacific Coast League) as the Angels beat the Giants, 9-7. Near the bottom of the Major Leagues in home runs this season, Los Angeles could use Rodriguez's bat in the lineup, but Mike Scioscia seems committed to Maicer Izturis at second base.

Fantasy Impact: Pick up Rodriguez just in case he starts getting a more legit shot at second base. He can be a Dan Uggla-type second baseman if Scioscia eventually lets him play every day.

Good Torii Hunter

Torii Hunter blasts three home runs against the Padres in a 9-1 victor for the home Angels. Hunter smacks two of the three against Padres starter Josh Geer, hardly an ace, but this is looking like Hunter's career year - no matter whom he's facing.

Fantasy Impact: Hunter's always been a nice fantasy player, but never a first-two round pick. This season, however, he's on pace to destroy his career high in homers of 31. He's also on pace to go over 100 runs for the first time in a single season. Breaking his career-high of 23 stolen bases is also in reach. He's a sell-high candidate who is prone to slumps historically, but this hot streak is going on three months now without stopping. Ride the wave. It just might last a full season.

Hochevar dominates on 80 pitches

Luke Hochevar continues to be an enigma for the Kansas City Royals. The former overall pick routinely struggles when pitching at the Major League level while dominating in the high minors. Friday, Hochevar flipped the script in terms of his Major League results, completely baffling the Cincinnati Reds in an 80=pitch, 3-1 complete-game victory.

Fantasy Impact: At some point Hochevar seemingly has to get it together, and this might be the catalyst to do exactly that. One Kansas City Star reporter considered this perhaps the most dominating Royals pitching performance in recent memory, and yes, that's including Zack Greinke's fabulous April-May. Hochevar's got the goods, and he's good enough to be a part of any fantasy roster if you're willing to wait out the good through the bad.

Top 2009 MLB closers - first 1/3 of season

Spitting Seeds' rankings for the best closers of the first third of the 2009 season. This is not a projection. It is an assessment of how effective baseball's top closers performed.
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Top Tier - No. 1 closers

1. Trevor Hoffman (15 saves, 0.00 ERA)
2. Heath Bell (18 saves, 1.37 ERA)
3. Francisco Rodriguez (16 saves, 0.61 ERA)
4. Frank Francisco (12 saves, 0.46 ERA)
5. Jonathan Broxton (14 saves, 1.50 ERA)
6. Jonathan Papelbon (15 saves, 2.08 ERA)
7. Joe Nathan (13 saves, 1.93 ERA)
8. Francisco Cordero (15 saves, 2.00 ERA)
9. Mariano Rivera (14 saves, 3.20 ERA)
10. Ryan Franklin (13 saves, 1.23 ERA)
11. Bobby Jenks (13 saves, 3.15 ERA)
12. Brian Fuentes (16 saves, 4.97 ERA)
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Second Tier - No. 2 closers

13. Brian Wilson (16 saves, 3.45 ERA)
14. George Sherrill (12 saves, 2.66 ERA)
15. Matt Capps (14 saves, 5.49 ERA)
16. David Aardsma (10 saves, 1.84 ERA)
17. Chad Qualls (12 saves, 3.97 ERA)
18. Huston Street (11 saves, 2.84 ERA)
19. Scott Downs (8 saves, 2.13 ERA)
20. LaTroy Hawkins (8 saves, 2.54 ERA)
21. Joakim Soria (7 saves, 1.74 ERA)
22. Mike Gonzalez (8 saves, 2.67 ERA)
23. Andrew Bailey (5 saves, 1.93 ERA)
24. Matt Lindstrom (11 saves, 5.92 ERA)
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Third Tier - No. 3 closers

25. Fernando Rodney (11 saves, 4.68 ERA)
26. Brad Lidge (13 saves, 7.27 ERA
27. Kevin Gregg (10 saves, 4.62 ERA)
28. Rafael Soriano (5 saves, 0.98 ERA)
29. C.J. Wilson (4 saves, 3.33 ERA)
30. Kerry Wood (8 saves, 5.31 ERA)
31. Brad Ziegler (5 saves, 4.07 ERA)
32. Troy Percival (6 saves, 6.35 ERA)
33. Brandon Morrow (6 saves, 6.38 ERA)
34. Joel Hanrahan (5 saves, 6.84 ERA)
35. Ryan Madson (3 saves, 2.15 ERA)
36. Chris Sampson (3 saves, 1.70 ERA)
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Fringe closers

