No time to digest our player updates? Well, here's a quick rundown of the top 10 risers and fallers in an early spring edition of our Fantasy Power Players, which we will do every week of the regular season.
| This week's top gainers | ||
| Position, player, team | Spring stats (through March 25) | |
| 1 | CL Jonathan Papelbon, BOS | 2.31 ERA, 16 Ks, 3 BB in 11 2/3 innings |
| Would've been solid starter, but he's top 3 Fantasy closer now. | ||
| 2 | SP Mike Pelfrey, NYM | 2.84 ERA, 5 Ks, s BB in 19 innings |
| Elite talent gets rotation spot on one of best teams in baseball. | ||
| 3 | SS Khalil Greene, SD | .426-5-16-9-0 |
| Monster spring should portend big-time 27-year-old breakout. | ||
| 4 | CL Jorge Julio, FLA | 5.79 ERA, 4 Ks, 1 BB in 9 1/3 innings |
| Opens year as Marlins closer, but he won't last full season there. | ||
| 5 | SP Daisuke Matsuzaka, BOS | 2.84 ERA, 13 Ks, 2 BB in 12 2/3 innings |
| His numbers here don't include his five no-hit innings Monday. | ||
| 6 | 3B Alex Gordon, KC | .391-1-10-9-0 |
| Phenom will be very, very good as official Royals opening 3B. | ||
| 7 | SP Jason Hirsh, COL | 6.17 ERA, 5 Ks, 7 BB in 11 2/3 innings |
| Rox wisely ignore spring stats and give prospect starting job. | ||
| 8 | SP Zack Greinke, KC | 3.32 ERA, 21 Ks, 2 BBs in 19 innings |
| Solid spring nets third-year SP sleeper No. 3 rotation spot. | ||
| 9 | 1B Dmitri Young, WAS | .286-1-3-3-0 |
| Mercurial slugger comes up late in spring and will start at 1B. | ||
| 10 | SS Troy Tulowitzki, COL | .310-0-6-5-1 |
| Top NL ROY candidate gets starting SS job over Clint Barmes. | ||
| Honorable mentions: 3B Jose Bautista, PIT; SP Rich Harden, OAK; OF/1B Kory Casto, WAS; SP Adam Wainwright, STL; SP Brett Tomko, LAD; SP Sergio Mitre, FLA; SP Matt Chico, WAS; SP Braden Looper, STL; SP Jae Seo, TB; OF David Dellucci, CLE; RP Jason Isringhausen, STL; RP Dustin Hermanson, CIN; OF Josh Hamilton, CIN; 2B Brandon Phillips, CIN; 1B/OF Brad Eldred, PIT; SS Cristian Guzman, WAS; SS Ben Zobrist, TB; C/DH Mike Piazza, OAK; OF Matt Murton, CHC; SP John Danks, CHW; SS Tony Pena, KC; SP Julian Tavarez, BOS. | ||
| This week's top decliners | |||
| Position, player, team | Spring stats (through March 25) | ||
| 1 | SP Joel Pineiro, BOS | 3.38 ERA, 6 Ks, 5 BB and 10 2/3 innings | |
| Moving to middle relief, not starting, makes him worthless now. | |||
| 2 | SS Clint Barmes, COL | .229-0-3-3-0 (2 CS) | |
| Awful spring got him demoted; my how far he fell down the stairs. | |||
| 3 | SP Chien-Ming Wang, NYY | 2.57 ERA, 7 Ks, 1 BB in 14 innings | |
| Hamstring injury will cause him to miss first few weeks now. | |||
| 4 | SP Glen Perkins, MIN | 4.61 ERA, 11 Ks, 6 BB in 13 2/3 innings | |
| Entered spring with a shot, but he will start out in Triple-A. | |||
| 5 | OF Cliff Floyd, CHC | .320-2-7-5-0 | |
| Sore heel will keep him from being regular or platoon LF. | |||
| 6 | SP Hayden Penn, BAL | 1.80 ERA, 3 Ks, 7 BB in 10 innings | |
| Walks force him to bide time in Triple-A to start season. | |||
| 7 | SP Gavin Floyd, CHW | 8.44 ERA, 7 Ks, 9 BB in 16 innings | |
| He's clearly entering stage where he can be called a bust. | |||
| 8 | RP Henry Owens, FLA | 0.90 ERA, 9 Ks, 2 BB in 10 innings | |
| Would have been a closer, perhaps, if not for Julio trade. | |||
| 9 | RP Matt Lindstrom, FLA | 0.87 ERA, 4 Ks, 4 BB in 10 1/3 innings | |
| Similarly, it wasn't performance that cost him closer job. | |||
| 10 | 2B Jose Castillo, PIT | .289-0-9-4-0 | |
| Lost 2B/3B battle to Freddy Sanchez and Jose Bautista. | |||
| Dishonorable mentions: SS Angel Berroa, KC; 3B Chone Figgins, LAA; 2B Dan Uggla, FLA; OF Nook Logan, WAS; SP Chan Ho Park, NYM; P Shawn Chacon, PIT; RP Kevin Gregg, FLA; RP Brendan Donnelly, BOS; RP Mike Timlin, BOS; 1B Hee Seop Choi, TB; SP Jon Lieber, PHI; P Ryan Franklin, STL; RP Duaner Sanchez, NYM; 1B Travis Lee, FA. | |||
You can e-mail Emack your Fantasy Baseball questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Power Players in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses or answers to all questions.
