Randoms

Carl Pavano had a healthy 2 innings for the Indians and found a way not to land himself on the DL. This guy has the stuff still and if he ends up pitching 25-30 games this year you might have a gem on your hands. If you have a late round pick and you are kind of filled with most of your positions why not throw him a bone and see if he can do something with it. If he stinks it up out of the gate, just cut him loose. In my eyes, he's a half sleeper, not a full blown one but he's inching towards one as spring training continues.

Johan Santana has an ailing elbow. As I have always said, do not draft pitchers in early. They are too vulnerable. Make sure to keep an eye out for his health especially if your draft is fastly approaching.

Adrian Beltre will not be allowed to participate in the WBC for his home country of the Dominican Republic. Apparently, the Mariners have denied his chance because they say he is not 100% healthy. This is the walk year for Beltre, who never really lived up to this 5 year $64million contract he signed after his huge 2004 season. I am a firm believer in the walk year affect so I am planning on taking Beltre in the early double digit rounds. Even though he doesn't give the Gotti like numbers of 2004.

Chris Carpenter had a nice outing. With 19 pitches he made 6 outs. If he stays healthy throughout spring training this is a guy I am going to draft as my 4th pitcher in the late teens. He will most likely fall into the late rounds of most drafts because of injuries in the past few years. If he stays healthy he could easily be a complete STEAL!

Francisco Liriano is healthy and throwing the smoke he usually does. If he falls to the early teen rounds grab him but I wouldn't set him into my lineup as pick from the 5-10 rounds. Just not worth it.

Johan & Webb

Both Johan and Webb complained of pain in their arms. Since this is spring training I would chalk it up to being normal pain that pitchers experience while getting ready for the regular season. I do wonder how long Santana can go without having some sort of arm problem. But make sure to keep an eye out on both of these guys are you head towards your draft day.

This is why I don't draft pitching in my leagues until the late single rounds. There will always be a Cliff Lee for every baseball season and it just isn't worth the pain and aggravation of having to watch your stud pitcher sit out.

Pitchers go to the DL for almost anything while hitters will play through the pain. Draft hitters early and often.

Congrats Timmy!

Tim Lincecum is the 2008 NL Cy Young Winner!

Now, is he the new #1 pitcher in fantasy baseball? Not so fast.

Timmy has the stuff to be the #1 but he needs to prove he can go into every season and put up the same numbers. The top still belongs to Johan with CC nipping at his heels.

I just hope he continues to throw smoke because he is one of my 2009 keepers.

Peavy on DL

Now with Peavy on the DL, owners need to think about when he will be back. Well, with information coming out of the Padres camp telling us that he will most likely START throwing in two weeks, owners should expect his return late June to early July.

If he starts to throw in two weeks that brings us to the second week of June. Then he will go on a strengthening program which will last another 1-2 weeks. Making a start or two in AAA for rehab will be another week. So there we have it, late June or early July.

Now what to do while he is out? Owners don't go out and try to trade for another pitcher, there is no one out there that will make up for Peavy's production, except for Johan Santana. Of course, you will have to throw your best bat in a trade for Santana. So, keep your bats on your roster and now you will need to scour the waiver wire and find pitchers who are hot and are pitching in favourable match ups. Look for pitchers pitching against weak teams like the Giants, Padres, and teams who are struggling to produce runs.

Ervin Santana

Ervin Santana of the Angels isn't the only Santana out there throwing smoke to start the season. Ervin just picked up his third win of the season throwing 8 innings of 3 hit ball while allowing 1ER. This is very sweet for owners because most owners drafted him super late in all drafts. Again, it proves my point, drafting pitchers high in a draft is pointless. There are tons of pitchers out there that will provide you solid numbers while allowing you to grab them in the mid-teen rounds.

Ervin Santana is even throwing well on the road this year with 2 wins so far.

Owners, keep tossing Ervin into your lineups and hope he's finally turned the corner and learned how to pitch effectively on the road. So far, his 2008 stats shows the upside this pitcher has.

27IP, 20H, 8ER, 2HR, 6BB, 22K, and a 2.67ERA

IMPRESSIVE INDEED...