Trade deadline wrapup: What it all means

A quick scan of the major moves made leading up to MLB's trade deadline, and their fantasy impact:

LANCE BERKMAN TO YANKEES: Berkman's value jumps up considerably after being plucked from one of the league's most punchless offenses in Houston and plopped down into the middle of one of its most potent in New York. Though clearly on the decline - just a .245 average and 13 HRs for the former All-Star so far - you have to wonder how much of that was a function of playing for the Astros. Here's hoping he'll show a little life as a full-time DH and provide some more power down the stretch.

KERRY WOOD TO YANKEES: Unfortunately a relocation to the Big Apple does little for this veteran's value. Wood loses what little fantasy appeal he had since there's absolutely no save chances coming his way as long as Mariano Rivera is in good health. Bradenton's Chris Perez is now the man in Cleveland.

OCTAVIO DOTEL TO DODGERS: Ditto for Dotel, who won't sniff a save opportunity with Jonathan Broxton at 100 percent. Joel Hanrahan and Evan Meek will get the call in the ninth now for Pittsburgh.

TED LILLY TO DODGERS: Lilly's lack of strikeouts (89 in 117 innings) doesn't help his fantasy value, and neither does his 3-8 record with the Cubs. But there should be a few more Ws coming his way with contending L.A., and he won't hurt your ERA (3.69) all that much either.

RYAN THERIOT TO DODGERS: The second baseman certainly isn't known for his power (1 HR), so a move from Wrigley Field to spacious Dodger Stadium won't have a negative impact in that department. He'll take over the starting 2B spot in L.A. with Blake DeWitt going over to Chicago in the deal, but aside from his speed (16 steals) he doesn't offer a ton of value to begin with.

JAKE WESTBROOK TO CARDINALS: The veteran right-hander has put up middling numbers this year (6-7, 4.65 ERA, 1.39 WHIP), but he's certainly a good NL-only option and could be worth a look in mixed leagues now that he's under the tutelage of pitching guru Dave Duncan.

MATT CAPPS TO TWINS: The Nationals closer and All-Star gets an automatic upgrade as he moves to a contender where he'll see more save chances. And in Washington, up-and-comer Drew Storen gets a shot to prove he's a ninth-inning star.

Did you know?

Did you know that ...

Washington Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard has as many wins (7) as Felix Hernandez (2), Cliff Lee (2), Josh Beckett (1), Zack Greinke (1) and Carlos Zambrano (1) combined?

Nats closer Matt Capps has as many saves (16) as Mariano Rivera (8) and Francisco Rodriguez (8)?

The Blue Jays' Jose Bautista has as many homers (14) as Matt Holliday (5) Aramis Ramirez (4), Jason Bay (3) and Manny Ramirez (2)?

The Brewers' Casey McGehee has as many RBIs (39) as Derrek Lee (20) and Prince Fielder (19)?

Just saying.

Fantasy's a funny game.

Greetings from spring training

BRADENTON - We're lucky enough to live within a couple hours' drive of about 13 MLB spring training sites here on Florida's Gulf Coast. It's one of my favorite things about living in the Sunshine State ... other than the sunshine, of course. And all the old folks. Love my seniors!

I usually try to take in as much spring training action as I can, not just because I love baseball, but also because it gives me just a little extra insight as I prep for the fantasy season. Sure, the games don't matter that much in the grand scheme of things, but it's nice to get an up-close look at some of the players I may or may not be building my team around in a couple weeks.

I've been slacking in my spring travels so far in 2009, however. I did venture up to Tampa to take part in the madness that is Yankees camp shortly after pitchers and catchers reported ... but of course I picked the one day they decided to go on a team billiards outing. But today I got to soak in some 80-degree weather at the Yanks' 13-10 split-squad win against the Pirates at charming McKechnie Field. Here are a few fantasy-related tidbits I came away with:

g I got to see two of the majors' top outfield prospects in action: New York's Austin Jackson, who slugged a two-run homer, and Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen. The pair of 22-year-olds have lots of similarities, as the Bradenton Herald's John Lembo reports, and both figure to be fantasy contributors in the near future. McCutchen, who hit .284 and stole 34 bases last year at Triple-A Indianapolis, figures to get the first crack at the big leagues, if not on the Pirates' Opening Day roster then soon after. Jackson probably has a bigger hill to climb as he's blocked by a few high-priced Yankees outfielders, but we could see him in the bigs in 2009 if Johnny Damon runs into any more health problems or the Brett Gardner/Melky Cabrera experiment in center doesn't pan out. Both McCutchen and Jackson will probably go undrafted in most mixed leagues this year but they're two power/speed guys you should be keeping tabs on.

g The Yankees' Mark Teixeira made the trip down to Bradenton and went 0-for-3. As I've mentioned previously, it might be a rocky transition to life in pinstripes for Tex - no Alex Rodriguez in the lineup for a month and a half at least, plus he's a much better second-half hitter (.303 average, .966 OPS) than first-half (.277, .877). But ultimately I have few worries about the 28-year-old hitting machine, who willl enjoy the same fabled right-field porch dimensions at the new Yankee Stadium and perhaps the best offense he's been a part of to date. He's definitely worth a late first-round pick, and I've placed him in my preseason top 10.

g Matt Capps is a guy I'm penciling in for about 35 saves this year, and yet he'll likely be a bit undervalued because a) he missed a bunch of time with a shoulder injury last year and b) people tend to underestimate closers on teams that aren't expected to win a ton of games. But he's certainly got the guts to handle the role and did a fine job the past two years when healthy - 39 for 47 in save opportunities with ERAs of 2.28 and 3.06, plus 103 strikeouts to just 21 walks during that time. He didn't have a great outing Saturday - one hit, two walks, two Ks, one earned run in an inning of work - but he's still a very sold fantasy closer who shouldn't break your bank.

