Jenks in shape

White Sox closer Bobby Jenks credits better living in general as the reason for his shaping up for spring training.

"It was a lot of things," said the 6-foot-4 Jenks, who weighed in Sunday at 275 pounds. "Not drinking helps. But really it was a lifestyle choice I wanted to make -- not just for myself but for my family.

"The drinking part was hard. It was up to me to get motivated. That was the tough part. But once you did, it was easy.''

Jenks said he resumed eating smarter "like I used to.''

Those 275 lbs are not a misprint. That was Jenks listed weight last year, which appeared kind from the growth of his belly over the past couple of years.

Fantasy Impact: Jenks' numbers weren't all that bad last year. With an 8.3 K/9 rate, he posted one of the better strikeout ratios of his career. He still saved plenty of games to start for your fantasy team, and he was never in any real danger of losing his job, although that was speculated in late summer. Jenks was just a bit more hittable. It seemed that he wore down in stretches and left the ball over the plate. A little less body to get in the way and a little more focus should keep him a solud bet as a No. 2 closer. That said, J.J. Putz and others are lurking in potentially the deepest bullpen in baseball.

Damon will bat second, Jackson to lead off

Talk that Johnny Damon might threaten rookie Austin Jackson as Tigers leadoff man should disappear for a while now that Tigers manager Jim Leyland says Damon will start off in the No. 2 spot. That gives Jackson the opportunity to take the top spot and run with it.

Fantasy Impact: There's a reason the Yankees gave up Jackson in pursuit of Curtis Granderson - he's young and hasn't taken a single at bat at the major league level. Not only is he unproven, Jackson's minor league stats don't exactly knock you over. He's good, but he's not off-the-page good. Despite his athletic ability and decent size, Jackson slugged just .405 at Triple-A last season. To expect any kind of MLB power surge is silly. He's a good base stealer, but strikes out quite a bit (22 percent of the time in Triple-A last season).

At best, this makes Jackson a late-round sleeper pick in fantasy drafts. We may know more by the end of spring, but Jackson needs to show us something at the major league level before we'd be willing to trust him. Think Carlos Gomez. Don't think Andrew McCutchen.

Myers looking to prove Phils wrong

Astros starter Brett Myers reiterates that he'd like to stick it to the Phillies (in a funny way) for leaving him off last year's postseason roster and his eventual release.

"That would be nice. And I'd like to stick it up their rear end. Just because, you know?" he said happily. "It's just the competitive nature. It's my old team. And I want to beat 'em. I think every guy has incentive to beat his former team. It doesn't have anything to do really with the way they treated me or anything like that. They didn't treat me bad at all. It doesn't have anything to do with that. It just has to do with being competitive and trying to kick their rear end just for the sport of it and try to have fun with it."

On the day he was formally introduced at a news conference in Houston he made similar comments. It got back to him that his remarks were not well-received in Philadelphia.

"If anybody takes that wrong I'm sorry, but that's not the way it's supposed to be meant," he said. "It's supposed to be meant that I want to kick their rear end. And they expect that. I told Ruben that. Whoever I sign with after this, if I pitch against y'all, the old movie, "Major League," my favorite one. You take the ball and fire it off the locker and go, 'Every time I pitch against you I'm going to stick it up your bleepin' bleep.' You know?

"I've always wanted to say that to somebody. In a funny way, though. Because I would think they'd know what I was talking about. I thought that would be funny. But evidently they took it the wrong way up there. People were calling me and saying, 'Why did you say bad things about the city of Philly?' I said, 'I never did and I never will.' "

One thing is for certain; someone is definitely going to take his comments the wrong way.

Fantasy Impact: The Astros signed Myers for $3 million this season, which is a great bargain for a guy with his talents. Between Myers and Wandy Rodriguez, two-thirds of the front of Houston's rotation costs $8 million in 2010. That's incredibly good money-wise, but still not that impressive a rotation. Myers owns a 73-63 career record but the 4.40 career ERA is fairly mid-level, and he gives up a lot of home runs. That's not good in Minute Maid Park. We don't expect a ton of success, even if he's motivated. Myers should hover in the average-to-above pile, which leaves him on the back end of most fantasy baseball starting staffs or just off them, on the waiver wire.

Storen headed to minors?

Washington Nationals manager Jim Riggleman says closer-in-waiting Drew Storen is likely headed for the minors out of spring training.

"Storen did pitch some in the Minor Leagues last year, but we respect the development system and the great staff we have in the Minor Leagues," Riggleman said. "We would probably lean toward starting him down there, but you hear such great things about what he has done -- his delivery, his strike throwing, he has a put-away breaking ball. We are open minded."

Fantasy Impact: We like Storen's makeup, especially his 11.9 K/9. If the Nationals struggle to find a reliable closer at the MLB level he might still be in the mix. Riggleman sounds noncommittal if anything.