Sizemore to bat second

The Cleveland Indians will drop Grady Sizemore out of the leadoff spot and insert Asdrubal Cabrera in his place. Sizemore will bat second, giving him more chances to drive in runs.

Acta thinks Sizemore's average yearly output of 25 homers will produce more runs if he avoids hitting many of them with nobody on base. As he reiterated Monday, ''Grady was guaranteed to come to the plate 150 times with nobody on base as a leadoff hitter.''

It's an intelligent move. Cabrera bumped his average up 49 points last year to .308, and his .361 OBP is good enough to lead off, even if it's not ideal. We'd like to see Sizemore in the No. 5 spot, where he's likely to drive in a lot of runs and have the chance to steal bases in front of lesser hitters.

Fantasy Impact: This impacts both players. Cabrera should see plenty of pitches to hit at the top spot, so we expect him to be able to maintain a high average and score at least 85 or 90 runs. He stole 17 bases last season but has just 21 for his career. It's hard to say if he'll become more of a threat.

Sizemore should benefit in most categories other than steals. He's never tallied more than 100 RBI in a season, so this year could be his first. At full health, he's a 5-tool fantasy player and a steal in drafts if he falls below the 3rd round.

Roll the dice on Daisuke

Daisuke Matsuzaka is finally throwing pitches this spring after a back injury derailed his schedule. His role is hardly defined with the Red Sox in 2010.

There’s no such chance, but Red Sox manager Terry Francona said with a smile that Dice-K is getting closer to at least throwing from a live pitcher’s mound, a first step toward getting him into what figures to be a healthy competition for the fourth and fifth starters’ jobs with Tim Wakefield [stats] and Clay Buchholz.

“Dice had a great day,” Francona said. “It was as good a day as he’s had. Toward the end of the week we’ll get him some mound work. What we’re trying to do is get him ready properly (for the season) and not have artificial deadlines.”

Fantasy Impact: Matsuzaka may be fighting for a rotation spot, but if he's right, he's almost certain to win a job. The 29-year-old right hander owns a 37-21 career record. He gives up base runners, and when he's off his game as he was in 2009, that can spell trouble. He may not open the year a part of the Red Sox rotation due to his slow start this spring, but he's still worth a sleeper pick in the middle to late rounds of any fantasy draft.

After all, Wakefield is only as good as his knuckleball and Buchholz has yet to put it all together for more than a short stretch at the major league level.

Jenks behind schedule despite improved health

At the start of spring training White Sox talk gravitated toward the subject of Bobby Jenks' weight loss. Now we learn that while Jenks may be more svelt this season, he's not on schedule at this point in spring training. Pitching coach Don Cooper isn't one to stress about Jenks.

''Because Bobby worked so hard on his conditioning, plus Bobby had another child, plus the weather in Chicago is bad,'' Cooper said. ''And he told me he had a little difficulty getting somebody to catch him. So he was just playing more catch than actually pitching off a mound. ''But one thing I know about Bobby, every year if you look back everybody is, 'Geez, we've got to get him in shape. Geez, he's not ready.' But when it came to Opening Day, he was always ready. I know he's going to be ready again.''

Fantasy Impact: The White Sox continue to have faith in Jenks, and until we see him falter and get pulled in favor of one of Chicago's many talented relievers, he's still worh a spot on a fantasy roster as a No. 2 closer. He's not the prettiest or safest acquisition, but he's steady enough going into the year.