The good fortune continues for reigning NL MVP Ryan Braun as he won his appeal of a positive PED test.  Braun is instantly back to being a first round lock.  I personally have him in the 5-7 range.  While this is obviously great news for Braun owners in keeper leagues, he still loses big Prince Fielder to protect him in the lineup.  Had Prince stayed, I'd have Braun even higher.

Yoenis Cespedes 

The Oakland Athletics turned a lot of heads when they signed Yoenis Cespedes to a $36M/4 years contract.  For the cash-strapped A’s it would seem like they would only throw this kind of money at a player if they expected him to contribute immediately.  This doesn’t appear to be the case here.  While Cespedes had monstrous numbers in Cuba (.333 33HR 99RBI in 90 games), it wasn’t against Major League competition.  Cespedes clearly has the tools to become a multi-category stud, but I expect him to face a rough adjustment period.  I would be shocked if Cespedes breaks camp with the big league club.  In a deep/keeper leagues I can see trying to draft him in the later rounds and stashing him if/when he gets called up this year and produces.  For shallow leagues, I’d rather let someone else waste a bench spot on him while he’s in the minors as there’s no guarantee that the A’s will get any sort of return on their investment in 2012.

Manny Ramirez

The A’s also brought in veteran slugger Manny Ramirez.  He’ll still have to sit out the first 50 games due to a failed PED test.  Nobody should be drafting him, although we should all be keeping an eye on his performance once he returns(but we do that for all players, right?).  I’m on the side of the fence that thinks Manny is done and I think his second failed PED test shows that Manny thinks he’s done too.  

Roy Oswalt