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.

Cool expectations for Freese

Despite not starting in each of the Cardinals first two games this season, David Freese is still the top candidate at third for playing time.

Freese, acquired for popular center fielder Jim Edmonds in December 2007, bypassed Double-A and batted .306 with 29 doubles, 26 homers and 91 RBIs last year at Class AAA Memphis. His .967 fielding percentage led all Pacific Coast League third basemen, and his 216 assists ranked second.

Still, Freese is prepared for anything. He knows that with La Russa, the master of many lineups, anything is possible on a daily basis.

"Tony kind of expressed that," Freese said. "Early on, just be ready to play because you don't really know who's going to be out there. Everybody has a possibility of going out there."

Fantasy Impact: It's somewhat disappointing for fantasy owners to learn that Freese will not be getting the job full-time with Troy Glaus out. The Cardinals have a number of options off the bench, including Brian Barden and Joe Thurston. At least for the interim, they'll be cutting into Freese's playing time. Consider Freese a stop-gap at third with the potential to produce some pop if he gets consistent playing time. Right now he's better left on the fantasy bench.

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.

Reynolds' rap

The Arizona Diamondbacks will give Mark Reynolds every opportunity to hold down third base full-time in 2009, including holding off on defensive replacements late in games.

"We'll see where it goes," Melvin said, "but he still has the ability to be a very good defensive player. We've seen it. We saw it when he first came up. Confidence-wise, he's gone into periods where he's made quite a few errors, and he'll go into periods where he won't.

"It all has to do with confidence. It's the same thing with Justin (Upton). It just comes with experience, where you get more confident, you get more resilient, tougher so that when you make an error you don't let it snowball and that's what both those guys need to do."

Reynolds' seven errors this spring lead the Diamondbacks and his 15 strikeouts ranked second on the club.

Fantasy Impact: Reynolds struck out 204 times last year in 539 at bats, a new Major League record. If he gets some extra at bats in the games he's routinely been replaced, he could set a new record for himself. In points leagues the strikeouts will outweight the possibility of Reynolds ripping a few more homers with the extra at bats. In 5x5 leagues he earns a touch more value.

Bonifacio wins Marlins third base job; McPherson cut

Emilio Bonifacio not only won the third base job in Florida, he's the Marlins only option after they released fellow third baseman Dallas McPherson.

On Monday, the Marlins sent rookie first baseman Gaby Sanchez to the minors, leaving Emilio Bonifacio, acquired from Washington in the offseason, as the team's starting third baseman and Jorge Cantu as the first baseman.

One month ago, the question was where Cantu would play. After first baseman Mike Jacobs was traded to Kansas City, the options were Cantu at first base and McPherson at third, or whether it would be Sanchez at first and McPherson at third. The prevailing thought was that the team's defense would improve from 2008, a stated goal of team officials, under either scenario. Now they have turned to Bonifacio, a natural second baseman who is still learning to play third and has struggled at times this spring.

Yes, but he can run. With Sanchez and McPherson out of the way, Florida is making a commitment to the corner combo of Bonifacio and Cantu. The Marlins would love to have the speed-burning threesome of Cameron Maybin, Bonifacio and Hanley Ramirez to terrorize opponents at the top of the order.

Fantasy Impact: Bonifacio can fly. Just search his name on Youtube and you'll see. He's stolen 61 bases in a minor league season, and he's likely to get a slot near the top of the batting order. If he can hold down third base, expect a light-hitting burner who can get you 40-plus steals and score 75 runs.

Pudge wants to play, anywhere

Pudge Rodriguez really wants to play in the Majors this year, saying he's willing to switch positions if it means getting a chance to play regularly for an MLB club. Pudge thinks he can play at first or third.

"Trust me, I would love to catch, but I can play another position, and I'm willing to play another position, because I'm a player and I love to play," Rodriguez said on Friday. "That's the most important thing for me. I'm a winner. I love playing this game. I would love to be on a team and help it win. Whatever it takes to win ballgames, I'd do anything."

It's hard to imagine this was anything more than Pudge expressing his willingness to do whatever it takes to return to MLB. I'm guessing he wasn't serious about a position switch, especially considering he's played a total of 8 games (seven at first and one at second base) in his entire 18-year career.

Furthermore, Rodriguez hit just .276 with a .394 slugging average last year, hardly corner infielder numbers. Actually, he's not even close. He's not going to be playing anywhere but behind the plate in 2009.

Twins ink Crede

Joe Crede agreed with the Minnesota Twins to a 1-year incentive-laden contract. He's likely to be the Twins regular third baseman this year.

The Twins will sign Crede to one-year deal with a base salary of $2.5 million with the chance to earn as much as $7 million with appearance bonuses. The bonuses begin once Crede reaches 250 plate appearances and tops out at $7 million when he makes his 525th plate appearance.

Crede, while traveling to Fort Myers, has run into weather problems - in Minnesota. The Twins had scheduled a 3 p.m. press conference but that now has been pushed back until they learn when Crede will arrive in town.

Joe C. is the man! He’s producing all the way from the Twin Cities!

This a is very, very good deal for the Twins. A $7 million base salary seemed too high. A $5 million base seemed reasonable. But a $2.5 million base really helps the Twins out from a risk standpoint. If Crede is healthy, he should play like a $7 million player. If he breaks down, the Twins have a good Plan B in Brian Busher and Bredan Harris. And there’s money available to add move talent - perhaps a free agent reliever like Juan Cruz.

This also means the Twins will have to make another 40-man roster move to clear space for Crede. Update: To make room for Crede, the Twins have placed injured righthander Pat Neshek on the 60-day disabled list. Neshek will miss the entire 2009 season because of Tommy John surgery.

Agreed that Crede will be a great addition in Minneapolis. If his back is OK, he can field with the best of them, and he offers another bat that Minnesota craves. Solid pickup. What the White Sox cast off could end up hurting them in their own division.