Closer watch

A handful of teams, whether the reason is injury or ineffectiveness, now have a different closer ending games for them. You should consider picking these players up and squeeze every save and strikeout you can out of them.

• Scott Downs-Replacing the injured BJ Ryan.
• Ryan Franklin-The main St. Louis closer, hasn't given up a run in 7 innings .
  
• Brad Zeigler-Teammate and would-be save stealer Joey Devine is out for the year.
• Todd Coffey-The interim closer til Hoffman gets back (which should be a week or so). still, could net you a save or two in the mean time.
• Rafael Soriano-Has been the Braves most effective closer thus far.
• Carlos Marmol-Sweet Lou likes him more in the 8th, but he will get a few spot saves every now and then and will help you greatly in Ks.
  
• Manny Corpas-Took over for Huston Street, hasn't been effective yet though.

Here are some other players who aren't closers yet, but who you should keep a serious eye on in case something happens.

• Chris Perez-Having some control issues, but he's the most talented reliever the Cardinals have.
  
• Dan Wheeler- Troy Percival isn't exactly the poster boy of durability. When he breaks down, Wheeler will be next in line for saves.
• Jason Grili- Newly appointed closer Manny Corpas has already struggled and Grili is posting a 1.29 ERA.
• Chris Ray-I know he's not doing well, but neither is George Sherril.
  
• Tommy Hunter-Could pull an Adam Wainwright and close for the Braves down the stretch (if they're in contention)
  

Buy Low/Sell High Canidates

I know its early in the season, but its never too early to be thinking of your teams long term success. The best way to do this? Like many things in life-buy low and sell high-meaning trade away players who are performing way better than expected (if you don't think they can keep it up) and trying to get under performing stars whose owners may be getting nervous.

The SELL HIGH group. If you own one of these players, consider trading them soon while their values are still high but if you don't, don't let go of too much for them.

• Emilio Bonifacio (2B/3B-FLA)
  
• Nick Swisher (1B/OF-NYY)
• Jack Cust (U-OAK)
• Marco Scutaro (2B/3B/SS-TOR)
• Kyle Lohse (SP-STL)
• Kevin Milwood (SP-TEX)

The BUY LOW group. If you happen to own a player on this list, just wait it out. If you don't start sending trade proposals pronto while you can still get them for cheap(er).

• Ryan Braun (OF-MIL) He has injury concerns right now, but I don't think they're too serious which is great news. The "injury" drives his value down even more.
• Mark Teixeira (1B-NYY) Also has injury concerns. Keep an eye on his injury.
• Jimmy Rollins (SS-PHI)
• Prince Fielder (1B-MIL) Started off slow last year too but ended up alright.
• Chris Iannetta (C-COL) He'll be a top 5 or 6 catcher by the end of the year.
• Brandon Webb (SP-ARI) There's no better time to steal a player than when he lands on the DL
• Cliff Lee (SP-CLE)
• Roy Oswalt (SP-HOU) Look at his 2nd half last year
• Ricky Nolasco (SP-FLA) Peter Gammons likes him-and he knows more about baseball than all of us...combined
  

Top under the radar players (Hitters)

A list of the players that are truly undervalued in fantasy baseball that you should consider picking up.
There will be no Pablo Sandoval's or Justin Upton's on this list-players that everyone is calling underrated so therefore...they are no longer underrated and have become overrated in fact.

CATCHER:
Kelly Shoppach (CLE)- (Available in 58% of leagues)
Will get plenty of opportunities to catch and he hit 21 HRs last season.

Jared Saltalamacchia (TEX)- (Available in 63% of leagues)
Everyone is so high on Taylor Teagarden this year that Salty has been sort of pushed to the side. He's still very young and talented so he could break out at any time.

Jesus Flores (WAS)- (Available in 93% of leagues)
Not a ton of people are familiar with him but he has produced pretty well in his 170 career big league games. He won't win you any leagues single handidly, but if one of your catchers gets injured or is struggling, have him on your radar.

FIRST BASE:
Adam LaRoche (PIT)-(Available in 60% of leagues)
Sure, he always starts out slow, but after his month or so of being far below average, he can really contribute-as evidenced by the 25 home runs he hit last season.