It's so hard to say goodbye

I'm dedicating this song to a few fantasy mainstays we've been forced to part with in the past couple days:

Jeff Francoeur has a bit of a reputation as a free swinger. The story's no different this year: 20 walks to 62 strikeouts, which puts him just about on pace for last year's K/BB rate (42/129). No surprise there. Problem is, Francoeur's hitting just .234, whereas last year he finished at .293. That dip caused the Braves to demote him to Double-A to work on his swing for a couple weeks, a pretty embarrassing move for a guy in his third season who's coming off two 100-RBI seasons. If you're in a shallow league you may consider dumping Francouer, as you can probably find another OF who can do what he does in the free-agent pool. But those in deeper leagues or NL-only formats have to hold onto Frenchy, who could give you 50 or so RBIs in the second half.

Looks like it could be a lost season for Rafael Furcal. The Dodgers SS was batting a robust .366 with five homers and eight steals in his first 32 games before some back problems flared up. He's been on the 15-day DL since early may, and on Friday, L.A. moved him to the 60-day DL, meaning he'll be out at least another eight weeks. Bummer.

Matt Capps will be gone for at least eight weeks, too, thanks to a shoulder injury. The Pirates closer got off to a great start (15-for-15 in save opportunities) but had blown five of his last seven chances before the injury flared up. Romulo Sanchez got first crack at the team's next save opportunity, but veteran Damaso Marte is probably the better choice if you're speculating for saves. Then again, how many chances do you really expect Pittsburgh to offer him?

Joe Borowski, what happened to you? Fourty-five saves for the guy last year ... six this year, with four blown saves, a 7.56 ERA, one strained right quadriceps and now a designation for assignment. That means the Indians will go to a closer-by-committee situation (again). We've already seen Rafael Betancourt and Masa Kobayashi fail in ninth-inning duties this year, so I'm not sure if I really want to try either of them again unless I'm desperate.

Thoughts from Opening Day

One game doesn't make a season, so it's hard to learn a lot from Opening Day. But we've been without a full slate of real baseball games for so long, here are some random thoughts, notes and observations from yesterday's festivities ...

Rafael Furcal is back in the leadoff spot for the Dodgers now that Juan Pierre lost his starting LF job to Andre Either. Furcal looked pretty comfortable (3-for-4, walk, run, RBI) at the top. Expecting a big bounceback now that he's healthy.

Rookie Carlos Gomez drew rave reviews in his debut as the Twins' new CF (2-for-3, walk, two steals, two runs, double). Gomez doesn't have much power potential and probably could benefit from some more seasoning in the minors ... but he could swipe 30 bags this year if he can hit enough to stick around. The kid's scary fast.

I thought Matt Capps was supposed to be the one sure thing, fantasy-wise, on these Pittsburgh Pirates this year. Hard to explain his ninth-inning meltdown with a five-run lead, although he wasn't helped by some inexplicable shoddy defense. Let's just chalk it up as a bad day and move on.

As for the implosions by Eric Gagne and Kerry Wood in the Brewers-Cubs game ... those guys had a bunch of question marks surrounding them already, and it would've been good to see a nice, easy outing from them. The questions remain.

No surprise here: Johan Santana was awesome in his Mets debut. It should be a glorious year for him ... but you knew that already.

Is Pirates' Zach Duke worth a look?

SARASOTA - Recently I was talking myself into Zach Duke being a viable fantasy starter this season. After all, he's a 6-foot-2, 220-pound, 24-year-old lefty once heralded as the Pittsburgh Pirates' future ace. A lot to like there, right?

Duke helped a lot of fantasy teams when he got called up in 2005 (8-2, 1.81 ERA in 14 starts), but things have gone horribly wrong since then (10-15, 4.87 ERA in 2006; 3-8, 5.53 ERA in 2007), and he's had a bout of elbow tendinitis and been surpassed by the Pirates' other young arms - Tom Gorzelanny, Ian Snell and Paul Maholm.

Duke still has a lot of room to grow, and I've seen him tabbed in some corners as a 2008 sleeper. I was thinking about jumping on board too - until I witnessed Duke get roughed up in his first spring start on Saturday, a 12-11 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Ed Smith Stadium (above). Duke gave up homers to Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn in the first inning and surrendered four earned runs and six hits in two innings.

Now, I know pitchers don't put a lot of stock into the results of spring games, so we shouldn't overreact here and figure Duke was a fluke back in his rookie season. But it was just a little subtle reminder for me that maybe there's too much risk involved with drafting him this year. If you're taking a Pirates pitcher, you'll be better off going with Gorzelanny or Snell, guys with big strikeout totals who won't hurt your ratios and have already proven their values over a full season. Or better yet, take Matt Capps, who's primed for a nice season as the Buccos' closer. Let someone else take a chance on Duke.