If you read only one thing…..

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Nightly recap. On Friday, the stars came out to play. One of my favorite lines from literature sums up the night. On a long enough timeline, the survival rate drops to zero. Similarly, if you wait around long enough the cream will always rise to the top. The story from the first three games of the season was that pitching was dominating. It started with a record six shutouts on Opening day. It continued to the point where most teams were hitting under .230 in the first three games.

A hallmark of early fantasy seasons is the overwhelming urge to hit the panic button when someone gets off to a slow start or a starter has a bad game. The key thing to remember that 0 for 10s and 1 for 15s are common in the course of a baseball season. There shouldn’t be added significance attached if it happens out of the gate. Some of the stars reminded us on Friday that patience is the order of the day.

Just as we expected….

Arguably the biggest star of the night was Joey Votto. He hit his second and third home runs of the season to go along with 4 RBI and two runs. Yet, Adam Jones and Jose Bautista owners can take heart that their stars finally showed up. Bautista had three hits, four runs, and two RBI. Jones hit his first dinger of the season and added three more hits on the evening. Billy Hamilton added his seventh steal of the season in his contest with the Cardinals.

Meanwhile, Giancarlo Stanton notched his first three RBI of the season in a thrilling victory against the cross-state Rays. Pedro Alvarez added his second home run to lead his owners to hope that last season was simply a down season. Troy Tulowitzki also proved why many owners picked him as the best shortstop. He is hitting a robust .444 with four RBI in the early going.

But we didn’t see this coming….

The biggest star in the early season might be Anthony Gose of the Tigers. Most owners avoided him until late in the draft because his position was shaky. He may not be as hot as Adrian Gonzalez, but his .471 average and 4 RBI in the early going has been a huge part of the Tigers offensive attack. He added two more hits on Friday night.

Meanwhile, Chris Johnson seems to specialize in coming out of nowhere every odd number year. It’s easy, but his .556 early average (including another three hit night) could lead to him become another heavy waiver claim. On the mound, Collin McHugh won his eighth consecutive decision going back to last season. He pitched six strong innings against the Rangers.

The Rest of the Details

Save Chances

• Joakim Soria (converted save 1-1)
• Brian Duensing (converted save 1-1)
• Jonathan Papelbon (converted save 2-2)
• Aroldis Chapman (converted save 2-2)
• Steve Cishek (blown save 0-1)

Lineup Moves

• The Rangers Shin-Soo Choo and Ryan Rua left the game early with back spasms and a sprain ankled. It is not yet known if the injuries are serious.

Injuries

• Derek Holland was pulled after one inning. He suffered from a sub-scapular strain. He will miss four to six weeks.
• Ian Kennedy is headed to the 15 day DL, but is not expected to miss more than minmum number of days.

Rumors and Transactions

The Padres are still rumored to be after a shortstop upgrade. Keep a look out to see if the engineer another trade to upgrade their lineup. MLBTR is reporting that they could be looking at shortstops like Starlin Castro, Jean Segura, and Elvis Andrus. Currently, Clint Barmes and Alexi Amarista serve as the Padres current options at shortstop.

The Rangers signed Wandy Rodriguez to a minor league contract this week and he appears to be the number one choice to take Derek Holland’s place in the Rangers rotation. If you don’t recall, Rodriguez began Spring Training with the Braves, but was a late cut when they added Trevor Cahill in a trade. He hasn’t been a significant fantasy option since 2012.

Angels ownership made some waves when they reportedly sought to seek their own discipline of embattled outfielder Josh Hamilton. According to reports, there is no clause in his contract to cover drug relapse, so it just looks like another black eye for Arte Moreno. The MLBPA is coming to Hamilton’s, so this story is likely to get ugly before there is some sort of resolution.