Todd Helton (COL)- (Available in 82% of leagues)
Did you not see the Spring he had this year? I'll be the first to tell you that spring stats are meaningless...most of the time, but I think they can be a strong indicator of someone who had a down year due to injury will perform in the upcoming season. He could be a major upgrade as your backup 1B.

SECOND BASE:
Mark Teahan (KC)- (Available in 83% of leagues)
A 27 year old who has had a couple of off years after posting a very solid 2006 campaign is a player that I would normally keep an eye on anyway. Throw in the fact that he is now moving to 2B and also has eligibility at 1B, 3B, and OF...this player could really help you out.

Ronnie Belliard (WAS)- (Available in 97% of leagues)
In 297 ABs last year, he hit 11 homers and batted .287. He is the Nationals starting second baseman. He has additional eligibility at 1B and 3B. If you are in need of some position flexibility and potential for a solid season at a shallow position, Belliard is your man.

THIRD BASE:
Chase Headley (SD)- (Available in 88% of leagues)
In about half a season's worth of ABs, he hit 9 HRs and drove in 38 runs. Now those aren't exactly what you would call starter caliber numbers, but provided you have little depth at either 3B or OF, you should seriously consider picking up Headley.

Scott Rolen (TOR)- (Available in 94% of leagues)
Yes, he more than likely will go down with some sort of injury in a month or two, but if your current third-baseman is out, A-rod and Glaus owners, you could pick Rolen up for a very solid stretch of games before the inevitable injury comes his way.

SHORTSTOP:
Jason Bartlett (TB)- (Available in 94% of leagues)
There is no real reason to own Bartlett, unless your team is in absolute dire need of steals and the shelf is completely barren of shortstops-if thats the case, then feel free picking him up.

OUTFIELD:
Adam Lind (TOR)- (Available in 56% of leagues)
But that number is probably plummeting in a hurry, and rightfully so. This kid (he's only 25) has a good makeup at the plate and has real big league power on his 6-1 215 lb frame. Drop one of your backup outfielders for this kid, you'll be glad you did.

Luke Scott (BAL)- (Available in 94% of leagues)
If your team is very average-heavy and needs a slight boost in the HR category, pick up Scott. Don't be alarmed when your team BA goes down slightly, thats to be expected with a career .226 (and sliding) hitter, but he still has solid pop in that bat.

Randy Winn (SF)- (Available in 80% of leagues)
Of the free-agent OFs, he is as close to the anti-LukeScott as you can really get. The power has all but left the bat of this 34 year old, but he is very crafty on the base paths and a solid batting average guy. Expect a .300 average and 20 or so steals with a dozen HRs tops.

David DeJesus (KC)- (Available in 84% of leagues)
A .300 hitter that reached double digit steals and homeruns, moving back to a much more natural position. Sign me up.

Andruw Jones (TEX)- (Available in 97% of leagues)
If any Ranger outfielder or DH not named Josh Hamilton should struggle out of the gate, Jones-who is in much better shape than he's been in years-would be first in line to step in and take those ABs. If he can get to 400 at-bats, I could see him hitting about 20 HRs with a .250 to .270 BA.

What should I do about...

Now that baseball season is finally here, it kicked off last night with a 4-1 win by the Braves over the Phillies, I will be posting a daily (or almost daily) tab of:

• Under the radar players you should keep an eye on
• Low value players who had breakthrough game(s) and whether or not you should try to get them
• High value players who are struggling and if you should try to deal them or not.
• Anything else fantasy baseball related really.

That being said, lets get to it.

Jeff Francoeur (ATL):
Stay away. Sure he hit a home run yesterday, but it really wasn't all that impressive of a blast, and it was his only hit of the game. He has tweaked some things in his stance, but I'm not sold he's back to his old self again.

Jordan Schafer (ATL):
He did hit a home run in his first big league at bat and did finish the day 2-3 with a walk. That being said, I wouldn't take the bait on him. He was a Double A player last year, and if you project his stats out to a 550 AB season, they would be: 16 Homeruns, 80 RBIs, 72 Runs, 28 Doubles, and 130 or so strikeouts. His AA numbers weren't even worthy of fantasy starting material, so why would you want that on your team?

Brett Myers (PHI):
He did give up 3 HRs yesterday and didn't have his best command, but I don't think there is any reason to freak out on him. Give him a few starts and he should be back to the Brett Myers of last year (post all star break).

Check back tonight and I'll have some more updates on today's players.