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.

Starting Farnsworth

The Kansas City Royals will be trying Kyle Farnsworth out as a starter in spring training. Farnsworth hasn't thrown regularly in a rotation since his first two seasons with the Cubs. He's turning 34 this season and hasn't reached 100 innings at the big league level since his rookie season.

Fantasy Impact: He's a flier as a starter, at best. Farnsworth actually has a decent shot of sticking in the rotation - not because he's good enough to do it, but because the Royals' starting pitching is lacking enough to consider him. Farnsworth's mid-4 ERA the past several seasons is nothing impressive, but he can help with strikeout totals thanks to a career ratio of better than one per inning. He'll still be an afterthought in most fantasy leagues and is better left undrafted.

Anibal is back

Marlins starter Anibal Sanchez is back in the Majors after missing over two months with a sprained shoulder. Sanchez produced mix results in two minor league starts during his rehab stint with Double-A Jacksonville.

Fantasy Impact: The former pitching prospect has always been considered worth a flier when returning from his various injuries, but Sanchez has pitched just 117 1/3 innings since his breakout year back in 2006. If you're desperate for pitching, give him a go, but Sanchez's 5.55 ERA over seven starts this year is not of much fantasy value.

Porcello finally wins

Tigers rookie starter Rick Porcello wins his 10th game of the season, working 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball in a 7-3 victory against the Orioles. While it was just Porcello's second win since June 18th, the sinker-baller is still a fixture in Detroit's rotation. He's capable of a handful of more wins by season's end, giving the youngest player in the Majors a shot at 15 wins in his opening campaign.

Fantasy Impact: Porcello's ERA swelled almost a full point from the end of June through August 1st, but this outing was a half-step in the right direction. The 20-year-old is holding his own as a Major Leaguer, and he's proven very impressive over the course of 18 MLB starts. When the matchups are right, Porcello is a nice back-of-the-rotation option for any fantasy team.

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.

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.

Who is Ricky Romero?

Toronto's makeshift starting rotation includes up-and-comer Ricky Romero, who's generally an unknown in fantasy circles. At one time, however, Romero was a high-end prospect.

But subsequent inconsistency and arm trouble plagued him through 2006 and 2007, and his comeback in 2008 was slower than the club might have hoped for. He struggled to a 4.96 ERA in 21 starts at Double-A New Hampshire, but when he moved up to Triple-A Syracuse, he had a 3.38 ERA in seven starts down the stretch, giving cause for optimism.

It looks as though his former struggles were very apparent in Blue Jays camp and nearly cost Romero a shot to even make the roster, let alone the rotation.

After an early spring outing that saw him walk six batters in less than two innings, the club prepared to send him to minor-league camp. But pitching coach Brad Arnsberg intervened and adjusted Romero's technique, and Romero pitched well enough in three subsequent starts to break camp with the big club.

"You don't take anything for granted and you try and just stay as humble as possible when you're out there," Romero said.

Fantasy Impact: No reason not to monitor Romero in deeper leagues, or you could even give him a flier if you like resurrection projects. We'll take a pass until he puts it together over a handful of starts.

Who is Walter Silva?

He's a Padres rookie starter who on April 8th will make his debut as a 31-year-old rookie out of the Mexican League. I went digging to see if there's any kind of scouting report on Silva, and the best I can do at this time is some info the Padres offered to The San Diego Union-Tribune.

A converted outfielder, Silva has pitched professionally in Mexico since 2002. Last summer, he was 7-8 with a 4.21 ERA in 21 starts for Monterrey. But over the past three seasons, Silva was 24-18 with a 3.89 ERA in 56 starts. And last winter, Silva was 5-4 for Mazatlan with a 3.23 ERA and was 1-1 in two Caribbean starts with a 2.25 ERA.

Black scouted Silva during the Caribbean Series in Mexicali.

“I liked his arm action and delivery. It looks like he has the ability to move the ball. I like his slider.”

Fantasy Impact: Silva's stats underwhelm, especially considering they come from the Mexican League. Can he provide the Padres much of anything? The good news is he's pitching in a pitcher's park, last I checked. Petco is the best place to break into MLB as a pitcher. He also keeps the ball down, which improves his chances to have a decent ERA. He won't win much as a Padre, but the intangibles are OK. I'd burn a flier on him if you need a risk-reward type at this time.

