Hoffman's slow return

Trevor Hoffman will not be available on Saturday, the first day he's eligible to come off the disabled list. His oblique strain is causing the Brewers to bring him along slowly, allowing Carlos Villanueva a chance to close games to start the year.

"Will he be ready on the 11th? Probably not," manager Ken Macha said Sunday before the Brewers worked out at AT&T Park. "Let's wait until he gets on the mound and then we'll start looking at what the possibilities are."

Macha said Hoffman would throw off a flat surface at a longer distance during a workout Monday.

"If he comes through that, Roger said they may be able to give you a plan for what's going to happen," he said, referring to trainer Roger Caplinger. "It's going to be awhile."

In Hoffman's absence, Macha plans to give right-hander Carlos Villanueva first crack at closing games. Villanueva has not previously filled that role in the majors.

Fantasy Impact: Villanueva is a decent saves option for week one of the sesaon. When Hoffman returns, however, the job is his. Milwaukee owns a bullpen filled with pitchers with a handful of saves each, so if Villanueva falters you can pounce on another arm.

Anderson to start opener for Detroit

The Tigers will have three new faces in the lineup when they open the season in Toronto. Newly acquired Josh Anderson gets the nod in left field, bringing instant electricity to the base paths. His start, however, should not be considered a revelation that he'll become the day-to-day left fielder.

Tonight, leftfielder Carlos Guillen will be the DH. Guillen has had leg problems in past seasons, and manager Jim Leyland doesn't want to overtax his legs on Toronto's artificial turf.

But Leyland also wants the speedy Anderson in the game. Speed can become precious in a low-scoring game, which is what right-handed starters Roy Halladay and Justin Verlander could produce tonight. Leyland picked the speed of Anderson for tonight's lineup over the power of Marcus Thames and Jeff Larish.

"Turf, speed, defense," Leyland said of putting Anderson in left. "He might chop one (off the turf for a hit). He might score a run."

It could be the kind of game, said Leyland, where the difference can be "beating out a force play or going first-to-third." That's Anderson's game.

"Marcus or Larish might hit a homer off Halladay, but that's kind of unlikely," Leyland said.

Fantasy Imapct: A start on opening day doesn't mean much for Anderson's fantasy impact as of right now. He's a part time player, but with so many part-time types on the Tigers, he's bound to see his at bats limited. Streaky production like his does not play well in fantasy, unless you can get away with only using Anderson for steals.

Snowed Out

Chicagoans woke up to snow on the ground Monday morning. Therefore, no baseball between the White Sox and Royals on opening day. They'll play the opener Tuesday.

Rangers Frankly infatuated with Frank Frank

The Texas Rangers love 29-year-old closer Frank Francisco, whom they believe has lights-out stuff that's capable of dominating MLB hitters. He was once a fastball-only type whose repertoire is evolving.

Francisco, however, is no longer a one-dimensional pitcher. He spent much of last season working hard to make his splitter and curveball major league quality.

Now he's done it.

He can throw either pitch for a strike, which means hitters can't wait for his 96 mph fastball. He can get a called third strike with his splitter. Or throw the curveball early to get ahead in the count before finishing batters with the fastball.

"He throws so hard that he doesn't need to throw many breaking balls," catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. "It's just a change-of-pace pitch for him."

Fantasy Impact: It's Francisco's job to lose, but Texas has pitchers with more experience in the role than him. Francisco is entrenched to start the year, but if he falters, the hook can come quicker than in other organizations.

Minute Maid anniversary

It's the 10th anniversary of Minute Maid Park in Houston. Hard to believe the ballpark's only been around for a decade. The Astros' park seems to have been there for 15 years.

Braves to honor Maddux

The Braves will retire Greg Maddux's No. 31 jersey on July 17th in a ceremony at Turner Field.

Platoons in Arizona?

Chad Tracy will start in place of Mark Reynolds at third base, and Eric Byrnes will get the nod over Justin Upton for the Diamondbacks in their opener against Colorado. Bob Melvin says it's a move to get the D'Backs best lineup on the field on a game-by-game basis.

"The only message we're sending is we're trying to run the best lineup out there on a particular day," he said. "They know that. We've addressed it. There's no hidden messages for anybody. It's about winning, and everybody's on board with that."

Melvin wanted Clark in the lineup because he is a switch-hitter, and Colorado Rockies right-hander Aaron Cook has never handled left-handed hitters as well as right-handers.

Tracy also has played better than Reynolds defensively in spring training, a factor that could come into play more with Brandon Webb, an extreme ground-ball pitcher, on the mound.

As for right field, Byrnes is 7 for 23 (.304) and Upton 1 for 9 (.111) in their careers vs. Cook. Byrnes also looked much better than Upton at the plate in spring training.

Fantasy Impcact: OK, but that sounds like a potential platoon situation at both positions. Arizona has four outfielders capable of starting with Connor Jackson, Chris Young, Upton and Byrnes. They've also got Tracy capable of playing both first and third. If this keeps up, Reynolds and Upton's fatnasy value falters from starters to part-time players. Tracy's value improves as a potential full-timer at two positions. The article does explain that Reynolds and Upton are expected to be in the lineup on both Tuesday and Wednesday.