37. Randy Choate (3 saves, 1.93 ERA)
38. Takashi Saito (2 saves, 2.70 ERA)
39. J.P. Howell (2 saves, 2.10 ERA)
40. Leo Nunez (2 saves, 3.10 ERA)
41. Todd Coffey (2 saves, 2.57 ERA)
42. Carlos Marmol (3 saves, 3.67 ERA)
43. Carlos Villanueva (2 saves, 4.18 ERA)
44. Jose Valverde (2 saves, 5.63 ERA)
45. B.J. Ryan (2 saves, 6.91 ERA)
46. Mike MacDougal (0 saves, 6.00 ERA)

Going West

Marlins rookie Sean West, known to some as "Little Unit," carried a no-hitter into the seventh against the Giants and wound up with an eight-inning, two-hit shutout. The long, lean lefthander not only won for the first time in his fourth MLB start, he also beat Randy Johnson, the pitcher to whom he most often copmpared. Johnson sounded very impressed with the 22-year-old after the game.

“It’s a lot of pressure. You try not to think about it but it’s there. But he has to be happy about the way he pitched,” Johnson said.

Fantasy Impact: Johnson knows a thing or two about tossing no-hitters. West knows some things about pitching. He's sporting a 2.22 ERA and has allowed just 14 hits in 24 1/3 innings. He's worth a flier in most formats.

Dry-eyed David Ortiz

David Ortiz's eye exam turned up nothing unusual. He did get some drops for dry eyes, a condition that can actually screw up your vision rather seriously. In this case, however, it sounds like Ortiz is suffering from a lightweight case.

Fantasy Impact: Ortiz struggled with injuries in 2008, which is what limited his offensive numbers. After a slow start this year the Red Sox have tried everything to get him going again. Here's wondering if they've tried to do too much. Tampa Bay allowed B.J. Upton to battle through his early slump, and their center fielder is finally showing some life offensively. Maybe Ortiz needs to work through his problems by just staying consistent at the plate.

We wouldn't give up on Ortiz just yet. Hopefully you have a bench slot he can occupy for the remainder of his slump.

Poreda called up

The Chicago White Sox promoted rookie Aaron Poreda, according to multiple sources. Poreda, a big lefty, has dominated at Double-A Birmingham. Poreda just missed making the big league roster out of camp with Jose Contreras and Bartolo Colon taking the No. 4 and No. 5 rotation spots.

Fantasy Impact: You'd have to believe the White Sox called up Poreda to join the rotation, but does that mean the end of days for Bartolo Colon? Contreras dazzled Monday night against Detroit while Colon served up four gopher balls to the lowly Indians over the weekend. The Sox top three of Mark Buerhle, John Danks and Gavin Floyd is solid. Poreda would need to unseat Colon for a rotation spot. The Sporting News says the White Sox might go with a six-man rotation, but it's more likely that either Clayton Richard or Poreda ends up in the 'pen. Maybe both do for the time being and the Sox give Colon a couple more chances to start.

Oh, Contreras!

White Sox starter Jose Contreras returned from a near month-long stint in the minors and 1-hit the Tigers over 8 innings. He picks up his first win in almost a year after a ruptured Achilles tendon cost him half of 2008. The Sox win, 6-1.

Fantasy impact: Contreras entered the year as a sleeper candidate thanks to coming back in great shape from his strenuous rehab. He didn't pitch well enough to stay in the big leagues, however, and now needs to string together a few quality starts before he can be trusted on a regular basis.

Fields frustrated over Beckham starts

White Sox third baseman Josh Fields sat down with Ozzie Guillen recently after Gordon Beckham came up from Triple-A Charlotte and immediately started a few times at Fields' position. Fields is frustrated that he's losing time to a rookie.

‘‘As a player you go through a thing where you kind of have people that have confidence in you — your front office and your manager having confidence in you — and I really don’t know this situation,’’ said Fields, who entered Monday hitting .242 with three home runs and 21 RBI. ‘‘It’s been weird. Ozzie sat me down the other day and tried to go through it a little bit, but it’s kind of hard to swallow. If I was still at .212 like I was for a while, it would be easier, but pulling my average up and the team getting into second place, it just kind of came surprising, I guess.“I asked [Guillen] a couple of questions, but I have more questions for [general manager] Kenny [Williams] and I haven’t been able to actually sit down and talk to him. I know the draft is coming up and stuff, but we’ll get to sit down here before long and we’ll get to ask all of the questions that I need to.’’Asked if he was frustrated about the timing of the Beckham call-up, Fields responded, “I think so.’’