Bonifacio the Burner

In a matter of several months from late last season into the offseason, Emilio Bonifacio went from the Diamondbacks to the Nationals to the Marlins in a pair of trades. Now he's emerging as a probable starter for the Marlins at third base.

Bonifacio is building a strong case to be on Florida's Opening Day roster.

If that comes to fruition, the Marlins will have the chance to place three burners in their lineup -- Bonifacio, Cameron Maybin and Hanley Ramirez.

Nothing in terms of the final roster is official yet, but Bonifacio is on a path to make an impact from the time the season opens on April 6 against his former team, Washington.

"I like him. I like him in that lineup, someplace," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He has made unbelievable improvement at third base, a position he didn't play [before]. He's been learning under the gun a little bit. He's done a terrific job learning that position.

"We know he can play the middle of the diamond, and we know he can play the outfield a little bit. We may run him out in the outfield and get a little more flexibility."

Fantasy Impact: Bonifacio might have been a minor option if he was coming off the bench, but now that he's going to get an opportunity to start, watch out! This is a player who stole 61 bases in the minors in a single season. He can fly, if he can get on base. While his OBP climbed to .361 in two minor league stints last year, his career OBP stood at .338 heading into last season. In the majors, Bonifacio managed to reach base at a .300 clip.

We're intrigued to see what he can do for the Marlins this year. He's hitting .266 with an OBP of .309 this spring. He has the potential to become a player with the upside of Chone Figgins or the unreliability of Michael Bourn.

Fontenot Cubs starter at 2nd

Mike Fontenot has been named the Cubs starter at second base. He takes over for Mark DeRosa, who was traded to Cleveland in the offseason.

Fontenot is the projected sixth hitter, with Kosuke Fukudome in second and Milton Bradley fourth.

"I don't want to get caught with two left-handed hitters sixth and seventh or sixth and eighth at the tail end of the lineup," manager Lou Piniella said. "So 2-4-6 is a real nice way to break things up."

In his fifth year with the Cubs after being traded from Baltimore in the Sammy Sosa deal, Fontenot never has been penciled in as a starter.

Fantasy Impact: If you project Fontenot's at bats over a full 600 at bats, he looks pretty good. Fontenot appears capable of 20 HR power, and he's capable of scoring runs (.395 OBP in 243 at bats last season). In the article, however, Piniella says both Fontenot and Aaron Miles will get 350 at bats this season. Miles will slide around the infield as a utility man, but will still steal time from Fontenot against left-handed pitching. Fontenot is therefore a later round pick in most fantasy drafts. He's valuable as a second baseman with pop who might start 5 or 6 days a week.

Who is Mike Johnson?

If you were wondering who the heck Canada's Mike Johnson was and why he was starting against a powerful Team USA, here's the answer. Johnson not only pitched in the major leagues, he had an impressive year in China.

The 33-year-old right-hander from Edmonton, who last pitched in the majors as a member of the 2001 Montreal Expos, was considering calling it a career before last season as he continued to struggle coming back from Tommy John surgery in 2005.

But Johnson decided to give it one last shot when the La New Bears of Taiwan called. Then, "for some reason, my arm just kind of went over a hump," he recalled yesterday.

Johnson went 20-2 with a 2.45 ERA and won the Chinese Professional Baseball League MVP.

Johnson looked like the right choice when he struck out Chipper Jones and David Wright to end the first, but he eventually faltered giving up two home runs and four runs in four innings. In the end, he earned the loss, 6-5.

Samardzija might start

Moments after his value plummeted following comments by Lou Piniella on WGN news tonight that he wouldn't be in the closer competition, Jeff Samardzija rebounded with this report in the Chicago Tribune. Samardzija is getting the first stab at the Cubs' open fifth starter spot.

All I ever ask for is an opportunity to make it happen on the field," Samardzija said. "You can talk about what you want to do or what your plans are as much as you want. But until you go out and physically prove your point, it's all just talk."

Sean Marshall will start the second game against Milwaukee, with Ted Lilly slated to go in Game 3 against Texas. They're scheduled to work two innings apiece.

Fantasy Impact: This is just an opportunity and should be monitored through the spring. If Samardzija loses the starting spot to someone like Marshall, he might not have any value at all. There's a chance he would start the season in Triple-A if the Cubs feel more seasoning is needed before he starts at the big league level. If that happens, Marshall or whomever inherits the number five spot earns value for at least the first month or two of the season.