Own-able Ohlendorf

Ross Ohlendorf began to make a name for himself by two-hitting the Florida Marlins for seven innings Monday night. Ohlendorf, who wrote his thesis on the value of signing bonuses while at Princeton, has a nice makeup. He's known as a minor league innings-eater, which might translate well to the big leagues.

Fantasy Impact: It's hard to say many ace-like performances lie ahead, but if you're hurting for starting pitching in your fantasy league, Ohlendorf is quite possibly worth the risk. He's not likely to post a ton of victories, but if the big right hander can keep his ERA in the fours and continue to work a nice K/BB rate, he's worth a pickup as a low-end starting option at this time.

Strong-armed Armando

Tigers second-year pitcher Armando Galarraga continues his progression as a major leaguer. Galarraga's fine 2008, in which he recorded 13 wins and a 3.73 ERA, looks to be eclipsed if you believe in his hot start is for real.

Galarraga has allowed just one run in two starts and has struck out 12 batters in 13 1/3 innings. Today he worked 6 1/3 shutout innings to beat the White Sox, 9-0.

Fantasy Impact: Don't confuse Galarraga with a fantasy ace just yet. He walks three batters per nine innings, which is pretty good but not ideal, and he served up 28 home runs in less than 180 innings in 2008. He does limit hits, and if those strikeout numbers stay up he's a possible number two or three in your rotation for the year. Not too shabby, considering you probably drafted him as your number four.

The whirling Darvish

I'd been waiting for somebody to provide some info on Japanese ace Yu Darvish. ESPN's Keith Law finally did, and it all sounds good.

Darvish is the top pitcher in the Japanese major leagues right now. He earned the 2007 Sawamura Award (the Nippon Professional Baseball equivalent to the Cy Young Award) and the 2007 Pacific League MVP Award. He has posted ERAs less than 2.00 in each of the past two years, and struck out 418 batters in 408.1 innings over the past two years. Darvish is unusually tall for a Japanese pitcher; he's listed at 6-foot-5, and only one other pitcher on Team Japan is listed at taller than 6-1, the 6-3 Hisashi Iwakuma.

When you're just 21 years old and can command a fastball that touches the mid-nineties plus a good breaking pitch, you've got a shot to be great. I like his strange delivery, as well, as kinks in the windup can make it that much tougher for hitters to get their timing down.

Tazawa to Boston

Junichi Tazawa will end up in Boston. There's no secret as to why he's headed for Beantown.

Boston already has veteran Japanese pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima on its roster, and Tazawa reportedly has expressed a desire to be a teammate of Matsuzaka. The two attended different high schools in Yokohama.

Boston's staff will be very interesting to follow this spring. They have a number of talented arms either fighting for the starting staff or looking for setup role jobs in the bullpen.