Fantasy Impact: We've alreday felt some of the impact from Beckham getting a look at third. The 23-year-old has yet to produce in any way offensively, but he's stealing at bats from Fields in the process. Fields is a low-end option, anyway, so he's unlikely an important piece on any fantasy roster. It appears as if the White Sox are willing to let the two players battle it out for the job. That might be a good thing for the fantasy owners who pick the right horse.

The last 300-game winner will not be Unit

Please stop writing about this. The question was asked when Greg Maddux became the latest 300 game winner. It was asked against when Tom Glavine became the even-more-latest 300-game winner. Randy Johnson will not be the last 300-game winner. No way.

The fact that rarely is there a pitcher nearing 300 wins when the latest pitcher turns the milestone means nothing, and while we acknowledge that winning 300 is one of the hardest things to do in baseball, Randy Johnson became the 24th pitcher to do so in a 5-1 victory over Washington Thursday night.

If you divide 24 pitchers over 133 years of Major League Baseball, a pitcher gets to 300 wins about every 5.5 years. While there's merit in the belief that it is growing harder and harder to earn that many victories over a career, Maddux, Glavine, Johnson and Roger Clemens each got to 300 over a period of six seasons. That's one 300-game winner every 1.5 seasons. If anything, the milestone is getting reached more often than ever before.

While the past handful of years is a small sample size and not necessarily a fair measure of pitching history or of the future, greatness will always be greatness. Great pitchers will always dominate, and the best ones will do it for a long, long time. While it will be hard to predict whom will become the next 300-game winner, it's even more difficult to predict the last of anything.

Remember when the 49ers would be the last football dynasty due to the use of a salary cap in the NFL? Along came the Patriots. Remember when Villanova was the last legitimate Cinderella to crash the Final Four? Along came George Mason. Remember when Randy Johnson was considered as possibly the last 300-game winner? We'll look back at that argument and laugh.

Oh, Wells

Cubs starter Randy Wells pitched into the seventh inning with a no-hitter in his bid for his first major league win. He came away empty-handed when the Cubs bullpen blew four-run lead.

Fantasy Impact: Wells worked seven innings, giving up two hits and a run while striking out four. His ERA drops to 1.69 on the year, but he's not guaranteed to continue starting, really. Rich Harden will soon be back from the disabled list, and Wells started with Carlos Zambrano serving a six-game suspension. Wells' best chance at the rotation comes via Sean Marshall heading to the bullpen. There's no guarantee Marshall stays in the 'pen, however, meaning Wells will be on a short leash if he struggles a time or two.

Peavy plain sick

Despite a recent ankle problem, Jake Peavy's short start against the Phillies was nothing more than a pitcher laboring with the flu. Peavy gives up four runs in one inning of work, picking up his sixth loss.

Fantasy Impact: A few days off and Peavy should be ready to go again, although we might see his end-of-week start pushed back a day or two.

Looking Upton

The Upton brothers appear to be blossoming and back in form.

Justin Upton, who slumped in the .100s over much of April, has been the one consistently productive bat in the Diamondbacks order. Upton homered for the 10th time in Monday's 6-5 loss to the Dodgers, upping his RBI total to 33 as he scores for the 34th time. Imagine what those numbers might look like in a productive lineup.

B.J. Upton went 2-3 in a 6-2 Rays win over Kansas City, pushing his average to .212 and giving him a modest 6-game hitting streak. Upton also stole a base, giving him 16 for the season. In his slow progression since coming off the DL after shoulder surgery, his recent performance should give fantasy owners confidence to trust B.J. in their starting lineup again.

Sean West: "Little Unit?"

The Florida Marlins recently recalled minor-leaguer Sean West to fill-out their ailing rotation. The 6'8, 200 lb lefty has earned comparisons to Randy Johnson during his time in the minors for both his long, lanky delivery and propensity for walks and strikeouts.

In two starts at the MLB level, West has mustered just seven Ks in 12 innings, and he showed his wildness the second time out by walking four batters in just five innings. West showed a willingness to battle each time out, throwing 91 pitches in both no-decisions. The Marlins eventually lost both games.

Fantasy Impact: The 22-year-old 2005 supplemental-round pick looks comfortable at the Major League level. Take a flier if you're in need of a power pitcher. He can kill you in leagues that penalize walks, but with an ability to limit hits, West's WHIP numbers should be tolerable.